2005: University of South Florida
7-11 July, 2005
Tampa Marriott Waterfront
Tampa, FL


The University of South Florida and the organizers of the 2005 Joint Meeting invite you to the annual AES meeting in Tampa, Florida. The meeting will be held at the Marriott Waterside Hotel in downtown Tampa, July 6 -11, 2005 in conjunction with the ASIH, SSAR, and HL.

The venue this year is the beautiful five star Marriott Waterside Hotel located directly on Tampa Bay near the heart of downtown Tampa and the adjacent Ybor City and Channelside recreational areas. This hotel offers spacious and well-equipped conference facilities, poolside and waterside restaurants and bars, kayaking, a roof-top pool with a stunning view of the harbor and downtown, a large sports bar, spa and exercise facilities, and easy access to the downtown recreation areas. A ten-minute ride on the new electric trolley car system gets you to the Channelside district and Ybor City. These entertainment districts are home to numerous restaurants, micro-breweries, night clubs, cigar bars, movie theaters, comedy clubs, piano bars, and unique stores. The opening reception will be held at the Florida Aquarium, a trolley ride away from the hotel. The picnic will be at the Lowry Park Zoo where we will the run of the facility for the night.

If you are thinking of spending a little extra vacation time in Tampa, we offer exciting and diverse sights, entertainment, and ecosystems to explore. Within a short car or taxi ride are Busch Gardens, an African theme park with a full zoo and rides; Adventure Island, a water theme park; the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center; and the Tampa Art Museum. Within a 1-1.5 hour drive is the Holocaust Museum, The Salvador Dali Museum, The Ringling Museum, Mote Marine Laboratory, historic Tarpon Springs (a true Greek community on the Gulf), and, of course, St. Petersburg and Clearwater beaches. Fort DeSoto Beach park, rated one of the top-ten beaches in the United States, has fishing, swimming, kayak rentals, camping sites and nature trails. Near the University of South Florida you can rent kayaks and observe alligators and birds as you ascend the Hillsborough River. We will be listing charter boat services that offer offshore or inshore saltwater fishing. Further away, Everglades National Park offers unlimited exploration and camping, and the tourist capital of Florida, Orlando, is approximately two hours by car.

Henry Mushinsky and Phil Motta

Joint Meeting Website Information

MARBENA E-conference: The Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea: New challenges for marine biodiversity research and monitoring

We are glad to announce the Seventh MARBENA e-conference focused on the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, which will take place from 6 until 24 September 2004. The e-conference will be trilingual for the first time. Please find enclosed the announcement and some practicalities in either English, French or Arab.

More information is also available on the web site:
http://www.vliz.be/marbena/. To receive further information and to follow the discussions on the forum please register via the web site.

8th Annual European Elasmobranch Association Conference
21-24 October 2004
Zoological Society of London
UK
Second Call for Papers

The 8th Annual EEA Conference is starting to really take shape with some
excellent speakers expressing interest in presenting papers.
Guest speakers include Dr John Morrissey of Hofstra University, USA.
Deadline for submission of papers is 31 July.  For further information on the 8th EEA Conference including hotel discounts and travel information please visit http://www.sharktrust.org/eea

American Elasmobranch Society:  2004 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
26 - 31 May, 2004

Hosted by the University of Oklahoma at the National Center for Employee Development/ Marriott Conference Center, Norman, Oklahoma.
 

• 20th annual meeting of the American Elasmobranch Society
• 84th annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
• 62nd annual meeting of the Herpetologists’ League
• 47th annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
   

For information: http://www.dce.ksu.edu/2004jointmeeting/

World Conservation 2004

The first official announcement of the 2004 World Conservation Congress to be held in Bangkok, Thailand 17-25 November 2004. This outline has been put together jointly with our Host Country and presents some proposals for the Congress under the theme: People and Nature - Making the Difference. It can be viewed on: http://www.iucn.org/about/wcc/wcc.pdf

In the next few months, we will be producing regular briefs and updates on the emerging Congress programme, including outlining the many opportunities for members and partners to participate, as well as options for organizing parallel events and meetings. The IUCN website will also have a section dedicated to the Bangkok Congress and can be viewed through the IUCN homepage http://www.iucn.org

IUCN's World Conservation Congress is today one of the key international platforms for knowledge sharing, policy dialogues and governance issues on environment and sustainable development.