Greetings REEF Friends,

Summer is now in full swing! Thank you to everyone who donated during our Summer Fundraising Campaign last month. While we didn't quite make our goal of raising $30k in 30 days, we came close. The offer by our Board of Trustees to match incoming donations is still open so it's not too late to double your impact to help support REEF’s critical marine conservation work. Donate Today through our secure online donation form.

Happy New Year! We hope that all of our members had a joyous holiday season. In this first edition of REEF-in-Brief 2009 we bring you news that everyone knew was just a matter of time -- the invasive Indo-Pacific Lionfish has been confirmed in the Florida Keys. Thanks to her experience as a REEF fishwatcher and the numerous outreach stories that REEF has issued to our members, REEF surveyor Becky Fowler knew just what she was looking at last week while diving during her vacation off Key Largo, Florida.

Greetings REEF Members. This issue of REEF-in-Brief brings you updates on several of REEF's programs as well as announcements of upcoming events. Earlier this month, we launched a new lecture series, REEF Fish and Friends. These informative presentations will be held the second Tuesday of every month in the Florida Keys. Our invasive lionfish work has expanded to begin working with countries on the forefront of the invasion.

Summer is becoming a fishy memory as we get ready for back to school and fall. Here in the Keys that could mean some trying to reason with hurricane season moments but we will still get some great survey dives in.

Summer is here! Throughout REEF survey regions – coastal Americas, the tropical eastern Pacific and the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands - volunteers are diving into the Great Annual Fish Count, discovering the “wild and wooly” side of St. Vincent, helping understand the impacts of exotic invasive lionfish, and experiencing life and loss on Bonaire’s coral reefs.

Greetings from REEF HQ. This month we bring you highlights from our recent trip to DEMA, the dive industry trade show, where we shared results from REEF's research on Indo-Pacific Lionfish and the urgency of the threat that the invasion of this unwanted species into the Bahamas and Caribbean poses. We are also excited to announce that two REEF member, Lad Akins and Anna DeLoach, were inducted as a Platinum Pro5000 Diver by SSI. The REEF 2009 Trip schedule offers a wide array of destinations.

Dear Valued REEF Members,

Hello and Happy September! We are pleased to unveil the 2008 Field Survey Schedule in this edition of REEF in Brief, as well as fill you in on some of the important field work that we have going on around the REEF survey regions. Learn about the fifth year of monitoring at the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Washington, new and growing partnerships with the New England Aquarium and others in the northeast, a collaborative research project at the world's only undersea laboratory in Key Largo, and the results of ongoing exotic species work on lionfish in the Bahamas.

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