News Splash!
We regularly update this page, so check back again for new information
- All Current Fish, Seafood Species Projected to Collapse by 2048 - Full news story
- Cruise ships: Follow in Alaska's wake - Full news story
- Environmentalists are petitioning the UN to accept climate change is damaging world heritage sites such as coral reefs. - Video Clip - BBC NEWS
- Environmentalists are petitioning the UN to accept climate change is damaging world heritage sites such as coral reefs. - Video Clip - BBC NEWS
- July 8, 2006. A people dependent on coral. Roger Harrabin of the BBC reports from San Pedro, Belize on how the United Nations is being asked to step in to protect a barrier reef which lies just off Belize in Central America. Island dwellers fear its erosion could endanger their homes and livelihoods if action is not taken soon. - Full news story
- Fossil fuels said to damage ocean life - Full News Story
Ocean acidification report - web link
Ocean acidification report - 4780KB pdf
- Global climate change in Belize - Full news story
- Conservationists respond to global climate change impacts to coral reefs
Responding to the growing concern of the impacts of global climate change on coral reefs in the Mesoamerican Reef Region (MAR), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) MAR program and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have launched a large scale region-wide survey to understand the ability of reefs to absorb disturbances, resist phase shifts and regenerate subsequent to such perturbations. This region-wide analysis will examine over 360 reefs throughout the region and across a variety of coral reef habitats, many of which have never been examined before. The data will help managers identify gaps in conservation, improve zoning schemes in designated protected areas, and help conservation groups better concentrate limited resources to areas of high priority. The aim is to enable each MAR country the ability to respond to reef impacts in the face of continued climate change.
The survey aims to identify bleaching resilient reefs (corals bleach and may die but the community ‘bounces back’) and resistant reefs (corals do not bleach). Using the AGRRA protocol (Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment), the data will complement existing monitoring programs currently underway by the MBRS synoptic monitoring project and local MPA staff. This region wide survey will complete the coverage of a comprehensive assessment of reef health throughout the entire ecoregion.
This massive effort is being accomplished with the help of the dedicated efforts of numerous local partners in the region. In Mexico, Amigos de Sian Ka´an is working with partners to survey over 140 reefs along the Caribbean Yucatan Coast. They first started surveys last August 2005, but were interrupted by a busy Hurricane season. They will begin surveying again this summer. In Belize, 25 people recently participated in a consistency/training course in May. The network of teams has already surveyed 75 of the 150 sites across the Belize barrier reef and offshore atolls and will finish by August. The Honduras/Guatemala team conducted a consistency/training workshop at Cayos Cochinos in early June and has already begun surveying their 69 sites in the Bay Islands, and along the Honduran and Guatemalan coast.
Stay tuned for field reports and photographs coming soon!
For more information see:
- The Nature Conservancy Rapid Reef Assessment overview - 582KB
- Belize AGRRA training - 240KB
- Honduras/Guatemala AGRRA surveys - 379KB
Conservation Highlights
- Revolutionary achievements on Isla Contoy - Link
- Building Synergies in the MAR- An Analysis of Conservation Investments to Strengthen Collaboration and Partnerships. - 2933KB
- Sustainable Marine Tourism in the MAR — 135KB
- Project Bay Islands - 152KB
Upcoming Meetings
- ITMEMS – 3rd International Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management Symposium to be held October 15-20, 2006 Cozumel, Mexico
- GCFI — Meeting of Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute - Belize City, Belize November
New Links
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The report "Mapping Human Activity in the Marine Environment: GIS Tools and Participatory Methods" is available online: "Mapping Human Activity in the Marine Environment"
- The report "In the Front Line: Shoreline Protection and other Ecosystem Services from Mangroves and Coral Reefs" is available online
- Subscribe to MPA News - published monthly by Marine Affairs Research and Education (MARE). To subscribe, send an e-mail message to mpanews@u.washington.edu. Type "subscribe" on the subject line, and include your name, mailing address, and daytime phone number in the text of the message. Also, please note whether you would like your subscription to be delivered electronically or in paper form
- Tulum +8 Workshop, Cancun- 2005 —Presentations - Link
If you would like to recommend important news or updates for us toinclude, please contact us at: info@healthyreefs.org |
