What is Overfishing?
Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through reproduction. There are different types of overfishing, such as growth overfishing, where young fish are caught before they reach their optimum marketable size or are allowed to reproduce before they are caught. Recruitment overfishing occurs when the reproduction rate of fish stocks is too low to replace loss from fish naturally dying or from being caught. This results from disproportionately large reproductive fish, mainly females being targeted. There is also economic overfishing when the revenue generated from increases in fishing efforts is less than the cost of this effort. Adverse impacts of...
Danger at the Beach: Five Facts to Know about Rip Currents!
The Institute of Marine Affairs is urging the public to exercise caution at the beach, especially over the long Easter weekend. During the month of April, beaches in Trinidad and Tobago experience heightened wave energy associated with the Northern Hemisphere winter, which increases the likelihood of strong nearshore currents that pose a threat to beachgoers. The month of April is also a preferred time for families with children and friends to visit the beach as children get a vacation break from school. Rip currents are powerful flows of water moving seawards that can easily drag unsuspecting bathers out to sea, these dangerous currents are often...
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...
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