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Making It Count — June 2011
Please support REEF and the critical work we do by donating generously.
Making It Count – June 2011
Support Marine Conservation and Your Donation Will Be Doubled
By Paul Humann, REEF Board of Trustees
| During our Summer Fundraising Campaign, we reach out to you, our valued members, and ask for your financial support. Your contribution will ensure that our important marine conservation work can continue. Donations made during the campaign will be matched dollar for dollar by the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, doubling the impact of your support. You can donate securely online at www.REEF.org/contribute, mail your donation to REEF at PO Box 246, Key Largo, FL 33037, or call us at 305-852-0030. REEF is making a difference in the marine environment. We strive to stay on the cutting edge of science, education, and outreach initiatives, but we cannot do this without your support. Thank you to everyone who has already donated. Please help us meet our goal of raising $60,000 in 60 days. |
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Putting It to Work: REEF Presents at Rockfish Conference
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D., Director of Science
| REEF Director of Science, Christy Pattengill-Semmens, and REEF Outreach Coordinator, Janna Nichols, attended a rockfish conference in Seattle earlier this week. The workshop, Rockfish Recovery in the Salish Sea: Research and Management Priorities, was organized by NOAA, WDFW, and the SeaDoc Society, and served as a venue for scientists, managers, and policy makers from throughout the region to share their work and help chart a course for future work. Christy presented an overview of REEF data collected throughout the Salish Sea, and showed distribution maps for 12 species of rockfish. The REEF Volunteer Survey Program expanded to the Northwest in 1998. To date, REEF volunteers have submitted 12,495 surveys from 781 sites throughout the Salish Sea. These data are a valuable information resource for those working to protect and restore declining rockfish populations. Several other active Pacific Northwest surveyors also attended the conference. |
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The Faces of REEF: Member Spotlight, Mike Phelan
By Sasha Medlen, REEF Membership Coordinator
| REEF members are at the heart of our grassroots marine conservation programs. Over 43,000 divers, snorkelers, students, and armchair naturalists stand behind our mission.
This month we highlight Mike Phelan (REEF member since 1998). Mike is a member of our Golden Hamlet Club, having conducted over 1,000 surveys (1,211 to be exact!), and he is a member of the Advanced Assessment Team in the Tropical Western Atlantic. In addition to being an active REEF surveyor, Mike has been documenting an annual aggregation of Goliath Grouper in Florida. Here’s what Mike had to say about REEF: When and how did you first volunteer with REEF? I read an article in Skin Diver Magazine over 12 years ago. Shortly thereafter, I signed up for a REEF Field Survey trip to Saba and several other nearby islands on a live aboard. Since then, I have participated in seven REEF Field Surveys and several REEF Advanced Assessment Team surveys in the Florida Keys. The most memorable was my trip to St. Vincent. I was fortunate to add several fish to my species life list including the illusive Black Brotula. My favorite part of being a REEF member is interacting with fellow citizen scientists. |
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Outstanding in their Field: Featured REEF Field Station, Eugene Dive Club and Eugene Skin Divers Supply
By Janna Nichols, REEF Outreach Coordinator
| REEF is proud to partner with over 130 dive shops, dive clubs, individuals, and other organizations as REEF Field Stations.
This month we feature the Eugene Dive Club, an active club in Oregon with over 100 members. The club serves as the go-to arm of the official REEF Field Station at Eugene Skin Divers Supply. The club’s involvement was spearheaded by two active northwest REEF surveyors and Eugene locals, Christine and Jim Pendergrass. Chris and Jim took the PADI Habitat class through Eugene Skin Divers Supply, which fed them into the volunteer dive program at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. That sparked their interest in fish ID and led them to REEF. Since then, Jim and Chris have been teaching REEF fish and invertebrate ID classes, sponsoring monthly REEF dives along the Oregon coast, and helping with REEF’s online training webinars. They have also created a fun ID game called ‘Cash Boat’, a fish/invert ID contest modeled after TV’s ‘Cash Cab’. Their efforts have paid off… |
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Grouper’s Last Stand
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D., Director of Science and Brice Semmens, Ph.D., Grouper Moon Project Lead Scientist
| We are happy to share with you a short (3-minute) Public Service Announcement (PSA) from the REEF Grouper Moon Project, featuring spectacular underwater footage and the hopeful story of the Nassau grouper in the Cayman Islands. The video discusses the importance of protections for spawning aggregations and the work that REEF and our collaborators at the Cayman Islands Department of the Environment (CIDOE) and Oregon State University have done on this important conservation issue. The PSA is on REEF’s We Speak Fish YouTube channel — http://www.youtube.com/user/WeSpeakFish
Cayman Island spawning aggregations have been seasonally protected from… |
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REEF Database Tops 150,000 Surveys!
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D., Director of Science
| The REEF database topped 150,000 surveys this month! The lucky 150k survey was conducted by Ross Whiteside on June 13, 2011, at Mixing Bowl in Little Cayman. Ross and his wife Terri have been active REEF members since 2002 and are members of the Advanced Assessment Team. Congrats Ross and Terri, and thanks to all of our surveying members for helping us achieve this landmark! |
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Great Annual Fish Count is Here
By Janna Nichols, REEF Outreach Coordinator
| The 20th annual Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC) is rapidly approaching! Will you be participating? We encourage local shops, dive clubs and other groups to organize an activity anytime during the month of July. You can view events already scheduled, and add your own, by visiting www.fishcount.org.
The concept behind the GAFC is to not only accumulate large numbers of surveys during the month of July, but to introduce divers and snorkelers to Fishwatching and conducting REEF surveys. Interested groups can offer free fish ID classes, organize dive/snorkel days, and turn them into fun gatherings! To find out more, contact us at gafc@reef.org. |
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Please support REEF and the critical work we do by donating generously.
See You Next Month!
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Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Fish, Grouper, Lionfish, Manatee, Photography, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report