Who is Katrina Khan-Roberts?

Katrina Khan-Roberts has had a life long fascination with the ocean and with mermaids. Born in San Fernando, Trinidad, a fascinating detail is that she had a birthmark on her left leg in the exact geographical shape as the island of Tobago. Needless to say, Tobago was, and still is, her happy place. Going abroad and returning to T&T, Katrina became acutely aware of how human activities were impacting the natural world in different places. Her academic path was set in environmental sciences with special focus on Marine Biology, climate and small island developing states resource management.

With an innate and insatiable need to do a combination of technical and creative things, Katrina found her passion in youth environmental advocacy and began producing art, poetry and in environmental communication. Fast forward ten years and mix in a pandemic, the local job market, starting a family and having that family threatened by crime, and Katrina is now fearlessly moving forward with her childhood dreams of becoming a mermaid in Trinidad and Tobago.

It began as a dream at the age of six that she had a mermaid tail sewn and was able to swim with it. She got the nickname Mertrina from her cousin while swimming like a mermaid in Store Bay, Tobago. After completing her tertiary education she started the Facebook page Marine Minded and produced educational content along the introduction to marine biology. This led to writing an introduction to marine biology for children, the Mini Marine Biologist's Guidebook in 2020 followed by the Mini Marine Biologist's Activity Book in 2021. She then decided to bring Mertrina to life and wear the fabric tail she had been practicing with for 5 years into the public domain and had her debut as Mertrina on the nation's beaches.

As an experienced swimmer, she is able to navigate a monofin, a special type of flipper that can be used for diving. Imagine two flippers joined together, looks like a great base for a mermaid tail. Add on a fish scale fabric and you have an instant mermaid. Swimming with a monofin should only be done by trained swimmers and with supervision, it is not a toy and can lead to complications, especially in the sea. Katrina hopes that with the sightings of Mertrina around Trinidad and Tobago that people will become curious about the ocean and how they can protect it. Every individual has their role and responsibility for their actions, and it it always important to keep your impact on the environment in mind. For more information Katrina can be contacted by almost all social media by the hashtag #mertrina, via email at marinemindedtt@gmail.com or WhatsApp 480-5378