Giuseppe pens his thoughts on the Mediterranean Seagrass Workshop in Morocco.
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Every three years, I tell myself “this is the last time”, and then every time I change my mind. I have been involved in the organisation of three Mediterranean Seagrass Workshops (MSW), and the effort and time dedication are worthwhile every time. On May 24, I got on a plane and soon after touched down for the first time in Morocco. True enough, conferences always take us to new places, meet new people, experience new cultures. After a couple of days in a confusing, overwhelming and crowded Marrakech, we got on a bus to Essaouira, where the MSW would be held. The road to Marrakech is pulverous, but with stunning landscapes, changing from the arid land of central Morocco to the olive trees and the green pastures of the Atlantic coastline. The landscape is intermittent with local agriculture fields, some times scattered by grazing goats and sleepy donkeys.
Essaouira: La ville du vent
Essaouira, we would soon discover is “la ville du vent” and for good reason. The wind blows 24/7 over the long stretch of beach, that goes as far as the eye can see. On Monday afternoon (May 28) the participants start trickling in from all directions; this year we have a smaller group than usual, but it’s great to see some of the same people that carry on the legacy, since the first workshop in 2006. Tuesday morning, we are ready to begin. The MSW has always been a great opportunity to maintain a Mediterranean network of seagrass scientists and managers. Only few people from the region attend the global ISBWs and other conferences are often a potpuorri of themes, topics, fields. So we stick we our own seagrass community, at least every once in a while!
Participants greeting each other at the MSW
The other interesting thing, to me at least, is that the MSW is an indicator of Mediterranean seagrass research: the majority of talks generally reflects the trends of what Mediterranean seagrassers are up to, what funding is available and what large processes are underway. I’ll give you examples. In 2009, on the beautiful island of Hvar (in Croatia) a lot of the presented work was focused on the Water Framework Directive, which at that time, the European Union was implementing for the monitoring of European waters. I tell you “monitoring” and “intercalibration” were the key words in those days. This year, no single presentation talked about “intercalibration” – that is clearly done and over with, but climate change is now the word on everyone’s lips.
The fact that conferences take us to amazing places is not just a nice treat. It also gives the opportunity of hosting countries (and their neighboughrs) to increase the representation and participation of their scientists. Given that European conferences don’t often see a good deal of North African participants, we were particularly happy to see a larger delegation from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Most of us had to dust off our french and start talking. But as usual, these efforts (not just improving language skills) pay off. New collaborations are fostered at each MSW, new partnerships, new ideas and projects. But most importantly new friendships.
Participants of MSW 2012
In pure Mediterranean style, long lunches in front of delicious cous-cous, afternoon chats with posters and swimming pool gatherings make the difference. This is what keeps the community together. And every time, new students, new members, new countries (even the USA and Australia) participate. We were through four days pretty quickly and it was time to get home. Except that the bus back to Marrakech broke and left us stranded in the middle of nowhere under a burning sun. One more story to tell next time. We look forward to the next MSW, each of them has a different flavour and its own character. As they say in Morocco “à la prochaine, inshAllah”.