Wild Tobago

  In Tobago, it’s easy to live off the sea, and you are encouraged to eat fresh fish every way you can. Here are a few thoughts about finding fresh fish, and some recipes. First published in Newsday Tobago, February 28, 2019 (All photos courtesy Pat Ganase) In the best fishing villages in Tobago – Buccoo, Castara and Charlotteville – you can hear when the boats come in. Reach the jetty or depot with your basin or pot, and select your fish. Within minutes, skillful fishermen or their helpers will scale, gut, slice or fillet your choice. Then you are on your way to prepare – with simple ingredients – the most delicious fish you will ever eat. Most Tobagonians already know their way around the fishermen, fishing depots, and fish, so these pointers might be more useful for visitors. Talk to the fishermen. This is not easy to do when they have just hauled their boat in, or are moving containers filled with fish to shore. What was their catch? Where di...

Fadilah Ali is an ecologist with a specialty in invasive species biology, control and management. She has a Masters degree in Environmental Science with a focus on Biodiversity and Conservation and is currently completing her PhD in Ocean and Earth Sciences at the University of Southampton in England where she researched the lionfish invasion in the Southern Caribbean As a means to raise the landed value of lionfish and encourage their removal, craft makers are utilising lionfish spines, rays and tails. These materials currently being used for jewellery are typically discarded but have been found to increase the landed value of lionfish by 30 to 60% in some cases. Lionfish spines, rays and tails have been transformed into elegant earrings, necklaces, bracelets and even cufflinks and rings. In addition to encouraging lionfish removal, use of the spines and rays for jewellery can create income for local economies whilst also empowering local people. For example in Belize...

Spearfisher Phillip Almandoz gives his insight to the sport of spearfishing and discusses the progress of the Tobago Freedive Spearfishing Challenge which he started in 2010. This year, 2017, it was held on June 17 and 18; and hosted in Castara, attracting a large number of freedivers in their search for underwater game. Free-spirited freediving spearfishers celebrate after this year's rournament. (All photos courtesy Phillip Almandoz) The challenge is to dive, spear a fish and return with it to the boat, on one breath. Some people can dive deeper than 100 feet on one breath. My normal dive on a single breath is 1.15 to 1.30 minute. I don’t try to push myself; after all, I have a young family, my wife and two children, six and three. Freediving is a very dangerous sport. You should be trained. And you have to be very disciplined. Just think about it, you dive deep, spear a fish and have to fight to get the fish back to the surface. If you overspend your time down there...

Hunting the lionfish with Fadilah Ali Fadilah Ali is an ecologist with a specialty in invasive species biology, control and management. She has a Masters degree in Environmental Science with a focus on Biodiversity and Conservation and is currently completing her PhD in Ocean and Earth Sciences at the University of Southampton in England where she researched the lionfish invasion in the Southern Caribbean. As it glides past with its large, ornate, feathery pectoral fins, lionfish give the impression of a harmless beauty, simply floating by peacefully. Introduced to the Caribbean region more than two decades ago, lionfish have been deemed as one of the worst marine invasive species of all time, with potential to cause harm to local ecosystems, both ecologically and economically.   Can you see the lionfish on reef? photo by Ron Tiah Native to the Indo-Pacific region, lionfish are a prime commodity within the aquarium trade ow...

This week, Anjani Ganase, marine biologist, tells us what we need to know about the presence of lionfish on Caribbean reefs. With no natural predators in the Atlantic, lionfish feed voraciously upon juvenile fish that are essential to healthy coral reefs. Introduced carelessly in Atlantic waters, man must take on the responsibility to stem the invasion. This article was first published in the Tobago Newsday on Thursday, November 10, 2016. Follow Anjani on twitter @AnjGanase   Lionfish in its native home, the Great Barrier Reef. Photo by Richard Vevers, The Ocean Agency, XL Catlin Seaview Survey 2012. Lionfish Invasion Naturally present in the Indo-Pacific tropical waters, the lionfish is a common ornamental fish in the aquarium trade. In the 1980s, two species of lionfish - red lionfish ( Pterois volitans ) and the devil firefish ( Pterois miles ) the less common of the two - were introduced into the marine waters along Florida’s east coast, a no...

Anjani Ganase, Trinbagonian marine biologist, continues her weekly exploration of marine Tobago. This week, she takes us to Charlotteville where local and international participants join forces for the conservation of north-east Tobago. This feature was first published in the Tobago Newsday on September 15, 2016 Follow Anjani Ganase on twitter: @AnjGanase My experience of research stations include Carmabi in Curaçao and Heron Island research station in the Great Barrier Reef, as well as those I’ve visited in Belize, Bermuda and Hawaii. These stations are usually set up in remote tropical locations, focused on facilitating and supporting academics doing research on an ecosystem or organism in a natural environment; away from people. In many cases, any discoveries made by the scientists are often taken with them when they leave; local communities may not know that the study took place. Today, more tropical research stations have begun to include community engagement and ...