Do you think REEF is doing great work? Please take a few minutes to tell others about your experience with REEF! Your personal story and feedback help us gain visibility and help us improve. Please share your experience through the GreatNonprofits.org website at: http://gr8np.org/go/yKD
Thanks to such great feedback by our members in 2014, REEF achieved "Top-Rated" status on the GreatNonprofits webpage. We need at least ten new reviews in 2015 to maintain this honored status. Please help us.
If you haven't participated in one of our free, educational webinars yet, you don't know what you are missing! Known as Fishinars, these hour-long sessions enable you to learn and have fun from the comfort of your living room. Check out the full schedule at www.REEF.org/fishinars. And keep an eye on that space because we are always adding new ones. Upcoming sessions include:
Every month, scientists, government agencies, and other groups request raw data from REEF’s Fish Survey Project database. Here is a sampling of who has asked for REEF data recently and what they are using it for:
- Scientists from NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center are using REEF data on juvenile (YOY, young-of-year) rockfishes to evaluate potential YOY habitat for development of a monitoring program in the Puget Sound.
REEF members are at the heart of our grassroots marine conservation programs. Over 50,000 divers, snorkelers, students, and armchair naturalists stand behind our mission.
This month we highlight Joyce Schulke, one of REEF's earliest members. She has been a REEF member since 1996. An active surveyor who lives in Florida, Joyce has conducted almost 900 surveys to date and has been a member of REEF's Advanced Assessment Team for the Tropcial Western Atlantic region since it's beginnings. Here's what she had to say about REEF:
At the end of this month, keep your eyes peeled for an announcement about REEF’s Month of Membership Madness! There are lots of exciting ways to get involved in April, in honor of Earth Day. So, be sure to check your inbox, and help us spread the word about the great work that REEF does to support ocean conservation, education, and research.
We are excited to announce the first of our 2016 REEF Trips -- a land and sea adventure in the Philippines. On this inagaural REEF trip to the Central Indo-Pacific, we will explore this diverse region by land and by see during two weeks of adventure -- by land, based at the Atlantis Resort in Dumaguete, April 9-16, 2016, and then by sea, aboard the Atlantis Azores Liveaboard, April 16-23, 2016.
Thank you to everyone who supported REEF during our annual fundraising campaign! With your help, we raised enough to continue our critical marine conservation programs in 2015. These programs make a huge IMPACT worldwide and protect iconic species, such as Goliath Grouper, Nassau Grouper, manta and mobula rays, parrotfish, and rockfish. REEF also protects ocean habitats through addressing invasive species like the Indo-pacific Red lionfish.
We are excited to introduce Ellie Splain, who recently joined REEF staff at headquarters in Key Largo, FL. Ellie will serve as REEF's Education Program Manager. Ellie is no stranger to REEF, as she was a REEF Marine Conservation Intern in the summer of 2013. From a small rural town in Illinois, Ellie attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in FIsh and Wildlife Conservation. Despite growing up landlocked, Ellie has always been drawn to the ocean (and the good weather of South Florida doesn't hurt!).
If you haven't participated in one of our free, educational webinars yet, you don't know what you are missing! Known as Fishinars, these hour-long sessions enable you to learn and have fun from the comfort of your living room. Check out the full schedule at www.REEF.org/fishinars.
A recent publication in the scientific journal, Conservation Letters, examined the invasion of lionfish in to the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters. The authors compared traditional reef fish monitoring efforts to less traditional data including the observations of divers through REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project and spearfishers. They found that citizen observations documented lionfish 1-2 years earlier and more frequently than the more traditional monitoring efforts.
