Kalain Ho­sein

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Ser­vice (TTMS) is tak­ing an­oth­er step to make the coun­try more dis­as­ter-risk re­silient.

On Wednes­day, the TTMS host­ed the “Im­prov­ing Ma­rine Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal and Oceano­graph­ic Ser­vices in Trinidad and To­ba­go” work­shop, with sup­port from the Caribbean Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Or­ga­ni­za­tion and the World Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Or­ga­ni­za­tion.

With near­ly 40,000 peo­ple re­liant on fish­eries and aqua­cul­ture in Trinidad and To­ba­go for their liveli­hood, the Deputy Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary of the Min­istry of Pub­lic Util­i­ties Cher­ryl-Ann Solomon said the TTMS’ work­shop would bring the Met Of­fice clos­er to the re­al­i­ty of an or­ga­ni­za­tion that can pro­vide weath­er and cli­mate ser­vices that can stand the test of the times.

The work­shop high­light­ed the TTMS’ many prod­ucts they dis­sem­i­nate to var­i­ous stake­hold­ers across the coun­try re­gard­ing ma­rine fore­cast­ing, ear­ly warn­ing, and cli­mate out­looks.

Ac­cord­ing to the Met Of­fice’s Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Of­fi­cer Camille Gra­ham-Hall, “We are cur­rent­ly in the process of im­prov­ing our ma­rine and ocean me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal ser­vices ca­pac­i­ty. Through this work­shop, the Met Ser­vice will gain a bet­ter un­der­stand­ing of the needs with­in the mar­itime com­mu­ni­ties, which will in­form the de­vel­op­ment of our user-ori­ent­ed ma­rine me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal prod­ucts and ser­vices.”

The Caribbean Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Or­ga­ni­za­tion’s (CMO) Co­or­di­nat­ing Di­rec­tor, Dr Ar­lene Laing, ap­plaud­ed the Met Of­fice’s ef­forts to im­prove their ma­rine fore­casts and prod­ucts while ful­fill­ing the strate­gic goals CMO and the long-term goals of the World Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Or­ga­ni­za­tion. She ex­plained, “This work­shop has far-reach­ing and in­no­v­a­tive out­comes that will ben­e­fit the lo­cal ma­rine and mar­itime com­mu­ni­ty in man­ag­ing the risks that are posed by weath­er and cli­mate ex­tremes and cli­mate change im­pacts in the sec­tor. More im­por­tant­ly, it will al­so ben­e­fit trade as this sec­tor is a ma­jor con­trib­u­tor to the coun­try’s econ­o­my.”

Dr Laing added, “This work­shop is re­spon­sive to the coun­try’s needs and the evolv­ing needs of users of ma­rine weath­er da­ta prod­ucts and ser­vices. It is un­der­pinned by a col­lab­o­ra­tive and peo­ple-cen­tred ap­proach, aim­ing to de­liv­er fit-for-pur­pose ma­rine me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal ser­vices that are tai­lored to your needs.”