Lead Editor–Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
As a child, Dr Anjani Ganase would accompany her grandfather on his boat to go fishing and sometimes snorkelling. It would be the start of a lifelong romance with the water. “Getting a mask and seeing what was underwater really opened my eyes, and I thought that was pretty amazing,” Ganase told WE magazine in an interview last week.
“As a child at eight years old, you want to just do that your whole life.”
She now works with the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) as a senior research officer with a focus on coral reefs. While some adore the ocean from its surface, Ganase reveres the ocean from its seabed.
“I think that’s sort of what I was going for: minimal time in the office and having a job that was essentially outdoors.” She loves her office at the bottom of the ocean and the attire that comes with it.
Having completed an undergraduate degree in marine biology at the Florida Institute of Technology, she assessed data for a reef in Japan, an Okinawan reef. Ganase recalled, “I think that’s when I realised this is really intriguing because there are very complex creatures. But also, they provide such an incredible habitat for a number of incredible marine life. I think that was the beginning.”
Her love for coral reefs and passion to study them would lead her to Australia–the Mecca of coral reefs. She would set out to work on an island called Heron Island in the middle of the southern Great Barrier Reef. According to UNESCO, the Great Barrier Reef contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish, and 4,000 types of mollusc.
For this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, “I was fortunate enough to be able to be part of a lab there and work on a master’s thesis project.”
However, after six years in Australia as a national scholarship awardee, Ganase would head home. It is here she would begin leaving her mark. The coral reefs of Tobago may not have the remarkable variety and beauty of the northeast coast of Australia, but they would provide Ganase with important work.
She said, “I think there was a bit of trepidation with coming back home and dealing with a system that lacks management and enforcement. But, when I first dived in Tobago after living abroad and working on reefs around the world, I was very pleasantly surprised at the marine life and the health that still existed despite the fact that we have very little management.”
In June, Ganase published a book, Coral Reefs of Trinidad and Tobago, building on the work done by the IMA’s first coral reef researcher, Richard Laydoo. Ganase explained, “The first version was a simple book, and I think there was a need to get all the research done on local coral reefs over the last 40 years out there. It makes sense to do an update of that book, especially as I was working at IMA.”
The book has spurred a lot of interest and engagement since being published and has received good reviews.
From working on the great coral reefs of Australia, Ganase found exploring local coral reefs gratifying. She added, “I think the more we explore our coral reefs, go to greater depths to discover mesophotic reefs or observe different dimensions of our marine ecosystems, it all contributes to building our knowledge base to improve management. But also, I do see it as my role to try and bring more people to join in on that research.”
However, working in the current environment is not always the easiest for those who would like to explore the seabed of the ocean. Ganase explained some of the challenges, saying, “I think it’s not prioritised. At the national level, the IMA gets a drop in the bucket in terms of funding support. Research always needs funding, but I think given that the marine environment of Trinidad and Tobago is 15 times the size of our combined landmass, it just makes sense that you invest more in terms of research and funding into understanding our ocean backyard.”
Ganase said this can lead to innovation and economic development and strategies for a sustainable blue economy.
She insisted, though, that those researching the deep sea must also get the help of both people and policies to help protect the marine environment. Ganase said, “I think there is a general lack of understanding of the importance of our coral reefs and our oceans, and I think that’s the reason why people aren’t prioritising their protection, and there’s no push to change behaviour.”
She went further in explaining, “Making people aware is easy. Changing people’s behaviour, I think that’s where I don’t know if I’ve succeeded at all. I feel that’s the big struggle: getting people to partner with government agencies, NGOs and at the community level for real change. I don’t know how effective I’ve been.”
