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....
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...
Wetland and Water
In Commemoration of World Wetland Day 2021 Prepared by Rahanna JumanInstitute of Marine Affairs We are in a growing water crisis that threatens people and our planet. Water use has increased six fold over the past century and is rising by about 1% a year. We use more water than nature can replenish, and are destroying the ecosystems that water and all our life depend on most- wetlands. Rincon Lagoon Water covers about 70% of our planet, so we think that it is plentiful. However, freshwater—the stuff we drink and irrigate our farms with—is incredibly rare. Only 3% of the world’s water is freshwater, and two-thirds of that...
UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020) and Our Oceans: Where are we?
In 2010, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared the period 2011-2020, as the UN Decade on Biodiversity to promote the implementation of a strategic plan on biodiversity, and its overall vision of living in harmony with nature. The goal was to mainstream and integrate biodiversity conservation in all sectoral plans and policies on a global scale. As we have come to the end of the Decade of Biodiversity, what does this mean for Trinidad and Tobago? It means that Legislative and Policy Reform is now imperative for the following: *Protection of critical fish nursery habitats *Restoration of degraded coastal areas *Conservation of marine ecosystems (coral...