Saba bank symposium

Wageningen University and Research organised a symposium in Den helder on the 8th of december 2016. The symposium was held at the theather named De Kanpaje. The main reason of the symposium was to inform attendants about all the research that took place in the past 5 years on the Saba Bank by many different governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Saba Bank is a very unique and pristine submerged atoll in the Caribbean and the third largest of the world. With a 2,680 square kilometer in size with depths ranging between 20 to 50 metesr of depth, the bank provides many resources (e.g. fisheries) to the communities on the surrounding islands as a hotspot of biodiversity.

Research institutes such as Wageningen Marine Research, formally known as IMARES, has been doing a lot of research on the bank the past 5 years. From making a benthic mapping, trying to find new species, and placing acoustic loggers for sharks and marine mammals. For this, the symposium was organised in order to bring people together, from students and members of the ministry, and inform about the accomplished goals and the results of the researches. The day started at 10:00 and finished at 17:30. Guido and I  (and many other friends and theachers of my school) were present that day. Similar research about the queen conchs that I did back in Anguilla, was presented by Martin de Graaf. Guido's supervisor, Erwin Winter, presented the results of the research that Guido has been doing around Saba for his thesis. We all got the chane to speak with many different people who we already knew and catch up with everyone's work. 

Finally, the day was closed with a discussion board in which all presenters discussed what the next step is for the Saba Bank Research. We got a book with the printed work of the Saba Bank with some really beautiful pictures on it. If interested a copy of the book can be downloaded here in PDF:

http://edepot.wur.nl/400224 (Dutch)
http://edepot.wur.nl/400225 (English)

Overall: a very informative day!

Saba Bank Symposium Program