Meet our July Fish of the Month, the Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicus)!
When a REEF volunteer surveyor submits 1,000 surveys, he or she becomes a member of the Golden Hamlet Club. We are very pleased to welcome Judith Cucco as the newest Golden Hamlet Club member! Every one of Judith's 1,000 REEF surveys were conducted while snorkeling in Hawaii, where she lives on O'ahu and is in the water almost every day. Judith has been a REEF member for over 10 years, and is an expert level 5 surveyor in the Hawaii (HAW) survey region.
Welcome to the Citizen Science Corner, a new feature highlighting those who recently reached a milestone in our Volunteer Fish Survey Project. Each quarter, we'll feature our surveyors' achievements from the past several months.
Experience Level Advancements
Dive into the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest with REEF in the SeaDoc Society's latest episode of Salish Sea Wild, The Natural History of the Fish Geek. The episode is a lighthearted take on SeaDoc's citizen science partnership with REEF to support the Volunteer Fish Survey Project.
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On World Oceans Day, we kicked our summer fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $70,000 by August 8! Will you support our citizen science, education, and research programs by donating today? All donations will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling your impact for the oceans! What's more, if you initiate a new monthly recurring donation this summer, your first three months of gifts will be doubled!
The REEF Campus in Key Largo, Florida, remains closed to the public and all in-person programming is suspended until further notice, but that hasn’t slowed down our Ocean Explorers Programs. Over the last several months, our Education and Outreach team has remained focused on REEF's mission to engage and inspire the public. We recently made the difficult decision to suspend Ocean Explorers Summer Camp for 2020, but we are currently working to produce single day Explorers Programs for local families. More details on these programs will be posted on our website later this summer.
In February, eighteen REEF members traveled to Fiji on a REEF Field Survey Trip. The survey results from this trip were recently processed into REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project database which contains more than 250,000 total surveys. During the Fiji Field Survey Trip, the group conducted 210 surveys at 29 sites and recorded 617 different species.
This summer, REEF members are invited to participate in our 2020 underwater photography contest! Categories include fish portrait, macro, invertebrates, REEF-themed, and reefscape/habitat. Members may submit up to three photos in each category.
This month, REEF is proud to highlight one of our outstanding Conservation Partners: Eugene Skin Divers Supply located in Eugene, Oregon. REEF Conservation Partners are active organizations and dive shops dedicated to protecting marine environments. As valued REEF ambassadors, they teach fish ID classes, host survey dives, organize volunteer events and more.