IMA

Over the years, the IMA has taken up its Caribbean mandate by its involvement in a number of regional projects which have contributed to the sustainable development of the coastal and marine areas of the insular Caribbean. Many of these projects have been initiated by either CARICOM or UNEP’s Caribbean Environment Programme.   CARICOMP is a regional scientific exercise which focuses on monitoring changes in land-sea interaction processes and providing appropriate scientific information for coastal resources managers of the Caribbean region. The work of the Program is centred on the productivity, structure and function of three coastal ecosystems: mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs.  The IMA has been part of this project since the early 1990s and collaboration is through the Environmental Quality Programme.   Another regional initiative is CFRAMP, the CARICOM Fisheries Resource Assessment and Management Program.  Under this Program, age and growth information for several commercial species was provided by participating CARICOM countries.  The IMA’s Fish Age and Growth Laboratory of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme was the point collaborator with CFRAMP.   Under the direction of Ms. Hazel McShine (2000-2005), the IMA expanded its Caribbean mandate to the Wider Caribbean Region through its designation as one of the two Regional Activity Centres (RAC) for the United Nations Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-based Sources and Activities in the Wider Caribbean Region (known as the LBS Protocol). As a Regional Activity Centre, the IMA assists UNEP in the implementation of the LBS Protocol.

From 1989 to 1996, the Institute was headed by Mr. Lennox Ballah, who was among those persons who had pioneered the concept of the IMA as a regional marine research organization. During his tenure as Director, Mr. Ballah was instrumental in having the organization restructured through Act 13 of 1990 which amended the original Act and replaced the two governing bodies, the Marine Affairs Council and Board of Management, with one body – a Board of Governors responsible for policy. Act 13 of 1990 made the Director and management staff responsible for the management of the day-to-day activities of the Institute. Additionally, the new legislation stressed the IMA’s Caribbean mandate and its ambit was both coastal and marine.

The conceptual and operational design was formulated by Dr. Cruz Matos who was the UNDP expert assigned to the project and the first Director of IMA (1976-1979).  The Institute was designed as a multi-functional facility which would be the advisory headquarters to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in marine affairs.