Creating a road map to develop protected area management plans

Management plans are critical to ensure effective management of protected areas. They help to define the overall vision and goals and identify the roles of different stakeholders and the resources needed for management.  

The Caribbean Natural Resource Institute (CANARI) has begun work to create a road map outlining a participatory process for the development of protected area management plans and to build the capacity of stakeholders to engage in this process. This work will support the development of management plans for six pilot protected areas under the Improving Forest and Protected Area Management in Trinidad and Tobago project.

Learn more about the objectives and benefits of the road map as described on CANARI’s website: http://www.canari.org/fao-tt-pa-roadmap

BRUV surveys yield information on sharks and rays

Typically under-represented by scuba-led surveys, sharks and rays are a conservation priority given their simultaneous ecological and economic value as a living resource. During October 2016 the Environmental Research Institute Charlotteville (www.eric-tobago.org) conducted a series of baited remote underwater video surveys in northeast Tobago to gather data on species and relative abundance of sharks and rays.

Above: Caribbean reef shark recorded on a BRUV (c) ERIC

This data is intended to complement the data gathered by scuba-led underwater visual census of coral reef communities conducted by the University of the West Indies, in order to provide a holistic assessment of the coral reef resources of northeast Tobago and inform emerging conservation management measures under the national IFPAM project.

The Environmental Research Institute Charlotteville has collaborated with Global FinPrint (www.globalfinprint.org) since early 2016 to conduct BRUV surveys of shark and ray populations throughout Tobago, and to contribute to improved conservation management of these keystone species on local, regional and international scales. In order to maximise the awareness and outreach of this project in Tobago, surveys have at various times engaged as participants and observers, members of the ERIC community based field technician team as well as a number of Fisheries Officers.

Read more about the survey at this link.