environment tobago newsletter - december 2012
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Wetland Conservation
Education Coordinator (ET)
E nvi ronment TO-
BAGO (ET) is a non-
government, non-profit, vol-
unteer organisation , not
subsidized by any one group,
corporation or government
body.
Founded in 1995, ET is a
proactive advocacy group that
campaigns against negative
environmental act ivit ies
throughout Tobago. We
achieve this through a variety
of community and environ-
mental outreach programmes.
Environment TOBAGO is
funded mainly through grants
and membership fees. These
funds go back into implement-
ing our projects. We are
grateful to all our sponsors
over the years and thank
them for their continued
support
W hat’s inside
ET’s News 1
Ecology Notes 4
Articles 5
Book Review 10
Community
Announcements 13
What’s Happening @ ET 14
Notes to contributors 16
December 2012 Environment TOBAGO
This year Environment TOBAGO intends to raise awareness and get children
throughout Tobago to begin to develop a healthy relationship with wetlands. The pro-
ject Wetlands – wetlands take care of water -involves delivering a series of lectures
throughout schools in Tobago (or providing information on same in whatever form is
needed), as well as, encouraging participating schools to create posters on the theme
“Wetlands and Water Management” to further
promote awareness, knowledge and understand-
ing about wetlands and its value to communities
in Tobago.
This project will, in part, be funded by BHP Billi-
ton. We will also produce and publish a photo
book of wetlands and its biodiversity found in
Tobago and we aim to print 200 copies and dis-
tribute to all 50 schools and libraries in Tobago.
Environment TOBAGO has been a pioneer in
wetland conservation, research and education
and recently concluded the ‘Pilot Project, Belle Gar-
den Wetland, Tobago, and Sustainable Community
Based Wetland Assessment for Improvement of Conservational and Educational Efforts’. This
project, funded by the United Nations Development Program and executed by Environ-
ment Tobago in partnership with residents of Belle Garden, over a period nine months
saw members of the Belle Garden Community and nearby villages trained to conduct
field assessments, monitor and raise community
awareness with respect to wetlands and how
wetlands can be used sustainably.
Tobago’s wetlands are seriously threat-
ened by abuse and the critical importance of
them to biodiversity and human wellbeing is con-
sistently ignored. Most wetland areas of Tobago
have been destroyed or their capacity severely
reduced. Now less than one percent (1%) of our
land area is covered by wetlands. Such areas are
often erroneously viewed as dangerous to human
health, and of no value to humankind. This mis-
conception, and general lack of appreciation for
wetlands, has led to them being used as garbage dumps, filled in and cleared for agricul-
tural, residential, commercial and industrial developments. Environment Tobago has
recognized the need for greater awareness and education about wetlands - its func-
Speyside Wetlands
Another view of the Speyside Wetlands
December 2012
Editor:
Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal
Assistant Editor: Christopher K. Starr
Design & Layout:
Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal
Technical Support:
Jerome Ramsoondar
Enid Nobbee Contributors:
Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal
Christopher K. Starr
Bertrand Bhikkary
Erik Blair
Ian Lambie Environment
TOBAGO
Photographs:
Environment
TOBAGO
Board of Directors
2012-2014
President::
Patricia Turpin Vice-President:
Bertrand Bhikkary
Secretary:
Wendy Austin
Treasurer:
Shirley McKenna Other Directors:
William Trim
Kai Trim
Rupert McKenna
Fitz Phillips
Renee Gift Geoffrey Lewis
Sean Clarke
Darren Daly
Allan Sandy
Page 2 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Clean, Green School Programme 2012
Education Coordinator (ET)
Established in 1996, Environment TOBAGO is committed to the protection
and restoration of Tobago’s fragile environment. We are a pro-active advocacy group
that campaigns against negative environmental activities. “Environment TOBAGO con-
serves Tobago’s natural and living resources and advances the knowledge and under-
standing of such resources, their wise and sustainable use, and their essential relation-
ship to human health and the quality of life.” We achieve this through environmental
education, community outreach and research programmes, and advocacy of local gov-
ernment for greater protection and sustainable use of our natural resources.
