The island of

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

has multiple

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

ecosystems. The Buccoo Reef, the Culloden Reed and Speyside Reef are the three largest coral reef marine ecosystems in Tobago. The Buccoo Reef is a coralline reef ecosystem that is located on the southwestern region of Tobago. It is a popular

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

attraction where tourists can snorkel and see the coral reefs and schools of fish without diving equipment. The

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

Tourism Ministry estimates that 90% of its tourists visit the Buccoo Reef while exploring Tobago. The Buccoo Reef, also known as the Buccoo Reef Complex, spans 7 km² and has five reef flats that can reach up to 25 metres in depth. The reef complex has been designated as part of a protected

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

In 1973, the Buccoo Reef Complex was designated as a protected marine park, called the Buccoo Reef Marine Park to monitor the health of the coral reef ecosystem. Approximately 90% of Tobago's coastal shoreline is protected by coral reefs, including the Buccoo Reef Complex. These coral reefs help protect Tobago's land from eroding and avoiding landslides. In 1999, a non-profit organization called the Buccoo Reef Trust was created to help the Trinidad and Tobago government in developing its marine education department and organizing sustainability projects, including the preservation of the Buccoo Reef Complex and other coral reefs. The Buccoo Reef Complex is made up of a shallow lagoon, seagrass beds and a mangrove wetland. The dominant corals in the Buccoo Reef Complex are the '' Montastrea'' species, the thin finger (''

Porites divaricata ''Porites'' is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. (Also referred to as finger coral or hump coral) They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-deve ...

'') corals and the

fire coral Fire corals (''Millepora'') are a genus of colonial marine organisms that exhibit physical characteristics similar to that of coral. The name coral is somewhat misleading, as fire corals are not true corals but are instead more closely related t ...

s (''

Millepora Fire corals (''Millepora'') are a genus of colonial marine organisms that exhibit physical characteristics similar to that of coral. The name coral is somewhat misleading, as fire corals are not true corals but are instead more closely related t ...

'' species).O’Farrell, S. and Day, O. 2005
"Report on the 2005 mass coral bleaching event in Tobago: Part 1. Results from Phase 1 Survey"
2005. pp. 1–42. In this region, the coral reefs experience two seasons: the dry season, which spans from January to May, and the wet season, which spans from June to December.

Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature (or ocean surface temperature) is the ocean temperature, temperature of ocean water close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies in the literature and in practice. It is usually between and below the sea ...

s in the Buccoo Reef Complex range between 26 °C to 31 °C. The Buccoo Reef complex receives freshwater and nutrients from the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

. The nutrient flow from the Orinoco River allow the proliferation of plankton. Approximately 119 species of fish inhabit the Buccoo Reef Complex. These fish species benefit from the pool of plankton and they use the Buccoo Reef Complex to spawn and regenerate their populations. Buccoo Coral Reef Complex

Since 1970, the Buccoo Reef Complex has been declared at risk by marine scientists due to the rise of pollution, poor water quality,

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

and

coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to loss of Symbiosis, symbiotic algae and Photosynthesis, photosynthetic pigments. This loss of pigment can be caused by various stressors, such as changes in water temperature, light, ...

Approximately 28% of coral cover in the Buccoo Reef Marine Park has decreased from 1994 to 2008. Coral reef health has also declined during this period due to sedimentation, nutrient runoff from and thermal stress from

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

in Tobago. Three major coral bleaching events occurred in Tobago in 1998, 2005 and 2010 that also affected the coral cover of many coral reefs, including the Buccoo Reef. Following the bleaching event in 2005, the Buccoo Reef Trust conducted a study on the impact of bleaching event on all coral reefs across Tobago. It was found that many of the dominant corals in the Buccoo Reef Complex were significantly bleached. After the 2010 coral bleaching event in Tobago, the overall

hard coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

taxa cover has decreased from 25.19% in 2010 to 16.38% in 2012 at the Buccoo Reef Complex. Over the 2010–2012 period,

macroalgae Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of Macroscopic scale, macroscopic, Multicellular organism, multicellular, ocean, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Brown algae, Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ...

species increased from 15.87% cover to 37.90% cover in the Buccoo Reef Complex.

References

{{coord, 11.185, -60.833, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:TT, display=title Coral reefs of Trinidad and Tobago Geography of Tobago Tourist attractions in Trinidad and Tobago Parks in Trinidad and Tobago Ramsar sites in Trinidad and Tobago