Announcing the New James E Lockwood REEF Headquarters
By Lisa Mitchell, REEF Executive Director
Come April 25, 2009 we won’t just be REEF Headquarters any longer – the new and improved 1908 conch house that is our office will become the James E. Lockwood REEF Headquarters. How did this come about? In late 2007 REEF was contacted by a law firm that was looking for information on small non-profits in order to make a decision about some monies left by James E. Lockwood in his will. Leda Cunningham (former Executive Director) and Jim Dalle Pazze (REEF Board Member) met with the lawyers and so began the slow dance that lasted for over a year.
During the last few months of 2008, there were several meetings, lots of visits to REEF Headquarters and many phone calls. The suspense was building and it looked like REEF was going to be included in the disbursement of the estate. Right before the holidays the paperwork was sent through and the check arrived on January 2 -- what a great way to start the new year!. Needless to say we were very excited about this generous support. The donation included stipulations to fix up our 1908 Keys Conch House and get her in tip top shape – as such a place of character and charisma deserves. This included the renaming or our beloved REEF Headquarters to the James E. Lockwood REEF Headquarters, to celebrate and honor Mr. Lockwood. James Lockwood was an interesting man and we will have additional background on him in the coming months – he developed and patented a re-breather device several years before Jacques Cousteau made his “first dive”.
On April 25, we are going to have a dedication ceremony – all REEF members are welcome – the program will be from 1:00 – 3:00 PM at the new James E. Lockwood REEF Headquarters here in Key Largo. In preparation for this celebration, we are spiffing up the outside, and completing some very necessary repairs and maintenance.
We look forward to unveiling additional plans for the funds that include revamping and gearing up our outreach program – to spread the REEF word and involve more dive resorts, retailers and citizen scientists in providing valuable data about fish populations. So thank you Mr. Lockwood for helping REEF make the world a better place.
REEF News Tidbits for October
By REEF StaffFree Fish and Invertebrate ID Classes in California
By Janna Nichols, REEF Outreach Coordinator
Tired of not knowing who’s who on your underwater adventures? REEF is again offering FREE marine life ID classes this year in California. REEF Instructor and Outreach Coordinator Janna Nichols will be teaching these fun and informative classes at several locations. Learn how to identify many common California fish, invertebrates and algae, and how to do REEF surveys and become part of this worldwide citizen science program. This class will change the way you dive. Find one near you and join the fun!
California Fish ID:
- Saturday, June 5th, 10am-2pm, Long Marine Lab, Santa Cruz
- Wednesday, June 23rd, 6-9pm, Ocean Institute, Dana Point
- Thursday, June 24th, 6-9pm, Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach
California Invertebrate/Algae ID:
- Friday June 25th, 6-9pm, Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach
Practice Survey Dives, experienced or new surveyors all welcome!
- Friday, May 14th, Sundiver Express. Special for REEF: $95
- Sat, June 26th, Sundiver. Special for REEF: 3 tanks $100
Sign up and pay for dives by calling Sundiver at: 562-594-6968
Register for one, or any combination of events, online
Sponsored by REEF with support from Aquarium of the Pacific, UCSC Long Marine Lab, The Ocean Institute and Sundiver.
Classes are informative, fun and free, but registration is required. To register go to: http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/calclasses.htm
The REEF program has been active in California since 1997 and has accumulated over 6,500 California marine life surveys in the Volunteer Survey Project. There are currently over 137,000 surveys in the REEF database worldwide. The database is online and accessible to anyone.
Creature Book Auction Raises Money For REEF
By REEF Staff
Earlier this month, REEF auctioned five pre-release, signed and numbered copies of the Tropical Pacific edition of Reef Creature Identification by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. The authors donated to REEF the first five pre-release copies of this spectacular book, which is set to be released in mid-November. The long-awaited, 500-page reference detailing 1,600 animals with 2,000 photographs and descriptive text is not only the most comprehensive visual field guide to marine invertebrate life inhabiting the waters from Thailand to Tahiti, but also a pictorial tour de force skillfully bridging science and the aesthetic. Copies #1 - #5 were auctioned off through Missionfish in eBay. In total, $1,735 was raised in the auction. These funds will go directly to support REEF's critical marine conservation programs. We extend a heartfelt thank you to the five generous REEF members with the winning bids. Congratulations, and enjoy the book.
Putting It to Work: Who’s Using REEF Data, March 2011
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D., Director of Science
Every month, scientists, government agencies, and other groups request raw data from REEF’s Fish Survey Project database. Here is a sampling of who has asked for REEF data recently and what they are using it for:
- An educator and researcher from the University of Connecticut is using data as part of a field science class. His students will use the data to evaluate fish populations in advance of their field coursework.
- A postdoc from the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce is using data from Stetson Bank in the Gulf of Mexico (part of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary) to evaluate changes in the bank's fish populations.