The Clean, Green School Programme was initially launched in 2000 and contin-
ues to be an important aspect of our work at Environment TOBAGO. We are com-
mitted to partnering with schools as we continue to re-shape the attitudes toward the
environment in Tobago. This initiative saw 50 schools registering and 29 actively par-
ticipating with a focus on areas such as Cleanliness/tidiness of the gen school surround-
ings, the management of solid waste, beautification activities, student involvement and a
reduction in solid waste through the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle and re-think
waste disposal within the school and communities in which they are located.
This year a total of 20 project reports were handed in and participating schools
demonstrated their enthusiasm for the project, not only in their execution of same, but
in feedback forms that were given to teachers. When asked about the effectiveness of
the programme, teachers responded: “Most definitely! Students have learnt the sig
tions and services to mankind.
Wetlands are precious, they build up the land, shelter growing fish and shrimp,
provide wood for fuel, timber for building. Mangroves protect the land from storm
surges, provide a living for crab catchers. They also provide water storage, purification,
flood control, shoreline stabilization and prevention of coastal erosion.
In short they are a valuable natural resource but instead, wetlands are thought
of as wastelands which would be more useful if they were filled in and used for building.
Changing that image is a difficult task, we at Environment TOBAGO recognize wet-
lands as vital ecosystems providing real services that contribute to human well-being –
they are considered to be the kidneys of Mother Earth.
In short, the need to protect and preserve Tobago’s wetlands are vital to not only the
wildlife that live and breed there – the many species of fish, birds, reptiles – but also to
us; the people of Tobago as we are as dependent on wetlands for our existence and
survival.
Through this project, we at Environment Tobago, intend to do just that – raise
awareness and foster understanding of one of our most precious resources – our wet-
lands. What we hope to achieve in the short term is an increased awareness, knowl-
edge and understanding of wetlands in Tobago and its biodiversity and, in the long
term, we would like to see conservation and restoration projects implemented by
schools across Tobago. For this to happen there must be greater teacher participation
through mentoring, direct involvement and encouragement of students’ conservation
and restoration activities; such as clean-up campaigns and recycling initiatives as well as
support of Environment TOBAGO’s projects/programmes.
Page 3 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
roles they can play in the proper disposal and recycling of items.” John Roberts, Memo-
rial SDA School and “At this school, both teachers and students have benefitted with
the information given and fully understand the need to reduce solid waste not only in
our school but in Tobago” Pembroke Anglican School.
The Golden Lane Government Primary school demonstrated a deep under-
stand of the initiatives’ objectives when they commented “The school as an agent of
change will foster that greater awareness at home, community level and Tobago at
large” as this philosophy is at the core of the Clean, Green School Programme.
As we close another successful project, ‘The Keep a Clean, Green School Pro-
gramme 2012’ an annual initiative intended to address the issues of improper waste
disposal and to change attitudes about negative environmental practices, we look for-
ward to our continued, mutually beneficial relationship with schools across Tobago,
(and our partners in this project – BHP Billiton and the Dept of Tourism & Transporta-
tion, THA as well as the Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors) in the hope that together
we can conserve and protect our vital natural resources.
Clean School Programme garden and
composting
Penguins made from recycled plastic
bottles
Guitar Clean School prize giving
Page 4 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
ET Newsletter editor and columnist gets NIHERST Award
Jo-Anne Sewlal is the editor of the ET quarterly newsletter and writer of a
weekly column for ET on the environment and nature published in the Tobago News
newspaper. On 29th September she became the first recipient of the Frank Rampersad
Award for Junior Scientist from NIHERST. This award is given to young scientists un-
der the age of 35 for their exceptional achievements in the field of science. It is named
after economist Frank Rampersad who was also the first president of NIHERST who
provided young scientists with opportunities to develop and allow their skills to be rec-
ognised.
Sewlal is currently a PhD student at the University of the West Indies, St.
Augustine, Trinidad where she is pursuing her degree in Zoology focusing on ecology
and biodiversity specialising in spiders. She is the author of 35 scientific publications and
over 360 articles published in various newsletters, magazines and newspapers regionally
and internationally. One of her main areas of interest includes environmental education
and in addition to writing she has also appeared in local and international nature docu-
mentaries.
Sewlal’s accolades include being the first recipient of the Darwin Scholarship,
the youngest and the first female recipient of the CAS-TWAS Young Scientist Award
and the first in the American Arachnological Society’s history to receive the Vincent
Roth Award three times consecutively.
