Dear colleagues,
The planned fieldwork in Mauritius in August 2010 had to be postponed due to ilness of the PI. However, a new date is now available. The fieldwork will take place between September 29th and October 15th. Researchers from SHOALS Rodrigues, Mauritius Oceanography Institute, Albion Fisheries Research Center and Royal Netherlands Institure for Sea Research (NIOZ) will drill coral cores from the western and eastern coast. A training seminar will be given during that period, all interested researchers from Mauritius are invited to attend. You can send an email announcing interest to jens.zinke@nioz.nl.

The hydrological modelling part of the MASMA project has now kicked off. Joseph Maina (Kenya) is currently visiting the VU University in Amsterdam. He will receive training in the use of the hydrological model STREAM that will enable us to obtain data for the past 100 years on river discharge impacting coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean. Researchers at the Institure of Environmental Studies (IVM) at the VU Amsterdam (Hans de Moel and Prof. Jan Vermaat) support the actvities of the MASMA project. Researchers interested in the modelling part can contact Joseph by email (mainajm@gmail.com).

kind regards,
Jens