Gulf of Mexico BP Oil catastrophe

Dear REEF Members,

The Gulf Oil Spill is highly likely to have lasting impacts on wildlife, ecosystems, and people – both locally in the Gulf, as well as regionally in the greater Florida area and possibly throughout the Caribbean. Like you, all of us at REEF have been closely following the news about this unfortunate disaster.

While REEF is not directly involved in the response to the oil spill, we are poised to provide baseline data on fish populations in the affected regions if needed. Thanks to the efforts of REEF volunteers, approximately 5,600 fish population surveys have been conducted in the Gulf of Mexico since 1994. This includes over 1,500 surveys along the west coast of Florida, 3,500 surveys in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, and another 600 in Veracruz, Mexico.

There are many organizations and agencies that have set up useful websites to help monitor the situation, post updates, and list ways to help. We have listed some of these below.

Thank you for your continued support of REEF and our programs.

Sincerely,

Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D. – REEF Director of Science

Web Resources on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill:

– The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, located about 100 miles off the coast of Texas. Their website, http://flowergarden.noaa.gov/, contains links to the NOAA restoration and response efforts.

– The State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the lead agency charged with coordinating the oil spill response for Florida. Their website is DeepwaterHorizons

– The Waterkeeper Alliance is a non-profit advocacy organization focused on clean waterways worldwide – http://www.waterkeeper.org/ There are several Waterkeepers in the Gulf region who are working very hard on the front lines of the spill, and Waterkeeper Alliance has organized this website – they are posting the latest information and there is donation information available as well. Save Our Gulf -http://saveourgulf.org/

– The official website of the Unified Response is DeepWaterHorizonResponse

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