Jo-Anne Sewlal receives her NIHERST award
Page 5 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Some new ways of combating climate change
Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal
Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies
Traditionally, the use of carbon dioxide sinks and preventing deforestation have
been advocated as the main ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the at-
mosphere and to reduce the effects of climate change. But more and more research in
this area has yielded some alternative methods some of which are a bit unconventional.
The first is a somewhat controversial method is “ocean fertilization” where
nutrients or minerals that are necessary to algal growth are dumped into the ocean.
This “fertilization” causes the algae to bloom and absorb more carbon dioxide for en-
ergy production via photosynthesis. More research is needed to prove the value of this
technique in reversing climate change and to reduce its undesirable effects such as, cre-
ating anoxic patches as the algae decay using up the oxygen in the surrounding water in
the decaying process.
Another new method that has been proposed is an alternative form of foresta-
tion – “green roofs”, so the roof is basically a big planter box. Of course the plants
grown here are not restricted to just a lawn grasses but one can grow other plants as
well. It is estimated that implementing “green roofs” in an area housing one million
people is equivalent to the removal of 55,000 tonnes of carbon per year. Also, if space
limited green roofs may be a good alternative to a backyard.
More attention is also being placed on using solar energy for lighting and cook-
ing which would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into our atmosphere as
less fossil fuel and wood will be burnt as fuel. This is certainly feasible for Trinidad and
Tobago as more and more companies that sell solar panels in this country.
However, research has found more harmful greenhouse gases than carbon di-
oxide in our atmosphere that contributes to climate change for example, nitrous oxide
which in addition to causing ozone layer depletion is 300 times more powerful than
carbon dioxide. Similarly to carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide is generated from human
activities like sewerage treatment, combustion, and from the use of fertilizers which
contain nitrates. Scientists have recently discovered that this gas can be converted into
harmless nitrogen gas by the enzymes found in many microorganisms that are con-
tained in the soil.
The climate changes experienced within the last 100 years is primarily due to
human activities, but hopefully further research will provide us with some more tech-
niques and solutions to clean up the environmental mess we have gotten ourselves
into.
ECOLOGY NOTES
Page 6 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Risking the marine wilderness
Bertrand Bhikarry
Environment Tobago
In August of this year while attending the Tobago leg of a trans-national panel
discussion “Fires of Hope – 50 years of Independence in Trinidad and Tobago ” I lis-
tened to once-prominent Black Power activist/turned island elder Dean “Sarge” Fraser
admonish the youth of this island. [sic]“… you have an island to run”. His discourse
followed a singular bent. Using strong rhetoric he attempted to draw the focus of To-
bago’s younger generation to the chances of a more developed lifestyle, made possible
through the largesse of offshore gas, and maybe oil.
Sarge Fraser is not alone in the view that Tobago’s natural assets require utili-
sation – meaning of course, monetisation. The central government under the Peoples
Partnership coalition have shown remarkable alacrity in mobilising buyers for the vari-
ous offshore blocks. And should exploration there prove fruitful, they’ve already
aligned T&T skill sets with Grenada to extract fossil fuels from her territory.
However neither the government, nor the Sarge for that matter, speaks little, if
at all, about maintaining the natural environment, about keeping space for wildlife, for
marine or terrestrial creatures and for plants. To them, it would seem when measured
against the needs of the people, the relevance or importance of nature’s services must
be measured against the going commercial value, against a dollar.
Now, I’m not wanting to flog the eco thing, but we may be overlooking what
ought to be truly obvious. We the people are but part of the fabric put together by
Mother Nature – we do not define it. We are less than a thread, but our very survival
depends on other threads or linkages. Those links incidentally are generally based in
natural habitat, spaces wildlife occupies, anzd marine territory is also a part of that tap-
estry. So we might want to tread carefully as we rabidly despoil the sea floor around us
in the search to find fuel for the economy.
Since caution in development is advisable, we need to backtrack a bit and see
what could wrong. For that we do not have to go far; the BP Gulf incident will do.
