Utila Centre for Marine Ecology was founded to bridge the gap between applied scientific research and community based conservation and became a legally constituted Honduran non-governmental organisation in 2009, (PJ No 2554-2008) . UCME's goal is to develop as a focal point for the investigation of tropical marine biodiversity and since its inception has grown rapidly to build links and collaborative partnerships with many national and international universities, other non-governmental organisations and regional institutions. The heart of UCME's philosophy is that for conservation to succeed, results from research need to be directly applied to education and management initiatives.
The centre now combines cutting edge marine science with exciting volunteer programmes and inspiring educational courses. The UCME volunteer programme provides divers and non-divers alike with the opportunity to learn more about marine ecosystems and to assist national and international researchers as they study the island's wealth of biodiversity, thereby directly contributing to UCME's ongoing research aims.
The Centre currently has projects
that focus on evaluating the status of local coral reefs, identifying and evaluating spawning aggregations of important reef fish, developing a pioneering conch hatchery to rehabilitate overfished populations, coordinating a network to monitor coral bleaching, developing alternative livelihoods with fishermen, leading an alert network on invasive lionfish and working to develop sustainable management initiatives for small scale and artisanal fisheries.
|
