The venue of the meeting is Markree Castle, which lies just outside the town of Sligo. This is the romantic landscape where the poet W.B. Yeats found his inspiration. Sligo is in the west of Ireland, north of the awe-inspiring counties of Galway and Mayo and south of beautiful Donegal coast, with the impressive cliffs of Bunglass and Magho. The original castle at Markree was the site of an outpost of the McDonagh clan, guarding a ford on a bend in the Unsin river. The early history of the castle is lost in legend, but the first recorded addition was made by the Cooper family in 1655. This was subsequently enlarged into a substantial Queen Ann house in the eighteenth century. Further additions in the mid nineteenth century include the magnificent gilded dining-room and the majestic oak staircase. Following the death of the present owner's great grandfather in 1901, the family started closing off some of the rooms. The main house was closed down in 1952 and remained empty until Charles Cooper returned in 1989 and opened the house as a hotel.

The theme of the meeting is Sustainability: Research, Monitoring and Management. The meeting will explore issues of sustainability applicable to Great Lakes of the World through formal presentations and discussions. The core of the programme is based on a range of oral and poster presentations that address these issues. These cover lakes and their catchments in North America, Africa, Asia and Europe

The meeting includes set times for discussion of the issues raised in the presentations and a special session at the end of meeting that will summarise the main findings. This final discussion will aim to identify the principles for successful sustainability as well as those that are restrictive. The meeting will try and reconcile similarities and differences that prevail for maintenance of long-term quality of the Great Lakes from different parts of the world.

The meeting will conclude with a visit to the megalithic tombs of Carrowkeel in the Bricklieve Mountains Saturday July 22, 2000. From here there is a panoramic vista of the area's landscape, including some lakes of local importance. The short trip will depart Markree Castle at 9:30 am and aim to be back in Sligo for lunch time.

Situated above the western shore of Lough Arrow, the impressive passage tomb cemetery of Carrowkeel is located in the beautiful limestone uplands of the Bricklieve Mountains. There are 14 cairns located at different prominent positions on the hilltops here with a further group of 6 cairns extending to the west to Keshcorran Mountain, which is also capped with a large cairn (G71/12). There are magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, principally to the north and west and many of the hill and mountain tops visible from here are capped with cairns.

The main group of cairns was examined somewhat crudely in 1911 when 14 cairns were excavated in a time period of twelve and a half days with some suffering extensive damage. They were given letters to differentiate them and they portray several variations of the Irish Passage Tomb. Cairns G and K have classic cruciform shaped chambers with intact dry stone corbelled roofs. Large amounts of cremated human remains were found along with beads, pins, pendants and Carrowkeel Ware pottery - the name given to a style of pottery common in most passage tombs. Unlike other passage tomb cemeteries at the Boyne Valley and Loughcrew in County Meath there is no evidence of megalithic artwork. Cairn E is the most unusual of the Carrowkeel monuments as it combines a passage tomb built into the northern end of a court tomb. The ruined Cairn F is the biggest of this group and had a standing stone within the chamber. To the east of Cairns G, H, K and L is another ridge with Cairns 0 and P. On the plateau below these are approximately 80 hutsites varying from 7 to 15m in diameter, considered by some archaeologists to represent the village of those who built the tombs.

It is planned that Proceeding from the meeting will be published by the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society subject to standard peer review. Authors of both oral and poster presentations are invited to contribute to this publication. More details can be obtained from Dr. M. Munawar Chief Editor , AEHMS.