Putting It to Work: Who’s Using REEF Data, December 2010
By Christy Pattengill-Semmens, 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:
- A researcher from Florida State University requested data from sites along the west coast of Florida to evaluate how fish species richness is influenced by the presence of certain grouper species.
- A scientist from the Smithsonian Institute is mapping the distribution and co-occurance of garden eel species in the western Atlantic.
- A researcher from NOAA Fisheries is looking at the species distribution of Gray Snapper.
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.
The Faces of REEF: Member Spotlight, Keith Rootsaert
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 feature Keith Rootsaert (REEF member since 2009). Keith is a member of REEF's Advanced Assessment Team in the Pacific Coast region and has conducted 138 surveys. He has become one of the Pacific region's most active surveyors, and during our interview, revealed that he is gunning to be the top surveyor someday! Keith has also started teaching marine life ID and is an instructor for our newest training tool, the Fishinars! Here's what Keith had to say about REEF:
When and how did you first volunteer with REEF or become a REEF member? I first found out about REEF at a 2009 Great Annual Fish Count event sponsored by the Dive Club of Silicon Valley at Lover’s Cove. This was my first and second surveys and when I first met Alex Matsumoto and John Wolfe. Over the years I dove with them many times and expanded my knowledge and interest in REEF. Now I am a level five Expert and I teach Fish and Invert ID seminars at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Alex.
If you have been on a REEF Field Survey, where and what was your trip highlight? I have attended the West Coast REEF Advanced Assessment team survey of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary the last two years and it is always fun to do surveys with fellow fish geeks. Even though it is just for fun, there is always an element of competition among these adventure seeking divers. At the onset of the trip we all pick a number for the total number of fish species we will survey. My first year on the team I was closest at 55 species and won a postal fish stamp sheet which I have on the wall in my study.
What inspires you to complete REEF surveys? I first started diving in Monterey Bay in 1984 and there were a lot more fish back then. Over the years I have noticed a gradual decline until now there are not as many and not as big fish as before. REEF helps me to share my actual observations in my dive log with scientists that can crunch that data and make informed decisions about conservation. For me, knowing what I am looking at makes all the difference in the world, it makes diving interesting and sharing my surveys and teaching others to properly survey and identify fish helps me to feel like I am giving back to community.
What is your favorite part about being a REEF member? I have resigned myself to being a competitive fish geek so after coming in second place in the number of surveys in California in 2010 I set out to do the most surveys in California in 2011. About November my number was looking good for California in 2011. So then I had to ask Janna Nichols about my chances of being “Best in the West”. The PNW divers have a solid base of divers and there was just no way to catch them. California has so many more divers but less than half the total number of surveys done in the PNW. My future goal is to help grow the California survey group and become Best in the West. Look out Randal T. - you’re going down!
What is the most fascinating fish encounter you’ve experienced? My most fascinating fish encounter just happened recently. In mid-December, we were diving at the Metridium Fields like I’ve done 50 times before and my buddy was staring over my shoulder. I looked to my left and two feet away was the eye of a four foot Ocean Sun Fish (mola mola). I tried to approach it but it backed away but then it followed us and at times led us back on a reciprocal course. It was just magical to watch this huge fish swim/row above the bright white plumose anemones.
Upcoming Webinars
By Janna Nichols, REEF Outreach Coordinator
New Fishinars have been added! Check out the Webinar Training page (www.REEF.org/resources/webinars). These popular online training sessions provide fishie fun in the comfort of your own home. Fishinars are free, and open to all REEF members. You need to register for each session you want to attend. No special software is required, just a web browser. Upcoming sessions include:
Sculpins Under Scrutiny - Sculpins have been called some pretty bad names through the years, because it's so difficult to tell them apart. Well, it's time to master the art of identifying the little buggers and Sculpin Master Guru, Dr. Greg Jensen, will be the one to help you along your journey to loving sculpins. Greg will cover some of the lesser-known and lookalike sculpins. Thursday, July 19th at 7pm PDT. REGISTER
The Blennywatcher!- Oooh, this is gonna be a good one! Videographer and blenny expert Anna DeLoach will walk us through some of her favorite Blennies and how to tell them apart. Tuesday, July 31st at 8pm EDT. REGISTER
Holy Moly Gobies - Learn tips from REEF Expert and fish geek, Jonathan Lavan, on how to ID the top 12 gobies in the Caribbean. Essential for dive travelers heading to Cozumel, Bonaire, and any other Caribbean destination. This short, fun fishinar won't make your brain explode with fish overload - just the right amount of info! Thursday, September 6th at 8pm EDT. REGISTER
REEF on Facebook - Check Us Out!
