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Whale Shark Conference in Belize September 12, 2006

From our affilliate in Honduras, Steve Fox:

Hi

I know that most of the people registered on this site at the moment are not from the Caribbean region, but just to let you know that there is a Whale Shark Conference in Belize on the 25, 26, 27, 28 September 2006

As sent to me today here are the details, if anyone would like anymore information please feel free to contact me, I am based in Utila and will be going to it.

Workshop

Whale shark tourism management: developing guidelines for best practices in the Mesoamerican Reef Region

Placencia, Belize
September 25-28, 2006

Rationale

Despite the surveys and other research studies conducted on the whale shark aggregation in several sites along the coast of Belize and Mexico, the information gathered is not enough to understand the dynamics of the whale shark feeding aggregations and the impact of observation by tourists or researchers on its site fidelity.

The expansion of whale shark observation tourism, the potential threat of inadequate practices or unregulated operations to its sustainability, and the increasing importance of these operations to facilitate the transition of fishers to less impacting and more profitable economic activities, have made all stakeholders interested in developing guidelines for best practices. The development of such guidelines might benefit of the incorporation of the code of conduct already developed in some countries of the information and expertise of the people involved in these activities along the MAR. This can lead to the creation of policy measures at local and regional levels, including regulatory agencies, marine protected areas managers and whale shark tour operators.

In addition, such a region-wide effort requires additional effort and investments on research, training, communication, policy measures, business consolidation development, as well as funding for all of the above.

Objectives
The workshop has following objectives:

Share information (both anecdotal and scientific) on the oceanographic conditions and behavior of the whale shark aggregations on the MAR region;
exchange experiences on whale shark tourism observation practices in your area;
generate information for drafting a code of conduct or guidelines that can be used for regulating the activity in each country;
establish a network of whale shark conservation scientists and managers (researchers, educators, government planners and regulators, protected areas staff and stewards; enforcement authorities; tour operators) that facilitates information exchange and synergy building towards the common goal (whale shark conservation and sustainable use); and draft a regional program for funding research and communication.
_________________
Steve Fox
www.UtilaWhaleSharkResearch.com
www.DeepBlueUtila.com

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