REEF is proud to highlight one of our outstanding Conservation Partners: Scuba St. Lucia at Anse Chastanet Resort. REEF Conservation Partners are active organizations and dive shops committed to protecting marine environments worldwide. As valued REEF ambassadors, they serve as centers for marine conservation actions, outreach, and education. You can view the full listing of Conservation Partners or register your organization as a REEF Conservation Partner here.
New findings from the Grouper Moon Project reveal how technology can advance our understanding of changes in fish spawning aggregations due to conservation actions. The paper, published this year in ICES Journal of Marine Science, presents size data collected over a 17-year period at the Nassau Grouper spawning aggregation on Little Cayman. Fish usually need to be caught to be measured, but scientists from the Grouper Moon Project have used video camera systems to collect an impressive dataset on Nassau Grouper lengths.
We are pleased to announce Rhoda Green as our 2020 REEF Volunteer of the Year. Rhoda lives in the Seattle area, and has been a REEF member since 2000. She is one of REEF's most active surveyors, having completed 1,210 surveys for the Volunteer Fish Survey Project.
Of those surveys, the majority have been done in the Pacific Northwest, mainly in Washington State. She has also done some surveys in Hawaii. Rhoda was also the first to conduct REEF surveys in the Seychelles, part of our Indian Ocean/Red Sea (IORS) region.
Instead of flowers and chocolate on Valentine's Day, why not give your loved one a Whale Shark instead? REEF Conservation Creatures allow gift givers to symbolically adopt an ocean animal in honor of a special person in their life. Conservation Creatures are iconic species that highlight the diversity of ocean ecosystems and encourage understanding and respect for marine life. There are plenty of animals to choose from, including Sea Otters, Flame Angelfish, Manatees, and more.
Since last week, our partners at the Cayman Islands Department of Environment have been busy in the field, conducting multiple dives each day on the Nassau Grouper spawning site on the west end of Little Cayman. Since 2002, this site has been the focus of our collaborative conservation effort, the Grouper Moon Project. The team has been performing visual assessments, collecting size estimates through stereo-video, and capturing images of individual fishes for our "Fish Faces" project, which uses artificial intelligence to measure population size.
REEF’s in-person events are on hold until further notice, but you can still join us for marine conservation fun from home.
Fishy Hour – Fish Face-to-Face
Wednesday, February 17 at 8PM EST via Zoom
Enjoy a casual, fun, face-to-face chat time with your fellow REEF fish geeks. Webcams encouraged. We'll each get a chance to say hello, and see each other's smiling faces.
Register here.
Daydreaming of your next dive trip? The following 2021 REEF Trips have space available: June 6-16: Palau, June 19-26: San Salvador, The Bahamas, July 3-10: St.
Introducing our February 2021 Fish of the Month, the Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus), also known as Gill from Finding Nemo.
We are excited to announce our new Ocean Explorers Virtual Field Trips Program! These interactive field trip simulations bring marine science to life with engaging lesson plans and activities to connect students to the ocean, without leaving the classroom.
Through REEF's Virtual Field Trips students explore what life is like as a marine scientist. They’ll perform exploration tasks, create research trials, and complete field journals as they become citizen scientists.
REEF members are the heart of our grassroots marine conservation programs. A diverse community of divers, snorkelers, and ocean enthusiasts support our mission to conserve marine environments worldwide.