Hello. First thanks to José María for introducing all of us. As he explained we are heavily involved in integrated coastal zone management,concentrating for the moment in the Gulf of Nicoya, the principal Costa Rican estuary in the Pacifica and the second largest in Central America.

Our approach has been based on four components. First is the analysis of the scientific and technical information needed for decision making, where we work closely with the scientists of the national and foreign universities. Second is the analysis of the institutional framework and its operation in order to devise ways by which the governmental action can be more effective. Third is community development where we are involved inthe identification, preparation and search for funding of sustainable projects to be developed by the stakeholders at the communities. Part oft his component includes attention to the private sector, specially in looking for ways to stimulate effective change towards more sustainable ways to operate linked to concepts of ecoefficiency. The last component is communication, where we have made a big effort to be very close to the media, keeping them informed and sometimes almost pushing them to get involved, and it worked excellent.

Two parallel components we are dealing with are the preparation of learning guides for school teachers of first to sixth grade, their training and finally the follow up for them to preprare lesson on marine related issued to be included in their curricula. We are working with 180 teachers and 300 schools and expect to expand to all coastal areas in Costa Rica. This program has the OK of the Ministry for Education and is in the process of acceptance by UNESCO.

The last large component is the development of a coastal and marine atlas. This will include both biophysical and socioeconomic data, shown in close to 30 full color plates. Each will show a map of the area selected and indication of the available resources and their condition. A data base will accompany this Atlas which will also be available in CD format. It will be given to all school we are working with and to government offices. We consider this to be a very helpful tool for decision making and to show people what they usually don't know about their immediate environment.

This is a summary of some of the current activities. I hope it is of interest for your institute and please let me know if there are lines where we can create synergies for the betterment of the world water resources.

The CANEK Project was initiated in December 1996 with two main objectives: a)measure the exchange through the the Yucatan Channel and characterize its magnitude and variability throughout the water column, and b) clarify the upwelling dynamics over the Yucatan Shelf, its relation to the Yucatan Currents' strength and variability, and quantify it's effect on the primary production occuring on the Shelf. This Project is an international collaboration of Mexico (CICESE and ICMyL-UNAM), Cuba (IOC) and USA (NOAA). We have successfully concluded 5 cruises: 3-21 December 1996, 23 May-12 June 1997, 29 March-6 May 1998, 27 January-6 February, 1999 and 25 August-14 September, 1999 onboard the UNAM's R/V "Justo Sierra". During these cruises extensive shipboard ADCP and CTD/LADCP surveys of the region have been carried out. During the first six months of the Project, between the Dec/96 and May-Jun/97 cruises, four moorings and three shallow pressure sensors were installed and succesfully recovered. The pressure sensor array together with one or two bottom-mounted ADCP moorings have been maintained since the beginning of the project. Finally on the last cruise in Aug-Sep/99 a set of 8 moorings were deployed between Isla Contoy (Yucatan) and Cabo San Antonio (Cuba). These moorings are intended to be recovered until the fall of 2000. During this presentation a description of the Project goals and relation to other programs in the region will be presented as well as a general description of the results from the five cruises and mooring observations obtained so far, this will be complemented by specific detailed short talks to follow.

Partiendo de la definicion de un indice de ocurrencia de ENOS, que toma en cuenta la ocurrencia conjunta de los fenomenos oceanicos (Ninos o Ninas) y el evento atmosferico (Oscilacion del Sur) se estudia la relacion entre la ocurrencia de estos eventos y las anomalias de lluvia y temperatura en Cuba y sus tres regiones. Se verifica que las anomalias de lluvia y temperaturas presentan mejores relaciones con el indice de ocurrencia de ENOS que con los tradicionales SOI y las SSTA en las regiones Nino, lo que permite concluir que los eventos con acoplamiento adecuado de ambos fenomenos, tienen un impacto mas marcado en el clima de Cuba.

Se encuentra una relacion significativa entre la magnitud y tipo de anomalias que se producen por un evento ENOS en dependencia de los valores que tenga la Oscilacion Cuasi Bienal (QBO), quedando de esta forma establecido el papel modulador que juega este indice atmosferico en el impacto de los eventos ENOS en la region del Caribe.

Se realiza una comparacion entre los eventos ENOS 82/83 y 97/98 en cuanto a la magnitud de sus indices y sus impactos en el clima de Cuba, donde se verifica el papel del acoplamiento de los eventos oceanicos y atmosfericos en la ocurrencia de notables anomalias climaticas y del tiempo.

