Wild Tobago

Sometimes, only the wildest ideas can take us out of ourselves with courage to face the gravest challenges. Pat Ganase resorts to “blue sky thinking” with practical supports from marine scientist, Dr Anjani Ganase. The people of Tobago may – at this point – be relatively unscathed by Covid-19. The economy is in shambles but we have health! We are fortunate that our leaders closed borders early; and we have not imported any infected persons for four weeks. With the prioritized restart of commercial and industrial activities (announced by the Prime Minister on May 9, 2020), borders may open with caution after the end of June.   Many Tobago hotels have been posting friendly messages on their web pages about travel restrictions and re-booking; about extra care in cleaning procedures and sanitization. Will this messaging cut it to bring international visitors this far south on the Caribbean archipelago? What about the countries that are our markets? ...

Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, calls upon business to claim its share of ocean wealth while helping to conserve and manage Tobago’s offshore resources. This feature was first prepared for Contact, the magazine of the Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce; and is reprinted in the Tobago Newsday on November 23, 2017 We think of the ocean and its resources as vast and endless. Goods and services provided by the ocean for humans have been estimated to be about 24 trillion USD in assets (World Wildlife Fund, 2015) more than the economy of most nations. These goods include fishing, harvesting of materials and procurement of medicine, as well as services through shoreline protection, wave energy extraction, shipping and tourism. This asset value is grossly underestimated, as it doesn’t consider the crucial roles of the ocean in regulating climate, the air we breathe and stabilising temperature, nor does it consider the intrinsic cultural value that we place on the ocean (WWF 2...