Now here’s a textbook case of greedy people (okay, ordinary working persons) doing
what their various industry captains desire – which is to make money by the hour ex-
tracting a resource. In the run-up to the disaster each company had refined their
rhetoric. Each company maintained the best practice. But, at the end of the day marine
toxicologist Dr. Susan Shaw, director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute,
said tellingly about BP’s use of chemical dispersants: “They’ve been used at such a high
volume that it’s unprecedented. The worst of these – Corexit 9527 – is the one
they’ve been using most. That ruptures red blood cells and causes fish to bleed. With
800,000 gallons of this, we can only imagine the death that will be caused.”
So for Trinidad and Tobago to rush to sell the offshore blocks might make for
good business. Conversely given the tiny Republic’s unique location in the fields, and
with the prevailing water/wind currents and all, the move could spell disaster one day.
Granted the future will be a hard one if we decided to NOT SELL blocks. But then
again, we will never decide against making easy money, so the soft option stays. But
surely we can, must, ensure the oil and gas companies leave a little more than they tra-
ditionally do upon demob. Actually in T&T’s case it would be nice if that parting gift
also included an intact habitat for fish, birds, and those other wild creatures too nu-
merous to mention.
ARTICLES
Page 7 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Supporting the environment of Tobago through service learning
Erik Blair
Instructional Development Unit, The University of the West Indies
Awareness of the role and importance of the environment can broadly occur
in one of two ways: indirectly or directly. In the indirect method we find examples of
people who simply ‘care’ about the environment and wish to understand, enhance and
preserve its natural wonder and beauty. These people are drawn by an inner desire to
address environmental problems and become good stewards of the land. The second
way to become involved in environmental matters is for people to be directly driven
into action through a specific local cause such as deforestation, flood or the impact of
some invasive species. These people may have previously been complacent about envi-
ronmental concerns but suddenly find themselves facing a particular situation where
they feel they now have to do something.
Neither of these two instances is the ‘best’ way to become environmentally
active and, for the sake of our environment, it is more important that people take ac-
tion (for whatever reason). But, when we consider how to get more people engaged
with their environment, we might look at the role of direct action and ask the ques-
tion: how do we get people to care for the environment if they do not have a direct
cause to rally around?
Perhaps one of the tools that can be used to inspire such direct engagement
with the environment is something called service learning. Service learning is a direct
learning technique that hopes to encourage students to be socially responsible individu-
als. Instead of waiting for students to act to protect their environment, service learning
gives students specific projects that they can work on. Projects that hope to stir their
passion for the environment whilst enhancing their educational achievement.
Service learning combines classroom teaching and learning with service to the
wider community. Through hands-on experiences classroom learning is enriched as
students make links between what they learn in school and its relationship with the
‘real world’. The students of Tobago live in a rich and varied environment and service
learning allows them to understand and enhance this environment in an educational
manner. Service learning gives students the chance to get involved in civic projects then
reflect upon their experiences so that they can understand their own responsibilities in
relation to their community and environment.
According to the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, online) service
learning has five key components:
It is a method of encouraging student learning and development through active par-
ticipation in thoughtfully organised service that is conducted in, and meets the
needs of, the community.
It involves an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher learning, or
community service program, along with the community.
It helps foster civic responsibility.
It is integrated into, and enhances, the academic curriculum or the educational
components of the community service program in which the participants are
enrolled.
It provides structured time for students or participants to reflect on the service
experience.
(EPA, online)
“Service learning
combines class-
room teaching
and learning with
service to the
wider community.
“
Page 8 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
A good example of how service learning can benefit students and the environ-
ment comes from Mainland High School, Daytona Beach in Florida. Over 800 Students
at Mainland High School were involved in a service learning project at Rose Bay County
Park. This project involved them mapping and studying the flora and fauna; producing
brochures; building viewing platforms; designing a website; composing songs, and learn-
ing how to cook with the native plants. Not only were the teachers able to link this
project to the students learning in English, maths, technology, art, music and science
but both the country park and the students benefited from the experience. This is
quite a big example and Mainland High School has many students and staff that allow
for this scale of project but there is no reason why similar activities cannot occur in
Tobago.
