Ecological Assessment Marine Invasive Alien Species Trinidad and Tobago
Invasive Alien Species (IAS) have been recognized as a major threat to the fragile ecosystems of the Caribbean. Based on the complexity of this problem, a regional response, the “Mitigating the Threats IAS in the Insular Caribbean (MTIASIC)" Project has been developed, involving 11 international, seven regional and more than 25 national partners from five island nations in the Caribbean namely the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago....
Macrobenthic Baseline Survey Port Point Galeota Southeast Trinidad
The demand for increased capacity of marine transportation vessels, facilities, and infrastructure is a global trend that is expected to continue in the future. As coastal population and development continue to grow, there is a concomitant increase in the demand for water transportation services and recreational opportunities. It is important to note that coastal areas under high developmental pressure are often located adjacent to productive and sensitive aquatic environments (NOAA, 2008). ...
Benthic Composition Coral Reefs Tobago
The Institute Marine Affairs (IMA) has been monitoring permanent reef sites around Tobago over the last ten years to assess the spatial and temporal changes in coral reef health throughout Tobago, in order to advise on specific management efforts to curb biodiversity loss. The monitored reef sites cover a range of environmental conditions that may influence the level of coral degradation, the recovery ability of the reef, as well as changes in the community composition (Figure 1). Previous monitoring results have revealed significant declines in hard coral cover, mainly as a result of the 2010 regional coral bleaching event that impacted most monitoring sites...
Status of Coral Reef of Tobago 2020
Coral reefs provide an abundance of ecosystem services including but not limited to shoreline protection, food supply, and biodiversity. Reefs have a global asset value of 1 trillion USD (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2015). In a coastal valuation conducted for Tobago in 2006, coral reef fishing-related activities brought in 0.7 – 1.1 million USD for Tobago, while protecting about 50 % of Tobago’s coastline (Burke et al. 2008). The combined value of both direct and indirect coral reef-related tourism in Tobago measured between 101-130 million USD (Burke et al. 2008). Therefore, coral reef ecosystem services are critical to livelihoods, namely the tourism and fishing industries...