The litany of pressures includes overfishing, destructive fishing, pollution, siltation, diseases and deteriorating global climate. Scientists are now moving on from simply declaring that there is a problem, to better defining its spatial character and its time horizons, and to assessing and advising on the management of the risks. Only by moving into a more forward looking analytical framework can scientists assist policy makers, regulators and reef users to deal with the future.

About Dr. Done
Dr. Terence J. Done is Senior Principal Research Scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Terry Done began working on coral reefs in Australia in the early 1970s and joined AIMS in 1980. He was a founding Program Leader in the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Ecologically Sustainable Development of the Great Barrier Reef (1993-1999) and the CRC for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (1999-2005).

These CRCs, which include representatives of the Reef´s management agency and its commercial and recreational users, provide a research environment that keeps researchers aware of, and their research attuned to, the socio-economic and political dimensions of coral reef issues.

He is currently developing the CRC supported ‘Reef Futures Project´ at AIMS. Dr Done is President of the International Society for Reef Studies