Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras

The Marine and coastal Research Institute (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras- INVEMAR), a traditional marine research institute in Colombia, is part of the National Environment System (SINA) and is linked to the Ministry of the Environment. It was founded more than 30 years ago as a German tropical laboratory, but since 1974 it was changed to concentrate on marine studies and to be managed by the Colombian government. In 1993, INVEMAR was reorganized as a mixed corporation, so that it receives resources from the government and from private organizations, but has administrative autonomy and its own patrimony (INVEMAR, 1994). The mission by law of INVEMAR is to carry out basic and applied research to promote knowledge and conservation of Colombian marine resources, both in the Caribbean and the Pacific coasts, and also to advice other members of the SINA that are commissioned for developing management actions. The results and information produced by INVEMAR shall be linked to the socioeconomic development of the country through education, publications, and technology transfer (INVEMAR, 2000)., INVEMAR works in close collaboration with the institutions of the SINA, such us the Administrative Unit of Natural Parks (UAESPNN), CORALINA, CORPAMAG, CORPOGUAJIRA, CVC and many other regional corporations, but also with several national universities. On the international context, INVEMAR has developed collaboration agreements to carry out research with several institutions such us the University of Giessen (Germany), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute-STRI (Panama), UNEP-RCU/CAR (Jamaica), AIMS (Australia), INTECMAR (Venezuela) and others. In 1998-2000, INVEMAR worked together with the University of Miami and NOAA to study recruitment patterns and coastal transport of fish and crustacean larvae in the Colombian Caribbean. The information about ocean currents obtained during that study will be useful for the present project., INVEMAR has four basic research programs, one of which is _biodiversity and marine ecosystems_ (BEM) that will include this project. Much of the research done by BEM during the last 10 years has dealt with the coral reef ecosystem, so that we have obtained a good basic picture of the environmental status of most Colombian reef areas, but also have gained the expertise to study this complex ecosystem. A relevant book with maps and descriptions of all coral reefs areas of Colombia was published recently by INVEMAR (Diaz et al., 2000). ,