eggs or progeny into the moving water column. We believe the life history of the valuable spiny lobster is as international as the United Nations. For these reasons, my colleagues and I are currently arguing vociferously in Central America that conservation must be viewed as a regional, multi-national issue, rather than as just a series of national initiatives.

Thus, I submit that a chain of monitoring stations would be the appropriate scale at which to approach marine research in Central America. Not only would the resulting data be more useful, but the chain itself would reinforce the regional emphasis that conservation must adopt in that part of the world. People and governments must rally to each other's support.

I speak with some confidence about regionalism as an approach to conservation in Central America. Recently, my organization, WCI, in concert with another non-governmental organization, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, was awarded a grant from USAID for a project we call Paseo Pantera, or Path of the Panther, in English (see Appendix C). This five-year, $3.2 million program gives emphasis to the establishment of a chain of parks in the great wild areas of Central America, and to establishing a wildlife corridor or greenbelt among them, ultimately running the length of the isthmus.

Although the chain of parks would include fabulous marine areas, from the Belize Barrier Reef to the San Blas Islands of Panama, the corridor, of course, is mostly a terrestrial concept. However, for the reasons I have stated above, inevitably a protected "coral corridor" would be the most effective approach to coastal marine conservation in the region.

The chain of monitoring stations I have proposed would give timely impetus to the growing awareness that the fate of the rich, coastal habitats of Central America is a shared risk and a shared responsibility among nations.

In Belize, home of the largest reef in the region, the largest in this hemisphere -- we are working for marine conservation. Among other activities, two of my colleagues, Dr. Jacque Carter of the University of New England, and Mrs. Janet Gibson, a Conservation Fellow with WCI and an associate of the Fisheries Department of the Government of Belize, are helping to design a marine monitoring program. Financing for various elements of this project will come from my own organization, from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and probably from the more recent Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

We are just now developing the monitoring program, but let me assure these two subcommittees that we would welcome reviewing our progress in Belize with officers of NOAA and EPA in the almost certain event that the Reef Environmental Research Bill is approved by Congress. We would welcome their insights, and we

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would be happy to provide our own, whether with regard to Belize or to any of the other countries in the region. We are at your service.

While I am thinking of federal agencies, let me take this opportunity to acknowledge a friend and a fine representative of this country from right here in the Florida Keys. He is Mr. Bill Causey. He is the director and chief architect of the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary. I wish to make the distinguished members of these two subcommittees aware that Mr. Causey and his staff have repeatedly hosted workshops here in the protected areas in the Keys that have been invaluable to the professional development of foreign nationals in the Caribbean region. As an internationalist, I wholeheartedly approve of this form of "technological transfer." It is something this country can do and do well -- and it doesn't cost much either. I believe the new Reef Bill should give this outreach program robust support.

And while speaking of international affairs, I think Mr. Causey himself would agree with my next point: Let us not shrug off the Australians. It is hard to describe the depth of reef knowledge that the Australians possess. Obviously, this stems from their having stewardship over the biggest reef in the world as well as being great folks. The Australian Great Barrier Reef Management Authority has been helpful in very critical ways to us in Belize. Clearly, they have even more to offer in the Pacific Basin, and, as this new bill, with its modest finances, comes into being, I would urge that NOAA and EPA staff compare notes carefully with Australian workers. It would be the cost-effective -- and gentlemanly -- thing to do.

As a citizen, I am always interested in the matter of cost-effectiveness of federal spending. Let me telegraph to the distinguished members of these two committees that it is very likely that their stewardship of this promising new bill might need to be extended beyond its passage through Congress. The Amendment to the Foreign Relations Assistance Act was a provision from Congress that mandated that federal agencies, especially USAID, include environmental issues in their development programs. I can certify that this amendment has had a profound effect in the field. Good things are happening as a result of the amendment, and that bodes well for the environment, and for the reputation of this country.

I am certain that there are pleasant ways for major agencies, like NOAA, EPA and USAID, to work gracefully together in situations where their mandates overlap. Perhaps the subcommittee members could anticipate the need for this harmony and find ways to facilitate a coming-to-terms among agencies whose eager workers might otherwise step on each other's toes.

Let me close with an announcement and an invitation. In Belize, seaward of the main barrier reef, there is a coral atoll called Glover's Reef (Figure 1.). It is about 15 miles long and 5 miles wide; an elliptical table top, rising from 300 fathoms.

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The entire outside perimeter of the table top is protected by a luxuriant coral "wall." Across the shallows above the table top are scattered more than 700 patch reefs.

Some 20 years ago a visiting team of international scientists pronounced that Glover's Reef was the richest, most perfect coral atoll in the Caribbean Basin. Their hope was to stimulate long-term marine research on Glover's. Unlike the emphasis of the Coral Reef Environmental Research Act, this committee had in mind a focus on classical, "pure" science.

For various reasons, the roving committee was unable to start anything on Glover's, but they did find a little island, Carribow Cay, back on the main barrier reef which was subsequently leased. Carribow Cay became the site of the classical marine science program of the Smithsonian Institute.

Last year, WCI purchased Middle Cay, one of 6 tiny islands on Glover's Reef, and committed it to conservation. (The others are destined to become developed in one form or another.) On Middle Cay we will establish an office for Fisheries Department Officers who will oversee the marine park proposed for Glover's Reef. We hope to put up a modest environmental education facility on Middle Cay. And we will build a little field laboratory to support long-term conservation science.

The Coral Reef Environmental Research Act is being spawned at an exciting moment in the course of science history. Conservation biology, as a scholarly discipline, is growing to adolescence, if not maturity, based on terrestrial principles. However, it remains appropriate to ask: What does conservation biology mean in the marine environment and how do we do it? It is safe to say that marine conservation science is in its infancy.

On Middle Cay, we hope to make some novel contributions to marine conservation research in the years ahead, and the Coral Reef Environmental Research Act is surely destined to do the same. I would like to invite to Middle Cay those who will implement this remarkable legislation. An interlude on that precious place would surely lead to good things for our planet.

Thank you.