Winter months always bring news of one of REEF's key conservation science effots - the Grouper Moon Project, a multi-decade conservation success story protecting one of the Caribbean’s most extraordinary natural events: the largest known spawning aggregation of the endangered Nassau Grouper. We are excited to share a new short video that tells this story. Check it out on REEF's YouTube channel "We Speak Fish".
Each winter around the full moon, nearly 10,000 of these normally solitary fish converge at a single site off Little Cayman to reproduce. For more than two decades, scientists from REEF, the Cayman Islands Department of Environment, and partner institutions, have had a rare, once-a-year window to study this phenomenon. Today, the team deploys cutting-edge tools such as acoustic tagging and artificial intelligence for fish ID, research that has directly informed forward-thinking conservation measures — including seasonal closures — helping secure the future of this iconic species.
The project is led by Reef Environmental Education Foundation, Cayman Islands Department of Environment, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, The Semmens Lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences , and with vital logistical support from local partners including Little Cayman Beach Resort, Reef Divers, Peter Hillenbrand, and Southern Cross Club .