Every year, more than 10,000 dive professionals from around the world attend DEMA, the flagship event of its namesake, the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association. This year, DEMA will be held October 31-November 3 in Orlando, Florida. REEF is proud to host a booth and present three environmental seminars on how dive operators can promote "fish watching" and the REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project to recruit and retain their dive customers. Our audience includes dive shop owners, industry reps, instructors, underwater photographers, destination and travel companies, dive magazines and many other members of the international dive community who will convene to share best practices and learn about new products coming on the market.
Recognizing the important role of the dive community in marine conservation, an increasing number of environmental organizations will attend DEMA as well. Partners including The Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, and Project AWARE Foundation will also reach out to divers to enlist their support for important conservation issues. REEF will take this four-day opportunity to raise awareness about the Volunteer Fish Survey Project, recruit new Field Stations, connect with key partners and raise the profile of REEF programs as a way for the dive industry to give back to the underwater environment. We will also be launching a home-study DVD course for beginning fish watchers; stay tuned to REEF in Brief for more information.
REEF is looking for a few good volunteers to help at our DEMA booth this year. Since DEMA is only open to dive professionals, this is a great way to get in to see the show. If you can help out for a few hours each of the show, please contact REEF office manager Kim Sovia-Crandon to join the REEF DEMA 2007 team: Kim@reef.org or (305) 852-0030. For more information on DEMA Show 2007, please visit www.demashow.com .