Turks And Caicos Bound

Things may be quiet around MBSL&S over the next few days. I leave early tomorrow morning for a week on Turks and Caicos as guest speaker at the 10th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development. I'll be participating on a panel that will focus on the need for coral reef protection and preservation. The goal is to provide recommendations on how the Caribbean can implement sustainable tourism policies for the economic and social benefit of the Caribbean people. I'm excited to participate as it's my first opportunity to see the reefs of Turks and Caicos first hand.

I'm not excited, however, by the news that the government of Turks and Caicos has plans for building a Dubai-style artificial island smack in the middle of the nation's largest marine protected area. As I wrote about last year, artificial island construction and sand dredging of this magnitude has profound and negative impacts on coral reefs and associated ecosystems. Fortunately, an injunction was put in place last week to temporarily halt the development. Hopefully my voice of caution will join those of other delegates and provide an opportunity for Turks and Caicos decision makers to reconsider their approach.

As an added bonus, I'll also get to kick-it for several days with David Suzuki, who will be delivering the keynote address for the conference. I had a chance to meet Dr. Suzuki a couple years ago at a Bay Area Conservation Biology Conference. He's a bit of a wise-ass in person and I hope to get a chance to chat him up over the course of a few days.

Oh, and don't forget you can still get your coral fix this week by tuning in to the boys over at Deep Sea News for Coral Week. They plan to dedicate posts all week on all sorts of cool coral science and conservation. I suspect we'll hear about everything from stony coastal coral reefs to amazing deep sea coral communities. And I can pretty much guarantee that the words "sperm cloud" will be on everyone's lips following coral week! Expect Craig, Peter, and Kevin as well as a few guest bloggers to make for a great week. Hopefully I'll find that internet access isn't too scarce (or ridiculously expensive) and be able to join in on the fun.