With the right planning, enthusiastic teachers and community leaders could
help develop meaningful service learning projects that would be educational, purposeful
and environmentally sound. There are a few pointers that organisers should consider
before they start a project and projects that are well thought out to begin with tend to
be more successful. It is important that there should be a link between the project and
the curriculum. This will involve arranging meetings with teachers to work out how to
make sure the service learning project supports school learning. Since, service learning
puts students at the centre and encourages them to be responsible, students should be
involved in the planning stages and should be encouraged to think about what type of
projects they would like to do and how they would help manage these projects. Suc-
cessful projects need the support of the local community which means that parents,
aunts, uncles, grandparents, shopkeepers and residents should be kept informed about
what the project is and how they can help out. Next, the service learning project needs
to be kept under constant scrutiny. This involves the students reflecting on their pro-
gress – often through written logs or diaries. Writing these logs helps the students ana-
lyse how well the project is going and also helps their writing and analytical skills. Fi-
nally, hard work and achievement need to be celebrated. When students complete a
successful service learning project they need to take time out and be encouraged to
celebrate their endeavours and learning. If students feel that they have made a differ-
ence then they are more likely to get involved with future projects.
Students leave school with grades and qualifications but they have few
‘experiences’ that they can add to their résumés. By getting involved in a service learn-
ing project students add skills such as planning, problem-solving, goal setting and deci-
sion-making to their résumés and show future employers that they are hard-working,
thoughtful and can see a project through to the end. Service learning is a great win-win
-win activity. It brings communities together; it supports students’ academic study, and
it helps the environment. Service learning helps students connect with their environ-
ment in a direct way and show the constructive impact that humans can have on their
environment. There are a number of service learning projects that could be really ex-
citing learning experiences – building green habitats; cleaning and restoring wetland
areas; developing and promoting farmers’ markets, and designing waste collection and
recycling schemes. All these offer the opportunity for students to become academically
stronger, to grow as individuals and to make a positive difference to the environment
of Tobago.
Reference
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (online) Service-
Learning. Learning by doing: students taking greening to the community, edition 3.
Available from http://www.epa.gov/wastes/education/pdfs/svclearn.pdf
Modern Values versus Habitat Loss
Bertrand Bhikarry
Environment Tobago
While some people go blue in the face about the destruction of natural habi-
tat in T&T, the damage goes on. In Tobago the wetlands are being bulldozed for; let’s
see – there’s a community centre in Bloody Bay, there’s a rum shop in Granby Point,
and they’ve started to build swimming pools and car parks in the Courland area just
above the Black Rock Ponds. And let’s not get too upset about the Kilgwyn Marsh
where daily, the forestry department (of all people) are ‘supervising’ the opening up of
the area, building huts for relaxation.
Now Tobago may be small, but within what little land space it occupies, the
terrestrial ecosystem has developed a pretty tight relationship with the coastal zone.
Thus, Pigeon Point and Buccoo are prime examples of natural habitats for birds, am-
phibians, fishes, marine growth. So much so that the folk at RAMSAR, understanding
the importance of the peninsula and marsh as providers of natures services, gave the
go-ahead to create an Environmentally Sensitive Area down there.
This blog is too limited a forum to say why the proposed ESA does not yet exist even
after a decade. Suffice to say though, instead of a reserved area for wildlife, mangrove,
fish, and assorted marine organism, there’s going to be a dock in the buffer zone af-
forded by Rhizophora mangle. Ah c’mon guys, It’s not like that area isn’t already under
severe stress caused by the proliferation of nutrient rich wastewater from Bon Ac-
cord and environs.
However if the list of travesties against the Tobago wildlife habitat is long,
consider the situation next door. Trinidad – land of the Hummingbird, where the
landmass is bigger, and the appetite of the population for taking the natural resource
is a lesson in rank avarice. The major wetlands in Trinidad, the Nariva Swamp and the
Oropouche Lagoon are all that’s left of what nature intended. Minor wetland and
marsh are all under cover of ubiquitous concrete, operating as shopping malls, hous-
ing, or dumpsites. Nariva (Swamp) was lucky enough, having barely escaped the de-
pradations of developers and rice farmers going on to become an ESA. Oropouche
Lagoon however may simply go down in history as the multi-billion dollar lagoon high-
way that sank.
The forested areas of Trinidad are diminishing quicker than was thought pos-
sible, as State goes on a building binge ostensibly designed to catalyze a faltering con-
struction industry. Not for the TT government to tighten belts, and develop added
value industries – like education for export, high level skills and classy entertainment
(what? Soca and Chutney?). Rather the governors of Iere have entered a sliding slip-
pery slope of selling out the natural assets: Resources given us by fate, and of a type
which are key to take the country out of the third world.
