IYOR Update

[CoralReefA at aol.com]

Dear IYOR and Coral List Participants 

This is an update about the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 
It is divided into several categories: 
1. Background on IYOR and Frequently Asked Questions 
2. Brief description of formal launch of IYOR at the Panama ISRS Symposium 
3. Coming Events (by country/region) and Resources 
4.  Contact addresses for further infromation. 
As always, we encourage (constructive) comments, revisions etc.  Please 
remember to use the listserver only if you message is of general interest 
(otherwise send indivdual messages). 
Thanks for your interest in IYOR. 
All the best, 
Sue Wells 
Robert Ginsburg 
Vanessa Guest 
Stephen Colwell 

            NEWS OF THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE REEF, 1997 

For those not familiar with the goals of IYOR, this is a major effort in 
capacity building for reef management, outreach and education, research on 
reef degradation and its causes, assessment of reef condition and 
sustainable reef management.  It will provide a global context for national 
and regional efforts and will promote collaboration between organisations 
and programmes with common interests, providing an umbrella for a wide 
variety of reef-related activities in research, education, management, 
tourism etc.   

IYOR is not a top-down organisation with a large central office; it is 
instead  a grass-roots effort with emphasis on regional and local 
initiatives, and 
is relying on individuals and groups to achieve its aims.  Groups are 
encouraged to establish their own committees and develop initiatives 
appropriate to their locations. IYOR groups have been formed or are being 
formed in several parts of the world already (see below).  Suggestions for 
organizing a committee appear in the current issue of Reef Encounter.   

Updates on IYOR activities will be provided from time to time on relevant 
List Servers.  At this time, IYOR does not have a full-time resource person 
to answer all inquiries, but our volunteer leaders will do their best to 
answer questions and provide advice.  Most of us will be away for extended 
periods during August and thus there will be delays in responding.  The 
IYOR Web page is being updated and hotlinks to other relevant Web pages are 
being created; contact Stephen Colwell for further information (address 
below). 

           FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF IYOR IN PANAMA 

IYOR was formally announced at the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium 
in Panama, at the end of June this year.  Almost all of the 1400 
participants,from numerous countries, including most of the world's leading 
reef scientists signed the IYOR Pledge of support for conservation, 
education and assessments of reef condition.   

An IYOR booth attracted continuous attention throughout the meeting, and  
distributed a range of materials.  A press event attracted television 
stations, magazines and newspapers and IYOR received good coverage in Latin 
America and the Caribbean.  Copies of the press release are available from 
Stephen Colwell.  The handsome IYOR logo designed by the Scripps Institute 
was a big hit with participants as it appeared on buttons and a T-shirt. 
Organisations wishing to use the logo in connection with IYOR activities 
should ask for an application form from one of the people listed below.  An 
English leaflet on IYOR has been produced and is being distributed. Further 
print-runs in other languages, as well as country- and region-specific 
versions, are being planned. 

IYOR was designated a sanctioned activity of the International Coral Reef 
Initiative (ICRI) and assigned responsibility for public awareness of the 
Initiative's 1997 Program.  

The all-day IYOR Symposium on rapid assessments of benthos and fishes and 
various impacts was well received.  Some 20 researchers from around the 
Western Atlantic met during the symposium and enthusiastically endorsed the 
idea of assessing the condition of reefs remote from centres of population. 
 Information on this inititiative, termed WARRS (Western Atlantic Remote 
Reef Survey) will be 
posted on the Coral List Server. 

Two meetings of those interested in education were well attended and the 
participants voiced strong support for developing a clearing house with 
information on all available teaching aids (see below). 

IYOR-related activities also promoted at Panama included: 

ReefBase, the global database on coral reefs, now available from ICLARM on 
CD-Rom together with a comprehensive manual.  For information contact John 
McManus, J.MCMANUS at CGNET.COM 

The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCMRN) was launched and is 
developing plans for a network of  monitoring sites worldwide.  Information 
brochure available from Clive Wilkinson: C.Wilkinson at pearl.aims.gov.au  

A poster map of the world's coral reef and mangroves, prepared by the World 
Conservation Monitoring Centre, is available in English or Spanish from 
Alastair Grenfell: a.grenfell at wcmc.org.uk 

                        COMING EVENTS: 

INTERNATIONAL 

October,1996 Montreal:   A special session on IYOR, ICRI and coral reefs is 
being organized at the World Conservation Congress by IUCN - The World 
Conservation Union.  Further information from Paul Holthus, IUCN Marine 
Program, e-mail: PFH at HQ.iucn.ch 

PACIFIC: 

The Pacific Year of the Reef (PYOR) will be launched on 11 February 1997.  
It is being led by the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program and to 
date 17 countries are participating; others are expected to join.  The PYOR 
slogan is "Coral Reefs: Their Health, Our Wealth".  National campaign plans 
are being developed.  An artwork competition is being held to design a 
logo, the deadline for entries being 1 October 1996.  Plans are also being 
made to produce a video for the campaign.  Further information from Lucille 
Overhoff e-mail: 
lucille at pactok.peg.apc.org 

The 8th Pacific Science Association's Intercongrress to be held in Fiji 
July 13-19,1997 will feature a full report on the status of coral reefs in 
the Pacific and the results of resurveys of reefs after some decades, both 
of which are central themes ofIYOR   Additional papers on IYOR themes are 
being solicited.  For information contact Dr. Charles Birkeland, UOG Marine 
Laboratory, Mangilao, Guam 36923 birkelan at uog9.uog.edu or Dr. Richard W. 
Grigg, Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Mana, 1000 Pope 
Rd. Honolulu, Hawii, 96822  rgrigg at soest.hawaii.edu 

UNITED STATES 
A wide variety of projects have been planned by government and 
non-governmental particpants in IYOR.  A recent meeting sponsored by NOAA and 
the AZA in Washington DC explored common themes for IYOR and allowed 
networking of many of the interested groups.  A summary of that meeting will 
be made available over the IYOR listserv when it is edited by NOAA.  These 
are a few of the events currently planned.   

