Wild Tobago

How do we make visitors welcome on our islands and in our seas? By preserving habitats and food sources. But most importantly, by appreciating the visitors. Dr Anjani Ganase considers the meaning of Trinidad and Tobago’s signing the Convention to conserve migratory species such as sharks, birds, turtles and the Monarch Butterfly.  On December 1, 2018, Trinidad and Tobago became the 127th country to sign on to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, as part of the United Nations Environment Programmme. According the Convention, countries must recognize that migratory wildlife and the environments that support them are irreplaceable, have extant value for future generations and it is our responsibility to wholly care for these organisms. Signatories of the Convention are mandated to actively protect migratory wildlife and the habitats they utilise when they occur within the country’s jurisdiction. This includes their food sources and the quality an...

This week, marine biologist Anjani Ganase reviews the scientific article “Reefs since Columbus” written by ecologist Dr. Jeremy Jackson (1997) highlighting the history of degradation of Caribbean marine ecosystems since the time of Columbus. The significant loss of key marine animals long before the advent of modern monitoring and research on coral reef health, indicates the problem of the shifting baseline and our failure to understand what a truly healthy (or unexploited) coral reef or marine environment might be like. This article was first published in the Tobago Newsday on Thursday, October 27, 2016. Follow Anjani on twitter @AnjGanase “Large vertebrates such as the green turtle, hawksbill turtle, manatee and the extinct Caribbean Monk Seal were decimated by about 1800 in the central and northern Caribbean…” – Dr Jackson 1997. The thrill of sharing a protected reef with these Galapagos Sea Lions, Galapagos. UNESCO World Heritage Marine Site. Ph...