If, and it’s a big if, the oil, gas, pitch, and the fisheries were left for local use,
the general population would not have to contemplate emigration – in order to earn
a living. Rather they could go away as professionals in demand. These are desirable
options that T&T has the wherewithal to explore, but perversely it seems the always
reactive state machine will only cut down good land for social development housing
schemes. Argghhh!
Page 9 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
“The forested ar-
eas of Trinidad
are diminishing
quicker than was
thought possible. “
Page 10 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Keeping out of Tobago People Business
Ian Lambie
Recently, there was a letter published in the various newspapers from a group
of concerned visiting Birdwatchers who witnessed the shooting of pelicans at Grange
Bay at Mt. Irvine in Tobago. I received several telephone calls and e-mails from my Bird
watching colleagues resident in Trinidad and in the USA enquiring from me what I in-
tended to do about this report. My response was that any intervention on my part will
be viewed by my Tobagonian neighbours and friends as "meddling in their business".
Hunting in Tobago, in and out of the Hunting Season, was traditional in To-
bago. Wildmeat, including nestling Sea- birds taken off their nests on St. Giles Islands
and pelican or "Sea Duck", is served at many of the monthly Harvest Festivals, whether
in the open or closed Season is well known by the Police, the officers of the Wildlife
Section of the THA, members of Environment Tobago and the tour guides and bird
watching guides who earn a livelihood by conducting natural history and bird watching
tours. It is for them to ensure the observance of the existing conservation of wildlife
laws, and not for me a resident, "an outsider" for only fifteen years to become involved
in “Tobago business". These persons have been silent on these matters.
Tobagonians are of the opinion that Tobago belongs to Tobagonians and not to
the Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The land, the Wildlife and the reefs "is all we
own, and you can’t come here and tell we what to do with it ".
Up to mid-December of 2012, in my opinion, the contest in the THA Elections
was a close one but after the arrival of the "heavy People’s Partnership (PP) artillery"
from Trinidad and the taking-over of the reins from Ashworth Jack by the Prime Minis-
ter as the leader of the Peoples' Partnership assisted by the "high-profile" Jack Warner,
the demise of the support for Ashworth Jack and the TOP began to wane.
Ashworth Jack should have been seen to be leading the charge even if he was sup-
ported, in the background, by the PP's heavy artillery and their apparent limitless fi-
nances. Had this been done it is quite likely that Ashworth Jack would have retained his
seat and the TOP winning 4 or 5 Seats. Let this loss by the TOP and the Peoples
Partnership is a lesson to all Trinidad-based politicians, “Keep out of Tobago People
Business".
Similarly to birdwatchers and conservationists in Trinidad, let the people of
Tobago decide the fate of their wildlife whether it is to be consigned to the pot or to
be managed in a sustainable manner for posterity. All the deer both the indigenous
Red Brocket Deer and the introduced White-tailed or Tobago Deer have long been
extirpated by over-hunting and so too has the Tobago Picoplat by trapping for sale in
the pet Trade. Crabs, lobsters and conch are scarce because of overhunting and in the
case of the crabs also due to loss of habitat. And what has happened to our Flying
Fish? Where have they gone? They are now two months late for their annual arrival.
The strategy required in dealing with "the people of Tobago” must be different
from the strategy adopted in dealing with the people of Mayaro, Point Fortin, Rio
Claro, Toco or Sangre Grande. The people of Tobago are a proud people who be-
lieve that they can solve all of their problems without the advice or the interference of
outsiders but especially Trinidadians.
Page 11 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
Henry Walter Bates 1864. The Naturalist of the River Amazons. 2nd ed. London: John
Murray 394 pp.
Reprinted 1975 by Dover, New York. Also available online from Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/).
[Thirtieth in a series on "naturalist-in" books.]
Christopher K. Starr
Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies ckstarr@gmail.com
As a young man Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892) and an-
other working-class English naturalist, Alfred Russel Wal-
lace, had the idea of financing an expedition to the Amazon
through the sale of plant and animal specimens. They went
in 1848, remained together for about a year and then
worked independently. Over 11 years Bates collected al-
most 15,000 specimens, mostly insects, of which more than
half represented undescribed species. Most of that time
was spent in the Upper Amazon, isolated from other scien-
tists except through the very slow exchange of letters. The
lack of intellectual society was the one thing that he most
missed, and Bates never left Britain again after his return
(Crawforth 2009).
