International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 (IYAFA2022): SMALL IN SCALE, BUT BIG IN VALUE
“Our small actions can have big impacts, like a ripple effect.” Small-scale fishing and aquaculture can bring food to one family and provides healthy nutrition to millions more. It brings value to all. Small-scale fishers and farmers also know what it means to preserve the balance in our ecosystems. But our livelihoods are at risk, now more than ever, we need to be resilient, include us in decisions that affect us, and we will adapt and innovate with the changing tide. We may be small scale, but our way of life will make a difference, and keep on spreading like ripples in the water”. These...
Diversity: A Key to Reducing Vulnerability in the Fishing Industry
We are all familiar with the fisherman bringing in the day’s catch, selling his fish at the market or perhaps along the roadside. However, do you know there are many more roles performed in the fishing industry? The industry includes all the processes involved in getting the fish out of the water and on to our plates; the different types of boats, fishing gear and fishing methods, the various post harvesting processing methods and facilities, and the distribution and marketing channels of the fish and fishery products. The available roles identified along fisheries value chains can therefore be quite diverse. Disruptions along the various...
BUILDING OCEAN RESILIENCE
A healthy and resilient ocean is one that is readily able to return to a healthy state following disturbance events or even resist the impacts of the disturbance depending on its severity. For example, healthy mangrove forests can effectively reduce the damages of severe storm surge because the thick interconnected root systems stabilise the shore and reduce wave and wind forces. The same root systems create a well-protected refuge for nurseries. Real estate, homes and properties inland are protected by mangrove forests. When healthy forests are damaged, their density might still sustain the habitat and its hydrodynamics as well as provide for regrowth. Similarly,...
Welcoming the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030 – #GenerationRestoration
Celebrated annually on June 5th, WED is the United Nations’ flagship day for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. In keeping with this year’s theme of Ecosystem Restoration, today is also the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. Yes, you read correctly, a whole decade focusing on ecosystem restoration. Why, what does this mean, especially for the oceans, and how can we get involved?...
Fishing for Cutlassfish
Persons driving into Chaguaramas in December 2020 and January 2021 were greeted with the sight of numerous fishing vessels operating close to shore in the vicinity of Alcoa and in William’s Bay. Enquiries by any curious onlooker would have revealed that they were fishing for “cutlassfish” in the late evenings, nights and early mornings. I myself was intrigued by this activity having never seen so many vessels operating in that area. On one occasion, I counted as many as 80 pirogues. Since then, I have fielded numerous questions from both colleagues and the public about the particulars of this fishery and the role of...
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....
Marine Science Contributions to a Sustainable Future from our Female Scientists at the IMA
In an interview with the IMA, Ms. Alison Clausen of the Paris Office of the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), noted that the UN is creating a framework to galvanise global support for championing the health of our oceans. Ms. Clausen states that science has for decades documented the demise of our oceans but now the global scientific community must use science to provide solutions – and that scientific community includes women....
UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021–2030 Opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago
By Dr. Anjani Ganase, Coral Reef Ecologist Institute of Marine Affairs Our ocean is the foundation for life, the regulator of our climate and a major source of food, income and cultural significance. Yet, the first world assessment report (2016) of our oceans concluded that much of the world’s marine ecosystems have become degraded over the last fifty years owing to our poor management of the ocean ecosystems. In light of this, UNESCO has declared a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in 2021 – 2030 recognising the urgent need to curb and even reverse the considerable degradation that the ocean ecosystems have suffered as...
Mariculture in the Blue Economy: An ocean’s worth of potential for Trinidad and Tobago
Our oceans play a role bigger than most can imagine, from producing over 50% of the air we breathe, to regulating the earth’s climate. It is safe to say that life, as we know it on earth, would not be possible without our oceans. Human civilization has long relied on oceans for transport, trade, extractive resources and as a source of food. However, this reliance has led to environmental degradation and over exploitation of its resources....
The IMA’s Lionfish SeaiTT Mobile App: Marine Conservation in the Palm of Your Hand
by Krystal Ganaselal – Information Officer/Public Relations Citizens with an avid interest in environmental matters will be able to ‘sea’ their environmental reports using mobile technology. The first of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago, the Institute of Marine Affairs’ new Integrated Environmental Incident Software Platform and mobile application, called the Lionfish SeaiTT, allows users to report environmental incidents with the touch of a button. The development of this mobile application was part of a 2014 Green Fund project entitled ‘Control and Management of the Invasive Lionfish in Trinidad and Tobago’ which aimed to raise awareness on the arrival of the marine invasive species, the lionfish,...
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