Interactions among scientists, managers and the public in defining research priorities and management strategies for marine and coastal resources: Isthe Red Sea Marine Peace Park a new paradigm?

It has been assumed that marine habitats and resources, especially, are alm ost unlimited, and that if one habitat became degraded or a particular fish eries resource depleted, there always would be another to replace it. There fore, natural resource management principals are beginning to include human motivation and responses as part of the marine and coastal systems that ar e being studied and managed. Managers of marine resources face the challeng e of balancing conservation and development objectives in the context of th e inherent uncertainty of natural systems and the political and social pres sures of human systems. Natural resource managers, scientists and the gener al public seem to share a vision for the future as a world in which societa l and economic decisions will be strongly coupled with an increasingly comp rehensive understanding of the environment. This in turn will lead to both socio-economic health and ecosystem health. A paradigm shift is being seen in the evolution of the role of scientists in society from simply observers of the natural world with tenuous linkages to resource managers and the pu blic, to partners in modern society's quest for answers to pressing questio ns related to sustainable use and conservation of natural resources. A US A gency for International Development supported, joint effort between the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Government of Israel a nd the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to conduct a comprehensive research and monitoring program directed at the new Binational Red Sea Marine Pearce Par k will be a pioneering effort to employ and test this new paradigm.