Covering more than 2,000 hectares—whereas other islands such as Saint Martin or Saint Barthélemy have only a few dozen—Martinique’s mangroves are concentrated mainly in the bays and estuaries along the island’s western coast.

The Bay of Fort-de-France, and in particular the Génipa mangrove forest, accounts for 65 to 70% of this total area—approximately 1,200 to 1,300 hectares—making it the largest mangrove forest on the island.

These coastal forests are dominated by four main species, distributed along a salinity gradient: the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), the white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), the black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), and the gray mangrove (Conocarpus erectus), which is found in the back mangrove zone.

They play a vital ecological role as nursery areas, coastal protection zones, and carbon sinks, but remain threatened by urbanization, industrialization, and coastal pollution.

It is in this context that Martinique has joined the MangMap platform, now providing a long-term satellite monitoring tool for the sustainable management of these fragile ecosystems.

Sources:

https://www.biodiversite-martinique.fr/categorie-habitat/4-mangroves