By REEF Staff
Want to get the latest news and updates from REEF? Then be sure to check our the REEF Facebook Page. You don't have to be on Facebook to view the page, anyone can look at the content. If you do have a Facebook profile, be sure to "like" us so that all of the latest information about REEF's programs and events, our marine conservation work, and exclusive content and stories will go straight to your feed. It's also a great place for our members to post pictures, fish stories, and whatever is on their mind. We also maintain the REEF Invasive lionfish Program Facebook Page to keep you up-to-date on our current lionfish programs.
REEF Sustainers Weekend: A Gathering of Friends in the Florida Keys
By Leda A. Cunningham, Executive Director
On Saturday, July 14th, seventy members of the REEF Sustainers Club (annual donors of $1,000 or more), key partners and long-time REEF friends convened in Key Largo, Florida to celebrate fourteen years of REEF accomplishments over some diving and a sunset dinner. Paul Humann, Ned DeLoach and other Board, staff and Advisory Panel members were on hand to lead guests on some spectacular morning REEF survey dives while Amy Slate and her stand-up staff at the Amoray Dive Resort generously hosted the lodging and dinner party. “The event was just beautiful.” Said long-time REEF surveyor Elaine Morden, of Homestead, Florida. “It was great to connect with old REEF friends and see some new faces.”
The bi-annual Sustainers Event is a chance for REEF to bring together important members of the REEF family to thank them for their contributions and share successes of the organization over the years. This year, REEF was proud to recognize Linda Schillinger for achieving one of the highest REEF honors: admission into the Golden Hamlet club for those who have conducted 1,000 or more REEF surveys. We were also proud to recognize Key Largo resident and REEF office volunteer Audrey Smith for nearly ten years of regular service to the organization by quality-checking survey scanforms before they are uploaded to the REEF database. REEF was itself bestowed with an honor by Sanctuary Friends of the Florida Keys Director Glenn Patton: SFFFK generously gave a gift of support for the Great Annual Fish Count this year to help underwrite the costs of public outreach and education events.
By virtue of a Paul presentation and applause vote, the group answered the perennial question “What is the most beautiful fish in the Caribbean?” Out of thirty possibilities ranging from the spotfin hogfish to the fairy basslet, the spotted eagle ray won a narrow victory over close rivals the queen angelfish and queen triggerfish. Ned enthralled the group with fish behavior anecdotes from as far afield as Indonesia and gave updates on valuable REEF programs ranging from the Grouper Moon Project to the Exotics Species Sightings Project.
All agreed that the only thing hotter than the event itself was the Florida sun in July. With the heat index topping 100 degrees, no one needed a better excuse to indulge in a new REEF-inspired cocktail, the Indigo Hamlet, a unique and diversified alcoholic concoction for our wonderful sustainers to imbibe in while enjoying the sunset! Many thanks to all who made this a Sustainers Weekend to remember. See you at the next one . . .
For information about joining the Sustainers Club, please contact Leda Cunningham: Leda@reef.org or (305) 852-0030.
Intern Dives into Science and Bahamian Waters
By Catherine Whitaker, Fall Intern 2007
REEF once again participated in the Perigee Environmental's yearly evaluation of the coral ecosystems along the eastern coast of Andros, Bahamas in cooperation with the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). Using the newest Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) surveying protocol, scientists gathered coral, benthic and fish data during the first 2 weeks of October. The data gathered will complement the existing 30 year data that demonstrates AUTEC's continuing efforts to preserve coral reefs around their facilities and military training ranges. Judy Lang, coral ecology expert, and Chris Moses, University of Southern Florida graduate student, were in charge of gathering the coral data. Brooke Gintert was conducting her Ph.D. work for the University of Miami and assisting with the benthic data collection. One of the REEF founders, Ken Marks and REEF intern Catherine Whitaker were responsible for the fish counting.
