Welcome to 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 or September 2022:
Juvenile Hamlet Award
The Juvenile Hamlet Award is for individuals who have conducted 500+ REEF surveys. You can read more here. Congratulations to our latest Juvenile Hamlet Club members:
KEY LARGO, FLA. – Last week, 18 teams of scuba divers took to the water and collected 919 invasive lionfish during the 2022 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Teams fished from sunrise to sunset on Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 10. The event concluded on Sunday, Sept. 11 at Postcard Inn Resort & Marina in Islamorada, with an outdoor festival featuring lionfish tastings, cooking and dissection demos, games, interactive booths, and live music.
Long-term data are key to understanding how species, communities, and habitats change over time. Citizen science programs can support data collection at greater spatial and temporal scales than other types of scientifically collected data which tend to be project-specific and are often tied to short funding periods. This is particularly true for environments that are difficult to sample such as subtidal ecosystems. Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) citizen science SCUBA surveyors have been collecting fish, invertebrate, and algae data in British Columbia since 1998.
Calling all divers looking to escape from winter: there are still a few spaces available on the REEF Field Survey Trip to Belize on January 21-28, 2023. This is a great opportunity to dive the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest reef system in the world! Enjoy calm seas and warm, clear water on this weeklong liveaboard trip to document the fish species we find in Belize. We'll hunt for endemics like the Social Wrasse and the White-lined Toadfish, while encountering reef sharks, turtles, and more!
If you have been following along the conservation success of the REEF Grouper Moon Project, you know that our team has made great strides for the preservation of Nassau Grouper populations in the Cayman Islands over the last 20 years. Did you know that this project goes beyond conducting research on the iconic Nassau Grouper? The spawning site on Little Cayman, where much of our Grouper Moon work happens, is an important location for more than 20 other species of fish.
We're wrapping up a busy and rewarding summer season for the REEF Ocean Explorers Education Program! We hosted virtual, in person, and field-based programs for ocean lovers of all ages. Through the REEF Oceans for All initiative, we aim to foster opportunities for everyone to build connections with the ocean, regardless of zip code. Oceans for All supports scholarships, programming, and outreach activities to provide immersive, hands-on learning and exploration. Click here for more information about Oceans for All.
It's finally here: our biggest REEF Lionfish Derby of the year, the Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, is taking place this weekend! This is our 13th annual REEF Lionfish Derby hosted in the Florida Keys. Participants will take to the to hunt lionfish from sunrise to sunset this Friday and Saturday. Eighteen teams are competing in this year's derby, and we can't wait to see how many invasive lionfish they collect! The derby weekend will conclude on Sunday with a lionfish festival at the picturesque Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina in Islamorada, Florida.
REEF Fest 2022 is coming up on October 13-16, and we hope you'll come celebrate with us in Key Largo! Explore the coral reefs and mangroves of the Florida Keys and learn about ocean life on a dive, snorkel, or kayak trip at REEF Fest.
Last year, REEF launched a new monitoring project called the Species Snapshot. The goal of this project is to monitor Florida's coastline by gathering baseline data on under-surveyed areas and alternative habitats.
