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Charlotte Amalie
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HomeNewsArchivesMARINE WATCHDOG GROUP OPENS OFFICE IN V.I.

MARINE WATCHDOG GROUP OPENS OFFICE IN V.I.

April 25, 2001 – The national environmental watchdog group Center for Marine Conservation has opened an office in the Virgin Islands, located on St. John.
Nick Drayton, former director of conservation programs for the Nature Conservancy of the Virgin Islands and the Eastern Caribbean, has been tapped to manage the office.
CMC has regional and field offices in several locations, including California, Florida and the Dominican Republic, according to its website, www.cmc-ocean.org.
"In an age where we are grappling with marine resource management issues and challenges almost as diverse as the habitats themselves, I am honored to become a part of the CMC team," Drayton said. "I'm looking forward particularly to forging both formal and informal partnerships with marine conservation agencies and individuals in the islands and beyond, who share a common vision of clean, healthy marine waters with abundant and diverse wildlife."
According to a written statement from CMC the recent creation of the USVI Coral Reef National Monument and expansion of the existing Buck Islands National Monument "will be major focuses of the new office."
The National Monument designation touched off a controversy in the Virgin Islands, with critics complaining that the territory was left out of the decision.
The CMC release says the V.I. office will work to build local and public support for marine conservation, collaborating with all appropriate federal and local institutions.
Besides working with the Nature Conservancy, Drayton worked with the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust and was program coordinator for the Caribbean Conservation Association's Marine Parks and Protected Areas Program. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of the West Indies in biology/ecology with sociology and a masters degree in coastal biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

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