Aude Berger was recruited by the Saint-Martin nature reserve to coordinate actions for the restoration of populations of two species of grouper.
During the presentation of his wishes, the director of the Nature Reserve, Nicolas Maslach introduced a new recruit. Aude Berger was engaged, within the framework of the LIFE BIODIV'OM program, to coordinate actions for the restoration of the populations of Nassau grouper and giant grouper.
Holder of a diploma of higher technician of the sea, and a license in environmental protection, she cumulates
various professional experiences including running the UNESCO MaB Program (Guadeloupe Biosphere Reserve), but also in environmental education and awareness, and has already carried out several field missions and data collection. As project manager of the LIFE BIODIV'OM program, she will carry out a socio-economic assessment of the place of these species in Saint-Martin in terms of ecology, consumption and tradition. It will also monitor the state of the populations still present and carry out awareness-raising actions for the public in general and schools in particular. It will have to carry out experimental monitoring in order to study the recruitment of these two species, knowing that grouper larvae migrate for several months over hundreds of miles, at the whim of the currents, before the post-larvae of young groupers settle. on the reefs. Finally, it will study a possible regulatory change concerning these species.
This is the first LIFE program in Saint-Martin, a European funding program dedicated to supporting projects in the fields of the environment and climate. “This program is coordinated by the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO). The LPO is therefore the intermediary between the EU and the National Nature Reserve of Saint-Martin, ”suggests Aude Berger. More than 200 euros have been allocated to the Reserve over the period 000 - 2018.
These two species of grouper that are the giant and that of Nassau are indeed threatened. "Appreciated by divers because of their curiosity towards them, these groupers are ecologically important top predators - they could in particular regulate the presence of lionfish - but also economically in the longer term, for the fineness of their flesh" indicated the Nature reserve in its December 2018 journal.
LIFE BIODIV'OM is the first LIFE project which involves five French ORs and which is supported by five nature protection associations (LPO, GEPOG, GEPOMAY, SEOR and AGRNSM), a national park.
It aims to stem the biodiversity crisis facing these five French ORs, which are Guyana, Reunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin. The objective is to develop and deploy concrete, demonstrative and sustainable methods in order to respond to the urgent loss of the fauna, flora and wild habitats of these territories. It targets two environmental objectives in Saint-Martin: increase the population of these two grouper species, and strengthen the conservation of habitats that are important to them.
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