Earlier this month, REEF auctioned five pre-release, signed and numbered copies of the Tropical Pacific edition of Reef Creature Identification by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. The authors donated to REEF the first five pre-release copies of this spectacular book, which is set to be released in mid-November. The long-awaited, 500-page reference detailing 1,600 animals with 2,000 photographs and descriptive text is not only the most comprehensive visual field guide to marine invertebrate life inhabiting the waters from Thailand to Tahiti, but also a pictorial tour de force skillfully bridging science and the aesthetic. Copies #1 - #5 were auctioned off through Missionfish in eBay. In total, $1,735 was raised in the auction. These funds will go directly to support REEF's critical marine conservation programs. We extend a heartfelt thank you to the five generous REEF members with the winning bids. Congratulations, and enjoy the book.

REEF Advanced Assessment Team Member, Dave Grenda, recently co-authored a paper documenting behavioral observations of young Great Barracuda occurring on live bottom sub-tropical reefs primarily at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Georgia. For the past three years Dave assisted University of Connecticut researcher, Dr. Peter Auster, in studying behavioral interactions of piscivores and their prey. During REEF surveys on these cruises, Dave and the other researchers documented young-of-year (YOY) Great Barracuda (those individuals that had very recently settled to the reef, and were between 2-3 inches in length) hunting YOY Tomtate and Silverside that were taking refuge under ledges. Groups of YOY Barracuda would attack, capture, and consume the prey. Prey that escaped the Barracuda retreated to reef edges and were often consumed by bottom-dwelling adult piscivores such as Black Sea Bass, Bank Sea Bass, and Scamp Grouper. These findings indicate that given the strong functional role the young Barracuda have on driving species interactions, greater attention should be given to the roles played by the wider diversity of YOY piscivores recruiting to reef communities. The paper was recently published in the scientific journal Southeastern Naturalist. You can find a link to this and all published papers that have included REEF data on our Publications page. 

For more than 20 years, REEF has been conserving marine ecosystems through education, service, and research. It’s an exciting time for REEF as we work hard to extend the reach of our innovative marine conservation programs. One way REEF is doing this is by inviting diverse leaders to the Board of Trustees to help guide the foundation, including these three new members:

Peter A. Hughes is the Founder of the DivEncounters Alliance, a group of independent live-aboard dive operators. Peter is one of the diving world’s foremost live-aboard operators, having spent more than forty years in the dive industry and over the past 25 years, building his former live-aboard company, Peter Hughes Diving, Inc.

Alexander Alexiou, is a successful Broker for Island Real Estate based in Harbour Island, Bahamas. He has traveled extensively and brings unique insight into the culture and ecology of islands throughout the tropical western Atlantic.

Robert Ramin, formerly the Executive Director of the National Aquarium in Washington, DC, is now the Chief Executive Officer of the Washington Animal Rescue League. He has extensive fundraising and membership development experience and has been a leader at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Management Schools for the past 16 years.

Peter, Alex and Bob join REEF co-founders, Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach, Jim Dalle Pazze, Andy Dehart, Anna DeLoach, and Marty Snyderman on the REEF Board of Trustees. Welcome!

A team of Pacific REEF Advanced Assessment Team (AAT) divers recently conducted a week-long project conducting surveys of fish and invertebrate communities along the rugged outer coast of Washington.  The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary covers over 3,300 square miles of ocean off Washington State's rugged and rocky Olympic Peninsula coastline.  Sanctuary waters host abundant marine life.  A small but important stretch of coastline along the Strait of Juan de Fuca features some of the best diving in Washington State, but is rarely visited because of the remote location and limited diving facilities. 

The team included 6 REEF AAT members and conducted 5 days of diving with Porthole Charters.  The weather, which is always a wild card out there, fully cooperated and the team was able to visit all of our priority sites within the Sanctuary, most of which have been surveyed annually since 2002.  A total of 72 surveys were conducted.  To find out more about REEF's work in the OCNMS, visit http://www.reef.org/programs/sanctuaries/OCNMS .

Funding and support for this year's project was generously provided by Washington Scuba Alliance (WSA), an anonymous private foundation, the Winter's Summer Inn in Seiku, and the REEF survey participants.  REEF encourages our Washington members to join WSA - it's free.