From the Science Desk

WASH Nearshore Symposium

REEF’s Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, was an invited speaker at the Temperate Reef Resources Symposium held at the University of Washington in early June. Christy spoke on the role that volunteers play in generating needed data for managing temperate reefs, and used examples from REEF experiences and projects in three west coast National Marine Sanctuaries, the Olympic Coast, Monterey Bay, and the Channel Islands. To date, over 10,000 REEF surveys have been conducted in coastal areas along the west coast of the US and Canada.

Channel Islands Shore to Sea Lecture Series

  In early July, Christy was the featured speaker for the monthly Channel Islands Shore to Sea Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Park. Christy spoke on REEF surveying inside and outside of the marine reserve network that was implemented around the Channel Islands in 2004. Much of these data are collected using REEF’s Pacific Advanced Assessment Team aboard the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary’s Research Vessel Shearwater.

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary fisheries impact workshop

Christy also presented information on the REEF Volunteer Survey Program at a recent priority issues workshop on fishing impacts for the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. The workshop was used to discuss the possibility of Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary implementing experimental no-take zones within the Sanctuary. Christy presented information about REEF's volunteers 14 year long monitoring of reef fish at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, and how this data can provide a valuable baseline to be able to measure the effects of any future no-take zones that might be implemented in the Sanctuary.