Aloha!
An impressive constituency from the GRG has recently returned from a very productive and fun International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Honolulu, Hawaii. The GRG was represented in several different sessions, including Belinda, Madi, Steph, Tommy, Kelsey and Jody. It was a busy week filled with extensive coral learning, interesting interdisciplinary reef presentations, and productive meetings with new and longtime collaborators (often over a couple beers).
The week started with a very informative “Coral Finder” two-day coral identification workshop put on by BYOGuides appropriately hosted at the Waikiki Aquarium. Even fighting jetlag, the GRG members in attendance found this hands-on workshop fun and educational, and saw definite improvements in identifying modern coral.
Bridging science and public policy was strongly emphasised throughout the conference, as seen by the President of Palau delivering the opening plenary session. Particular attention was drawn to the global coral bleaching epidemic, and, specifically, stressors facing the GBR were widely discussed. Other highlights of the week included Jody actually sticking to his allotted presentation time, trying some traditional Hawaiian spam sushi and solidifying future collaborations over some late night karaoke sessions.
Mahalo!
Kelsey & Madi
Geocoastal Research Group 