Thank you to all our members who have donated during our winter fundraising campaign! If you haven’t yet made a donation, we still need your help. Tomorrow is the last day to make a 2016 tax deductible donation. Please take a moment to contribute online at www.REEF.org/donate, mail your donation to REEF at PO Box 370246, Key Largo, FL 33037, or call us at 305-852-0030. Donors giving $250 or more will receive a limited edition, signed and numbered Paul Humann print featuring two Mandarinfish.
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Every month, scientists, government agencies, and other groups request raw data from REEF’s Volunteer Fish Survey Project database. Recent examples of data requests and uses include:
- A graduate student at Simon Fraser University is using REEF data from The Bahamas and Belize to research the impact of the lionfish invasion on two species of native fishes that are typically prey for the voracious invader - Sharpnose Puffer and Bluehead Wrasse.
This month, REEF members worldwide are invited to participate in our first underwater photography contest! Members may submit one photo in each of six different categories including fish portrait, macro, invertebrates, REEF surveyor, lionfish/invasive species, and reefscape/habitat/environment. Submissions will be judged by three separate panels including professional photographers, REEF staff and board, and popular vote. Each judging panel will select a winning photo from each of the six categories, for a total of 18 winning photographs.
From outreach events like the Baygrass Bluegrass
Festival, to Fish & Friends and educational programs,
January has been jam packed with events! With the
help and direction of their intern coordinator, David
Ehlert, and lead interns, Maya Ganapathy and Stacey
Henderson, the Spring 2020 Marine Conservation
Interns have already accomplished so much! Maddi,
Amelia and Riley have been working as a team to
successfully plan a Lionfish Jewelry Workshop, which
will take place at REEF HQ on February 27.
Dollars to Help Develop Rapid Response Plan
- Ocean Science 2.0: REEF Pioneers New Approach to Understanding Ocean Ecosystems
- REEF.org Redefined: REEF Launches New Website
- Studying MPAs in the Channel Islands
- Monitoring Artificial Reeefs
- Putting REEF Data to Work
- Online Mapping - A New Data Tool
- REEF's Grouper Moon Project: Conserving a Caribbean Icon
- Lionfish Expeditions Lead to New Information
- REEF Field Stations: Partners on the Ground, In the Water
- Capacity Building in New England
REEF Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, and Grouper Moon Scientists, Dr. Brice Semmens (NOAA) and Dr. Scott Heppell (Oregon State University), participated in the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) meeting last month in Guadeloupe. This annual meeting brings together scientists, fishermen, resource agency managers, and marine conservation organizations to present and discuss current topics and emerging findings on coral reef resources of the tropical western Atlantic waters.
After many years of planning, financial woes and last minute negotiations, it appears that the Hoyt S Vandenberg, a 520-foot troop transport/missile tracking military vessel, will be sunk as the newest artificial reef in the Florida Keys. Recent communication with the State of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission has given the go ahead for REEF to initiate pre-deployment monitoring of the sinking site and 7 other adjacent reef areas to study the recruitment and movement of fish around the wreck and reef sites.
The USS Hoyt Vandenberg is the most recent ship to be placed as an artificial reef in the waters off Key West, Florida. The ship was sunk on May 27, 2009, but three weeks prior to the sinking the REEF team was in action conducting surveys of the sinking site and 7 other adjacent sites for comparison. The data will be used by the State of Florida to document fish recruitment onto the wreck and response of nearby reef sites to the new structure.
Greetings REEF Friends!
This month marks the Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC), REEF's annual event that celebrates our fish survey program. In this issue of REEF-in-Brief we highlight a few of the many GAFC events that were held by our partners throughout the month of July. New REEF staff, Alecia Adamson just returned from the Field Survey to Roatan and her report is below. We are also proud to announce that REEF has facilitated the donation of lionfish collection kits to 27 dive operators in the Florida Keys.