 The Tobago Cays are now the key element of the Tobago Cays Marine Park run and owned by the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines government.The Marine Park consists of a sand-bottom lagoon which encompasses the five cays, the inhabited island of Mayreau and the 4 km Horseshoe Reef.The Marine Park was listed as a regionally significant ecosystem under the SPAW Protocol in December 2014

The most extensive and well-developed coral reef complexes in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines occur on shallow shelves around the windward sides of Mayreau and Union Islands and the Cays themselves.