AUTEC has been actively monitoring and protecting the coral reef near shore environment since the establishment of the facilities in the 1960s. For the last six years, AUTEC has used the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment surveying protocol, which is a method that compares the complex relationship among corals, fish and algae and provides a quantitative scale on the health of a reef's ecosystem by comparing the survey results in terms of a regional comparison. In this case, it is also being used to track temporal changes to 35 reef sites around central Andros. Point-count data and general coral data were collected to estimate coral condition and algal cover. Fish variety, abundance, and size was estimated by transects and the rover diver method.
For more information concerning this trip or AGRRA please contact Patricia Kramer of Perigee Environmental (p_kramer@bellsouth.net).
Top ten things I learned from my AGRRA trip:
10. Exhaustion is a state of mind and is not cured by more work, less sleep and diving. Food (especially Pringles and chocolate) helps though.
9. Golf carts should be used more often in the US.
8. Dinner waits for no man, so floor the pedal on that golf cart and RUN!
7. The floating pier at site 1 is cursed and sets off the rain whenever any member of the AGRRA trip steps on it to load or unload anything from the boat.
6. Snakes do not belong on planes, I mean, in camera cases but seem to like it there.
5. Crashing mountainous waves and cement-like waters are not conducive to good science or a pleasant dive.
4. Post-trip pep talks should always include sweets and beverages.
3. Rick makes the barren rock that is Site 4 look and feel like Club Med. Thanks Rick.
2. Things to do on your only day off (because of 30 knot winds and 6ft waves) include but are not limited to swimming against a raging outgoing tide at a blue hole, resting by snorkeling for 2 hours in an inland blue hole, spearing lionfish, dissecting said lionfish and having a horseshoe tournament.
1. Making new friends, doing science and experiencing a sense of accomplishment for conservation efforts... priceless.
My warmest wishes go out to our AUTEC liaisons, Tom Szlyk and Marc Ciminello for their invaluable assistance. I would also like to thank everyone who put in extra effort so that I could participate in this fantastic trip as well as anyone who taught me anything while I was on it. Thank you very much.
REEF Data Used To Evaluate Effect of Marine Reserves in the Channel Islands
By Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF Director of Science
REEF Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, joined a dozen other scientists in presenting the findings of monitoring the marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Channel Islands, California, earlier this month during a special session of the California Islands Symposium. The presentation highlighted the effect of reserves on common nearshore rocky reef fishes based on 10 years of REEF survey data. During this time, REEF volunteer divers have collected 1,595 visual fish surveys from 113 sites throughout the Channel Islands before and after state marine reserves were established in 2002. Using analysis methods developed to analyze volunteer bird watching data, collaborators Dr. Brice Semmens (NOAA NMFS) and Dr. Steve Katz (Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary) developed a model to detect trends in fish densities. The analysis included 25 species of common rocky reef fishes, including targeted and non-targeted species. Rather than focusing on changes in the density of individual species, the analysis evaluated changes in multiple species to characterize responses of marine communities to protection from fishing in reserves. The analysis suggests that reserves are positively influencing fish population trajectories in both targeted and non-targeted species. On average, fish populations had ~20% higher growth rates inside reserves as compared to outside, although there was a high degree of variability across species. Dr. Pattengill-Semmens notes that this study is one of the first applications of Pacific region REEF data for use by marine resource agency officials to evaluate the effects of management actions. The results will ultimately be published and will join the many existing published studies of the utility of Tropical Western Atlantic REEF data. The cumulative impact of the data and results from the entire suite of monitoring programs being conducted around the Channel Islands will "help to inform future management of the region, aid in the implementation of the California Marine Life Protection Act in southern California, and contribute to our understanding of MPAs worldwide," said John Ugoretz, manager of the Marine Habitat Conservation Program for the California Department of Fish and Game. To find out more about REEF monitoring activities in the Channel Islands, visit the Channel Islands project webpage.
