In about three weeks, La Boudeuse and its crew will have completed their mission in the French Amazon, and will have achieved all of the objectives that were set at the time of their arrival in Cayenne at the end of last year.

The months of February and March were extraordinarily full, for the land-based scientific expeditions as much as on the voyages themselves: La Boudeuse sailed up and down the entire Guyanese coastline non-stop to support the work of the scientific teams. For the same reason, the ship also sailed as far as possible up the two country’s two major rivers – the Maroni in the west, on the border with Suriname, and the Oyapock in the east, on the border with Brazil. These river voyages were among the riskiest moments of the adventure, given the perils of this type of navigation in the region: shallow water everywhere, floating logs, countless sandbanks, scattered and invisible rocks, and the violent gusts of wind that characterise the rainy season – not to mention the lack of reliable maps. But the crew managed to escape unscathed from all the dangers of these epic adventures…

With respect to the land-based missions, they were carried out one after the other almost without a break during this period – and often simultaneously. A dozen researchers from the following fields were involved: biodiversity (entomology and botany), human geography, geology, philosophy, biology, ichthyology and genetics.

Geographically, these missions took place on the Maroni (both the river and the estuary), the Lucifer Massif, the Oyapock (both the river and the estuary), the Ouanary River, the hills of the Guyana Space Centre observatory, Snake Creek, Béhague Point, the Salvation Islands and the whole of the coastline.

Very important work was also conducted on the problem of illegal gold miners, one of the greatest challenges facing Guyana and the French authorities today. Coming from Brazil, by the tens of thousands, the prospectors plunder the mineral wealth of Guyana, destroy the environment on a massive scale, and pollute rivers with mercury, leaving insecurity and violence in their wake throughout the region.
After careful aerial reconnaissance, a team from La Boudeuse, led by its captain, Patrice Franceschi, managed to reach one of these illegal gold mining sites, in the jungle in the east of the country, and to live in among the miners. This mission (not without its dangers) made it possible to measure the magnitude of the illicit gold mining problem, to measure more precisely the environmental destruction that it causes, and to understand the social and economic issues that underlie it, as this is the only way to create realistic, comprehensive and long-term solutions to this problem. This unusual mission also made it possible to take samples of pure mercury directly from the rivers for laboratory analysis, to determine the precise level of pollution in the affected regions. On this occasion, caimans were killed to determine the level of mercury contamination in animals at the end of the food chain. As local people consume many of these animals, particularly fish, it seems that serious public health problems have already arisen.

To complete this study, two other La Boudeuse teams were attached to “Harpie” and “Marpol” government missions.

The “Harpies” missions are the French government’s response to the illegal gold miners. At regular intervals, police officers, legionnaires and naval officers mount massive operations to destroy the gold mining sites and to attempt to cut off their clandestine supply routes by running night ambushes. The “Harpie” mission that we were involved in took place in the Maroni region and eradicated a number of villages of gold miners who had settled in the region with complete impunity.

“Marpol” missions use Navy patrol boats and coast guard launches to secure the coastline, combat emerging piracy and attempt to stop the plundering of marine resources by Brazilian and Surinamese illegal fishermen, who are increasingly active – so much so that Guyanese fishermen are already complaining about the depletion of many species of fish. The “Marpol” mission that we were involved in took place aboard the patrol vessel L’Audacieuse, and led to the arrest of illegal fishermen and the confiscation of their boats.

During this very active period, the number of crew members rose to 33 people, in accordance with the rotations of the scientific teams.

We can already claim that, apart from the mercury problem, we were able to make a number of advances in the following areas:

•    Better understanding of the reasons for the “fluctuations” in the Guyanese coastlines.
•    Better understanding of the human geography of the two main rivers, the Maroni and the Oyapock, due to the geo-photographic program implemented by La Boudeuse.
•    Probable discoveries of species of fish living in rivers of the most isolated massifs (the Massif Lucifer), and even in some creeks (Snake Creek).
•    Improved information and understanding of the biodiversity of the Guyanese coastline and of many rivers in the interior, particularly with respect to the flora and especially the mangroves.
•    Increased awareness of the problem of the silt carried by the two major rivers in the country.
•    Better understanding of the potential for future tsunamis affecting the coasts of the Guyanese massif.
•    Advances in research into CO2 capture by certain types of trees, through chemical conversion into carbonates.

Some additional work remains to be done to complete the mission, particularly on other gold mining sites and on biodiversity research at Béhague Point. This work should be completed between April 6 and April 25.