[Coral-List] Utila Reef Health

Dwight Neal dineal at hotmail.com
Fri Apr 4 13:32:59 EDT 2008


I was hoping that others might have weighed in on this thread because the subject is one of concern for us in the region. As far fetched as it might seem, Dr. Box might well be right. As someone who has come up against this problem of lack of local information despite the volume of work that has been done it is frustrating and time consuming. A number of factors appear to be at play here:

1)    "foreign" researchers come in, do the work and promise to provide copies of reports which they never do.
2)    Reports are relegated to filing cabinets and shelves, and their existence promptly forgotten.
3)    Important work fall into the hands of people who know the value and end up in personal collections.
4)    Personnel changes in key organizations and agencies - in other words lack of continuity in the information gathering and dissemination area
5)    The multitude of "Clearing House Mechanisms' that have been developed in the various countries  eventually stop functioning because of lack of personnel or funding.

The question is, who is responsible for ensuring that national information is safeguarded and accessible? for want of a better expression. Suggestions have been to lodge copies of all work doe with the public libraries and libraries of tertiary institutions. 

Peter Raines alluded to the work of Coral Caye, but 10 years after Coral Caye left Belize I had problems finding copies of the work they did here. I am certain that for people attached to universities and national research institutions in the MDCs this is not a problem but for most 'developing' countries it is a nightmare becasue we keep doing the same work over.

So while the information might be available, if you are not aware of its existence or where to find it, the resultant effect is the same as if the work was not done.

Georginia, perhaps you have some ideas.

 Dwight Neal
 
Marine and Coastal Consultant
Belize

> From: psr at coralcay.org
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:01:37 +0100
> Subject: [Coral-List] Utila Reef Health
> 
> Dr Stephen Box of UCME (www.utilaecology.or) offers very valuable insights
> (and hope) regarding Utila and the Bay Islands more widely.
> 
> Given the massive time and multi-US$ millions already invested in at least
> the last 10 years to help survey, map, monitor, capacity build and come up
> with numerous diverse management strategies for Utila and the Bay Islands,
> I'll have to take with a pinch of salt at least part of Steve's comment
> that: "Honduras as a whole and the Bay Islands and Utila in particular are
> severely hindered by a lack of knowledge about their natural resources and
> the technical and financial capacity to effectively control and manage this
> transition."
> 
> For CCC reports on Utila and Roatan, see:
> http://www.coralcay.org/science/download_reports.php#honduras
> 
> Pete Raines
> 
> ________________________________________
> Peter Raines MBE FRGS FIBiol CGeog CBiol MInstD
> Founder & CEO
> 
> Coral Cay Conservation Ltd
> Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NJ, United Kingdom
> Tel: +44 (0)20 7921 0460 (direct line)
> Tel: +44 (0)7925 218 011 (cell phone)
> Tel: +44 (0)20 7620 1411 (switch board)
> Fax: +44 (0)20 7921 0469
> email: psr at coralcay.org
> www.coralcay.org
> skype: peter.raines
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

_________________________________________________________________
Get in touch in an instant. Get Windows Live Messenger now.
http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_getintouch_042008


More information about the Coral-List mailing list