HRI's Dr. Jorge Brenner
and Dr. Wes Tunnell attended a meeting with more than 60 Gulf of Mexico marine scientists and representatives
from protected areas, conservation organizations and private
foundations in Havana, Cuba, October 25-26. The meeting was
co-organized by The Ocean Foundation and the Center for
International Policy.
The goal of the meeting was to complete the joint tri-national
“Plan of Action: Cuba-Mexico-US Collaboration in Marine Sciences and
Conservation for the Gulf of Mexico.” This planning process began
in 2007 through a Cuba-US workshop in Cancun, Mexico, and continued
through a second Cuba-Mexico-US workshop in Veracruz, Mexico, in
March 2009. The purpose of these workshops has been to advance joint
activities for science and conservation in the Gulf of Mexico and
the Western Caribbean.
At the end of the two-day workshop in Havana, near-term and
long-term goals for research and conservation actions were built
into a five-year plan for each of six priority themes:
- Coral reefs
- Sharks
- Sea turtles
- Marine mammals
- Fisheries resources
- Protected areas
- Communications
The next step for this group is implementation. However, in order to
implement the research and conservation actions outlined in the
plan, grants need to be in place. Each priority theme is composed of
Cubans, Mexicans and Americans that are presently developing
strategies to approach the private and public foundation community
for grants for specific projects. This international collaboration
in pursuing the understanding, conservation and sustainability of
Gulf’s Mexico’s valuable marine resources already implies a
success. It is likely
