Support for coral reef studies in the US

[Judith Lang & Lynton Land]

Dear Coral-Listers,
As many of you in the US will have heard by now, the initial Senate
committee budgets for NOAA in FY2000 contain no new funds for the coral
reef-related projects that were requested by senior NOAA personnel!

Although certain activities at the University of Hawaii and the National
Coral Reef Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are apparently receiving
favorable consideration, not being funded are other areas of NOAA's Lands
Legacy Initiative (see http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s108.htm and  
http://192.64.69.47/BudgetRequest2000.htm).

Apparently Americans are failing to  ensure that their collective voice is
being heard with respect to these issues; perhaps folks here are just not
aware of the present precarious status of many coral reefs. Anyone who is a
U.S. citizen and wishes increased funding for NOAA's reef
research/survey/restoration projects is urged to contact his/her respective
federal legislators and briefly explain the many economic, ecological,
societal, aesthetic etc., reasons for conserving reefs, both in US waters
and abroad.  
Judy Lang

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