To respond to the major invasion of brown algae that ran aground on the northeast coast of the island, the community of Saint-Martin and the prefecture held a meeting, Tuesday, July 18, 2017, in the presence of the Prefect Anne Laubies and Territorial Councilor Pascale Laborde, in charge of the Environment Commission, to organize the removal of algae.
Concerned about the impact of this pollution on residential and tourist areas, and in particular on the operation of businesses directly impacted, President Daniel Gibbs and his majority wished to work in close collaboration with the prefect Anne Laubies and her services, in the objective to act in the best possible way, faced with a recurring phenomenon that is difficult to control, against which there is no quick fix.
Since 2015, the 20 brigadiers of the green brigade of the Center Symphorien d'Insertion have been involved in cleaning the exposed beaches, according to safety rules and a pick-up schedule developed by the Department of Environment and Community Living Environment. . The crossing guards are hard at work on the ground right now.
The community and the state have decided to extend this manual collection system and increase the means of collection. A new call for candidates for the collection of algae and the cleaning of the public domain will be launched soon for this purpose.
Even if the Environment and Public Health are competences of the State, President Gibbs wished to respond to the emergency, by involving a company and its mechanical shovels in the bay of Cul de Sac and that of Galleon. The company will work as necessary on these two beaches and on the other impacted beaches.
The objective is to go as far as possible into the sea to recover the algae. The mechanical shovels then bring the algae back to the coast so that they can be picked up by the green brigade, then transported to the Grandes Cayes ecosite for drying and recycling into compost.
The community of Saint-Martin is aware of the major nuisances caused by the stranding of these algae, and acts with the means that are theirs, on the cleaning of the coastal areas most affected. The first effects of this intensive cleaning should give results, knowing that the stranding of algae is unfortunately not controllable locally.
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