Jan. 20, 2002 – The University of the Virgin Islands will host a series of community meetings, which are termed "stakeholder meetings" to discuss the Virgin Islands Marine Park Project.
These meetings are to provide background briefings and discussion on the project with individuals. These follow up group briefings that were held in November and December by UVI, on behalf of V.I. Planning and Natural Resources Department, the federal grant recipient.
Meetings are scheduled as follows:
—St Croix at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Cooperative Extension Service building on UVI's St. Croix campus, room 133.
—St. Thomas at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Education Department's Curriculum Center, near the fire station in Tutu.
—St. John at 6 p.m. Jan. 29 in the Legislative Conference Room in Cruz Bay.
UVI officials use the term "stakeholder" to include everyone who has a serious interest in a given subject: those who implement a project, those who are affected by it, and those who monitor, study or report it. Stakeholders in the marine park project would include fishermen, environmental managers, affected property owners, regulating government officials, environmentalists and the press.
The V.I. Marine Park Project will develop a plan to manage the territory's valuable water and other natural resources and prevent degradation of the marine environment. When a grant of $300,000-plus to DPNR was announced in October 2001, Commissioner Dean Plaskett said sites to be studied before establishing parks will be selected from areas that were previously designated by DPNR as Areas of Particular Concern.
For additional information, call 693-1062.
For more on the University of the Virgin Islands, visit the website atwww.uvi.edu.