Symposium Ideas

Alan E Strong Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
Mon Nov 13 14:50:24 EST 2000


I "second" Andy Hooten's ideas on ITMEMS II and a second Coral Reefs'
"sister" publication for addressing issues of applied management and
conservation.  It seems as though we need some "binning" of coral
activities and this might serve us well.

Alan E. Strong  
Phys Scientist/Oceanographer 
  NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ORAD -- E/RA3
  NOAA Science Center -- RM 711W 
  5200 Auth Road
  Camp Springs, MD 20746-4304 
        Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
             301-763-8102 x170   
		    FAX: 301-763-8108
  http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad


Andy Hooten wrote:
> 
> The issues raised in the recent threads about future Symposium and =
> publication ideas are obviously on many of our minds who attended the =
> 9th. I also recall the large attendance during the 8th in Panama (in =
> 1996), where many concerns were raised about the upsurge in popularity =
> and attendance-- especially among those interested in applied ecology, =
> monitoring, reef management, economics, conservation, tourism-- and all =
> of the other coral reef issues evolving around the basic science, and =
> that these might have frustrated many of the scientists attending who =
> wished to focus and debate academic issues.
> 
> This time around, Terry Done's effort, with David Hopley's help, to be =
> inclusive of all these coral reef interests with an eye toward =
> integrating them is certainly to be applauded, as well as the efforts of =
> the Washington, D.C.-based Seaweb's work in helping to bridge the =
> communication gap between investigators, managers and the media.  But =
> given the sheer size of the conference and the number of participants, =
> it clearly points to so many being overwhelmed with information (as =
> noted in Alina Szmant's recent email, quoting the statistics from =
> Bernard Salvat's plenary presentation).=20
> 
> It seems to me that the very first International Tropical Marine =
> Ecosystems Management Symposium (with the unwieldy acronym of ITMEMS) =
> held in Townsville, Australia in November, 1998 , could potentially =
> serve coral reef managers and related interests--to take the information =
> gained from the ICRS, and apply it in coral reef management, =
> conservation and economic, etc. contexts.  It is true that the very =
> first ITMEMS largely focused on reviewing progress to date of the the =
> International Coral Reef Initiative, but subsequent programs could be =
> incorporated to truly be the Symposium whose main focus serves coral =
> reef managers and related interests--applying the ever-increasing =
> information gained from the scientific meetings.=20
> 
> Now an ITMEMS II is being planned for 2002, and perhaps this could serve =
> as the opportunity to begin an alternating focus--highlight the more =
> applied management and conservation interests for coral reefs? In short, =
> there could be a "summer olympics/winter olympics" analogy alternating =
> between ICRS and ITMEMS that could be synergistic, and possibly take =
> some of the load from any single, large symposium.=20
> 
> I would also like to suggest that in the future, the ISRS consider a =
> sister publication to "Coral Reefs" that might allow refereed =
> publications specifically for applied coral reef studies and management =
> ("Reef Management"?). It seems that certain parts of "Reef Encounter" =
> have been moving in this direction over recent years, and a =
> complementary publication whose focus in applied work would be useful, =
> welcomed, and might help redirect management-related articles, thereby =
> reducing the increasing rate of overload (and rejection rate) for "Coral =
> Reefs".
> 
> Perhaps in combination with the recent ideas submitted on Coral-List of =
> moving publications into electronic platforms, we could develop both =
> platform and symposium standards for our community of practice, and make =
> this increasing amount of information better balanced, processed, =
> peer-reviewed and edited, and in so doing, make it more digestible for =
> us all.
> 
> Andy Hooten
> AJH, Environmental Services
> 4005 Glenridge Street
> Kensington, MD 20895-3708
> +1-301-942-8839 (office)
> +1-301-962-9405 (fax)
> +1-301-257-5739 (mobile)
> Environmental_Services at attglobal.net
> alternate email:
> ahooten at worldbank.org
> 
>



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