A strange phenomenon occurred in the Caribbean in 2011 … · 2019. 11. 9. · ET News 1 Articles 7 Ecology Notes 14 Book Review 15 Community Announcements 19 What’s Happening @

En viron men t TO BAGO n ewsl etter

A strange phenomenon occurred in the Caribbean in 2011 Bertrand Bhikarry

Environment TOBAGO

E nvironment TOBA-

GO (ET) is a non-government, non-profit, vol-unteer organisation , not

subsidized by any one group, corporation or government

body.

Founded in 1995, ET is a proactive advocacy group that campaigns against negative environmental activities

throughout Tobago. We achieve this through a variety of community and environ-

mental outreach programmes.

Environment TOBAGO is funded mainly through grants

and membership fees. These funds go back into implement-ing our projects. We are

grateful to all our sponsors over the years and thank

them for their continued

support

W hat’s inside

ET News 1

Articles 7

Ecology Notes 14

Book Review 15

Community

Announcements 19

What’s Happening @ ET 20

Notes to contributors 22

March 2015 Environment TOBAGO

A strange phenomenon occurred in the Caribbean in 2011. A massive tide of

sargassum, brown invasive algae, washed on to the shores of the region’s popular beach-

es. A similar event is occurring today. Tourism officials are disgruntled by the masses of

smelly brown seaweed that are inundating coastlines. Although seaweed is normally

seen as a nuisance for local residents and travelers, it does offer some ecological bene-

fits. Plus, sargassum is only temporary and it’s fairly unpredictable, so don’t let its pres-

ence in the Caribbean affect your travel plans. Here’s what you need to know about

sargassum in the Caribbean. The algae originates in the Sar-

gasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean around

Bermuda. The Atlantic is home to two

species (S. natans and S. fluitans) which

reproduce vegetatively and travel on the

ocean’s surface. These two species are

also found throughout the Caribbean

and the Gulf of Mexico, transported by

the Gulf Stream. An explanation for the sudden

invasion of tons of algae on Caribbean

shores is changing weather patterns and

creating warmer temperatures in the

region. According to one marine biolo-

gist, cooler autumn weather traditionally slows the algae’s growth, plus changes ocean

circulation patterns, water temperature and nutrient systems and “typically keep the

weed at sea.” As the sea temperature increases, sargasssum is more likely to make its

way to the shores of Caribbean beaches’ Inhabits all the world’s oceans except the Arctic. Sargassum can be found float-

ing on the surface of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, but you will not see the

brown algae in the world’s most southern body of water. Sargassum has healing powers. The brown algae has been used in traditional

Chinese medicine since the eighth century. Sargassum seaweed is a source of iodine

used to treat goiters, thyroid disorders, and as a diuretic. It also treats pain from hernias

and swollen testes. In Tobago, the government has been encouraging farmers to use it as fertilizer.

Sargassum is full of nutrients and carbon, making it an excellent natural manure for farm-

Sargasso Sea

March 2015

Editor:

Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal

Assistant Editor:

Christopher K. Starr

Design & Layout:

Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal

Technical Support:

Jerome Ramsoondar

Enid Nobbee

Contributors:

Bertrand Bhikarry

Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal

Christopher K. Starr

Photographs:

Matt Kelly

Environment

TOBAGO

Wikipedia.com

Board of Directors

2012-2014

President::

Patricia Turpin

Vice-President:

Bertrand Bhikkary

Secretary:

Wendy Austin

Treasurer:

Shirley McKenna

Other Directors:

William Trim

Hugh Baker

Fitzherbert Phillips

Renee Gift

Andy Roberts

Darren Henry

Ken Biscombe

Nathaniel Licorish

Page 2 Environment TOBAGO newsletter

ers in the region. Sargassum is also an excellent fertilizer for worn beaches. When sar-

gassum is traveling in the ocean, it acts as both a shelter and food source for turtle

hatchlings who are not strong swimmers yet. Green sea turtles will eat large amounts of

sargassum throughout their lifetimes. Besides sea turtles, this floating habitat provides

food, refuge and breeding grounds for an array of other sea life including crabs, shrimp,

mahi mahi, jacks, and amberjacks Sargassum protects the beachfront. The algae serves as buffer on the beach by

reducing wave and wind erosion. It also protects the sand in dunes, making them more

resilient. Less erosion means more sand on the beaches to structurally support beach-

front properties and for people to play in. When the sargassum and all of the organisms living within the masses of sea-

weed wash ashore, it provides food for pelagic seabirds and pelicans When sargassum sinks, berry-like gas-filled structures, called pneumatocysts,

make up the plant. These “berries,” which

are filled mostly with oxygen, cause the

algae to float. When sargassum loses its

buoyancy, it sinks to the seafloor, provid-

ing energy in the form of carbon and also

food sources to fishes and invertebrates

in the deep sea.

Many are wondering if the inva-

sion of sargassum in the Caribbean will be

a cyclical occurrence. Marine biologists

note that as weather patterns, tempera-

tures and wind speeds change within the

Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, sar-

gassum can be expected. Biologists are

working hard to understand the source

and patterns.

