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Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Coastal region and small island papers 3
Editor's Note
The purpose of this volume is to document the international Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity (CARICOMP) program, network, and activities by describing the state of coastal habitats where the participating institutions, parks, and reserves have implemented synchronized environmental monitoring. Most of the participating institutions have provided chapters for this book, detailing the local mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef habitats, the salient meteorological and oceanographic characteristics, and the anthropogenic activities and impacts on coastal ecosystems. In addition, the synoptic times series and habitat data 1993-1995, covering the first three years for which the network was fully functional in a data monitoring mode, are included. The data, which were collected by the participants in the network, have been summarized in tables in the concluding chapter by the CARICOMP Data Management Centre at the University of the West Indies on the Mona campus in Kingston, Jamaica.
This volume thus represents a snapshot of the state of coastal ecosystems in the wider Caribbean region from Yucatan to Barbados and from Bermuda to the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela, as well as from many small and large islands and the coast of Central America in between.
Like most books, this one has taken time to be born, conceived in 1992 and only now coming to fruition. what was initially thought to be a quick publication turned out to be not very quick after all. Subsequent to meeting with the chapter authors at a number of CARICOMP Site Directors' meetings, starting in Port Royal in 1993, and continuing in St. Petersburg in 1994, Boca Chica in 1995, and Cancún in 1996, this volume began taking shape. Initially, most communications and exchanges with the authors were handled by sending either air or courier mail back and forth. When needed - and that was quite often - fax transmissions were used to speed up communications. However, over the past two years most communication with authors has been handled by e-mail and the attachment of binary formatted text and graphics files. Thus, all text, tables, figures, and photographs contained in this volume are now in a digital format and may be readily transmitted and reformatted as needed. Although this technology now is used widely around the world, to get to this point was not an easy task from locations in the Caribbean.
I would like to thank the many persons who have helped make this book a reality. Unfortunately, they are too numerous to list individually. They include the enthusiastic CARICOMP chapter authors, and colleagues both near and far who reviewed the manuscripts and offered constructive criticism. I would like to thank my colleagues on the CARICOMP Steering Committee for their support and generous help in reviewing the manuscripts. Thanks also to Dulcie Linton of the Data Management Centre at the University of the West Indies-Mona in Kingston, Jamaica, who provided information and data in a timely fashion and on many occasions helped me to reach difficult-to-contact authors.
I would also like to express my gratitude to UNESCO, most recently to its unit on Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and in Small Islands (CSI). Over the past two decades, four people in the Paris Secretariat have been intimately involved in the project's development. Dr. Marc Steyaert, of the former UNESCO Marine Science Division, helped create CARICOMP in the early 1980s within the framework of the Division's Coastal Marine (COMAR) Programme, and managed to secure the necessary co-funding for several years. Marc remains a staunch supporter and a great friend in his retirement. Over the last three years, Dr. Dirk Troost, Chief of CSI, has also supported the project in spirit and with funding. Gary Wright and Micheline Turner, UNESCO editor and editorial assistant, respectively, deserve very special thanks for their help, patience, and advice during the many years that this text has been in development.
At the University of South Carolina, Constance M. Prynne, Grants/Publications Editor for the College of Science and Mathematics, deserves appreciation and thanks for her help in all aspects of the production of this book. She reformatted and produced the camera-ready version of each manuscript and of the book as a whole. In addition, she has assisted me for more than two years in editing text, scanning and enhancing illustrations, preparing tables, and communicating with authors. However, errors that no doubt still hide on many pages are my responsibility.
Production of this volume would not have been possible without the generous contributions of the University of South Carolina in personnel time, resources, and logistics.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the patience and support of my family during the CARICOMP book years - with love to my wife Tânia and to my daughters Jenny Heather and Clara Maria
Björn Kjerfve
bjorn@sc.edu
Marine Science Program,
Department of Geological Sciences,
and Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal
Research
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 28208 USA
October 1998
