URGENT HELP NEEDED from all Tobago visitors
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:10 pm
In recent weeks a fishing boat from roxborough has been coming into Speyside and shark fishing off little Tobago. They are using long deep lines and targeting sharks. Unlike game fish such as Marlin, Tuna, Kingfish etc.. sharks are endangered and have a slow reproduction rate. This kind of targeted fishing is also indiscriminate, as sharks of all species, including endangered hammerheads and tiger sharks, of all ages, many too young to breed are being caught.
This is not the livelyhood of entire communities, nor is it the local fishermen of Speyside but one boat, just four individuals getting rich quick by plundering the waters around the Speyside reef, catching ten or more sharks each day everyday for several weeks to sell the shark meat in Trinidad.
This kind of action can lead very quickly to an environmental disaster, no sharks mean a dramatic change in smaller fish population who in turn eat out the coral reef.
Please help us get this practise stopped before it's too late, i urge you to send your protest or copy and paste the below message, add your name and any comments and email it to the Tourist development corporation, attention
Ms. Ethlyn John
Manager
Tourism Development Corporation
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Thankyou for your support
As a visitor to Tobago i am horrified to hear that sharks, including rare species such as hammerheads and tigersharks are being fished out from the reef area of Speyside. I had assumed that because Tobago is promoting itself as an eco-destination that this area was a protected marine national park and cannot believe this practise of shark fishing is permitted to go on, uncontrolled, in such a beautiful place.
I understand that is is not Local fishermen from Speyside who are shark fishing but a small group of four or five individuals from a nearby village who have come into this area and are fishing out large quantities of sharks on a daily basis.
Targeted shark fishing is indiscriminate and catches sharks of all species, including rare spieces and all ages including those which are not yet old enough to breed. Many countries around the world have already banned shark fishing in their waters.
Sharks are a very important part of the marine eco system. Without sharks the numbers of smaller fish will go unchecked and suddenly in as little as six months there can be an imbalance of species where by small reef fish reach massively high population levels. Small reef fish such as parrotfish, angelfish and damsells eat coral polyps and spongues, if there are no sharks to control their levels then they will eat out all the reef, leaving nothing but dead corals and dead reef. This would be a tragic loss to the island of Tobago. Not just the loss of foriegn currency revenue from the numbers of divers, snorkelers, glassbottom boat etc.. but for the children of Tobago who face losing their natural inheritance.
The reef in Speyside is probably some of the healthiest coral reefs in the whole of the Caribbean and deserves to be protected. Tobago had the foresight to proudly make its rainforrest a national park and boasts that Tobago has the oldest protected rainforrest in the western hemisphere, even banning hunting from March 1st to September 30th, but still nothing has been done to protect it’s marine life. Speyside is the jewel in the crown and is now facing a threat which could destroy it forever.
Please we humbley and politely ask that you consider an immediate ban on shark fishing in a zoned area around Speyside from St Giles in the north to Merchiston in the south and around the eastside of little tobago.
A positive action like this will not only help create a sustainable fishing industry outside of the zone but also will show the world you care about your environment and aim to protect and preserve your natural resourses making Tobago a truely eco destination and one to which many more divers and tourists will choose to visit.
This is not a time for sticking, procrastination and debate but a time for swift prudent possitive action. Action like this will show the whole world you care about your environment and stand to preserve and protect your natural heritage. You never miss the water till the well run dry.
This is not the livelyhood of entire communities, nor is it the local fishermen of Speyside but one boat, just four individuals getting rich quick by plundering the waters around the Speyside reef, catching ten or more sharks each day everyday for several weeks to sell the shark meat in Trinidad.
This kind of action can lead very quickly to an environmental disaster, no sharks mean a dramatic change in smaller fish population who in turn eat out the coral reef.
Please help us get this practise stopped before it's too late, i urge you to send your protest or copy and paste the below message, add your name and any comments and email it to the Tourist development corporation, attention
Ms. Ethlyn John
Manager
Tourism Development Corporation
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Thankyou for your support
As a visitor to Tobago i am horrified to hear that sharks, including rare species such as hammerheads and tigersharks are being fished out from the reef area of Speyside. I had assumed that because Tobago is promoting itself as an eco-destination that this area was a protected marine national park and cannot believe this practise of shark fishing is permitted to go on, uncontrolled, in such a beautiful place.
I understand that is is not Local fishermen from Speyside who are shark fishing but a small group of four or five individuals from a nearby village who have come into this area and are fishing out large quantities of sharks on a daily basis.
Targeted shark fishing is indiscriminate and catches sharks of all species, including rare spieces and all ages including those which are not yet old enough to breed. Many countries around the world have already banned shark fishing in their waters.
Sharks are a very important part of the marine eco system. Without sharks the numbers of smaller fish will go unchecked and suddenly in as little as six months there can be an imbalance of species where by small reef fish reach massively high population levels. Small reef fish such as parrotfish, angelfish and damsells eat coral polyps and spongues, if there are no sharks to control their levels then they will eat out all the reef, leaving nothing but dead corals and dead reef. This would be a tragic loss to the island of Tobago. Not just the loss of foriegn currency revenue from the numbers of divers, snorkelers, glassbottom boat etc.. but for the children of Tobago who face losing their natural inheritance.
The reef in Speyside is probably some of the healthiest coral reefs in the whole of the Caribbean and deserves to be protected. Tobago had the foresight to proudly make its rainforrest a national park and boasts that Tobago has the oldest protected rainforrest in the western hemisphere, even banning hunting from March 1st to September 30th, but still nothing has been done to protect it’s marine life. Speyside is the jewel in the crown and is now facing a threat which could destroy it forever.
Please we humbley and politely ask that you consider an immediate ban on shark fishing in a zoned area around Speyside from St Giles in the north to Merchiston in the south and around the eastside of little tobago.
A positive action like this will not only help create a sustainable fishing industry outside of the zone but also will show the world you care about your environment and aim to protect and preserve your natural resourses making Tobago a truely eco destination and one to which many more divers and tourists will choose to visit.
This is not a time for sticking, procrastination and debate but a time for swift prudent possitive action. Action like this will show the whole world you care about your environment and stand to preserve and protect your natural heritage. You never miss the water till the well run dry.
