October 14, 2016: Addressing the audience at the Launch of the Turtle GeoTagging Initiative, a collaboration between Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago (ALNG) and the Turtle Village Trust (TVT), Senator the Honourable Clarence Rambharat, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries shared that he grew up with‘a good sense of preservation and conservation, very closely interacting with nature and an understanding of all that is involved in preserving the beautiful species of our country and our country’s history and heritage’. Speaking primarily to the students at the event, the Minister shared that ‘it is really a privilege for me to be here; and I know for sure that you [the students] will remember everything about the turtles you saw’.
He addressed the issue of hunting, which in some quarters is a controversial issue and sometimes run counter to conservation. He noted that he supports hunting in the context of it being‘an important part of the rural economy of Trinidad and Tobago’. Nonetheless, he stated that he understands the‘need to strike a balance between the needs of rural communities that rely on hunting and the other side of the fence which is the need to preserve and conserve. As a matter of fact‘anything we do in relation to policy making and in relation to legislation must be driven by two things: research and data’. To fulfill these requirements in the context of calls for a ban on hunting, the Minister shared that he led an exercise to ‘provide appropriate data on hunting, including the reliance of rural communities, the contribution of hunting to the economy; the sort of data that will allow us to make decisions in the future’. Through this exercise, he ensured that extensive consultations were hosted, resulting in the presentation to him of a Report‘that is strong and solid and is the product of both the conservationists and hunters’; one that he said has allowed him‘to make the appropriate decisions’. The Minister announced that the Wildlife Conservation Committee will now ‘drive us to the next stage’.
Returning to the tenets of the Launch of the collaborative Initiative, the Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Minister said ‘it is an absolute joy to see the work that has been undertaken by Atlantic LNG, the Turtle Village Trust and the community of Grande Rivierre. We can only make the appropriate public policy and legislative decisions, the appropriate spending decisions both as Government and the private sector if we are informed by proper research and data. The ultimate objective of releasing these turtles is to gather data to make informed decisions that will allow for the future protection of these species’.
‘As Minister, I have anchored myself in those projects that will bring value to our rural communities; those projects that are sustainable; and those projects that will define our future as a country in Trinidad and Tobago’, words that premised the Minister’s call to Atlantic LNG to continue its support of this laudable project.
Mr. Nigel Darhow, Chief Executive Officer of ALNG noted that ‘it is a treasure that we have here. Trinidad and Tobago is privileged to have the largest population of nesting leatherbacks in the world’. Further saying that‘Atlantic is a really proud partner of the Turtle Village Trust and they do an absolutely fantastic job. Today’s Launch is another phase in our conservation efforts.’
The Launch of the Turtle Geotagging initiative involved the tagging of a selection of turtles to allow for satellite telemetry for the provision of the unique opportunity to monitor the behaviours and routes of the turtle, while maintaining a census of the turtle population spawned on our shores.
Atlantic is the proud sponsor of the Turtle Village Trust (TVT) – a collaboration of community-based organisations involved in turtle conservation in Trinidad and Tobago. TVT administers the National Sea Turtle Conservation Project by engaging community groups in monitoring 42 of the country’s known turtle nesting sites during the nesting season while simultaneously facilitating the collection of scientific data for the National Sea Turtle Database.
Among the guests were Mr. Gordon Dean, Chairman, Atlantic LNG; and Atlantic LNG’s Sport Ambassadors Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, George Bovell and Andrew Lewis.
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For further information please contact:
The Corporate Communications Unit
Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries
868-622-1221