The Tobago Cays are an archipelago located in the Southern Grenadines of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines comprising five small islands and extensive coral reefs. The cays – Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradal, Petit Tabac and Jamesby – are a popular tourism destination.
The Tobago Cays are now the key element of the Tobago Cays Marine Park, run and owned by the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines government. The marine park consists of a sand-bottom lagoon which encompasses the five cays, the inhabited island of Mayreau and the 4 km Horseshoe Reef. The marine park was listed as a regionally significant ecosystem under the SPAW (Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife) Protocol in December 2014. The most extensive and well-developed coral reef complexes in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines occur on shallow shelves around the windward sides of Mayreau and Union islands and the cays themselves. In addition, principal vegetation types include beach vegetation and dry forest. With the exception of a small mangrove in Petit Rameau and salt pond in Mayreau, there are no wetlands in the cays.
Major users of the area include: cruise ships (an estimated 50,000 visitors each year, of whom 10,000 visit the cays); yachts (an estimated 3,000 yachts anchor in the lagoon each year); day charters (from nearby hotels); sport divers and snorkelers; and fishing enthusiasts.
Geology The Grenadines are geologically older than St. Vincent and are situated on an extensive shallow bank of volcanic origin – known as the southern Lesser Antilles arc platform (SLAAP). The SLAAP is a product of Miocene uplift (23–16 Ma) and characterized by Eocene to Pliocene extrusive to intrusive igneous rocks along with sedimentary rocks such as limestone, marl, and chert, and epiclastic arc-derived volcaniclastic units composed of mudstone, sandstone, and conglomerate. The islands are composed of a variety of volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The area is an active subduction zone, and lies along the interface of the Caribbean and South American Tectonic plates. Kick 'em Jenny is an undersea volcano north of Grenada, and there is also another less active volcano named Kick 'em Jack in the area. The shallow bank of the Grenadines extends from St Vincent to Grenada, and has a natural boundaries of the Tobago Trough to the east and the Grenada Trough to the west, where the depth increases rapidly. The shallow bank creates ideal conditions for the formation of productive seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs.
Coral reefs and seagrass beds Surrounding the Tobago Cays are several shallow fringing reefs around the islands, and a major bank-barrier reef known as Horseshoe Reef. Other major reefs in the park include World's End Reef, Egg Reef and Mayreau Gardens. The fringing reefs around Mayreau and the Mayreau Gardens reef are considered to be the most biodiverse and healthy, with Horseshoe Reef and the reef around Petit Tabac being the next richest. Finally, the World's End and Egg reef, as well as the other fringing reefs are considered to be the most degraded and least diverse in the park. The common corals on the reefs are Orbicella annularis, Montastraea, Porites, Acropora, Millepora and Siderastrea species, as well as patches of soft corals such as gorgonians (sea fans) and sponges. Large fish, such as barracuda and jacks, are occasionally found in the park, although most of the fish species are small. Algae and disease are prominent across all reefs and affect coral health. Surveys in 2007 concluded that most reefs were dominated by dead coral rubble and had live coral cover between 5% and 30%, and all reefs are considered to be in decline.
Most sea grass beds lie within the shallow 'lagoon' south of Baradal in the centre of the cays, although there are tiny patches of sea grass near the Horseshoe back reef. The main species of seagrass are Thalassia testudinum and Syringodium, with small colonies of loggerhead sponges (Spheciospongia vesparium), various soft corals and small colonies of Porites and Siderastrea. The sea grass beds support several species of juvenile fish, green turtles (Chelonia mydas), starfish (Oreaster reticulatus), conchs (Strombus gigas) and sea eggs (Tripneustes ventricosus), however there are also significant areas of algae.
Flora The terrestrial flora consists mainly of dry forest, grasses and shrubs, including species such as coconut, agave, cactus, Coccoloba sp. and Diospyros sp. In the Tobago Cays Marine Park, highly poisonous manchineel trees (Hippomane mancinella) are well established on Petit Rameau, Baradal, and Jamesby islands. They appear more as low growth shrubs, rather than the tall trees found elsewhere in the Grenadines. There is one patch of red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) on Petit Rameau – this species is rare within the country (although listed as least concern under the IUCN Red List). There are some Melocactus broadwayi on the cays, which are listed as near threatened under the IUCN Red List. Underwater, there are areas of seagrass beds which contain two threatened species - manatee grass (Syringodium filiforme) and turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum).
