Although the waters surrounding Trinidad and Tobago have been heavily impacted by pollution from the oil and gas industry and tonnes of plastic waste, the damage done to the marine life and ecosystem is not irreversible.
This according to deputy director of the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA), Dr Rahanna Juman.
Speaking at the IMA’s Beyond the Blue exhibition at the Nalis Library in Port-of-Spain, Juman said the IMA hopes the three-day interactive exhibit will go a long way in educating citizens about the dangers of pollution and teaching them the importance of the conservation of marine life.
“The intention is to educate on the ocean and the value of the ocean, why is it so important, what does it provide to us and the state of the ocean-the state of the ocean is how we treat with it and the whole point of this is for us to behave differently and so we can have an appreciation for the environment and we could use the space sustainably—the intent is that the ocean can continue providing us with the goods and services we require without us completely degrading it,” Juman said.
She said within T&T’s territory, there is 15 times more sea space than land space. With major oil and gas operations taking place in that sea space, there has been a lot of issues with pollution over the years. Juman said land-based pollution is also a major issue.
Asked to rate the condition of the ocean on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst possible state, Juman said, “I think its a six, it is bad but it is not bad enough that we cannot do anything about it, it is still manageable and if we do the right thing, we can reduce the pollution.”
The exhibit, which includes several interactive displays and a virtual reality tour of Tobago’s coral reefs, will wrap up on Thursday with a public lecture on plastic pollution and its impact on the marine ecosystem at the Library.
“We tried to create live images of the coral reefs because most people who can’t scuba dive wouldn’t be able to see the coral reefs so we have these goggles where you can have that underwater coral reef experience, we really want people to have an appreciation and an awareness of their environment because we think if they do, they would help to manage it and remove some of the impacts,” Juman said.