Valuing a precious commodity – Water
Krystal Ganaselal – Information Officer/Public RelationsInstitute of Marine Affairs The water that exists today has been around for hundreds of millions of years, and the water you drank earlier, may perhaps have been the same water that quenched the thirst of dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago! Celebrated on 22nd March annually, World Water Day 2021 is themed ‘Valuing Water’ and asks people ‘What does water mean to you? How important is it in your home and environment?’ We are all dependent on this precious resource for daily tasks and use it for a variety of purposes. Having personally experienced the result of a harsh dry...
IMA donates Books to The UWI Alma Jordan Library
Lorraine Barrow - Librarian Institute of Marine Affairs On February 23, 2021, the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) presented The University of the West Indies (UWI) Alma Jordan Library with three copies of its most recent publication titled, Mangrove Forests of Trinidad and Tobago, reinforcing its commitment to public education and awareness. Unveiled at a virtual book launch on February 2nd 2021 to commemorate World Wetlands Day, the publication describes, inter alia, the various types of mangrove trees that are indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago with a comprehensive depiction of the geographical distribution of this wetland ecosystem in our twin-island republic. This book, which was written by...
IMA Presentation of Mangrove Forests of Trinidad and Tobago Books to NALIS
By Lorraine Barrow, LibrarianInstitute of Marine Affairs On February 23, 2021, the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) presented the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) with 162 copies of its most recent publication titled, Mangrove Forests of Trinidad and Tobago, reinforcing its commitment to public education and awareness. Unveiled at a virtual book launch on February 2nd 2021 to commemorate World Wetlands Day, the publication describes the various types of mangrove trees that are indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago with a comprehensive description of the geographical distribution of this wetland ecosystem in our twin-island republic. Written by the Director (Ag.) of the Institute of Marine...
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) and Tobago’s Coral Reefs
By Dr. Anjani Ganase, Coral Reef EcologistInstitute of Marine Affairs History of the SCTLD Disease Between 2014 and 2017 along the Florida Reef Tract, the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) spread over a 100 kilometers of reefs. As the disease spread to other locations, it left in its wake, high coral mortality among some of the most common and crucial species found on Caribbean reefs. Today, the spread is much wider with latest survey reports showing outbreaks of the SCTLD disease throughout the Great Antilles, along the Mesoamerican Barrier reef and with observations of SCTLD as far south as St Lucia. The direction of the...
The Ancient Gentle Giant – The Leatherback Turtle
The leatherback existed in their current form since the age of the dinosaurs and they are considered to be the largest, fastest and deepest-diving turtle in the world with a shell length (carapace) 4.5 to 5.5 feet, average weight of 1000 pounds, and they are named for their tough primarily black rubbery skin with pinkish white colouring on its underside....
The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development- Part II
This is the second of a seven-part series on the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. This decade, 2021- 2030, has been declared, ‘the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development’ by the United Nations. The Decade seeks to deliver ‘the science we need’ in order to transform ‘the ocean we have’ to ‘the ocean we want’. Part I of this series provided the rationale for the Decade, and the significance of this initiative for Trinidad and Tobago....