REEF is proud to partner with over 130 dive shops, dive clubs, individuals, and other organizations as REEF Field Stations.

This month we feature Reef Watch Waikiki in Hawaii, which has been a Field Station for about a year. Reef Watch Waikiki is a project of the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and their mission is to inspire and facilitate community stewardship of the famed Waikiki coastline. They coordinate a suite of ocean education and marine monitoring programs, which began in February 2009 with "Beach Watch", a human-use monitoring program, followed by "Fish Watch" in February 2010. Fish Watch trains community volunteers and visitors in the REEF method and encourages participants to conduct surveys in the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District. This unique site is a small, no-take marine protected area located along a largely "engineered" shoreline that is heavily utilized by both visitors and residents. Reef Watch Waikiki has really embraced the REEF program and we are thrilled to have this active partner on Oahu, an island that previously had very few REEF surveys. Coordinator, Jennifer Barret, says that her favorite things about the REEF program are "to see people's excitement and enthusiasm when they participate in their first survey and see FISH, yes, even in Waikiki!, as well as the easy access online to the database."

In the past year, since becoming a REEF Field Station, the folks at Reef Watch Waikiki have offered 17 REEF classes and have coordinated 15 snorkel surveys (because of UH requirements for SCUBA, they stick to snorkeling)! Thanks to grant funding that they secured, Reef Watch Waikiki provides REEF starter kits and a supply of underwater survey paper to most of their volunteers. For participants who happen to have a favorite snorkel spot outside of Waikiki, they take advantage of the opportunity for a 'field trip' to help out with obtaining GPS coordinates for new surveys sites. They also connect their volunteers with monthly dives planned by another local REEF Field Station, FIN Oahu. In order to share sightings and post information about their monitoring efforts, they recently started a blog, which has been a great way to keep the community informed of their activities and to experiment with online resources like quizzes and (coming-soon) self-paced training modules.

A big fish thanks to Reef Watch Waikiki - keep up the great work!