Lisa Mitchell Takes the Helm of REEF
By Heather George, REEF Board of Trustees
June will mark a change at the helm for REEF. We would like to wish Leda Cunningham well in her future endeavors, and welcome Lisa Mitchell as our new Executive Director. Lisa is eager to bring her extensive experience in the dive industry to REEF, as well as her natural passion for ocean conservation.
Lisa’s involvement with REEF almost goes back to the organization’s inception when, in 1993, she was owner/manager of Baskin in the Sun in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. After participating in a REEF Field Survey she immediately went to work involving BVI dive operators in the new program. In fact, because of her enthusiasm, Tortola became the first destination where 100% of the island’s dive businesses became REEF Field Stations. The REEF staff and Board were so impressed that she was asked to bring her organizational expertise and energies to the Board of Trustees in 1995 where she served until leaving Tortola in 1998 to pursue an Executive MBA at the University of Central Florida.
Lisa is a diver’s diver whose life has evolved around the underwater world. She earned her first scuba certification at age 12 while attending Sea Camp in Big Pine Key, Florida where she later became Assistant Scuba Director. During the following years, while gaining experience working at dive resorts in the Florida Keys and with Peter Hughes in Bonaire, she became a Master Dive Instructor and ultimately an SSI Instructor Certifier, and holds a USCG 100 Ton Master’s License. In the process Lisa has made well over 8,000 dives. To honor her many accomplishments Lisa was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2001.
Most recently Lisa has worked as a marketing and business analysis consultant within the dive industry with clients such as Scuba Schools International (SSI), Expedition Fleet Liveaboards, and Dive Dominica.
It goes without saying the REEF staff and Board are delighted to have Lisa back in the fold, and look forward to many prosperous years with such a capable and energetic Captain at the helm.
REEF members and Lisa’s many friends are invited to join us for a “Welcome Back to REEF and the Keys” evening to be held in her honor at 7 PM June 21st, 2008 at the Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo.
REEF and Lionfish Do the DEMA Show
By Lad Akins, REEF Director of Special Projects
Earlier this month, the Dive Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) held its once a year industry-wide, international trade show in Las Vegas. As part of the show, which attracts over 10,000 industry professionals and businesses, DEMA recognized the importance of the recent lionfish invasion into the Atlantic and asked REEF to present four show-sponsored talks for attendees and members.
DEMA organizers also provided premium space at the show for an aquarium display and informational exhibit on the issue. REEF responded by providing an all-star cast of speakers and experts including Lad Akins (REEF), Andy Dehart (National Aquarium in DC), Chris Flook (Bermuda Aquarium) and Stephanie Green (Simon Fraser University). The talks were very well attended and the response from industry leaders was extremely positive. Marine Life artist, Ron Steven - better known as Rogest, was also on hand to sign special edition lionfish prints that he donated in support of REEF's efforts. During one seminar, Ron stood up to say that he never thought he would be encouraging divers to remove fish from the environment he works so hard to protect, but based on what we are seeing we should get rid of all lionfish (in the Atlantic). Similar sentiments were expressed by all who attended the talks. In addition to the talks, the 250 gallon aquarium set-up donated by ATM Aquariums in Las Vegas was a big hit. Ten lionfish were on display and provided excellent opportunities for in-depth discussions at the booth.
Next steps for work within the dive industry as outlined at the DEMA show are to work with inland dive operators to organize educational and data gathering lionfish projects and to work with island governments and on-island dive operators to conduct week-long workshops including education/outreach, monitoring, collecting/handling techniques and market development themes.
REEF will be leading its next week long in-country workshop in the Turks and Caicos in November and the next diver oriented project with Dive Provo January 17-24. For more information on how to organize a REEF-led lionfish project or to host a REEF workshop, please contact Lad Akins, Director of Special Projects, Lad@reef.org, (305) 852-0030. To sign up for the Turks and Caicos project with Dive Provo call our REEF travel specialist at 877-295-REEF. To find out more about REEF's efforts on lionfish, visit the REEF Lionfish Research page.