9318355 Stiassny African and U.S. scientists will attend a workshop called PARADI (Poissons Africains: Role et Applications del la Diversity Biologique), to be held in Dakar, Senegal, November 15-20 1993, on African fresh and brackish water fishes. The workshop is sponsored by a coalition of five organizations, in Senegal, South Africa, and Europe (France and Belgium), with an international scientific board which includes participants, such as the U.S. P.I., Dr. Melanie Stiassny of the American Museum of Natural History, from a wide range of institutions, disciplines, and countries. The purpose of the workshop is to convene active researchers from a wide interdisciplinary range, to identify common scientific and conservation themes for African fisheries biology. The Workshop will review available data from a biological diversity perspective on a continent-wide basis and map directions for programs and international research collaborations and education. In all, some 24 African countries are expected to be represented. NSF funding will support the participation of African scientists from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Madagascar, and US researchers from a number of institutions throughout the country, including graduate students and junior faculty members. This workshop will stimulate interchange to establish needed baseline data on freshwater fauna of Africa, an area which has been relatively understudied, aside from the rift valley lakes. In addition to its contribution to biodiversity, such research is vital to sustainable development in many countries of Africa for maintenance of their fisheries. This project is likely to serve as a catalyst for the establishment of research networks among African and US researchers, including some men and women how at early stages in their careers, who may pursue collaborative efforts for decades to come. ***