The seas of the Americas have three distinctive coral reef subprovinces:Brazil, Caribbean, and eastern Pacific. Each of these regions have a characteristic set of coral species and particular reef structures. Brazilian reefs have started to be studied in detail by Brazilian scientists. The corals are related to the Caribbean, but half of them are endemic and/or relict species. Chapeiros are extensive reef structures found on the south, and are formed by the fusion of colonies on their tops; calcareous algae are extremely abundant on the north. Caribbean coral reefs are the most studied of the Americas, as well as the most diverse in terms of coral species and reef types. Eastern Pacific coral reefs are relatively small, discontinuous and formed by a few coral species. They are the minimum expression of a coral reef.

Two phenomena may explain the differences in the coral fauna of the American reefs: plate tectonics and ocean currents. During the Cretaceous, this region was covered by one sea. Afterwards, Tethys was fragmented producing a distinct American coral fauna that later on differentiated into the Caribbean and Brazilian subprovinces. Finally, during the Pliocene, the Caribbean and eastern Pacific were separated. Ocean currents maintain the isolation of Brazil from the Caribbean, and brought corals from the central Pacific to populate the denuded eastern Pacific after the Pleistocene.

Corals and coral reefs of the Americas are very different but, similar natural and anthropogenic disturbances are impacting them. Continental efforts must be launched to study, protect and preserve the extraordinary coral reefs of the Americas seas.

Population connectivity is an important requirement for marine reserves to function as spawning refugia. But what are the appropriate scales for connectivity of different areas? If taken purely in terms of defining a population, then different areas need only to exchange very few individuals to maintain a genetically homogeneous population. However, if a protected area is intended to support 'downstream' populations on ecological time scales, then exchange needs to occur at higher orders of magnitude. Previous examples of connectivity have in reality only indicated the potential for exchange thus supporting the findings that local populations exchange sufficient number of individuals on evolutionary time scales to maintain a homogenous genetic stock. We present a model that not only incorporates typical advective and diffusive properties of larval transport by the ambient flow field, but also propagule productions rates and mortality rates, to determine if and over what area sufficient numbers of larvae can be transported to numerically sustain downstream populations. We provide evidence of likely bio/physical mechanisms that may enhance local retention of larvae, thereby minimizing downstream transport. Our preliminary findings suggest the need to rethink the placement of reserves for the purpose of seeding downstream areas and outlines future research efforts to quantify the rates of exchange.

This project is a multidisciplinary effort between the Institute of Marine Research (INVEMAR, Santa Marta, Colombia) and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS, Florida, USA) aimed at understanding the physical factors affecting larval transport and recruitment in the Colombian Caribbean. Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia is a region of great fishery and ecological importance for the wide variety and abundance of species of fishes and crustaceans it produces. Several of these commercially valuable species such as snappers, mullets, tarpons, and penaeid shrimps spawn offshore. Their pelagic larvae then migrate into the Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM) with the help of physical transport processes. The CGSM is the largest estuary of the Colombian Caribbean and an important nursery ground for many aquatic species. Larval supply and transport into the CGSM is a critical link in the recruitment process, driven by biotic and environmental factors both estuarine and coastal. The coastal hydrography in particular is primarily influenced by the trade winds, coastal upwellings, and the freshwater discharge of the Magdalena River, the most voluminous in the Caribbean basin. Our first objective is to understand how these environmental variables might affect larval transport into the CGSM. We used a channel net mounted with a temperature sensor and a low speed flowmeter to sample early life history stages of fishes, shrimps and crabs recruiting into the CGSM through the Boca de la Barra, the only connection between the estuary and the Caribbean. Field sampling was carried out every two weeks on two consecutive nights around the new moon and full moon from February 1998 to February 1999. Additional plankton samples from INPA (Institute of Fisheries and Acuaculture, Santa Marta, Colombia) collected between March and May 1998 at the Colombian Caribbean are also being analyzed. ARGOS satellite-tracked drifters type CODE has been deployed at the Santa Marta region since February 1998 to track the coastal circulation pattern. Satellite altimetry contour maps from TOPEX/POSEIDON and ERS-2 (Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, CCAR) are used to show mesoscale movements in the Caribbean Sea. Drifter tracks are overlaid over the altimetry contour maps to observe the analogies between the real-time in-situ and the remotely-sensed surface circulation. Wind and precipitation data obtained from the Santa Marta airport (Institute of Environmental Studies, IDEAM, Colombia) are also used characterize the seasonal variability in the physical environment. The relationships between the larval input and the environmental variables will be explored through multivariate statistical methods and high-dimensional data visualization techniques.