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Tobago Cays history - learn what once happend
The islands of Mayreau and the Tobago Cays were under private ownership from at least the 16th Century up until 12 April 1999, when the Cays were purchased after long negotiations by the state of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The purchase was restricted to the five islands of the Cays, while the larger island of Mayreau remained in private hands. The early history of Mayreau and the Tobago Cays is well described by MEDO (2003). In 1985, the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (GOSVG) requested assistance from the Organization of American States (OAS) for developing tourism within the Grenadines. This led to a detailed proposal for the formation of a 'Tobago Cays National Park' with initial investment costs estimated at US$ 1 million (Heyman 1988). In 1987, the Fisheries Division of the GOSVG established the Tobago Cays as a 'conservation area', along with nine other such areas, in which spear fishing was prohibited. The rectangular boundary of this area included the whole of Mayreau, the Cays and most of the coral reefs, but was slightly smaller than the area now designated as a marine park (see later, Figure 11). It has also been pointed out (ECLAC, 2002; IJA, 2004a) that the 1986 Fisheries Act only provided for the designation of marine reserves, not conservation areas. In September 1993 (as described by Espeut, 2006), the governments of France and St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed and launched the Tobago Cays Marine Park Project and produced an updated Action Plan (FMC, 1995). In 1995 while the Tobago Cays were still under private ownership, Cabinet then approved a proposal to establish the Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) including the island of Mayreau. On 25 November 1997, the Government enacted the Marine Parks Act and thereby created a Marine Parks Board that was to oversee the management and conservation of the TCMP, and any other marine parks to be designated in future. The Tobago Cays were then declared a marine park in December 1997 by order published in the Official Gazette No. 40 of that year. Cabinet appointed the first Marine Parks Board in May 1998. On 8 July 1998, the Government gazetted the Marine Parks (Tobago Cays) Regulations, and in August 1998 a draft copy of the Tobago Cays management plan was submitted to the Marine Parks Board (Cordice, 1998). At this point, a series of problems began to appear. The regulations enacted for the park were not implemented, nor was the proposed fee structure, and the first draft management plan was never officially endorsed or adopted. A set of revisions to the management plan was prepared in July 2000 (Cordice, 2000), but this also was never formally approved. Part of the problem was the uncertainty in the legal status and boundaries of the park. It has since been observed that the 1997 designation as a 'marine park' only included the actual islands of the park, and none of the surrounding sea area (Espeut, 2006).
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Tobago Cays Vacations site
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