Dog rolling on a large mat of sargassum

Our ET Board of Directors hard at work at our monthly meetings


What ET has been up to

World Wetlands Day 2015

“A Cultural Extravaganza” Presented by the Division of agriculture, marine affairs,

marketing and the environment. Held at the Buccoo Integrated Facility on Thursday

26th February.

“ To many p eopl e these tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut scenic hike. Bu t they a re not jus t a no the r tall m oun tain to climb . ”


What ET has been up to (cont’d)

World Wetlands Day Fieldtrips


Birds of Tobago

Photos by Matt Kelly

Top row (left to right): Blue-crowned Motmot and Black-bellied Plover

Middle row (left to right): Black-crowned Night Heron and Black-headed Gull Bottom row (left to right): Cocoi Heron and Black-throated Mango Hummingbird


Birds of Tobago (cont’d)

1st row (left to right): Juvenile Blue Heron

(left) with a Western Reef Heron (right) and

Perigrine Falcon 2nd row (left to right): Common Potoo and

Golden Olive Woodpecker 3rd row (left to right): Great Black Hawk and

Red-legged Honeycreeper 4th row (left to right): Collard Trogon


What’s really going down at the Bon Accord Lagoon?

Bertrand Bhikarry

Earlier this week, the top brass of the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA)

Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs, Marketing and the Environment (DAMME),

along with an erstwhile landowner from Gaskin Bay Road South, attempted to con-

vince island stakeholders that Bon Accord Lagoon needs a command centre, a physi-

cal base to ‘take control’ of certain misbehaviours that occurs there. This is indeed a commendable venture on the part of the DAMME, as it aris-

es out of another three year slumber. But shouldn’t the THA be dusting off those

park management proposals passed to them by the Institute of Marine Affairs over

ten years ago? Surely, given the enlightened times, it is advisable for island bosses to

proceed as good sense dictates, rather than to risk public funds to benefit a few hasty

souls, a somnolent (some say defunct) non-governmental organisation (NGO) and

Lord knows which private interests. Obviously, there is room here for caution as the

THA proceeds to develop the area around the lagoon, and it is in this light that this

commentary was written. However, clarification is necessary before the critiquing can proceed. First,

let’s examine the geography of the situation. The marine restricted area includes eve-

rything inside a five-sided block: It begins at the Pigeon Point Park entrance (just past

the cluster of shops after the Conrado Hotel) to about a mile north out to sea

(where there was once a light), to another point east of there (where there was also

another light), then back to land just passing the ‘Graveyard’ (west of Buccoo Village).

Its landward limits are a swathe of mangrove, about 198 feet (or three chains) wide.

Everything within this area has been under consideration for some time now to be-

come the Buccoo Marine Park and all defaults to THA control. Bear in mind though,

the ultimate authority is really the Minister of any Ministry back in Port of Spain with

the ‘Environment’ portfolio. Historically, the fact that the geography is in Tobago and

the political controls are in Trinidad means that nothing has worked to the benefit of

the reserve. Ministers of Environment have largely kept away, probably in deference

to the Tobago House of Assembly. Conversely, the Assembly never really saw it fit

to get their hands dirty in the reef and the surrounding mangroves. This was proba-

bly because Buccoo’s role as a food source and food chain protector or its potential

to boost tourism weren’t priorities. That is until this year. 2015 has thrown up quite a few surprises for Trinidad and Tobago. The most

painful though is the low oil price and its concomitant effect on the T&T economy.

Consequently, Tobago - read this as the House of Assembly- has finally woken up to

the fact that it has to produce something if it is to have money to spend. However,

barring stepping up its productivity, a mindset which has never been the island’s sell-

ing point, the only thing left for the THA to do is to secure the island’s assets, among

which the much maligned marine park now ranks quite high. The problem for the

Assembly is it is faced with a Division not adequately endowed to manage such an

endeavour. ‘Fisheries’, as the one’s directly in charge of the reserve, has never invest-

ed properly in hardware or in human resources. The THA may argue otherwise, cit-

ing possession of its vast range of scuba gear (in a container lying at the back of Buc-

coo Village) and the readiness of a reef patrol fleet, which, as all poachers know, is

terribly undermanned – when they are actually shipshape. The thing is, the written

ARTICLES

“The Order states

clearly that all

works to jetties

must be subject to

a comprehensive

E n v i r o n m e n t a l

Impact Assess-

ment (EIA).”

“ To many p eopl e these tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut scenic hike. Bu t they a re not jus t a no the r tall m oun tain to climb . ”


reports are at considerable variance with the eyeball view, which is probably why the

THA now finds it germane to consider another facility, a new outpost from which to

‘take control’ of activities at the park. Sadly, as regards the public purse, it is looking at

acquiring a piece of property that wouldn’t really address the endemic management

problems of the Fisheries Division. The land, close to the slipway built by Mr. Ralph Gibson (RIP) was once ear-

marked as a gift from CLICO to a Tobago-based environmental NGO whose best

work is well documented – a long time ago. The validity of the organisation as a civil

society group may require some explanation, given its (extremely) short membership

listing. An ethical issue probably looms here, but there’ll be other questions to answer

should ‘purchase’ proceed. From their close association on the public stage, the THA

seems especially keen to involve that same NGO in the transaction, although the title

for the property apparently resides elsewhere. Probably with the State, since the CLI-

