Dear Sir/Madam We would like to draw your attention to the upcoming RIOS Workshop, which still is open for registration. The workshop will take place at Zoomarine, in Albufeira (Portugal), April 17-19, 2008. The RIOS workshop, which is organised by Nordeconsult, Zoomarine and Sea Alarm Foundation aims to: - evaluate the current state of oiled wildlife response and preparedness in Europe, and - identify the near future European priorities for research and development in this field. This workshop is still open for registration. At the RIOS workshop, outstanding scientists and experts will provide an overview of the state of the art knowledge in the various areas of oiled wildlife response and preparedness (please find attached the workshop programme). A background document that has been written as an introduction to the workshop is available (see http://www.nordeconsult.com/RIOS/Background%20Document.pdf). If you are interested in the scientific backgrounds of oiled wildlife response and preparedness, and/or you would like to get involved in the discussions to identify new international projects in this field, this is an event not to miss. The RIOS-Workshop is part of a European project, RIOS-Reducing the Impact from Oil Spills, funded by EU DG-Research. The RIOS project aims at developing a European Action Plan on the Research Needs for Reducing Impacts from Oil Spills on Wildlife. The Action Plan will be submitted to the European Commission and may be used by the Commission in the further development of the European research policy. The RIOS project is a serious attempt to create new European funding opportunities for research and development in the field of oiled wildlife response and preparedness - e.g., as part of future Research Framework Programmes. The outcomes of the RIOS Workshop will be used in the drafting of the European Action Plan. Draft versions of the Action plan will be made available for comments before it is submitted to the Commission. The target audience for the RIOS workshop are scientists, rehabilitators, veterinarians, national authority officials, NGO, and other professionals in the field of oiled wildlife response and preparedness. Registration forms for the RIOS Workshop can be downloaded from the dedicated website (http://www.nordeconsult.com/RIOS/Registration%20Form.pdf). For further information please contact RIOS Workshop's Secretariat at: rios@nordeconsult.com. We look forward to welcoming you next month in Albufeira! Sincerely, On behalf of the Organizing Committee Nordeconsult, Sea Alarm Foundation, Zoomarine Élio A. Vicente, Marine Biologist Director of Science and Education Our blog: http://zoomarine.blogdrive.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zoomarine - Mundo Aquático S.A. Est. Nac. 125, Km 65, Guia - 8201-864 Albufeira PORTUGAL Phone: +351 289 560 311; Fax + 351 289 560 309 E-mail: eliovicente@zoomarine.pt; Webpage: www.zoomarine.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett http://www.therainforestsite.com