Tobago Cays Marine Park
Note: The data were entered in the language of the country of origin (English, French or Spanish) and there is no translation available yet.Chapter 3. SITE DESCRIPTION
d - Human population and current activities
Inhabitants inside the area or in the zone of potential direct impact on the protected area:
| Inside the area | In the zone of potential direct impact | |||
| Permanent | Seasonal | Permanent | Seasonal | |
| Inhabitants | 271 | not given | not given | not given |
Comments about the previous table:
Mayreau has a population of 271, none of the other islands have any residents.
Description of population, current human uses and development:
There is a permanent population of 271 people in Mayreau, along with tourist accommodation. The park gets around 45,000 visitors per year, mainly from yachts, cruise ships or day trips. Locals vendors travel to the park daily. January, February and March are the most popular months – around 6000-7000 visitors per month.
| Activities | Current human uses | Possible development | Description / comments, if any |
| Tourism | very important | stable | Tourism is the main activity within TCMP. Around 8000 yachts visit the cays each year, which includes many charter yachts, and day trips. Snorkelling and scuba diving is a popular activity within the park, there are four local dive shops in the surrounding islands – the most popular sites for scuba diving are Mayreau Gardens, Horseshoe Reef and World’s End Reef. Cruise ships visit the park mainly in the high season from November to April. Visitors also use water taxis to visit the cays for a day trip, there are around 40 taxis in Union and 5-10 in Mayreau. There are a number of vendors in the park, selling T-shirts, handicrafts, ice, bread, fresh fish, fruits and vegetables to the visiting yachts. Vendors are restricted to the north beach of Petit Bateau. Wind surfing also occurs in the park. Hotels and restaurants in the surrounding islands are dependent on the park for drawing tourists to the area. |
| Fishing | limited | stable | Fishing is allowed in the park management zone west of Mayreau, but nowhere else in the park. Occasionally illegal fishers are caught elsewhere in the park. There are around 30 fisherfolk in Union, 11 in Mayreu and 22 in Canouan. |
| Agriculture | limited | stable | There may be some very small scale agriculture on Mayreau, but nowhere else in the park |
| Industry | absent | stable | |
| Forestry | absent | stable | |
| Others | not specified | not specified |
e - Other relevant features
Archaeological feature:
Some small excavations on Union, but none in the TCMP