The St. Maarten Nature Foundation, in an effort to expand its activities and its operations while simultaneously involving the community in its work, will be launching a structured volunteer program. The St. Maarten Nature Foundation is the Management Authority for the Man of War Shoal Marine Park and manages environmental and conservation projects in the terrestrial, marine and wetland environments. Despite its wide mandate the small organization consists of only three people and therefore is taking steps to initiate a structured volunteer program.
The First group of volunteers the Foundation is looking to recruit is centred on experienced divers to assist with activities in the Marine Park. Divers with an advanced/ rescue diver level certification with their own equipment and who are interested in volunteering are encouraged to do so. The Nature Foundation carries out a wide arrange of activities within the Marine Park and territorial waters; these include in water monitoring of sharks and turtles, marine mammal monitoring, coral reef research and coral transplanting and the maintenance of dive mooring installations. Volunteers will be given training on the various techniques and methods and will then be asked to help out once or twice a month depending on the scheduled activities.
With a core volunteer group of dedicated and interested individuals the Nature Foundation hopes to increase its work capacity inside of the Marine Park and territorial waters of St. Maarten. Subsequent calls for volunteers will involve mangrove transplanting, invasive animal control and water quality monitoring. Those interested in volunteering with the Nature Foundation are asked to email the Nature Foundation at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in order to request a registration and waiver form.
