Coral Bleaching Outlook for Trinidad and Tobago
August 22nd 2019 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch have released the latest coral bleaching outlook for the next four months (August to November) for the Caribbean region. (https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/vs/gauges/trinidad_tobago.php). According to this, Trinidad and Tobago’s, coral bleaching stress gauge is currently at “Watch Level.” This means that the waters around Tobago are above average sea surface temperature (SST) for this time of year. NOAA predicts that over the next 5 - 8 weeks, Tobago and the rest of the Lesser Antilles have a 60 % chance of reaching “Bleaching Alert Level One,” (high likelihood of coral bleaching), while the outlook for next 9 – 12 weeks indicates a 60 % chance of...
6th Community Research Symposium
Fishing communities across the length and breadth of our nation are facing a number of challenges that take many forms – from coastal development limiting access to the shoreline, conflicts with other resource users, pollution from land-based runoff, oil spills, to overexploitation of resources. According to Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Development, Ms. Joanne Deoraj, these challenges adversely place our local coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs at risk while rendering fish and other seafood unfit to eat, and impacting livelihoods. Delivering the feature address at the Institute of Marine Affairs’ (IMA) 6th Community Symposium, which...