Press release
Clifton, Union Island, August 2022 | The Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) has implemented a Website Based E-commerce system under the tag line “TCMP PAY”. Park visitors, including cruisers and yacht charter companies will be able to conveniently pay park user fees and mooring fees online via http://www.tobagocays.org , prior to them arriving at the Marine Park.
Manager of the Tobago Cays Marine Park, Mr. Lesroy Noel, stated that “TCMP PAY will allow us to streamline the collection of fees at the park, reduce cost of revenue collection and will reduce the transaction time, this will result in increased time for other critical activities including enforcement and maintenance at the park.
“The system not only provides a safe and accountable way to receive money but also offers a distinctive ticketing system and generates customized financial and usage reports. It is easy to enforce by park rangers and transactions will monitored at our office on Union Island” Noel added.
While we are still operating in a COVID-19 environment, TCMP PAY will provide a contactless system which will reduce health risks for both our front line staff and park users, eliminating the spread of viruses through cash transactions.
Park users can access TCMP PAY via the website http://www.tobagocays.org the online transaction is completed through three (3) simple steps after which a credit card payment is made. Payment receipts are sent via email and verification takes place upon arrival at the park.
The TCMP is a member of MPA Connect, a learning network of Marine Protected Area managers and professionals in the Caribbean, and has participated in a number of the Peer-to- Peer (P2P) activities and learning exchanges that are hosted by MPA Connect. In May 2019, Ms. Dorette Hooper, Accountant at the TCMP participated in the Peer-to-Peer VII Learning Exchange on Sustainable Finance which was conducted in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
During that learning exchange, the TCMP began the process of exploring the use of an electronic fee payment system to enhance the efficiency of the existing on-the-water cash-based collection system currently in place within the MPA. TCMP PAY will be available online from August 31st 2022 following a virtual launch. Cash transactions at the marine park will be accommodated and will run together with the e-commerce system until phased out.
The E-commerce system was implemented with support from MPA Connect, Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The system was designed and hosted by Reef Support LLC.
About the Tobago Cays Marine Park
The Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP), located in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, houses a series of globally significant habitats including coral reefs, sea turtle nesting sites and feeding areas, and small systems of mangroves. The marine portion of the park surrounds five uninhabited cays, the populated island of Mayreau, and three islets. The four-kilometer long Horseshoe Reef, the longest of the four main reef systems in the TCMP, encloses four of the cays (Petit Bateau, Petit Rameau, Baradal, and Jamesby) with the fifth cay (Petit Tabac) lying just outside the reef to the east.
The Tobago Cays are known as the “Jewel in the Crown” of the Southern Grenadines and are of significant economic, cultural, social, and environmental value to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The TCMP provides a home to a wide variety of animals and plants that thrive on the Cays and in the protected waters of the TCMP. The systems of coral reefs found in the TCMP contain many of the species native to this part of the Caribbean biogeographic region. Sea turtles, conchs, lobsters, and iguanas all take refuge in the protected area.
One News St.Vincent 