CO group went belly up under Lawrence Duprey in 2009. The legality of the THA sending good cash to the bottomless pockets of a

dead conglomerate, whose assets were garnished by Government, is an iffy prospect

to say the least. That it may, instead, pay another party who does not, have, hold, or

was merely promised title is malfeasance beyond imagination - although in this coun-

try, probably not without precedent. That it promises to emasculate the Fisheries Di-

vision’s mandate for which there is already a substantive team in place, even a park

manager on payroll, is another consideration entirely. As such, questions are begging

for answers. Will the building of a facility touted for the mangrove belt not represent

a negative factor for the preservation of a functional ecology around Bon Accord La-

goon? Will ad-hoc steps to ‘protect users’ at Gibson Jetty not make a mockery out of

the Restricted Areas Order? The Order states clearly that all works to jetties must be

subject to a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). But surprise, sur-

prise, the tone of certain people - and these include the odd environmentalist turned

politician - implies that an EIA will merely suffocate, slow or shutdown what ought to

happen down at the lagoon. Odds are that no one, not the THA, not the would-be

beneficiaries of any transactions that may occur done there, realises that a properly

commissioned and duly executed EIA will work to the benefit for all concerned. This

includes people, nature and economy. C’mon guys, let’s do it right for once. The

stakes are too high this time for tomfoolery.

Water’s role in sustainable development

Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal

Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies

This weekend will be a double celebration in terms of highlighting aspects of

the environment. Marking both International Day of Forests and World Water Day.

But both celebrations and their themes for this year cannot be fully covered in a single

article, so this week’s article will focus on World Water Day and next week’s article

will focus on the International Day of Forests. The observance of World Water Day started in 1993. It was formally pro-

posed in Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Develop-

ment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Agenda 21 is a voluntarily implemented, non-

binding action plan of the United Nations regarding sustainable development. One of


the main practises for the day is that the public is encouraged not to use their taps

for the day. This year’s World Water Day theme is “Water and Sustainable Develop-

ment” and highlights issues that affect our planet’s supply of freshwater. The theme

for each year’s celebration is decided and the World Water Week held the previous

year. This theme is unique in that it allows one not only to focus on the role water

plays in sustainable development, but builds on previous World Water Day themes. The most natural connection between water and sustainable development is

the use of water is the generation of electricity. Water is used to generate electricity,

both in terms of its flow (hydroelectric power), or it is heated and the steam pro-

duced used to turn turbines to produce electricity. However, if more attention is

placed on using saltwater or wastewater for producing energy. But water is not

needed solely for heating, but for cooling the machinery as well. Although water is

viewed as a source of alternative energy, to cut down our use of fossil fuels. They are

needed to pump this water into the power plants to generate electricity. Other

methods such as, dry-cooling or closed-loop cooling technologies are highly efficient. But in terms of sustainable development the role water plays is much more

diverse than we thought. Another major demand for freshwater comes from indus-

tries. Every product manufactured requires water in some part of its production pro-

cess. However, some products are more water intense than other for example, it

takes ten litres of water to produce a single sheet of paper. While 91 litres of water

is used to produce half a kilogram of plastic. The demand for water in industries is

always increasing and for the period 2000 to 2050 a 400% increase in demand is pro-

jected. Water is also required in industries to cool machinery. However most of the

increase in industries will take place in developing countries. This is where both large

and small scale businesses need to monitor their water use. Wastewater also needs

to be monitored in terms of the toxins they can contain before they are released and

where it is released. Since, if not attended to, one is actually poisoning the existing

supply of freshwater both in surface watercourses and underground aquifers. The role of water in food production is not to be ignored or taken lightly.

When we think of water and our food, I am sure that first image that comes to mind

is a salad, since once it needs to be irrigated it can affect our supply of freshwater.

But water is needed in meat and dairy production, in that water is needed to irrigate

the grass needed as food for livestock. Also as economies grow, diets change from

being starch-based to incorporating more meat and dairy. But if we were to look at

our diet and critically examine our water use in preparing our meals we would real-

ised how water was used in irrigating the produce, washing it and cooking it, includ-

ing the vegetables, meat, seasonings, sauces and fruit since water was used to pro-

duce each ingredient. The use of water for food production increases as our global

population grows. Inefficient use of water can lead to depletion of freshwater sources

like rivers, aquifers. The lack of water in watercourses could cause saltwater to flow

higher into these watercourses. Therefore the volume of freshwater affects the flow

of watercourses and changing salinity affects the habitat and conditions for aquatic

plants and animals. This leads to the point that water is also a habitat for aquatic plants and ani-

mals. The conditions needed by these organisms are quite variable and the combina-

tion that is optimal for one species is not for another. So that changes in the water

content caused by pollution or if the amount of water is reduced by overuse, this in

turn can affect the composition of species found in the area with some becoming lo-

cally extinct. Therefore it affects aquatic biodiversity as well as terrestrial animals that

depend on these organisms for food, or on aquatic habitats for some stage in their

“91 litres of water

is used to produce

half a kilogram of

plastic.”


life cycle. But water is necessary for human health in that it is needed to hydrate the

body and for the carrying out of vital metabolic processes. Water is needed for

drinking, cooking, cleaning and personal hygiene for instance, hand-washing so that

germs do not enter our bodies when we eat, or rub our eyes if they itch. According to the United Nations, one in every two people live in a city and

it is estimated that by the year 2050, 2.5 billion people will move occupy cities,

with the largest growth taking place in Nigeria, China and India. However, such

high concentrations of persons need to be supplied with freshwater, for health rea-

sons. But, many cities have not updated the infrastructure that delivers freshwater

to these areas and remove wastewater such as pipes. As a results, more water is

wasted than the amount delivered. But this is not a message to encourage people to hoard water or not use it

but to use freshwater in a more sustainable manner so that it will last in for future

generations.

