Whilst the INTERCAFE COST Action ran for four years (2004-2008), it took that time again to produce the five Final Reports. The delay between the official end of the Action and the delivery of its final publications is of course longer than INTERCAFE participants and others would have liked. However, it is perhaps no real surprise given the complexities of the issues being explored and the large amounts of data and information collected and produced by a network of almost 70 researchers from 30 countries. Given the continual interest in Cormorant-fisheries matters across Europe, the publication of INTERCAFE’s final reports was always going to be timely.
In reality, to call INTERCAFE’s outputs ‘final’ is a misnomer. They, like the earlier work of the REDCAFE Concerted Action, are not the final word on Cormorant-fishery matters at all but merely a development of our exploration of them. INTERCAFE's final reports can thus be considered as a set of ‘building blocks’ that can be used and further developed as people across Europe continue to wrestle with Cormorant-fishery conflicts, and the diverse biological, social, cultural and economic perspectives they encompass.
We offer our heartfelt thanks to the many COST officials – both in the Brussels COST Office and beyond - for their consistent good advice and support during the running of this Action. In this regard, our particular thanks go to Tony Mayer (Director, COST Office 2003-05), and to John Ingram, Markus Knoflacher, and Carine Petit in COST’s ESSEM (Earth System Science and Environmental Management) Domain.
Finally, we would like to thank CEH’s Knowledge Transfer team for its support during the lengthy production of the INTERCAFE publications. Particular thanks must go to Heather Lowther, the team’s Multimedia Editor. Without Heather's dedication, skill, and hard work throughout, the INTERCAFE reports would possibly not exist, and certainly not in such an informative and eye-catching style.
