Members of the Jacksonville Reef Research Team conducted REEF surveys on a newly deployed artificial reef off the northeast coast of Florida. The surveys coincided with REEF's Great Annual Fish Count.
Pacific Northwest diver and REEF surveyor, Nick Brown, recently discovered the invasive tunicate, Ciona savignyi, during a dive in the San Juan Islands in Washington. This was the first record of the unwanted species in the San Juans. Nick learned about the invasive tunicate, and two other species that are monitored by REEF surveyors in the Pacific Northwest, during a recent REEF training seminar taught by Janna Nichols. Volunteer divers are serving an important role in the early detection and removal of invasive tunicates in the Pacific Northwest.
As part of a current REEF training project in the Pacific Northwest that is funded by The Russell Family Foundation, regional REEF instructor, Janna Nichols, has organized free training sessions around the region in order to enlist new divers into the Volunteer Survey Project. The TRFF project also includes funding for periodic boat dives that are open to active REEF surveyors in order to provide opportunities and incentive for existing REEF surveyors to stay involved and increase their surveyor skill level.
REEF Executive Director, Leda Cunningham, is featured in the latest edition of Sanctuary Watch, the quarterly publication of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. Read about how REEF volunteers actively contribute to preserving the natural heritage of these national treasures.
NORFOLK, Va. -- A decommissioned Air Force ship, that once tracked Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space launches off Florida, is being prepared in a Virginia shipyard to become a new habitat for marine life and an attraction for recreational divers in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Read more.....
NORFOLK , Va. — A decommissioned Air Force ship is being prepared at a Virginia shipyard to become a new habitat for marine life and an attraction for recreational divers in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Read More.....
Elisabeth Eaves, Slate.com writer, provides a first-hand account of her experiences during the 2007 REEF Field Survey to St. Vincent and the value of “Voluntourism”.
REEF updates including a project in The Bahamas, the Volunteer Fish Survey Project's expansion to the TEP, and addition of inverts to the PNW region.