REEF Fest returns to Key Largo, Florida, October 15–18, 2026, for four days of seminars, diving, socials, and celebration. Registration is open now, and here is what you will not want to miss.
Meet our October Fish of the Month, the Blue Hamlet, Hypoplectrus gemma — a shimmering, all-blue jewel of the reef and one of the Florida Keys’ true local specialties. Found almost nowhere else on Earth, it is a fitting star for October, when REEF Fest brings our community together in Key Largo.
All are invited to join us online on Thursday, November 19, at 8pm ET for a special webinar, Oceans for All: Exploring Diverse Experiences in Marine Conservation. When diverse experiences are brought together and amplified, they become a movement and a force for change. Join the conversation and be part of this movement as we share and learn together about the importance of listening, understanding, and amplifying the voices and experiences of equity-deserving groups in marine conservation.
Welcome to the Citizen Science Corner, our quarterly feature to celebrate those who recently reached a milestone in our Volunteer Fish Survey Project. Here are achievements from July, August and September 2026.
Ultra Golden Hamlet Award
The Ultra Golden Hamlet Award is for individuals who have conducted at least 2000 surveys. Congratulations to our newest achiever! Click here to see other Ultra Golden Hamlet Award achievers.
REEF Involvement and Surveying
When and how did you first volunteer with REEF or become a REEF member? How did you first hear about REEF?
My first REEF experience was a lionfish trip to Curaçao. There was one fish surveyor on the trip, who showed me the survey sheets and some DB reports on his laptop, which I immediately found interesting. I went on a survey trip to Grenada the next year, and I was pretty much hooked by the end of the trip.
Jay Funaro, a Marine Education & Conservation Intern at REEF this summer, was drawn to REEF by the chance to work for a nonprofit while gaining experience in the varied marine ecosystems of the Florida Keys, where coral reefs meet seagrass beds, mangroves, and even the flowing grasses of the Everglades. Jay graduated from California State University, Monterey Bay, with a B.S. in marine science, became certified as an American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) scientific diver, and took part in multiple monitoring projects while cultivating a passion for public engagement.
Bring REEF's mission into your classroom with Virtual Discovery Programs! Designed for students of all ages, these one- to two-hour Zoom programs combine an engaging live lesson with hands-on activities and show students that anyone, anywhere, can be a citizen scientist.
Featured programs include:
REEF's Field Survey Trip to Bonaire in July had two special guests: Educator in the Field Fellows Erin Schmidt and Mikayla Neff. REEF Educator in the Field Fellows are dedicated educators who applied to receive a fully funded participant spot on the trip. They spent their week diving, learning fish identification, building relationships with other REEF members, and gathering ideas on how to bring REEF's citizen science programs back to their classrooms.