Wild Tobago

Endlessly exploited and damaged, the Buccoo Reef ecosystem is a remarkable national resource that is demonstrating resilience even in the face of climate change. Shivonne Peters-McPherson writes about the life on Buccoo Reef and our need to treasure what remains and what is coming back.   Buccoo Reef is not dead! They say that the only thing that remains of this once thriving ecosystem is an extensive seagrass community. That’s not true. While many may remember the Buccoo Reef circa the 1980s and 1990’s, a time when areas such as Coral Gardens were vibrant and full of pristine corals and an abundance of reef fish, life on the Reef changes and is persistent. There is no doubt that Buccoo Reef has been heavily degraded. Scientific studies show a decline in coral cover, especially at shallower depths. There is   an overgrowth of macroalgae, which often smothers corals and results in coral mortality. The average person who visited the reef decades ago will i...

The Buccoo Reef system has been studied by scientists and civilians long before climate change became by-words. Is it now too late to save the reef, Dr Anjani Ganase talks with Kevin Kenny, founder and first president of the Crusoe Reef Society.   The waters around Tobago from May to November last year felt like tepid bath water. Visitors were able to dip in and out with gleeful enjoyment at beaches and off boats, and divers required no wetsuits for warmth.   However, diving for more than an hour felt like you were sweating underwater and required cooling off on the boat. For the marine life there is no escape, the reefs are slowly cooking. We talk about climate change in the future tense, but we have been living the impacts of a warming ocean for at least the last five years, with coral bleaching being observed even during the previous cooler years prior to 2023. Marine heat waves are getting more common and severe as we push global temperatures beyond ...

Shivonne Peters, marine scientist, reports on coral bleaching in Tobago’s iconic Buccoo Reef. Trinidad and Tobago, like other countries in the Caribbean region, is under a coral bleaching watch, the fifth occasion for 2022. As ocean temperatures continue to warm, the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in its October report indicated that the country is currently under a Bleaching Alert Level 2, meaning that widespread bleaching leading to coral mortality is expected. These conditions are expected to extend throughout December with reports indicating coral bleaching is currently occurring in reefs along Tobago’s north-east and south-west coastlines. Bleaching of the Fire Corals ( Millepora ) and Staghorn Corals ( Acropora cervicornis ) was observed in the Buccoo and Charlotteville reefs earlier this month. Sustained warm ocean temperatures will mean continuing decline and disaster for Tobago’s coral reefs. Coral bleaching occurs when the coral - marine invertebrates compr...

  Shivonne Peters, marine scientist, advocates the use of low-cost technology to monitor and protect Marine Protected Areas such as Buccoo Reef. (All photos courtesy Shivonne Peters) Within the recent year, the Covid-19 pandemic causing government-imposed restrictions, has led to the third closure of the Buccoo Reef Marine Park in Tobago. Every period of closure has prompted the use of innovation and technology to redefine operations and strategies with respect to monitoring and preserving our coastal and marine resources. The question remains, how do we effectively monitor a significantly large marine space and how can we do so at   minimal cost? The use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has become an increasingly popular tool for aerial photography and videography especially along scenic areas such as beaches and rocky coastlines. But this “eye in the sky” apparatus can certainly be used for monitoring the Marine Park.           ...

Dr Stanton Belford is a Trinidadian marine scientist from Temple Street, Arima who is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator, Biology at Martin Methodist College in Tennessee USA.   One of his significant research studies is on the reefs of Toco. Until he can bring his students back to visit Buccoo Reef and the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, he believes that residents of Tobago and Trinidad should become familiar with these well-loved assets. Photos courtesy Dr Stanton Belford   Recently I saw Dr. Anjani Ganase, Associate Member of SpeSeas, speaking to The Now Morning Show (TTT) and The Morning Brew (TV6) about public online access to a 360-degree viewing of coral reefs in Tobago through the Maritime Ocean Collection website. I was ecstatic, because now I could sit at my computer in Tennessee, whilst viewing corals, fishes, and other organisms located in Tobago. How can we learn more about the vast oceans, whilst not being able to visit our beaches? ...

Satellite imagery provides new ways to see and monitor coral reefs. Dr Anjani Ganase tells us where we can see halos, what they mean and how they may help in on-going monitoring programmes for marine protected areas.  Through the technology that provides satellite imagery of the earth, we can explore the planet from above. The surface of the earth is covered by impressive structures and patterns curated by man and nature: consider the meandering tributaries of the Colorado and Amazon Rivers, the Great Barrier Reef and cities like New York. The patterns observed from space have given great insights into landscape ecosystems, such as the arrangements of flora along mountainsides and the contraction of the polar ice caps. We are also able to see some distance below the surface of the sea. Here’s what Dr Elizabeth Madin, assistant professor at the University of Hawai`i, observed in the lagoon of Heron Island, on the Great Barrier Reef. Shallow patches of coral reef stood out ...

Dr Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, wonders about the wisdom of destroying a protected marine ecosystem, the only one in Trinidad and Tobago, with a strategy to recreate it sometime in the future. She responds to the press conference of the Minister Stuart Young, and representatives of Sandals, the Government’s business partner, which was held on November 26.  “Nature refers to all the animals, plants, rocks, in the world and all the features, forces and processes that happen and exist independently of people , such as the weather, the sea, mountains, the production of young animals or plants, and growth” (Cambridge Dictionary). There is a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of nature. Despite humankind’s infiltration into nearly every ecosystem and eco-space on earth, there is need to preserve as much of the natural world. Our air, our climate, our food and everything needed to advance us, comes from nature. With nature comes biodiversity; the number of organisms ...