| Initial Conference Announcement The International Pacific Marine Educators Network (IPMEN) will hold its fourth biennial conference November 2012 in Chile. Marine educators will again gather to share resources and to advance a network aimed at ensuring the sustainability of the Pacific and the communities who depend upon it. The exact dates will be confirmed soon, so please visit this web site for updates. Where and When On second day, conference delegates will take half a day to fly from Santiago to Balmaceda and then by bus to Coyhaique or Puerto Chacabuco. Later they will meet with local marine practitioners and learn about the effect of aquaculture and natural stressors upon Chilean fjords and the development of sustainable practices associated with fjord ecosystems (artisan fisheries, scientific tourism among others). On the third day, we will be on the road again traveling either to Caleta Tortel or Puyuhuapi. Both places surrounded by exuberant landscape where the former is situated between the two major ice fields of the southern hemisphere and the latter near the Queulat Hanging Glacier, one of the closest to the Equator in the southern hemisphere. The small and remote township of Caleta Tortel is located at the mouth of the Baker River and has a population of around 500. Wooden boardwalks replace streets and sidewalks as the fishing village is built on rocky hills. Puyuhuapi, another fishing village founded by German settlers and Mapuche natives from Chiloe island in 1935, has a similar population to Tortel and is located at the head of the Puyuhuapi fjord, just minutes away from its renown thermal hotsprings. The bus trip and two days in one of these remote locations offer an ideal format for a more informal approach to developing the conference theme, network building and the establishment of collaborative international projects. Activities will be organized at the local schools to meet the youngsters and thereby offer both sides a rewarding intercultural experience. For More Information
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Virtual travel to Northern Patagonia, Chile YouTube videos filmed by Luis Pinto, our local host, featuring Baker River, Caleta Tortel, Puyuhuapi hotsprings and Queulat National Park in Patagonia can be found at: • Partial view of Caleta Tortel www.youtube.com/watch?v=PalUKX4ReDU Join Us You are invited to be part of this growing international effort to safeguard the health of the ocean and the communities who depend upon it. Marine educators – using the widest sense of the word – are encouraged to join us in Chile, either in person or virtually via the web. Both registration and the call for papers for IPMEN 2012 should be open by early March 2012 so please visit this web site regularly for updates. Between conferences you can participate in this growing Network via our Facebook and Google groups. Membership of these discussion groups is informal; it is simply a matter of logging on and signing in. IPMEN Facebook Group If you are already a Facebook member, just search for the IPMEN Facebook Group and join. You may also contact the IPMEN Facebook Group convener, Sylvia Spalding Sylvia.spalding@noaa.gov . IPMEN Google Group To join this group simply go to http://groups.google.com/group/ipmen and sign in. If you do not have a Google account, you will be asked to create one when you sign in so just follow the prompts.
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