This book is a classic, perhaps the most engaging of
Victorian natural history. It first appeared in 1863 in two
volumes. The next year Bates condensed it to the one-
volume edition reviewed here. The 12 chapters have nine full-page and 30 smaller illus-
trations. The former include an interior view of primary forest so rich and wild that one
could miss its human element: two Indians with their blowguns.
The two friends had large ambitions. Enthusiastic about the growing idea that spe-
cies evolve, they saw the study of tropical life as the best path to understanding this
process. Charles Darwin had already formulated his theory of evolution by natural se-
lection, but did not publish it until near the end of Bates's time in Brazil. They landed at
the coastal city of Pará (now Belém) in a state of exaltation. Bates remarked that "The
impressions received during our first walk, on the evening of the day of our arrival, can
never wholly fade from my mind." Belém then had a population of just 15,000 and was
well forested on all sides, where the teeming tropical diversity that they sought was very
much in evidence. There were, for example, about 700 species of butterflies within an
hour's walk of Belém, more than twice as many as in all of Europe.
The Amazon river system drains an area of 7 million km2, about 40% of South
America. Bates first went up the Amazon in 1849 and traveled widely in the interior
after that. He wandered in a world framed by rivers and streams, whose sheer immen-
sity is the central feature of the landscape. Toward its mouth, the Amazon is so wide
that one cannot see both shores at once. Some of its tributaries are more than 1000 km
long, hundreds of meters wide even far upstream, and navigable for hundreds of kilome-
Henry Walter Bates “Bates tried a
vegetarian diet,
but with ill effects
“
Page 12 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
ters. Of one waterway far up the Amazon, Bates remarks that this "stream is not more
than forty or fifty yards broad." Note that this insignificant "stream" is wider than any of
the "rivers" of Trinidad.
The Rio Negro and its tributaries flow south from the Guiana Highlands, whose soils
tend to be dark and nutrient-poor. At Manaus, 1600 km from Belém, it joins the Amazon,
whose headwaters are in the Andes. Above this confluence the Amazon is commonly
called the Solimões in Brazil. The dark waters of the Rio Negro and the light waters of
the Solimões run side by side for several kilometers before mixing. Bates remarked that
"In crossing we passed the line a little more than half way over, where the waters of the
two rivers meet and are sharply demarcated from each other." Unlike Wallace, Bates
made no substantial exploration of the Rio Negro system.
Amazon travel was then a laborious business. The tides reach far upriver, the river's
rise and fall are a major seasonal factor. There was danger of wind and squalls on large
rivers, of getting grounded on the small ones. An 1851 descent of about 2200 km from
Ega (now Tefé) to Belém took 29 days, even with a strong current. In the Upper Amazon,
boatmen to manage the boat and mass of cargo were often hard to obtain.
Then there were the biotic difficulties, such as ticks, which attacked in large numbers
and could leave a festering wound. In some places Bates was much tormented by mosqui-
toes in the night and other biting flies in the daytime. Sporadic epidemics could descend
on an area. In 1850 yellow fever affected about 3/4 and killed about 5% of Belém. Later a
smallpox outbreak took away a further 5%. Bates names some personal friends who per-
ished in this way.
And food could be hard to find, as the local people did not produce a surplus. Bates
tried a vegetarian diet, but with ill effects, so that the search for meat was a frequent con-
cern. At Tefé, where he stayed two years, the standard article of food was a large fresh-
water turtle. "I became so sick of turtle ... that I could not bear the smell of it, although at
the time nothing else was to be had, and I was suffering from actual hunger." The turtles'
eggs at the nesting beaches were collected for their valuable oil. Bates estimated that 48
million eggs were harvested annually in the Upper Amazon. This does not sound sustain-
able, and the local people told him that the turtles were not nearly as abundant as in years
past.
Amid all this, Bates happily collected and observed. During his sojourn in some lo-
calities, he "led a quiet, uneventful life ..., following my pursuit in the same peaceful, regular
way as a Naturalist might do in a European village. For many weeks in succession my
journal records little more than the notes made on my daily captures." The first two
hours of the day were devoted to collecting birds, the middle part to collecting insects
before the mid-afternoon rain. The late afternoon was for processing specimens and
notes.
