In recent years, Cuban scientists have had difficulty obtaining travel visas to attend conferences, and fewer American researchers have visited the island. The scientists say collaboration between the two countries on environmental issues is critical. "> In recent years, Cuban scientists have had difficulty obtaining travel visas to attend conferences, and fewer American researchers have visited the island. The scientists say collaboration between the two countries on environmental issues is critical. ">

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Few bodies of water are charged with more politics, struggle and grief than the 90 miles of water that separate Cuba and the United States.

The fish, of course, know nothing of this tension. And the scientists in each country who study them would prefer that politics not get in their way.

"Science can't operate effectively by them doing their thing, and us doing our thing, on essentially the same body of water," said Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla.

"We share this water out there," Hueter said, sitting at a table with a view of a bay stretching out into the Gulf of Mexico. "Some of it, at least, might end up on the shore of Cuba. And certainly, some of the fish may end up in Cuba."

In that spirit, four Cuban scientists made a trip to the U.S. this week, stopping in Washington to meet with the Environmental Defense Fund, which helped facilitate the visit, and with scientists at the Mote Marine Laboratory on Friday.

It was, in some ways, another hint of the changing political waters between Cuba and the United States: In recent years, Cuban scientists have had difficulty obtaining travel visas to attend conferences, and fewer American researchers have visited the island.

The Cuban scientists were able to get their visas in less than two months. More U.S. scientists are expected to attend an academic conference in Havana this fall.

"I would say it's a precedent-setting trip, in that for the last five to seven years, there have been very, very few visas issued to Cubans, Cuban scientists and academics," said Dan Whittle, a senior attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund.

The scientists say collaboration between the two countries on environmental issues is critical: Sharks and other species migrate between the water connecting them, and both are affected by threats like coral bleaching, invasive fish and pollution.

"The analogy I've made is, it's as if we work back here, and develop science on hurricanes, and didn't look at any data as the storms crossed over Cuba," Hueter said. "We would not get very far with that approach. And in fact, we haven't done that. We have worked with Cubans in terms of hurricane science and hurricane prediction.

"We've got to do the same thing with marine science," he said.

Academic exchanges have continued throughout the duration of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Indeed, most of the Cuban scientists visiting this week had been here before.

David Guggenheim, president of the nonprofit 1planet1ocean, has been coordinating research between Cuba, the U.S. and Mexico during the past ten years. Groups of scientists from the three countries have met in Mexico twice since 2007, and will discuss a plan of action at the upcoming conference in Havana.

Guggenheim said there will be several upcoming papers published in peer-reviewed journals based on collaborative research between scientists in Cuba and the U.S.

"Everybody smells some change in the air, including here in Washington, where I think just the fact that these four individuals were granted visas is a pretty good indicator that this sort of collaboration will really be possible," he said.

Of course, as with many things related to Cuba, change is slow.

President Barack Obama has eased travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in Cuba, and both countries sat down for talks aimed at re-establishing direct mail service.

At the same time, the U.S. trade embargo has been extended against Cuba for another year, and the island's foreign minister has said Cuba won't make any concessions to improve relations between the communist-run country and the U.S.

The scientists are hoping they can serve as a bridge.

"The environment knows no borders, and the resources we share are so important," Whittle said. "We see the environment as the one issue that can bring the two countries together."

The four visiting scientists gave presentations to Mote Marine Laboratory scientists in southwest Florida on coastal management, the island's national aquarium, efforts to preserve coral reefs and opportunities for collaboration.

"In Cuba, we have a very deep feeling that without science, we are nothing," Guillermo Garcia Montero, the director of Cuba's national aquarium, told the group.

Montero had previously visited the U.S. but saw his visa requests delayed or rejected throughout the past eight years. On one occasion, he said his visa was rejected because he was deemed "a threat" to the U.S.

He also saw U.S. participation in the island's marine science conference diminish from more than 60 participants in 1997 to just three in 2006.

This year, he's expecting to see 30 to 40 U.S. scientists.

Luis Barrera Canizo, a specialist in international cooperation at Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, said the collaboration is paramount.

"It's not just an interest, it's a necessity for both countries to try to advance the cooperation on environmental issues," he said. "For the good of both countries and humanity."

Source: Miami Herald

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