All Press Releases

“Through this three-month EPIC Youth Ambassador program, we hope to inspire young people to appreciate their local environment and continue advocating for its protection,” explain EPIC project coordinators Laura Bijnsdorp and Riddhi Samtani. Updates about this project and additional cleanup dates can be found on EPIC’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/epicislands. For more information or inquiries into collaborations, please contact the Project Coordinators at projects@epicislands.org.

Philipsburg – Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) in collaboration with St. Maarten PRIDE Foundation awarded several winning volunteer teams and community organizations for their participation in this year’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). More than 100 volunteers attended the ICC at Little Bay Beach and Pond near Belair, during which over 1,480 pounds of trash were collected.

On Saturday September 25th, more than 100 volunteers attended this year’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) at Little Bay Beach & Pond, near Belair, hosted by the St. Maarten Pride Foundation, in collaboration with Environmental Protection in the Caribbean Sint Maarten (EPIC). A total of 1480.5 pounds of trash was collected, of which 692.4lbs were glass and plastic bottles. This was excluding heavy construction material also found during the cleanup.

The nest of an endangered Black-capped Petrel seabird was found for the first time on the slopes of Pic La Selle, Haiti on 24 May 2022 by a small team of Haitian biologists from Action pour la Sauvegarde de l’Ecologie en Haiti (ACSEH) and Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC). The discovery of the Black-capped Petrel nest represents only the third-known nesting area of these seabirds in Haiti. It also represents the first-ever confirmed Black-capped Petrel nest on Pic La Selle.

Researchers have confirmed a sighting of an Endangered Black-capped Petrel (Pterodroma hasitata), known locally as “the Diablotin bird,” in flight over Dominica earlier this year. If nesting is confirmed, Dominica would be the second known nesting island for Black-capped Petrel in the world.

EPIC Sint Maarten invites people interested in becoming volunteer hike leaders to participate in a two-hour training session this Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 9 – 11 a.m.

The Endangered Black-capped Petrel is a seabird so secretive that ten years ago, only one active nest had ever been located and monitored. Despite this tremendous gap in knowledge, the International Black-capped Petrel Conservation Group created an action plan…

Monitoring wildlife can be challenging in remote or difficult to reach places. The use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as a drone, is one method …

Representatives from government and local organizations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines will participate in training about the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles, also referred to as drones. 

Local field researchers concluded surveys to assess the diversity of species found on remote, uninhabited islands of the Grenadines while also detecting non-native mammals.

On Sunday 9th May, EPIC is hosting an event at Little Bay Pond, Sint Maarten to celebrate World Migratory Bird day. 

A working group is exploring conservation issues affecting remote, uninhabited islands of the Grenadines and mapping out actions to protect the wildlife found there.

Many islands in the Grenadines are refuges for wildlife…As we enter the dry season, the public is reminded to not set fires on offshore islands as fires have negative effects on natural areas.

EPIC and SCIENCE are pleased and excited to announce the winners of their Waste to Art competition held under the theme “Amazing Seabirds: Our Birds, Our Islands, Our Future.” 

Invasive species are organisms that are purposefully or accidentally introduced to areas beyond their native ranges, where they establish and become harmful to the local environment…

EPIC has sponsored coastal litter cleanups on several uninhabited seabird breeding islands of the transboundary Grenadines. To date, hundreds of pounds of garbage have been removed by volunteers…

Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten – Adults and children enjoyed a sunset kayak Saturday evening, 7 November, at a fundraising event for Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC). 

On Sunday, 26 July, Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) began the removal of PVC pipes installed to protect mangrove seedlings planted in Simpson Bay Lagoon after hurricane Irma. 

With their remarkable adaptations and abilities, seabirds are the only animal to unite the air, land and sea.  Their long-distance migrations also unite nations as they cross borders…

Although seabird harvest and egg collection are prohibited by legislation of both Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, research by EPIC shows that the practice continues to occur…

Get away from technology and the business of our normal lives and enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of nature on one of Sint Maarten’s many hiking trails. 

Project Coordinator Juliana Coffey noted “If there is anything to be learned from the current global crisis, it is that we must begin to adjust our relationship with nature and wildlife…”

Although the Grenadines span approximately 100 kilometers and contain more than 70 islands, rocks and cays, EPIC is bringing people throughout the region together through a shared resource – seabirds…

Maho, Sint Maarten: EPIC Sint Maarten is pleased to announce receipt of a grant award from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied (PBCCG) to conduct a bio-inventory of all locally found vascular plants.

EPIC and SCIENCE partnered to reach over 4,000 participants with outreach activities aimed at supporting seabird conservation in the transboundary Grenadines archipelago of the nations of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. 

EPIC continued its community consultation and planning session regarding the seabirds and offshore islands of the Grenadines, this time with a dozen fisherfolk and other interested residents on Mayreau, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

On 20 September, EPIC held a seabird monitoring training workshop for the Sandy Island Oyster Bed Marine Protected Area (SIOBMPA) staff on Carriacou. 

On the 4th of August 2019, executive members of the Grenada Birding Club were invited to the first-ever seabird-specific excursion in the Grenadines, through the EPIC seabird training program. 

Imagine there being more plastic than fish in the ocean. Researchers have predicted that unless we change our behavior, this tragic situation would come true by 2050.

Residents of the Grenadines and fishing communities depend on the ocean, as do seabirds. It is a shared common space.

Members from the Dutch Representation Offices of Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten picked up 460 pounds of trash on Mullet Bay Beach during a cleanup organized by EPIC.

Mass migrations and movements of humans worldwide over many millennia have enabled the transport of species, both purposefully and incidentally, into new regions. 

A new year-long initiative called “Conservation of Key Offshore Island Reserves” aims to develop long-term strategies to protect Grenadines seabirds.

EPIC is committed to teaching younger generations about biodiversity issues in the Grenadines, especially seabirds and their role in the marine ecosystem.

This past Sunday, over 80 volunteers joined EPIC for a litter cleanup at Little Bay Pond and beach.  Participants filled 30 large garbage bags with litter.

BirdLife has contracted EPIC to identify Important Bird Areas (IBAs) using existing information and through EPIC surveys in the Lesser Antillean islands of Saba, St Kitts, St Eustatius and St Maarten/Martin.