Dive Safety Officer Gil Falcone and REEF volunteer John Wolfe will be presenting a Basic Fish ID Seminar at 3:00 pm on Saturday, June 28 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. An aquarium tour by Gil Falcone will follow the seminar. Please meet by the members' entrance of the aquarium (guest passes are available if arranged beforehand with John Wolfe).
Participate in a morning group shore dive at 9:00 am, Coral Street, Pacific Grove, California.
The Bay Area Bottom Timers Dive Club is hosting a basic fish ID seminar presented by REEF volunteer, John Wolfe on Wednesday, June 11 at 7:30pm. The seminar will be held at the Bay Area Bottom Timers Dive Club meeting in the Los Kompadrez Restaurant located at 3839 Washington Blvd, Fremont, CA.
Identify and count fish at Biscayne National Park as part of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)’s Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC). After a free morning seminar on how to conduct REEF fish surveys held at Biscayne National Park's Dante Fascell Visitor Center, the afternoon will be dedicated to putting your new fish identification skills to use during a reduced-price dive/snorkel trip to two of the park’s coral reefs.
Hello REEF Members. In this edition of REEF-in-Brief, we reflect on some of our recent activities, as well as introduce you to the newest member of the REEF Staff, Lisa Mitchell. Lisa will be taking over as REEF's Executive Director next month. Our close relationship with the marine world and our commitment to its preservation are unmistakably evident in the news briefs below.
June will mark a change at the helm for REEF. We would like to wish Leda Cunningham well in her future endeavors, and welcome Lisa Mitchell as our new Executive Director. Lisa is eager to bring her extensive experience in the dive industry to REEF, as well as her natural passion for ocean conservation.
In January, 2008 the National Aquarium Institute organized and conducted a Bahamian conservation expedition on the Aqua Cat live-aboard dive vessel. Our mission was to conduct REEF surveys and work on the invasive lionfish project. On board this trip were Lad Akins (REEF Special Projects Director), Ned and Anna DeLoach, Chris Flook (Bermuda Aquarium), National Aquarium staff, and aquarium and REEF volunteers. In addition to meeting the lionfish research goals of the cruise, we were treated to not one but two exciting and rare finds - the Exuma goby and the lemon goby.
In response to the growing threat of lionfish in the Atlantic and the need for coordinated planning, REEF, NOAA and the USGS are hosting a technical workshop on Non-native Marine Fish Introductions of South Florida in the Florida Keys June 18 and 19. The workshop, jointly funded through a recent Mote Marine Laboratory’s Protect Our Reefs grant, NOAA’s Exotic Species and National Marine Sanctuary Programs and the Gulf and Atlantic States Regional Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species,will bring together personnel from more than 18 different agencies and organizations.