Tobago Cays Island Information

Information gathered from http://www.caribbeancompass.com/

Tobago Cays, a group of five beautiful and uninhabited Grenadine islands
surrounded by coral reefs, is one of the most popular sailing destinations
in the Caribbean. Its ecosystems are also among the region's most fragile.

To protect the area, the Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) was legally
established in December 1997. A Management Plan for the Park was submitted by the then-manager in August 1998, with a revised Management Plan being submitted in July 2000. For various reasons, much of this Management Plan has never been implemented, many of the protective regulations in the Marine Parks Act of 1997 remain unenforced, and to a significant degree the Marine Park remains such in name only.

With the Ministry responsible for the TCMP changing recently, two different
non-governmental groups have contacted the government of St. Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG), each proposing that they be allowed to step in and assume an active role in the management of the Tobago Cays Marine Park. One group is a grassroots local environmental organization. The other is the
management of a nearby up-market resort hotel.

From Plantation to Park Prior to becoming a national park, the Cays were privately owned. In the 18th century, the Marquis de L'Isle's slaves grew cotton on Mayreau and the Tobago Cays. The Cays later passed to the St. Hilaire and then the Eustace families. In 1960, the Eustaces sold the Cays to a US citizen, Nicholas Fuller, reportedly for US$18,000. The SVG government bought the approximately 58 acres from Fuller's "Tobago Cays Holding Company" in April 1999 for the sum of US$1,025,000. This selling price, drastically below market value, was agreed to by both parties under the condition "that henceforth the Tobago Cays will be dedicated to use in perpetuity as a National Park and that the sole purpose of the acquisition was for the declared purpose of the establishment of a National Park within which no buildings, structures, fixtures or construction of any form or any
commercial activity whatsoever will be permitted save in pursuance of the
objectives of and in furtherance of the maintenance of a National Park."
Permitting outright commercial activity in the Tobago Cays would create an
opportunity for Fuller's company to re-open its claim for the initial asking
price of US$6.5 million, plus accruing interest.

The SVG government began the process for the establishment of the Tobago Cays Marine Park long ago. In 1987, it designated a Conservation Area in the Southern Grenadines which included the Tobago Cays, Mayreau and their surrounding waters. In 1993, at the SVG government's request, the French Mission for Cooperation in the Lesser Antilles (an agency of the French government) undertook a study called the "Tobago Cays Marine Park Project". The SVG government gave approval in June 1995 to a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Labour (the ministry responsible for parks and beaches) for the establishment of the Tobago Cays as a National Marine Park- the first officially designed Marine Park in the country. Legislation on Marine Parks was enacted in 1997, and regulations were gazetted in 1998. The mission of the Park is to protect, conserve and improve the natural resources of the area.

In April, 1999, after over 15 years of negotiations, the SVG government
finally acquired the islands from Fuller. At the official handing-over
ceremony, then Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell said, " even as we agree
that this price is not the commercial value we accept that no commercial
activity will ever be allowed on these islands. Today will mark the day when
the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines assume responsibility for the
preservation of the most unique group of islands created in our hemisphere."

Meanwhile, although the only way to get to the Tobago Cays is by boat, a
widely quoted 1995 survey indicates that some 14,000 yachtspeople, 25,000
charterboat daytrippers and 10,000 cruiseship passengers are visiting the
Cays every year. In July, a BBC report citing information from the US
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and UK scientists stated:
"Coral reefs across the Caribbean have declined by 80 percent in three
decades [the] Caribbean's gardens of the sea are vanishing," and suggested
that pollution, over-fishing, and tourism are the primary causes of the
decline. Obviously, pollution, over-fishing, and tourism need to be
regulated in a sensitive environment such as the Tobago Cays, and a National Marine Park should provide a suitable situation for such protection. But although the groundwork has been done - the land has been acquired by the government, extensive community consultations have taken place, the legal framework is in place, and a management plan has been hammered out - the steps taken to "protect, conserve and improve" the natural resources of the Cays so far remain more on paper than in effect. A Park technically exists, but the questions remain: Will the management plan and regulations ever be put into effect? And if so, when and by whom? ""