Wild Tobago

Dr Anjani Ganase urges leaders and influential sectors in the society to consider the health of our ocean backyards. Connect the dots, she says, there is an urgent need to link land-based lifestyles with the life of the ocean, indeed the life of the planet. The Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) is upon us: will we use it to stem the degradation and revitalize the planet’s most precious resource? UNESCO has outlined a roadmap to improve the health of the ocean and to manage resources sustainably. Major challenges include understanding how marine pollutants impact ocean systems in order to mitigate impact, conserve marine biodiversity, and harvest the ocean sustainably to ensure food security. Further, could we build the capacity of ocean dependent states to address societal issues through ocean awareness? For the Caribbean, we need to build community resilience and disaster management with the use of early-warning systems against hurricanes, tsunamis and ev...

Although the ocean occupies more area than the land, land-based species are impacting the ocean in untold ways.   Dr Anjani Ganase looks at some findings from current research in ocean science. Deep ocean impacts from hurricanes Scientists from New Zealand discovered that some cyclones in the Pacific Ocean may leave behind a biological marker in the ocean that is stored in the sediments of the ocean. Scientists observed a large phytoplankton (micro-organisms living suspended in the water) bloom following Cyclone Oma off the coast of Vanuatu. Cyclones form as the ocean surface heats up. The cyclone cools any area in its path by churning up the water and at times even drawing cold and nutrient rich waters up from the deep. The phytoplankton take the opportunity to feed on the nutrients and multiply. In nearshore environments, cyclones ejected large amounts of water over land masses resulting in significant run off of land-based nutrient that results in algal ...