Navigating our sea of waste

Bertrand Bhikarry

Over a period of five months ending this February, Environment Tobago

arranged for the collection of discarded beverage containers from the coastal

zone.

The material,

approximately 2000 bags

of plastic, aluminium,

glass and waxed paper-

board was shipped back

to Trinidad for central

government to deter-

mine its fate. This is well

and good for Tobago in

the short-term, but what

of the daily stream of

assorted plastics,

Styrofoam, rubber paper

and organic waste that continue to pollute the island? Must volunteer groups like

Environment Tobago lead the way, always taking the dirty end of the stick as it

were? This should not be. Tobago is blessed with a population of close to 60,000

people, many of whom are securely ensconced in the public workforce. Hopefully,

if they get their act going, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will never again

have to suffer the pain, the embarrassment, of watching a small civil society run

rings around the public sector. This more so given Tobago’s ambitious drive to

handle its own ‘stories’. Speaking frankly though, if the rhetoric from the THA for

effective waste management has been upbeat in the past, the ‘actioning’ of those

promises fall short of the mark in the present.

Maybe it’s a culture thing, but the THA and by extension your average

Garbage collected by Environment TOBAGO project

“Tobago is blessed

with a population

of close to

60,000.”


Tobagonian has never seemed comfortable handling waste. At the street level, this is

manifest every time a ‘bess dress’ Tobagonian tosses a food box in the near gully

drain or alley. From observation, they do this as a matter of routine: It does not

matter if it’s a little old lady pecking a snackbox after church, or construction or util-

ity workers having lunch on the road, or even rude boys pigging out after the party.

To give charity where its due though, not long ago, the THA made public a new

move to responsibly address municipal solid waste. The press reports spoke of a

consultancy which early in the game, has already pigeonholed Tobago’s waste solu-

tions as something best solved by plasma-fired incineration.

It would be a waste of this space to describe the technology behind conver-

sion of garbage into gas, the internet provides ample reading on PAG, plasma con-

verters and electrical gasifiers. Certainly its more useful at this stage - since neither

the consultant nor THA has yet submitted anything for public comment, to open a

discussion on the logic of deploying PAG in a country where fossil-based fuel-

derived energy defies the global norm. This is because gas in T&T is abundant, priced

competitively, and the present upstream sector looks very set to stick around -

probably due in large part to the enticements the Ministry of Energy affords large

energy investors. It behoves anyone thinking of a PAG plant in Tobago therefore,

like the THA, to factor in the low cost energy that Trinidad produces so easily. Af-

ter all, the underlying rationale for plasma gasification in the first place would be to

create energy efficiencies and lower the incidence of greenhouse gas from economic

activity. Further and underlying any such initiative would be the need for the com-

missioning party (even if it were THA) to make sure some dollars are generated.

There will be problems on the ground. Skilled labour in Tobago is prohibi-

tively dear or nearly impossible to find, according to local business interests. Conse-

quently, installing a plasma arc gasification system here will require considerable

more effort than if it were in San Fernando, where workers are exposed to cutting

edge power generation technologies for generations. Tobago, a largely agrarian com-

munity can not dare boast of such exposure, nor can it develop such capacity over-

night. Among the other problematic considerations is the arithmetic. A plasma plant

does not work on known or static equations. Cursory research shows a medium

PAG plant will require about 35 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) to

make electricity to run twenty-eight modern homes daily. This volume is actually

quite close to what Studley Park collects each day. Keeping to the idea of a central

plant, 100 % of Tobago’s garbage could (in theory) disappear and .8 megawatt of en-

ergy benefits will accrue on top of the vapour. Yet how could anyone ever justify a

US$9m - using figures based on same-sized deployments in Florida, to provide clean

electricity for only 28 families. What about fulfilling demand when those homesteads

need more juice? What about the rest of the population? Will they remain on the

conventional grid, forced to pollute the atmosphere with electricity derived from

fossil-based fuels? Will Tobago be forced to import MSW? The last is not actually a

bad idea, Norway is doing it. Perhaps it may be a better idea to deploy smaller plas-

ma gasification units for the different villages but then again who will maintain them.

Tobago has trouble keeping even its shovels or forks in good repair.

The global drive to responsible tourism (and aggressive environmental

NGOs) may be what’s putting pressure to manage waste well, but Tobago does not

need to break ground and buy into PAG unthinkingly. Something which would satisfy

both the tourism and health sectors is deploying PAG to process medical waste.

