Island of REEFS
Carriacou Silver Diving ltd.
PADI 5* Gold Palm IDC center
Hillsborough
Tel & Fax 443 7882
scubamax@spiceisle.com
Arawak Divers
PADI dive center
Tyrell Bay
Tel & Fax 443 6906
arawakdivers@spiceisle.com
LUMBADIVE
Tyrrel bay
Tel + 1 473 443 85 66
Cell phone + 1 473 457 45 39
dive@lumbadive.com
Mapping the Grenadines waters
This Summer, a marine habitat mapping research cruise will be led by Kim Baldwin, a PhD student of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at the University of the West Indies. This three-week research cruise in the Grenadine Islands is major collaboration effort between multiple organizations and will result in a first of its kind underwater geographical and ecosystems map of this part of the Eastern Caribbean.
From August 16 to September 5th 2009, Kim and her crew will identify and map critical marine resources such as reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves. In addition, local communities will also be consulted to identify other areas which are important for conservation and the livelihoods of the Grenadine people.
Data to be collected on the research cruise includes marine habitats, which will be recorded using a combination of ground-truthing for the shallower coastal waters and a live-action drop camera will be deployed off the stern of the catamaran in deeper waters up to 250 ft. on the Grenada Bank. Moreover fishing knowledge will also be collected in regards to marine habitats and the quality of fishing grounds. This information will be used together with ESRI ArcGIS software to create a baseline 3-dimensional map of the Grenada Bank seafloor.
The MarSIS research crew consists of two Grenadines fishers Kester Douglas and Albert Hanson - also a marine park ranger from the Tobago Cays Marine Park, a local Grenadian captain George Steele, two fisheries biologists from CERMES, UWI Renata Goodridge and Kim Baldwin as well as two deckhands husband and wife Fabian and Amy Peters.
