Volume 58
Establishment of the Baseline Database for the Coral Reefs in the Mesoamerican Coral Reef System
Authors
García-Salgado, M.A., T. Camarena Luhrs, I. Majil, G. Nava Martínez, A. Cubas, C. Zepeda, A. Giró, N. Jacobs, M. Vásquez Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2005
Pages: 500
Event: Proceedings of the Fifty Eighth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: San Andres
Country: Colombia
Abstract
In the year 2003, the Sinoptic monitoring program was established for the Mesoamerican Reef System (MRS) through a protection agreement signed by four countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, with the purpose of gathering information about the state of reef ecosystems and other associated systems, such as marine grasses and mangroves. The establishment, operation and maintenance of the long term environmental monitoring will provide a synoptic vision of the health of the MRS. This system will generate reliable information with regards to three different subjects: a) coral reef ecology b)associated systems ecology and c)marine contamination of the region. The information gathered has allowed us to establish a baseline that can be used to compare and obtain information on the impact of human activities and natural events that might have a direct effect on the conservation and sustainable use of the MRS.