This is an ideal application for smaller units as the high temperatures PAG obtains

obliterate all possible contaminants. For anything bigger though, Tobago may do bet-

“At the street lev-

el, this is manifest

every time a ‘bess

dress’ Tobagonian

tosses a food box

in the near gully

drain or alley.”


ter to simply wait and see.

Moving away from PAG, here’s another suggestion. The THA could consid-

er a more normal type of waste reducing mechanism; such as a mass burner of gas

fired incinerator suitably outfitted to reduce toxic emissions. It could even make

money off of the National Gas Company by disposing of the condensate collected

at Cove. Even if they don’t feel comfortable with the idea now, there’s something

Tobagonians need to keep in mind. Bespoke advice or not, Tobago can never justi-

fy spending millions of dollar on PAG or any other similar high tech waste reduc-

tion plan unless people here are willing to pay for the privilege of going green. Then

again, they might. Tobagonians hate rubbish, they toss it out everyday.

Putting an end to wildlife crime

Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal

Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies

To many, the purpose of preserving wildlife is for their aesthetic value in

that they are beautiful and unique organisms and we will want them around so

that our children and future generations will see them alive and not as taxi-

dermied corpses in museums or only in photos in books. But wildlife also contrib-

utes to the scientific, ecological, educational, cultural, recreational, social and eco-

nomic aspects of the well-being of humans and sustainable development of our

environment. The 5th of March was the second World Wildlife Day, and this year

marks the second time that world Wildlife Day will be celebrated after being de-

clared on the 20th December 2013 at the 68th session of the UN General Assem-

bly. The date commemorates the day the Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) back in 1973. The purpose

of this convention is that international trade should not jeopardize or threaten the

survival of species. Basically what is now known as “wildlife crime.” Every year as

is common with United Nations celebrations there is a theme that highlights a

certain environmental problem. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Wildlife

crime is serious; let’s get serious about wildlife crime.” So why has it taken so long

to recognize this problem? Wildlife crime differs from country to country but the United Kingdom’s

definition is one of the most concise where it is considered any action which con-

travenes current legislation governing the protection of the country’s wild animals

and plants. Wildlife crime is regarded as the world’s fifth most profitable illegal

trade falling behind; counterfeiting, drugs, guns and human trafficking. In terms of

being a threat to the survival of species, it only ranks behind habitat destruction. It

is regarded as “one of the largest transnational organized criminal activities in the

world.” In 2013, 20,000 African elephants were killed and in 2014, 1,215 rhinos

were poached. Wildlife crime is not only deadly to the organisms they steal but to

those who protect them and in the past 10 years 1,000 rangers have lost their

lives. Before going on any further it must be made clear that wildlife does not

solely refer to animals but also includes plants. Actions that are considered wildlife

crime is poaching of large animals like deer and aquatic animals such as fish. There-

“Many wildlife

species are taken

for their use as

food, medicine,

clothing and ac-

cessories, cosmet-

ics and plants as

building materials

and furniture.”


fore wildlife crime is not restricted to terrestrial ecosystems but can occur in aquat-

ic ones as well. Persecution of animals is also considered a wildlife crime. Some ani-

mals that are frequently persecuted are bats and birds. Persecution of such animals

includes disturbing their roosts and nests, trapping, shooting, poisoning or theft of

offspring. The theft or collection of eggs of certain species is also considered a wild-

life crime. Trade in the entire organism or body parts such as horns of elephants or

rhinos, shells of tortoises, even caviar; recall that these are fish eggs. Therefore if the

eggs are continuously collected and some are not allowed to develop, the species

will go extinct. In some countries, the non-registration of certain animals and birds

are required if they are to be kept in captivity or sold. But bear in mind that differ-

ent countries will have different laws governing wildlife crimes. The targets of wildlife criminals are biological hot spots, which are typically

the Neotropical regions such as Asia, Africa as well as the Caribbean. In the Carib-

bean we will feel the effects of wildlife crime more readily due to the small size of

our islands and in turn the small areas of natural ecosystems found there. Also many

of the islands in the Caribbean Archipelago were formed through volcanic activity so

that their isolation from large land masses they enjoy a high level of endemism. Also

many islands are dependent on ecotourism as a major source of income for their

economy and supports the livelihood of many people. It is this section touted as the saviours of biodiversity may lead to their

downfall. As mentioned earlier ecotourism is quite a large industry, however, wildlife

criminals may pose as tourists to gain information and access to these animals and

plants. Ecotourism is so popular in some areas that there are simply too any tourists

and guides in a nature reserve at a time leading to difficulty in keeping track of their

whereabouts. Based on this wildlife criminals can be placed into three categories; 1)

the person who only commits a wildlife crime once in their lifetime; 2) the tourist

who habitually commits wildlife crime and 3) those that commit scientific crime. One of the major effects of wildlife crime is its ability to degrade ecosys-

tems. We need to keep in mind that al organisms play an important part in the eco-

system they are found in. In most cases those species targeted for wildlife trade are

major predators whose role is population control of the prey species, such as lions

and gazelles respectively. However, poachers will move on to another species if

their supply of one species is depleted. Although one major predator species is re-

moved others remain. However eventually the numbers of prey species will be too

much for the remaining species to handle. Gazelles are grazers, so without keeping

their numbers in check they could in extreme circumstances graze to the point that

the soil has little vegetation to hold it together against erosion. Also with so many

