Saint-Martin is the French 60% of a tiny 37 square mile (96 sq km) island jointly

owned with the Dutch Sint Maarten (see Netherlands Antilles). The island was devastated

by Hurricane Luis in September 1995 and has only slowly returned as the luxury holiday

duty-free shopping destination that it was. There have been no whale or dolphin surveys in

the waters around the French (northern) side of Saint-Martin. The type of tourism (timeshare

apartments, shopping, beaches) is less conducive to attracting those who might be

interested in seeing cetaceans.

From St.-Barthélemy (St. Barth's), in 1997, Arnaud Apremont set up a small

research group, Saint-Barths Cétacés, and began taking photo-ID shots of humpback

whales as they passed St. Barths between January and June. In 1997 he counted 111

whales during the season, and in 1998 he found 103 whales. 1999 records have yet to be

processed but as of March 25th, he had logged 53 humpback whales off St. Barths.

In 1999, with the assistance of Mr. Apremont's records, Patrick Laplace from St.

Barth Sea Cursion became the first operator to offer whale watching here, taking people to

see humpback whales. It may also be possible to see sperm whales in May and other

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months off the northwest of the island. As well, the reefs on the west side of St. Barths,

accessible via diving charters out of Gustavia, are often visited by various dolphin species.

A 1200-hectare marine protected area protects and draws attention to the richness

of the marine ecological systems around St-Barths. Although this does not cover all the

possible whale and dolphin areas offshore, it does provide a good starting point and

atmosphere for developing sustainable, high quality, respectful whale watch tourism.

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