saeri

Shallow Marine Surveys Group and South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute promoting and supporting scientific research in the South Atlantic.

In August, 2012, over twenty scientists and amateur naturalists will descend on Ascension Island. Although they have been brought to the small outpost in the Atlantic Ocean from many parts of the world they will be working together as a team with a single purpose: to spend three weeks measuring, photographing, collecting and cataloguing the wide diversity of marine life found on the rocky reefs fringing the island.

[caption id="attachment_150" align="alignleft" width="150"]

Shallow Marine Surveys Group

The effort is being coordinated by the Falkland Islands-based Shallow Marine Surveys Group (SMSG), a community based non-profit organisation founded in 2006 to promote marine research in the South Atlantic and its partner, the newly formed South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI). SMSG has had great success to date with a number of surveys around the Falkland Islands producing new species and numerous scientific publications. Their most recent expedition to the islands of South Georgia was also a great success with significant international participation.

[caption id="attachment_149" align="alignleft" width="150"]

South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute

SAERI, based in the Falkland Islands, is an academic research organisation conducting environmental research from the tropics down to the ice in the South Atlantic. Its remit includes the physical and natural sciences.

For the current expedition, the SMSG and SAERI are very pleased to welcome the participation of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, the University of Exeter, UK, the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece, and the Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), Portugal. Also joining the team are scientific staff from the South Georgia and Falkland Islands Governments.

This remarkable and ambitious international effort is fully supported by the Ascension Island Government with members of the Ascension Island Conservation Office taking part in the survey. The expedition logistics have also benefited greatly with assistance from British Forces South Atlantic Islands who are also contributing divers to the effort. The Ascension Island Dive Club will be providing divers and invaluable local knowledge to assist the team.