WIOMSA Annual Report 2018

Abstract

The year 2018 marks WIOMSA’s 25th anniversary. As we celebrate this huge milestone and look back at how far we have come as an organization, I am certain that our visionary founders never expected the small non-governmental organization they set up in 1993, with seed financing of less than USD 30 000 annually from Sida Sarec – disbursed through the IOC of UNESCO – to become one of the most influential regional players in the marine and coastal science arena in the Western Indian Ocean. Over the years it might have felt like we were not doing much, that our operations may not have yielded much, but today we can look back with pride and recognize that the building blocks that were laid by the founders of WIOMSA have borne much fruit.