Coral reef stakeholders gather to improve community outreach for the Coral Reef Initiative at Crowne Plaza on Friday.
CORAL reef stakeholders gathered at Crowne Plaza Resort on Friday to help the Coral Reef Initiative create more effective outreach strategies for the public.
“We want more community involvement and more people to care about what’s happening to the coral,” said Bailey Warren, the CRI’s coral reef management fellow. “We want more stakeholder involvement. We’re trying to get some to change their behavior to get more respect for our reefs.”
Warren said the ultimate goal is to help the community understand why coral is important to the local marine environment, how climate change and land-based pollution affect coral and the surrounding ecosystem, and how these issues can impact fisheries and traditional practices.
The CRI is a cross-agency effort that comprises the Division of Environmental Quality, the Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the Division of Coastal Resources Management.
Also attending the event on Friday were stakeholders from non-government agencies such as the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance, science educators, fishermen, and regulatory agencies.
A training session was set for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Warren said the stakeholders would be divided into breakout groups before reconvening to conduct a “problem tree analysis” that identifies the root problems, causes, and effects in conservation outreach.
The CRI was founded in 2003 in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Conservation Program.
