Science of Marine Managed Areas

Conservation International meeting groupContinuing work with Conservation International's Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) program, Bill Dennison, Tim Carruthers, Caroline Wicks, and Jane Thomas from IAN and Ecocheck attended workshops in Boston in December 2009 and January 2010. IAN staff worked with the lead scientists from the different project components, summarizing results from the node field sites in Panama, Brazil, Fiji, and Belize. The outcomes of the workshops were drafts of synthesis products from the MMAS program: (1) 'Ecological monitoring', which will be a four-page policy brief summarizing monitoring of coral reefs at the node sites; (2) 'Living with the Seas', which will be a booklet summarizing the ecological effects and implications of marine managed areas; and (3) 'Community Health Index', which will be a booklet on the development of a health assessment tool for coral reefs.