UPR Sea Grant held its first 2012 Ocean Chat seminar titled Probing for Antibiotic Resistance Genes as Molecular Indicators of Wastewater Pollution in Coastal Habitats. This research project is of utmost importance because it concerns various areas of human health and the status of our marine and coastal ecosystems. The Ocean Chat was held in [...]
The Virtual Network of Marine Resources (Red Virtual de Monitoreo de los Recursos Marinos, http://www.recursosmarinos.org) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (PCUPR) will be hosting a workshop in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PR-DRNA), inviting scientists, professors, and resource managers with interests in collecting and identifying ciguatoxin-producing microalgae. Read this post to find out more about it!
The 2nd International Marine Conservation Congress – “Making Marine Science Matter” was held on 14-18 May 2011 at the University of Victoria. This conference provided an exciting opportunity for scientists and experts worldwide to share their knowledge on marine conservation. It also gave us the opportunity to identify the current trends, gaps and information needed to better management and conservation strategies. Interestingly, this year’s IMCC explored other issues that highlighted the importance of incorporating a historical perspective when assessing the state of the marine environment and the need to communicate to key audiences about marine conservation.
In the US Virgin Islands, the Sea Grant Marine Outreach Program is busily preparing for the 2011 St. Thomas Reef Fest, scheduled for early November, come rain or shine. As you probably guessed, Reef Fest is a festival to celebrate the reef. More than that, it is about empowering the local community to protect coral [...]
The term “biodiversity” has become a household name within the scientific community and has been used to describe habitats and organisms as varied and diverse as cacti in deserts to birds in mangrove coastlines. On February 1-4, 2011, the VII Congress of the Caribbean Biodiversity (sponsored by the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo) celebrated the [...]
The passing of a hurricane through the Caribbean islands is a keen reminder of how water can affect our lands and coasts. Hurricane Earl, with winds reaching 145 mph, brought over 1 foot of rain throughout the Lesser Antilles islands, meaning river overflow, large amounts of runoff and sediment discharge. Ironically, while the hurricane made [...]
Non-point source pollution (NSPS) managers and researchers from the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico met on May 6-7 for the 10th NSPS Conference – “Changing Direction and Directing Change: Solutions to NSPS” at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Beach Resort in St. Thomas, USVI (http://www.usvircd.org/NPS/). The conference was also open to the participation of local [...]
The Caribbean Fisheries Management Council (CFMC; http://www.caribbeanfmc.com), a regional agency involved in establishing important regulations on commercial and recreational fisheries in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, held its last regular general meeting on December 15-16, 2009 at El Conquistador Hotel in Fajardo, PR. Approximately 30 attendees from public and private sectors participated. Among [...]
On December 1, 2009, we participated in the General Assembly “Coastal data and information, a vital need in our islands” sponsored by the Caribbean Regional Association (CaRA, http://cara.uprm.edu) at the Nautical Club in San Juan, PR. Several speakers were invited to present updates on products and services to CaRA members and participants, which approximated 50 [...]
Our team attended the SouthEast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) meeting held in San Juan on January 26-29, 2009. Reports from the meeting are currently available online (http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/). One of SEDAR’s main goals is to improve the scientific quality and reliability of fishery stock assessments and encourage the participation of important stakeholders in the assessment [...]
For a more detailed description of the objectives of our project and several key questions that we seek comment on, please read our informational brochure here. |
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