Gregor Hodgson's message

Osha Gray Davidson osha at pobox.com
Mon Jun 29 09:27:10 EDT 1998


Gregor Hodgson wrote: 
>I believe that participation in community-based monitoring programs such
>as Reef Check is THE PRIMARY solution to coral reef problems because it
>is the first step towards developing an "adopt-a-reef" attitude among
>local residents wherever reefs are found.

While Gregor did state that it was just an opinion (and it makes sense that
such a program is important) the claim that community-based monitoring is
THE PRIMARY solution to coral reef problems seems a bit overstated. While
there may well be lots of reefs for which this holds true, aren't there
also many others for which other solutions are needed? For example, reefs
that have few/no local residents but which are suffering from anthropogenic
degradation. And even in cases in which building a local sense of
stewardship is primary, monitoring may not be the most efficient method.
With problems and conditions so diverse, it seems (my opinion) that there
is no "primary" solution. Perhaps, instead, there are several equally
important "solutions" that vary according to place. Or, more difficult
still, for a given reef there may be several equally important steps that
need to be taken at the same time.

Osha


Osha Gray Davidson
14 South Governor St.
Iowa City, IA 52240 USA

Ph: 319-338-4778
Fax: 319-338-8606
osha at pobox.com
Scholar Affiliate, University of Iowa



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