hooves, the rate of soil compaction increases, making it difficult for plants to send

out their roots. Also the pores in the soil that contain water and air are gone. Many wildlife species are taken for their use as food, medicine, clothing and

accessories, cosmetics and plants as building materials and furniture. It is estimated

that 30% of the global timber trade is illegal, causing deforestation in tropical areas

contributing to 10 to 15% of global emissions. One of the major tools in fighting wildlife crime is legislation. However for it

to be successful, laws needs to be widely understood, as well as accepted and be

practical to apply. There is also a call for wildlife crime to be deemed “serious

crime.” Another major weapon against this type of crime is consumerism. We have

the power to refuse to buy products that have been obtained illegally or manufac-

tured using animals and plants that have been illegally obtained. This goes for busi-

nesses and the individual consumer. Many of these products are stolen due to mysti-

“Wildlife crime is

not only deadly to

the organisms

they steal but to

those who protect

them and in the

past 10 years

1,000 rangers have

lost their lives.”


cal beliefs such as, rhino horns which are thought to be a panacea to cure every-

thing from acne to cancer. In this case educating the public on these myths will

strike a great blow in the demand for these products. One thing that almost everyone has these days is a smart phone or a simi-

lar portable device like a laptop or tablet. Therefore one of the solutions in com-

batting wildlife crime is the use of technology. As a result some new apps have

been developed to combat this atrocity. One app is called “Wildlife Guardian”

which is used in China and is based on picture identification. So there is a database

of 475 species highlighting the body parts that are targeted by poachers and illegal

trade. This app is beneficial in that it does not require an internet connection, so

you can use them in the middle of the forest. The United States Department of

Defense is developing a similar app for military police since military personnel un-

wittingly bring in such goods as souvenirs from their travels, without knowing their

potential criminal origins. So with all these tools at our disposal, let us do our part to put an end to

wildlife crime.

ECOLOGY NOTES

Population growth curves

Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal

Dept of Life Sciences, university of the West Indies

A major environmental concern is increasing global human population. It is

estimated that the resources contained on this planet can support an estimated

population of 10 billion. There are currently at just over seven billion humans. But

is there enough resources to support all of the species on this planet. How do

you determine how much of a resource is enough to support a population? There

is a special subfield of ecology that deals with populations and is aptly names popu-

lation ecology. One of the principles in this field is survivorship curves. A diagram of

these curves looks boring and

difficult to interpret but they are

quite easy. There are three survi-

vorship curves; Type I, Type II

and Type III. Type I curves are

exhibited by individuals that have

a high survival rate from you to

middle age, with most individuals

dying when they reach old age.

Humans exhibit this type of sur-

vivorship curve. In Type II curves

the age of the individual does not

influence when it dies. In other

words, an individual has an equal

chance of dying when it is young

or when it is old. Organisms that Survivorship curves Photo: Wikipedia

“But if popula-

tions are not regu-

lated the balance

of the ecosystems

is thrown out of

sync.”


exhibit Type II curves include small birds and mammals. This is because these organ-

isms can be killed by a predator at any age. Organisms that exhibit Type III curves

have a high rate of mortality during their youth, but a much higher rate when it gets

older. Plants and animals such as oysters with low mobility usually exhibit a Type III

curve. Plants may be immobile but their seeds are not and can travel very far from

the parent plant via wind, water or hitch a ride either on or in animals, however

they have no choice in where they are deposited. So if they land on unsuitable sub-

strate there is an increased chance that they will not survive. But if they land on suit-

able habitat they will survive to a ripe old age. With lesser mobile organisms they

cannot move very much to more suitable habitat. We have to remember that all organisms are linked to each other in some

way. For instance the waste products of metabolism by one organism is necessary

for the survival of another organism. But if populations are not regulated the balance

of the ecosystems is thrown out of sync.

Here we turn to two very influential books,

the first in this series with a strong polemical

aspect. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

and Edward Abbey (1927-1989), separated

by a century and a continent, were united in

a common subversive spirit. These books

are reflections on simple living in natural sur-

roundings. David Quammen (1998) writes

of Desert Solitude that "A man wrote a book,

and lives were changed." He could have said

exactly the same about Walden.

In the summer of 1845, Thoreau moved to a

woodland owned by his friend Ralph Waldo

Emerson outside of Concord, Massachusetts.

LONERS

Henry David Thoreau 1854. Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Tickner & Fields

357 pp. (Available on the wire from Project Gutenberg and several other sites.) Edward Abbey 1968. Desert Solitaire. New York: McGraw-Hill 269 pp.

