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©2004-2006 Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, Inc.
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Jeremy Jackson1, Juan M. Posada2, Loren McClenachan1 and Diego Schapira2
1Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla CA, 92093-0244
2Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Apartado 89000, Caracas 1080-A, Venezuela
The Census of Marine Life (CoML) is a decade-long program conceived to assess and explain historical, current, and future diversity, abundance, and distribution of fishes and other marine animals and plants of the world’s oceans (www.coml.org) and The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) program is the historical component of the CoML which it accomplishes by providing historical reference points against which modern census data can be compared. (See www.hmapcoml.org). HMAP implements its global mission through a case study approach focused in regional projects. The Caribbean component has largely been conducted by ecologists working at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography under the guidance of Jeremy Jackson and Enric Sala. Research has included analysis of the historic distributions of large marine vertebrates, Panamanian fisheries, coral reef food web models, and fishing pressure in Jamaica, the northern Caribbean, and along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
Last October, during a HMAP conference in Kolding, Denmark, we had the opportunity to discuss the importance of historical ecological perspective for fisheries management in the Gulf of México and the Caribbean region. We agreed on the need to promote interdisciplinary and interinstitutional research and collaboration, which involves identifying historical data sources and building networks among isolated research groups in various disciplines and countries. The Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute annual conference offers an excellent forum to promote these objectives.
A half-day special session dedicated to scientific presentations and discussion of the importance of historical perspective for fisheries science and management in the Gulf and Caribbean will be convened as a part of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute annual conference, November 5-10, 2006 in Belize City, Belize. The purpose of the symposium is to stimulate investigation of historical data on diversity, abundance and distribution of marine fisheries resources, to present and discuss several case studies from the region, and to lay the groundwork for an interdisciplinary research network.
The symposium will consist of one keynote speaker, at least four invited theme speakers, contributed oral and poster presentations and an open panel discussion.
Complete and updated information on the special session, including abstract submission information, can be found at the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute web site (www.gcfi.org). The initial call for papers will be March 15 and the abstract deadline will be July 31, 2006.
The Special Session Organizing Committee consists of Jeremy Jackson and Loren McClenachan, from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (La Jolla, California), and Juan M. Posada and Diego Schapira, from Universidad Simón Bolívar (Caracas, Venezuela).
