Wild Tobago

Derek Chung, owner-operator of Undersea Tobago, chats with Pat Ganase about tourism and the marine environment of Tobago. Photos courtesy Derek Chung   Over 37 years diving in Tobago, Derek Chung has explored the island’s offshore domain in more than 14,000 dives. His recent projects include locating and identifying shipwrecks off the coast. He has made a life bringing visitors to the underwater world. Today he is concerned about how fast the reefs are deteriorating due to global warming, water pollution, indiscriminate spearfishing and poorly planned coastal development, which threaten his livelihood, food security for Tobagonians and Tobago’s tourism.   “I was a loans officer at a commercial bank in Trinidad when I learned to scuba dive, loved it and became certified as an instructor in 1987, the same year I came to Tobago to open a diving center. Following (then Prime Minister) ANR Robinson who was pushing tourism, I came to pursue a passion, a yo...

Faraaz Abdool asks us to look out for the birds using Tobago as a rest stop on their annual migrations. All photos courtesy Faraaz Abdool   Animal migration has been billed as one of Earth’s most impressive spectacles. This is not the measured expansion of creatures slowly meandering beyond established boundaries; migration knows no borders whatsoever. As humans, we demarcated a world with strict imaginary lines. Walls and fences and borders separate populations into nations, states, counties, and towns. Falling into this system helps us to forget that we are one planet, a fact that underpins the existence of countless creatures that depend on movement for survival.   Beyond mere wandering in search of food or habitat, migration is a whole scale rhythmic phenomenon. The dance of the rains over the East African savannas ensures that the thundering hooves of wildebeest and zebra continue to follow the fresh growth of greener grasses, timing their reprod...