Putting It To Work: REEF Advanced Assessment Team Member Co-Authors Publication on Barracuda
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D., Director of Science
REEF Advanced Assessment Team Member, Dave Grenda, recently co-authored a paper documenting behavioral observations of young Great Barracuda occurring on live bottom sub-tropical reefs primarily at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Georgia. For the past three years Dave assisted University of Connecticut researcher, Dr. Peter Auster, in studying behavioral interactions of piscivores and their prey. During REEF surveys on these cruises, Dave and the other researchers documented young-of-year (YOY) Great Barracuda (those individuals that had very recently settled to the reef, and were between 2-3 inches in length) hunting YOY Tomtate and Silverside that were taking refuge under ledges. Groups of YOY Barracuda would attack, capture, and consume the prey. Prey that escaped the Barracuda retreated to reef edges and were often consumed by bottom-dwelling adult piscivores such as Black Sea Bass, Bank Sea Bass, and Scamp Grouper. These findings indicate that given the strong functional role the young Barracuda have on driving species interactions, greater attention should be given to the roles played by the wider diversity of YOY piscivores recruiting to reef communities. The paper was recently published in the scientific journal Southeastern Naturalist. You can find a link to this and all published papers that have included REEF data on our Publications page.
Rogest Designs New REEF Flag T-Shirt
By REEF Staff
A great way to wear REEF! Famoust marine life artist, Rogest, took his famous dotty style to the REEF logo. The dotty REEF Flag is on the front and "Diving that Counts" is proudly displayed on the back. Available in two colors - Charcoal Gray and Indigo Blue. Head over to the REEF Store today and get yours. We have also added several new Pacific marine life ID books and new waterproof ID cards. Go check them out! www.REEF.org/store
REEF Announces New Board Members
By Martha Klitzkie, REEF General Manager
For more than 20 years, REEF has been conserving marine ecosystems through education, service, and research. It’s an exciting time for REEF as we work hard to extend the reach of our innovative marine conservation programs. One way REEF is doing this is by inviting diverse leaders to the Board of Trustees to help guide the foundation, including these three new members:
Peter A. Hughes is the Founder of the DivEncounters Alliance, a group of independent live-aboard dive operators. Peter is one of the diving world’s foremost live-aboard operators, having spent more than forty years in the dive industry and over the past 25 years, building his former live-aboard company, Peter Hughes Diving, Inc.
Alexander Alexiou, is a successful Broker for Island Real Estate based in Harbour Island, Bahamas. He has traveled extensively and brings unique insight into the culture and ecology of islands throughout the tropical western Atlantic.
Robert Ramin, formerly the Executive Director of the National Aquarium in Washington, DC, is now the Chief Executive Officer of the Washington Animal Rescue League. He has extensive fundraising and membership development experience and has been a leader at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Management Schools for the past 16 years.
Peter, Alex and Bob join REEF co-founders, Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach, Jim Dalle Pazze, Andy Dehart, Anna DeLoach, and Marty Snyderman on the REEF Board of Trustees. Welcome!
Please Help Us Reach Our Goal To Support REEF Interns
By Paul Humann, REEF Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board
Five days remain in our fundraising campaign to raise $10,000 for our REEF Marine Conservation Internship Program, and we are only halfway there! Help us reach our goal by donating today. Please consider supporting these enthusiastic young professionals as they gain critical career skills and provide REEF with invaluable program support. Although less known, the REEF Marine Conservation Internship Program is one of our most successful endeavors. Our interns are involved in many aspects in the day-to-day running of REEF, and many have gone on to work in academia, at government agencies, or for other ocean conservation non-profits. Your donation will help sponsor an intern, covering living expenses, mentoring and training, and diving opportunities during their four-month experience. To those who have donated already, thank you for making such a tremendous impact on the future of REEF’s interns and aspiring marine conservationists.
Home Grown REEF Clubs! FIN and Pacific Northwest Critter Watchers
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF Director of Science
We say it often - REEF is what it is because of our fantastic members. The grassroots nature of the organization is reflected in all aspects of our work, including the amazing volunteers like Audrey Smith who help with daily operating tasks at REEF HQ, the networks of regional REEF partners who enlist new REEF members and provide continuing education and survey opportunities for active surveyors, our members who generously support REEF with financial donations, and of course the thousands of survey volunteers who submit marine life surveys each year.
As the corps of active and experienced REEF surveyors has grown, we have been fortunate to have some of those members take their support and interest in REEF to the next level by forming local REEF groups. Two such REEF "clubs" are FIN (the Fish Identification Network) and the Pacific Northwest Critter Watchers. FIN is a REEF club based in Maui, and is touted as an opportunity to join friends and fellow fish lovers in exploring the coral reefs of Maui. The club is for all interested divers and snorklers, and promotes marine conservation and the objectives of REEF. FIN was founded by Terri and Mike Fausnaugh (Mike is also a member of the REEF Hawaii Advanced Assessment Team (AAT)) and is supported by the cadre of REEFers that REEF partner, Liz Foote of Project S.E.A.-Link, has generated in Hawaii through the years. There are monthly (sometimes weekly) FIN dives at various beaches on Maui and at every event FIN folks set up a REEF station on the beach with survey materials and identification reference guides in an attempt to lure in new afishianados! The PNW Critter Watchers encourages all divers in Washington and Oregon to become underwater naturalists. Through training and quarterly REEF survey dives, Critter Watcher founders and REEF Pacific AAT members, Janna Nichols and Wes Nicholson, aim to put the fun in critter watching and promote REEF surveying in the Pacific Northwest. Janna also maintains a Critter Watchers website that includes a fish of the month feature, an events listing, unusual sightings reported by fellow Critter Watchers, and congratulations to REEF surveyors who have advanced through the REEF experience level system.
These home-grown REEF clubs are a great way to help spread the fun and enjoyment of REEF surveying to a local dive community. We are grateful that we have such enthusiastic and supportive volunteers who are willing to help spread the REEF word. These on-the-ground activities could never be accomplished without your help!