GOSLINER & BURKE: FROM PARACPIUTES TO PARTNERSHIPS 
33 
Photo 8. Media team documenting specimens collected from deep-sea trawling. Photo by M. Burke. 
couldn’t help but note the refreshing contrast to interactions with the U.S. Congress where one 
could be vilified for wasting taxpayers’ money through frivolous research — as happened to one 
of our Aeademy eolleagues. 
The next morning, we all assembled at the UP eampus for the capstone symposium, which was 
intended to present the expedition’s preliminary findings. Traditionally, most scientific sympo¬ 
siums are geared to academic audiences and take place months or years after expedition results are 
known. We wanted this symposium to be different. We would be bringing immediate results to a 
variety of Filipino audiences, while the impressions were fresh and we had the attention of the local 
news media. We hoped to demonstrate that dissemination of seientific information should be a 
rapid proeess and could prompt immediate calls for action. 
In the audience and among the speakers were Filipino resource managers, conservationists, 
political leaders, edueators, students, and scientists. Members of each expedition component 
reported their key findings and observations. 
The marine shallow-water team also presented key recommendations for more sustainable 
management and expansion of existing Marine Proteeted Areas. Asis Perez from BEAR and 
Mundita Lim from PAWB — the directors of the two primary agencies responsible for environ¬ 
mental regulation in the Philippines — made presentations. The symposium generated great excite¬ 
ment about the discovery of more than 300 new species in the Philippines and also mueh discus¬ 
sion as well as a call to action to manage the unique biological richness of the Philippines more 
effectively. 
