The Xcalak National Marine Park consists of over 13,000 hectares of marine ecosystems and about 4,000 hectares of wetlands dominated by mangroves. With the establishment of the park, the Mexican Government is fulfilling one more of its pledges in the International Initiative for the Conservation of the Mesoamerican Coral Reefs. A bi-national link for biodiversity conservation is also established with the Marine Reserve Bacalar Chico in Belize, adjacent to the new Mexican park. The Secretariat of the Caribbean Environment Programme would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartiest congratulations to the Government and People of Mexico on this welcomed and necessary action. Integrating Science and Management.
Students taking the courses earn a total of eight semester hours.
One step towards improvement in this area is to join the Ramsar Forum. The Commission was trying to agree upon the criteria for downlisting the manatee from endangered status to threatened, and not the act of actually downlisting the manatee as was reported. Although still the healthiest and most abundant for the region, the manatee population of Florida is still endangered, suffering in 2000 from a record year of deaths, with preliminary figures from the FWC indicating that 231 manatees died. 70 of those deaths were attributed to boat collisions. The mortality stemming from human activities is increasing and so are threats to their habitat.