[Thirty-ninth in a series on "naturalist-in" books; see www.ckstarr.net/

reviews_of_naturalist.htm ]

Christopher K. Starr Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies

[email protected]

Modern replica of Thoreau's cabin on the

shore of Walden Pond


He lived there at a cost of next to nothing for two years in a cabin that he built on the

shore of Walden Pond, a small lake. There are other lakes in the area, which remains

fairly well forested today. The lake, formed by retreating glaciers about 11,000 years

ago, has a surface area 25 hectares and a maximum depth of 31 m. On GoogleEarth,

placing the cursor at 42°26'21"N 71°20'26"W will put you on top of where Thoreau's

cabin was. His motivation was unambiguous. "I went to the woods because I wished to live

deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what

it had to teach, and not, when it came to death, discover that I had not lived." Walden is the account of his life there, compressed into a single year. It is a large

book and a fairly difficult one, with plenty of metaphor, allusion, hyperbole, and synec-

doche. Still, it repays the reading and has many quotable moments. As an example, the

first chapter contains his famous remark that "The mass of men lead lives of quiet des-

peration." He was by no means a hermit. Concord was within walking distance, and the a

railway ran past the western end of the lake (and still does). Even so, it was a largely

solitary existence of his own choosing. The townspeople regarded his project with

bewilderment, but Thoreau remarked that "I am no more lonely that the loon in the

pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself." And "I find it wholesome to be

alone the greater part of the time. ... I never found the companion that was so com-

panionable as solitude." Thoreau was certainly not anti-social. He enjoyed companion-

ship and welcomed frequent visitors to his cabin, he just didn't want to be immersed in

society all the time. There was nothing spectacular about the scene, yet solitude and a certain close-

ness with wild plants and animals were enough to stimulate the wellsprings of thought

about human nature, human needs, society, and our relationship to the landscape and

other species, and the cycle of the seasons. Anyone in such a situation would spend

long daily moments of contemplation at the water's edge, and Thoreau reflected that

"A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking

into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."

Chattel slavery was still the mainstay of the economy in much of the southern United

States. Thoreau was an ardent abolitionist, who spoke publicly against the Fugitive

Slave Law and participated in the Underground Railroad, by which escaping slaves were

guided in stages to friendly northern states and often into Canada. On one of his trips

into town, he was arrested and spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a tax whose use

he considered enabled slavery. Out of this arose his celebrated essay on civil disobedi-

ence (Thoreau 1849). In a rather thrilling passage, Thoreau declared that "The greater part of what my

neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very

likely to be my own good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so

well?" Likewise, he was convinced that much of what his neighbours regarded as indis-

pensable was not only unnecessary but positively detrimental to their happiness. This

is, perhaps, the most central of Thoreau's several large themes. He could satisfy his

economic needs by working about six weeks in the year, leaving him free to read, write

and contemplate. Furthermore, the ownership of the unnecessary was seriously detri-

mental beyond the time wasted in acquiring them. The townspeople were burdened

by their property. At a time of growing public agitation for the abolition of chattel

slavery, he noted that no one seemed very much concerned about this other kind of

“Chattel slavery

was still the main-

stay of the econo-

my in much of the

southern United

States.“


slavery. Much of the admiration for former president José Mujica of Uruguay is due to

his shocking freedom from property slavery.

Thoreau was a great reader, including of the classics, but he also believed that great

truths can be found in nature. He took pleasure in the sounds heard from his cabin,

both those of wild creatures and of distant livestock. And he amused himself by watch-

ing wildlife during the winter, with observations of the owls, hares, squirrels and mice

that came to his feeders. In the spring, he delighted in the sight of annual plants break-

ing above the soil surface the sounds of migratory birds flying north and the ice break-

ing up on the lake. The townspeople seldom had the leisure to take note of such

things. His occasional natural-history observations are engaging, although far from ex-

act enough to count as research. As an example, in an essay on "Walking" we find the famous remark that "in wild-

ness is the preservation of the world." "Our village would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests and meadows

which surround it. We need the tonic of wildness -- to wade sometimes in marshes

where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe, to

smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her

nest, and the mink crawls on tis belly close to the ground."

Edward Abbey was an established novelist before his first non-fiction, Desert Solitaire,

subtitled A Season in the Wilderness. It appeared with almost no advertising in the very

noisy year of 1968, yet it has had tremendous impact and was an important influence in

the founding of the radical Earth First! movement. Some people are known to have

changed the directions of their lives after reading it. Quammen (1998) calls it "a book

about the power of landscape, about the rightness of human connectedness to land-

scape" and characterizes Abbey as "at once eloquent, angry, poetic, crude and funny as

hell." Abbey was not trying to please everyone, as he said openly: "Serious critics, seri-

ous librarians, serious associate professors of English will, if they read this work, dislike

it intensely; at least I hope so." He is politically best described as an anarchist with a

strong focus of environmental issues. From the time he was 20, the FBI watched him

and kept a file on him. On learning this years later, he remarked that he would have

been offended if they had not found him suspicious. Like Thoreau, he was not an unso-

ciable man. Most of his desert wandering was solitary simply because others didn't

want to go where he did.

The core of the book is about his time as a ranger in

Arches National Park (38°43'59"N 109°35'33"W) near

Moab, Utah. It is a very different place from Thoreau's

woodland. The landscape is dominated by bare rocks

over sandy soil, with no forest, lake or town anywhere

nearby. There are large temperature differences be-

tween day and night, but constant dryness is the main

factor. There are temporary pools after rain, and the

few perennial water holes swarm with life if they are

not too salty or poisonous. With experience one can

learn to smell water in a way, through the smell of the

cottonwood tree, which signifies the presence of wa-

ter. However, it may signify water far below the sur-

face and inaccessible to humans.

