MP (Melanie) Meijer Zu Schlochtern MSc

Melanie, was born and raised in the Netherlands, but has lived and worked on Sint Maarten for 7 years. First she worked as the projects and research officer at the Nature Foundation St. Maarten, and after as the manager of the foundation for 3 years. In the end of 2022 she started as PhD candidate on anadromous fish migration at the Haringvlietdam, a large estuarine barrier. This research will focus on understanding fish behavior to optimize sluice gate management of the Haringvlietdam and to rehabilitate migratory fish populations.

Her interests in nature and biology started when she was young. During her studies she became fascinated with the underwater world. During her Masters in Ecology, conducted at the VU University of Amsterdam, her final thesis focused on the ecology of the marine species Queen Conch, which led her to the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius.

Upon graduation, Melanie worked as the science officer at the Saba Bank Management Unit with the Saba Conservation Foundation. Here she conducted fisheries research, continued conch research and participated in different research projects such as shark tagging. After exploring the waters of St Maarten, she begun working with the Nature Foundation at the beginning of 2016. Here she worked on several research projects, mainly the Save our Sharks project and coral restoration, in order to protect St Maarten’s marine life and natural habitats.

Melanie often uses the Nature Foundation’s slogan ‘Nature is our Future’, as she believes without protecting our nature there is no future for humans.

Her favorite quote stresses the importance of protecting our natural

‘When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animal have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breath, only then will you discover you cannot eat money’.