Toward the Indians who were his main contacts upriver, Bates's attitude was liberal
and sympathetic, but with little admiration. He appreciated their openness and hospitality,
but regarded them as unemotional, incurious and largely uninteresting. Even less did he
admire the working-class Portuguese immigrants, sarcastically termed "these shining ex-
amples of European enlightenment". He partly attributed to the tropical environment
their indolence, "a moral condition not to be wondered at in a country where perpetual
summer reigns, and where the necessaries of life are so easily obtained." Bates makes
virtually no comment on the African slavery that had so incensed Darwin in Brazil 20
years earlier, perhaps because he spent almost no time in plantation areas. Enslavement
of Indians as domestic servants was illegal, but tolerated by the authorities.
It bears mention that a form of the Tupí language known as lingoa geral was a lingua
franca throughout much of Brazil at this time. It has since almost disappeared, and I have
Page 13 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
had no success in hearing it spoken in the Lower Amazon.
Bates earned his living from collecting and shipping dead specimens, yet he had a
keen sense of the living organism. This is seen, for example, in descriptions of the nesting
behaviour of solitary wasps. Watching sand wasps, he described and interpreted the ori-
entation flights on leaving the nest, perhaps the first to do so. Ants were everywhere,
including leafcutters (Atta spp.). Bates pondered the division of labour among different-
sized workers. The largest could not be soldiers or supervisors, as they did not sting or
seem to give directions, yet nature would have eliminated them if they were truly useless.
He suggested that they served in passive defense of colony from vertebrate predators, just
by being so spiny and un-succulent.
Around Tefé he collected about 550 species of butterflies. Their wings provided a
wealth of heritable characters, and he "paid special attention to them, having found that
this tribe was better adapted than almost any other group of animals or plants to furnish
facts in illustration of the modifications which all species undergo in nature .... It may be
said, therefore, that on the expanded membranes nature writes as on a tablet the story of
the modification of species, so truly do all changes in the organisation register themselves
thereon."
Bates's main contribution to science was his theory of mimicry (Bates 1862). Heli-
conius butterflies were common and slow-moving, yet all but ignored by lizards and other
predators. He further noted that species from different genera or even different families
might bear a strikingly exact resemblance to a given Heliconius. While Heliconius tend to
be markedly distasteful, a look-alike species might be palatable, and Bates and reasoned
that the palatable mimic gained protection from predators through an evolved deceptive
resemblance to the unpalatable model. This was one of the earliest and most striking tri-
umphs of the new theory of evolution.
Bates was at São Paulo de Olivença, more than 3000 km upriver and planning to as-
cend another 1000 km into the Peruvian Amazon, when he was laid low by fever, the cul-
mination of a gradual deterioration over years. "Heat, mosquitoes, insufficient and bad
food, hard work and anxiety had brought me to a very low state of health." It was time to
go home. In Belém he was welcomed by old friends for whom the Brazilian interior
where he had spent seven and a half years was still the unknown sertão (backlands).
Even in his wasted state, Bates knew that he was leaving behind the best years of his
life, remarking that "To live again amidst the dull scenes [of England] I was quitting a coun-
try of perpetual summer, where my life had been spent ... on the endless streams or in the
boundless forests." Even so, I doubt that he had ever seriously thought to settle in Brazil.
During those years, Bates was ever an expatriate, never an immigrant.
References
Bates, H.W. 1862. Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon. Lepidoptera:
Heliconidae. Transactions of the Linnaean Society 23:495-566.
Bates, H.W. 1863. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. Vol. 1-2. London: John
Murray 351+417 pp. Available online at wwww.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/guide/ra041001.html
Crawforth, A. 2009. The Butterfly Hunter: The Life of Henry Walter Bates. Buckingham:
Christopher K. Starr is also the host of the new weekly radio show "EcoTones", a half-hour programme de-
voted to a broad range of environmental questions. Among these are environmental law and policy, ecotourism,
the state of the environment, and some of the exceptionally alluring wild plants and animals found in the Eastern
Caribbean. EcoTones airs every Wednesday evening just after the 6 o'clock news (starting at about 22:10 GMT)
on FM 101.7 (Heritage Radio).
Page 14 Environment TOBAGO newsletter
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