Please describe your own plans on the IYOR listserv so that they can be added 
to the calendar of events that will be displayed on the IYOR Web Site: 
 www.coral.org/iyor/ 

September 1996: Hawaii launch: How zoos and aquariums can best participate in 
IYOR will be discussed at the AZA Annual meeting, sponsored by the Waikiki 
Aquarium.  A preview of the IYOR Coral Reef Photography Exhibition - 
organized by CORAL - will be presented at the Waikiki Aquarium. 

November 1996: Press Club - background briefing for science writers.  IYOR 
activities will be highlighted and information on the need for coral reef 
conservation will be distributed to correspondents from major newspapers, 
magazines and television stations to prepare them for IYOR; sponsored by NOAA 
and Baltimore Aquarium 

January 1997;  Inauguration of IYOR with a Gala (plans underway in Miami and 
San Francisco - other sites encouraged) 

January 1997: The IYOR them will be included at the DEMA dive show, in 
Orlando Florida 

1996/97: ongoing activities at National Aquarium, Baltimore; information 
from Chris Andrews e-mail: candrews at clark.net 

Other Aquariums: a number of aquariums are focusing on coral reef education 
and conservation during IYOR.  Individual aquariums (and zoos) are invited to 
discuss their plans on the IYOR listserv. 

Color calendar for 1997 IYORproduced by CORAL (Coral Reef Alliance) is 
available for immediate distribution; information on 
availability from Stephen Colwell address below. 

IYOR Coral Reef Photography Exhibition - a collection of underwater 
photographs by the world's top underwater photographers - will travel to 
major zoos and aquariums throughout 1997-98 - organized by CORAL  

Public Service Announcements - on redio and television are planned throughout 
1997 to raise the public awareness about IYOR and coral reefs. 

IYOR Poster contest for children will be held throughout the United States 
during IYOR. It will be coordinated by the AZA, The Waikiki Aquarium and 
other participating zoos and aquariums. 


UNITED KINGDOM 

September-November 1997: Natural History Museum/Coral Cay Conservation 
joint exhibition on coral reefs and children's educational weekend  

February 1997: UK launch at London Zoo, in conjunction with Sea Life 
Centres, with David Bellamy 

1997: BP/Birdlife International/Fauna and Flora International special award 
for coral reef expeditions 

BBC programme on coral reefs as part of forthcoming 'Oceans' series 

Other activities are being developed by the UK IYOR Committee.  Further  
information (as well as copies of the UK-IYOR newsletter) from Vanessa 
Guest e-mail 101341.16 at CompuServe.COM and Liz Wood e-mail 
ewood at mail.globalnet.co.uk 

WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN: 

An IYOR-affiliated Program to develop research and conservation initiatives 
for the Western Indian Ocean is being established in Kenya by Tim 
McClanahan with support from the Pew Charitable Trust.  It will be 
headquartered in Mombassa under the Cora Reef Conservation Project of The 
Wildlife Conservation Society and will focus on education-outreach and 
coordination of activities in the region and research on ways to restore 
degraded reefs and the effects  of multiple anthropogenic impacts. 

GERMANY 

October 1996: German Research Foundation meeting on 'Global and Regional 
Controls on Biogenic Information'; IYOR information will be distributed. 
Further information from Felix Gunkel e-mail: fgunkel at gwdg.de 

AUSTRALIA 

Programs being developed through Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 
Australian Marine Conservation Society, and University of Sydney. 

MEXICO 

Various activities underway, and plans for establishment of IYOR Mexican 
Committee. 

COLOMBIA 

Plans for establishment of IYOR committee underway. 

                            EDUCATION MATERIALS 

Several initiatives are underway to assemble information on existing 
materials and to produce new education and outreach materials through Steve 
Ladd, Coral Forest and the UK IYOR Committee.  This information will be made 
available through one of the Listservers shortly, and will also be 
distributed at the World Conservation Congress.. 

                            SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES 

Re-survey of reefs previously impacted by excess sediment -El Nido/Bacuit 
Bay, Philippines; September, 1996 led by Gregor Hodgson. 

Initial assessments of coral community condition, Bahamas Barrier Reef 
(Andros Island); July-August, 1996 led by William Kiene. 

Re-survey of coral community condition off Abaco Island, Bahamas studied 
some 30 years ago; September 1996; Robert Ginsburg and RSMAS colleagues  

A Workshop on research and conservation of coral reefs in the Western 
Indian Ocean will be held in late February, 1997 in Mombassa, Kenya. Futher 
information from Tim McClanahan, Coral Reef Conservation Project, The 
Wildlife Conservation Society, P.O. Box 99470, Mombassa, Kenya FAX: 254 
(11) 472215. 

Further information about IYOR from:  

Robert N. Ginsburg, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, 
University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami FL 33149; Phone: 
(305) 361-4875;  FAX: (305) 361-4094  or 4632; 
rginsburg at rsmas.miami.edu  

Stephen Colwell,  CORAL, 809 Delaware St, Berkeley CA 94710, Phone 
510-528-2492, Fax 510-528-9317; e-mail: IYOR1997 at aol.com 

Vanessa Guest, IYOR-UK, Fax (44) 1326-316-836; e-mail: 
101341.16 at compuserve.com