Reef Check
Founded in 1996, the Reef Check Foundation exists to help preserve the oceans and reefs which are critical to our survival, yet are being destroyed. With headquarters in Los Angeles and volunteer teams in more than 90 countries and territories, Reef Check works to protect tropical coral reefs and California rocky reefs through education, research and conservation.
ERIC is the centre for Reef Check Trinidad and Tobago, the only Reef Check training facility in the country, and the only centre for Reef Check EcoExpeditions in the southern Caribbean.
Our Reef Check programme involves continuous monitoring of coral reefs at a number of sites around northeast Tobago, the data from which are incorporated internally, into the Reef Check global database, and also into the development of co-management of resources in the proposed northeast Tobago marine protected area.
Global FinPrint
Initiated in 2015, Global FinPrint is the world's first global, multi-institutional project to assess populations of reef-associated sharks and rays using baited remote underwater video for improved conservation and management.
ERIC has collaborated with Global FinPrint since January 2016 to characterise the diversity and relative abundance of sharks and ray species in northeast Tobago, with surveying throughout a proposed marine protected area for the region to be completed by October 2016.