“The landscape is

dominated by

bare rocks over

sandy soil, with no

forest, lake or

town anywhere

nearby.“

Arches National Park


The aboriginal Asanazi people left the area 700 years earlier, leaving pictographs

and petroglyphs on the sandstone. No one knows why they left. This is place where the realities of life and death are close at hand. In a time be-

fore mobile phones, if Abbey had been injured out there he might very well have died

long before anyone found him or even knew to look for him. In one chapter, he tells of joining a search party for a middle-aged tourist who

had gone missing in the August desert two days earlier. As expected, they found him

dead. In the midst of all this, Abbey was awestruck by the scenery and reflected that

the departed had shown very good taste in his choice of a jumping-off place. On a solitary ramble, climbing down from a high cliff, he came to a place where

there was no safe way down and no evident way back up. He did the sensible thing

and took out a notebook, figuring he might as well at least write down his last

thoughts, to be found who knows when. Then, looking away from his scribbling, he

spotted a way that he might be able to ascend. Over many trials and re-trials he was

able just barely to make his way from one trap up to another until he was back on the

plateau, from which he had free movement. He would live to tell the tale, after all. However, it was raining and too late to make it back to camp, so he took shelter

in a little cave. "I stretched out in the coyote den ... and suffered through the long

night, wet, cold, aching, hungry, wretched, dreaming claustrophobic nightmares. It

was one of the happiest nights of my life." Faced with this ever-present possibility, Abbey has some advice. If you find

yourself on the point of dying of thirst, "crawl into the shade and contemplate the

lovely sky. See those black scrawny wings far above, waiting? Comfort yourself with

the reflection that within a few hours, if all goes as planned, your human flesh will be

working its way through the gizzard of a buzzard, your essence transfigured into the

fierce greedy eyes and unimaginable consciousness of a turkey vulture."

Abbey, then, is very much a friend of wild creatures and has little use for the tame

ones. As far as he is concerned, the best use of domestic dogs would be to grind

them up as emergency rations for coyotes. He appreciates not just the harmless

ones but rattlesnakes, also scorpions, centipedes and the black widow spider and re-

fuses to kill any of them. However, he would prefer not to have rattlesnakes in his

cabin, so he introduced a gopher snake in order to get rid of the mice that kept at-

tracting rattlesnakes. I like that. It was a clever solution entirely in keeping with his

ethic. The chapter on "The Moon-Eyed Horse" is a rather gripping story about his at-

tempt to bring back into domestication a horse that had been living wild for 10 years.

In trying to coax Moon-Eye to abandon his feral ways, Abbey recites a list of the com-

forts of civilization in the company of other horses and the dreadful prospect of dying

all alone in some dry, forsaken canyon attended only by buzzards. In the end, Abbey

tells us whether the attempt is successful, but he withholds the true punch-line: Does

he believe his own propaganda, or does he think it better to live and die in wild pain

than in tame comfort?

By now you are not surprised to find that real object of Abbey's appreciation is both

wider and deeper than wild organisms. In harmony with Thoreau, wilderness is for

him "not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit", so that to destroy it is to cut

ourselves off from our origins. "Wilderness, wilderness .... We scarcely know what

we mean by the term, though the sound of it draws all whose nerves and emotions

have not yet been irreparably stunned, deadened, numbed by the caterwauling of

“The aboriginal

Asanazi people

left the area 700

years earlier, leav-

ing pictographs

and petroglyphs

on the sandstone.

No one knows

why they left.“


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commerce, the sweating scramble for profit and domination." The word, itself, has a

powerful allure for humans, speaking to something primeval in us. This is not to suggest that we should all live in a wild place; just knowing that it is

there fulfills a need. And that is what makes Desert Solitaire a call to action, because

"most of what I write about in this book is already gone or going under fast. This is

not a travel guide but an elegy." The bringer of death to wild places, small and easy to

overlook at first, is known as "progress" and the "industrial tourism" that follows. Ini-

tially, as the area is largely unknown without good roads, there are few tourists, but

development changes all that. Abbey's very simple demand is that the national park

system take seriously its primary responsibility "to preserve intact and undiminished

what little still remains." Instead, we are witnessing the deliberate destruction of

some of the grandest wild scenery through dam projects and other "progress". The chapter "Down the River" relates a grand rafting trip down Glen Canyon

before it was dammed. The dam divided the Colorado River into an upper and a low-

er section. There is now an enormous accumulation of sediment above the dam,

slowly filling Glen Canyon. Abbey's polemic against the erosion of wilderness is not mainly aimed at govern-

ment officials falling down on the job but at the ordinary people who push for bit-by-

bit erosion. Tourists are always commenting on how wild places could be "improved".

Overlooking a great, flat expanse in the Badlands of South Dakota, I once overheard a

moron commenting that that would be a good place to put a golf course. That utterly

grossed me out. Desert Solitaire, like Walden, is an attempt at radically changing such

attitudes.

References Quammen, D. 1998. Wild Thoughts from Wild Places. New York: Simon & Schus-

ter 304 pp. Thoreau, H.D. 1849. On the duty of civil disobedience. (Anthologized in many

books and available on the wire from Project Gutenberg and other sites.)

“He tells of joining

a search party for

a middle-aged

tourist who had

gone missing in

the August desert

two days earlier.

As expected, they

found him dead.“


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