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Tobago's coral reefs are being threatened by both global and local impacts. After the 2005 mass bleaching event in the Caribbean, these fragile ecosystems are now under attack from a variety of coral diseases and anthropogenic impacts, all of which are threatening the very existence of coral reefs in Tobago. It is essential to collect scientifically sound data on coastal habitats in order to develop effective management plans for the island's marine resources.
Dive tourism is an effective means of creating alternative livelihoods and just the presence of NGO’s and other business can really generate revenue for the local economy. We employ local staff in various positions within our company including Community Liaison Officers, Medical Officers, Boat Marshals, Site Maintenance Officers, Chefs and Compressor Mechanics.
All the accommodation we use is locally owned and food is sourced locally to plough money back into the economy. We use rainwater for many tasks around the expedition site e.g. cleaning and showering. We recycle glass and other material; use composting on expedition sites and recycle paper/plastics/cans at HO in London.
Successful projects in the past:
Environmental
- The Belize Barrier Reef as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1996)
- Built the Marine Research Centre - Turneffe Atoll Belize (1993)
- The Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve (Belize - 1995)
- The Southwater Cay Marine Reserve (1993)
- The Danjugan Island Marine Reserve and Sanctuaries (Philippines – 2000) Which went on to win ‘National Best Managed Reef Award’ in 2001
- Network of Marine Protected Areas proposed in Fiji
- Assessed the mass coral reef bleaching event in Tobago
- Damage assessment of the Mu Ko Surin Marine National Park in Thailand after the 2004 Tsunami
- To the same extent we have worked in Malaysia, Honduras, Mexico and St Vincent Community
Four community-managed Marine Protected Areas established in Southern Leyte – Philippines. Our project sites now have a community liaison officer whose activities are critical to the success of the expedition as they are able to act as interpreters and bridges any gaps that may exist between us and neighbouring local communities. They also carry out socio-economic survey of the region in order to further establish the main issues hindering the process of coastal resource management.
They work with local communities to better the understanding of our purpose, run environmental awareness workshops and increase the number of local scholars involved in the three local programmes were are currently running, which are:
- Level One: Reef-Ecosystem Management Award
- Level Two: Reef-Check SCUBA Award
- Level Three: Reef Conservation SCUBA Award - includes full board and lodging at the project base, full training (including PADI Open Water, PADI Advanced Open Water, Emergency First Response and Science Development Program training) and use of project equipment, Marine Project Equipment provided. Over the year we have enrolled 100’s of local scholars on our Conservation Scholarship Programme and recently in Tobago we completed the 2007/2008 Conservation Scholarship Programme that benefited 49 local Tobagonians.
General
- Co founded the FCO 'Know Before You Go Campaign - As cofounder of the FCO Know Before You Go Campaign, our volunteers are advised about local customs and how they should carry and conduct themselves when they are guests in another country.
- Founding Member of the Year Out Group
- We are working with BVCO and have started a new fuel-efficient and solar stove project in the coastal village of Ampasilava in southwest Madagascar. This project will be enabled by carbon-offset payments made by our staff and volunteers and has been running in 2008. This will be the first of a series of projects that we will enable through finance to mitigate the carbon emissions of staff and volunteer.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
