IOCARIBE-GOOS Program Overview

IOCARIBE-GOOS will provide information, services and products on the coastal areas and seas in the IOCARIBE region. IOCARIBE members are: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France, Grenade, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom, USA, and Venezuela. IOCARIBE-GOOS is a GOOS regional program. IOCARIBE-GOOS is under development.

Program Management

The regional coordination of IOCARIBE-GOOS will be the responsibility of the IOC Sub-commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE) acting through the IOCARIBE-GOOS steering Committee (IGSC). IOCARIBE-GOOS is under development.

The IOCARIBE-GOOS will be a basic source of information, services and products to support sustainable social and economic development, welfare and safety through systematic observations and associated research on coasts and seas in the IOCARIBE region.  The system will be operational in nature and designed to yield products and services that meet the needs of users.  It will provide information on the past, present, and future state of the marine and coastal environment, on marine ecosystems and biodiversity and on weather and climate variability.  It will also be a tool for integrated management of the coastal zone.  International cooperation and capacity building will be essential to the effective operation of the system and to enable potential users to benefit from it.  IOCARIBE will provide, among others, improvements in El Nino forecasts, information on the degradation of the marine and coastal environments, on hazardous environmental conditions, especially storms, high waves and strong currents, fisheries management and a tsunami warning service.

• IOCARIBE-GOOS Strategic Plan
• CARIBBEAN GOOS Meetings and Reports 1999-2002
• CARIBBEAN GOOS Meetings and Reports 2003-present

Users

• Government agencies, regulators, public health, certification agencies
• Environmental management, wildlife protection, amenities, marine parks
• Operational agencies, services, safety, navigation, ports, pilots, search, rescue
• Small companies, fish farming, trawler skippers, hotel owners, recreation managers
• Large companies, offshore oil and gas, survey companies, shipping lines, fisheries, dredging, construction
• scientific researchers in public and private institutions
• Tourism industry

Contacts

• IOCARIBE-GOOS Secretariat:
  Alan Duncan
  Cesar Toro
  Casa del Marquez de Valdehoyos
  Cartagena
  Colombia
  Tel: + 575 (664) 63 99
  FAX: + 575 (664) 04 07
  E-mail: iocaribe@col.3.telecom.com.co

• Gletys Guardia-Montoya
  RSMAS University of Miami
  Dept. of Marine Affairs
  4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
  Miami, FL 33149
  USA
  Tel: +305 (361) 4085
  FAX: +305 (361) 4675
  E-mail: gmontoya@rsmas.miami.edu