Costal Environmental Assessment

In order to implement the project for the establishment of a collaborative regional monitoring programme, two Working Groups of experts are established under CEARAC.
Among topics conceived as Coastal Environmental Assessment for which CEARAC is responsible, the problem of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) including red tide is prioritized to evaluate and implement in Working Group 3.

The first CEARAC Focal Points Meeting agreed four main issues need to be focused on in Working Group 3:

1. Review of the integrated national reports which will be prepared by CEARAC with the view to:
   • Standardize and establish a system to update national report;
   • Establish a metadata base on HAB while taking into consideration existing relevant databases; and
   • Consider environmental parameters to be added to the metadata base.
2. Identification and prioritization of the needs and capabilities through:
   • Intercalibration exercises;
   • Capacity building to improve the quality of monitoring;
   • Training (taxonomy, toxicology, etc.); and
   • Identification and dissemination of new techniques.
3. Identification of important scientific issues and assessment of the potential to incorporate these within the NOWPAP framework.
4. Establish information dissemination strategies through the development of regional and national portals which would deal with specific sectors such as aquaculture, tourism, public education with the final aim of enhancing the visibility of CEARAC HAB.