Fauna The marine park contains a number of important threatened species, both terrestrial and marine. There are populations of brown pelicans, bridled terns and iguanas in the park, and there are many migratory birds which pass through the area. The beaches and sea grass beds are feeding and nesting grounds for green turtles, hawksbill turtles and leatherback turtles. The reefs are home to many species of coral from the families Milleporidae, Octocorallia and Scleractinia. There are also populations of queen conch and Caribbean spiny lobster. Health of the reef is generally good with sharks sighted on dives regularly.
History
The islands of Mayreau and the Tobago Cays were under private ownership from at least the 16th century up until 12 April 1999, when the cays were purchased after long negotiations by the state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The purchases were restricted to the five islands of the cays, while the larger island of Mayreau remained in private hands.
In 1985, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (GOSVG) requested assistance from the Organization of American States (OAS) to develop tourism within the Grenadines. This led to a detailed proposal for the formation of a Tobago Cays National Park with initial investment costs estimated at US$1 million.Heyman, A.M., T.J. Reigert, A. Smith, T. Shallow and J.R. Clark, 1988. Project Proposal Development of the Tobago Cays National Park. Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Organisation of American States. 62pp. + Annexes 1-5
In 1987, the Fisheries Division established the Tobago Cays as a conservation area, along with nine other such areas, in which spear fishing was prohibited. The rectangular boundary of this area included the whole of Mayreau, the cays and most of the coral reefs, but was slightly smaller than the area now designated as a marine park. It has also been pointed out (ECLAC, 2002; IJA, 2004a) that the 1986 Fisheries Act only provided for the designation of marine reserves, not conservation areas.
Tobago Cays Marine Park In September 1993 (as described by Espeut, 2006), the governments of France and St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed and launched the Tobago Cays Marine Park Project and produced an updated action plan (FMC, 1995).
In 1995 while the Tobago Cays were still under private ownership, Cabinet then approved a proposal to establish the Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) including the island of Mayreau. On 25 November 1997, the Government enacted the Marine Parks Act and thereby created a Marine Parks Board that was to oversee the management and conservation of the TCMP, and any other marine parks to be designated in future.
The Tobago Cays were then declared a marine park in December 1997 by order published in the Official Gazette No. 40 of that year. Cabinet appointed the first Marine Parks Board in May 1998. On 8 July 1998, the Government gazetted the Marine Parks (Tobago Cays) Regulations, and in August 1998 a draft copy of the Tobago Cays management plan was submitted to the Marine Parks Board (Cordice, 1998). At this point, a series of problems began to appear. The regulations enacted for the park were not implemented, nor was the proposed fee structure, and the first draft management plan was never officially endorsed or adopted.
A set of revisions to the management plan was prepared in July 2000 (Cordice, 2000), but this also was never formally approved. Part of the problem was the uncertainty in the legal status and boundaries of the park. It has since been observed that the 1997 designation as a 'marine park' only included the actual islands of the park, and none of the surrounding sea area (Espeut, 2006).
In November 2001, a study by Caribbean marine park manager, Tom van't Hof (ECLAC, 2002), described the slow progress with implementation up to this time and outlined some of the problems. With legal discrepancies in the appointment of its members, the board ceased to operate in 2001, and French financial assistance to the park was discontinued at the end of that year. Since this time, various studies have been conducted, and alternative plans put forward for management of the park.
Private management controversy In May 2003, it was announced that the Government was considering a proposal for the day-to-day management of the Tobago Cays to be contracted to the nearby but foreign-owned Palm Island Resort. While the proposal clearly provided some attractions for government, not least a guaranteed income from the park, there were also concerns over the proposer's apparent prioritization of profitability over biodiversity conservation. The plan would have seen several structures erected on the islands and the concept of handing a prized national asset to a private company caused a public outcry.
In September 2003, a local NGO – the Mayreau Environmental Development Organization (MEDO) – then submitted a counter-proposal to the Marine Parks Board. The Palm Island proposal was eventually withdrawn by the resort company, and in the end, neither proposal was accepted by government. In the meantime, additions were being suggested to the 'management plan' for the park, but still little was happening on the ground. Subventions provided by government paid the salaries of some park staff, but were usually insufficient to keep the boats running and maintain a regular presence in the park.
The June 2, 2003 plan by Palm Island Resort Limited (PIRL) for the management of the Tobago Cays clearly offended the public, including those in the southern Grenadines. On September 9 the Mayreau Environmental Developmental Organization (MEDO) made a counter proposal in response to the PIRL Proposal and this was soon followed by the formation of the Friends of the Tobago Cays - a not for profit, non-partisan group - in support of the MEDO's Proposal. The government swiftly and adamantly rejected the MEDO Management Proposal and alternatives to the PIRL's proposal and information regarding funding activities, namely, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) OPAAL Project funded by the World Bank, were discarded and referred to as "rubbish" by local authorities.