REEF recently completed a Field Survey trip to Roatan, Honduras, led by REEF co-founder, Paul Humann. Over six days, the group completed 17 survey dives including one night dive. Both novice and highly experienced REEF surveyors enjoyed the near perfect weather and dive conditions. Shortfin pipehorses, wrasse blennies, linesnout gobies, peppermint basslets, orangesided gobies, dash gobies, and blue dartfish are a sample of the cryptic fishes that were observed. Spotted Eagle Rays and Southern Stingrays graced us with their presence on a number of dives.
As the lionfish invasion progresses throughout the Western Atlantic region, marine resource managers are struggling with lionfish control in protected areas. In the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Sanctuary managers have come up with a special permit process to allow removal of lionfish within the Sanctuary Preservation Areas (no-take zones). A critical part of the permit process is participation in a training and handling workshop conducted by REEF. To date, over 15 workshops have been held in the Keys and over 230 on the water professionals have been trained and permitted.
Greetings REEF Friends!
This month marks the Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC), REEF's annual event that celebrates our fish survey program. In this issue of REEF-in-Brief we highlight a few of the many GAFC events that were held by our partners throughout the month of July. New REEF staff, Alecia Adamson just returned from the Field Survey to Roatan and her report is below. We are also proud to announce that REEF has facilitated the donation of lionfish collection kits to 27 dive operators in the Florida Keys.
In April 2009, REEF started a monthly seminar series to give back to the community that has housed and supported REEF since our inception. REEF Fish & Friends gathers snorkelers, divers, and armchair naturalists at REEF HQ in Key Largo to learn more about fish and have some fun. The July seminar for REEF, Fish & Friends was all about the Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC).
Thirty miles offshore, in 100 feet of water, the Spike isn’t the most accessible dive site off North Florida’s coast but July 17th marked the first anniversary of the former Coast Guard tender’s deployment as an artificial reef so we were eager to see what had changed over the past year. The Spike had only been down 10 days when we surveyed it during last year’s Great Annual Fish Count.
Members of REEF's Pacific Advanced Assessment Team (AAT) and other active surveyors gathered in central California earlier this month to survey fish and invertebrate life in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). Twenty-two divers conducted over 140 REEF surveys at twelve sites during the week-long project. This was the 8th year that the coordinated expedition has been conducted, and the data collected serve as a valuable time-series of information on the status and trends of populations within the Sanctuary.
Happy Summer, REEF Friends. We are excited to bring you this month's issue of REEF-in-Brief. As we approach the half-way mark of our Summer Funraising Campaign, we are about 1/3 of the way towards our goal of raising $60,000. Thanks to all who have already contributed. If you haven't yet donated, please consider doing so today. Because of a generous offer from the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, your contribution (and your impact) with be doubled! Funds raised during this campaign will ensure that REEF is able to continue our valuable marine conservation programs.
REEF Staff and Board members are proud to announce the release of our 2009 Annual Report. To view a PDF of the report online, click here. In this report, you will find updates on our membership, the Volunteer Fish Survey Project, regional activities, special projects (e.g. invasive lionfish and Grouper Moon), data use and publications, our upcoming plans, and finances. We are truly grateful for all your support that made 2009 such a success!
Earlier this month, on World Oceans Day, we kicked off REEF's Summer Fundraising Campaign with a goal of raising $60,000 by July 31. Thanks to the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, who has generously offered to match your donations, we are over one-third of the way to our goal with $10,345 donated and matched so far. To all of our members who have already donated, we extend our sincere gratitude. If you haven't yet had a chance, please contribute today.
One of nature’s most spectacular underwater wonders is the annual coral spawning, when many of the reef’s corals and other animals, cued by late summer’s full moon, synchronize their spawning. In 2010, several of our summer REEF Trips, one to Key Largo and one to Bonaire, are scheduled around the projected coral spawning for those areas. Join like-minded underwater naturalists and combine fishwatching with a chance to see this exciting event. To see the current REEF Field Survey Trips schedule, visit www.REEF.org/trips.