Every REEF survey tells part of the story of our ocean, and together, more than three decades of volunteer observations have created an extraordinary record of marine biodiversity. Just as important as collecting those data is making sure they remain accurate, accessible, and useful well into the future. REEF Co-Executive Director Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens recently attended the TDWG 2026 conference in Oslo, Norway, where biodiversity experts from around the world gathered to share the latest approaches to data standards, database design, conservation applications, and tools for data discovery, integration, and curation.
For REEF, staying at the forefront of best practices in database integrity and biodiversity informatics is part of safeguarding the tremendous effort contributed by thousands of Volunteer Fish Survey Project participants over the past 30+ years. As the world’s largest ocean citizen science program, REEF has a responsibility to ensure this growing body of information is carefully maintained, easy to discover, and able to work alongside other ocean datasets. By strengthening how our data are structured, preserved, and connected, we are helping ensure that every survey completed today, and every survey contributed over the decades, can continue to support research, reveal changes in marine ecosystems, and advance ocean conservation for generations to come.