U.S and Cuban scientists plan joint Gulf research

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S and Cuban scientists plan joint Gulf research
Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:27am EDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S., Cuban and Mexican scientists have drawn up plans for joint research in the Gulf of Mexico, in another sign of improvement in long-hostile U.S.-Cuba relations.
In a meeting in Havana this week, they agreed on top priorities for collecting information about the Gulf, a body of water shared by the three countries but about which little cooperative research has been done in recent years.

"This is a logical, low-risk area in which to begin discussions with Cuba. It is without question in our mutual interest to share science and ideas on our shared resources like the Gulf of Mexico," Environmental Defense Fund senior attorney Dan Whittle said on Tuesday.

Whittle was among 30 Americans, 30 Cubans and six Mexicans at the meeting, held on Sunday and Monday ahead of an international meeting on ocean science this week in the Cuban capital.

"We're starting now to enter a new era of collaboration," said meeting organizer David Guggenheim, marine scientist and head of Washington-based advocacy group 1planet1ocean.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE59R04B20091028?rpc=401

[ensho]

1. good news

nt

[AlphaCentauri]

2. I can hear the new claims to maintain the embargo

---is not safe for Cubans to extract oil----
unless a big US corporation do it for them

[Judi Lynn]

3. (9/09) Cuban Scientists To Make Rare U.S. Trip, To Visit Florida Marine Lab; 'Marine Ecosystems

Cuban Scientists To Make Rare U.S. Trip, To Visit Florida Marine Lab; 'Marine Ecosystems
Know No National Borders'
Underwatertimes.com News Service
September 16, 2009 22:46 EST

SARASOTA, Florida -- Cuban scientists are crossing geographic and political boundaries to visit the United States as part of an effort to study and protect our shared oceans - and they specifically requested to drop by Mote Marine Laboratory.

Delegates from Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, its Institute of Oceanology and the National Aquarium of Cuba will visit Mote on Sept. 18-19 and talk with Mote scientists about current collaborations and new opportunities to work together. This trip, facilitated by the Environmental Defense Fund, is a rare chance for Mote's team to bring Cuban collaborators to their home base in Sarasota, after traveling repeatedly to Cuba to plan and conduct conservation-oriented marine research over the past five years.

Scientists are only beginning - or preparing, in some cases - to investigate in Cuban waters the sharks, fishes, sea turtles, dolphins and other marine species, many of which are migratory and sometimes spend time in Florida waters, too. Conservation efforts depend on knowing which species live around Cuba for part or all of their lives, their population status and what threats they face.

Cuba's waters host healthy coral reefs and other pristine ecosystems, which Cuban officials have worked to conserve in recent years by creating marine protected areas, among other efforts. Cuban scientists have actively sought to work with their counterparts in the U.S., who are eager to apply their resources to conservation in Cuban waters.

But researchers from the two nations can rarely join forces, due to a 47-year trade embargo that severely restricts U.S. travel to Cuba and thwarts most Cubans' efforts to visit the U.S. Despite this hurdle, Mote scientists and others have begun reaching across the water, with legal approval from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

"Marine ecosystems know no national borders, so marine science and conservation require international cooperation," said Mote President and CEO Dr. Kumar Mahadevan. "We're honored to host this esteemed delegation from Cuba, whose teamwork with Mote holds great promise for marine conservation."

The delegates will meet with Mote scientists on the morning of Sept. 18, tour Mote's City Island facilities on the afternoon of Sept. 18, then dine at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota on Siberian sturgeon and caviar from Mote Aquaculture Research Park (MAP), where Mote staff sustainably raise economically important fish inland using innovative techniques to recirculate water. The group will tour MAP in eastern Sarasota County on Sept. 19.

The Cubans' visit is funded by the Environmental Defense Fund, whose lawyers helped acquire their travel visas - "a nearly impossible task," said Senior Attorney Dan Whittle, who directs the Fund's projects involving Cuba. Whittle will accompany the delegation to Mote after they take part in a symposium on protecting Cuba's environments with the Fund on Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C.

"The delegates specifically asked to visit Mote, and we're excited to bring them there," Whittle said. "Mote has been a valuable partner to Cuba and the Environmental Defense Fund in fostering conservation in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the southeastern Atlantic. I think these collaborations have a bright future in several areas, shark conservation among them."

Through collaboration with Cuban colleagues, Mote scientists discovered a previously unknown tiger shark nursery - where young sharks feed and grow - in a May 2009 expedition along Cuba's northwest coast. That expedition involved Mote staff along with scientists and students from the University of Havana.

"We're excited to be starting these important basic studies on Cuban ecosystems with colleagues in Cuba," said Dr. Robert Hueter, director of Mote's Center for Shark Research. "Working in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region and having to ignore the importance of Cuba has been like trying to predict hurricanes with a whole set of satellites missing - it created a big hole in our data. Now, by teaming up with Cuban scientists, we're beginning to fill this gap."

More:
http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=01358724961