Our 2015 Fishinar series is off to a great start. Be sure to join us for these free, educational webinars. The hour-long sessions let you 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. The first part of the year includes...
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 Nick Brilliande. He has been a REEF member since 2011. An active surveyor who lives on Oahu, Hawaii, Nick has conducted 50 surveys to date and is a member of REEF's Advanced Assessment Team for the Hawaii region. Here's what he had to say about REEF:
How did you become involved with REEF?
Thank you to everyone who has donated during our winter solicitation! If you haven’t already given yet, there is still time to receive my limited-edition, signed print of a Goliath Grouper aggregation by making a contribution. You can find a description at www.REEF.org/impact of how I captured this magical moment. These particular fish in this image are as large as 7 feet and weigh over 500 lbs!
We are very excited to welcome two new members of the REEF Staff team - Jonathan Lavan and Heather George. Both have been involved as volunteers in the organization for many years and collectively bring a wealth of experience and passion for REEF's mission.
Are you an experienced REEF surveyor in the Tropical Western Atlantic (TWA)? If so, you might want to check out our brand new underwater survey paper featuring an extended list of species. The double-sided list fits on the regular yellow slate. The longer list of species means less write-in species and more efficient data entry. When entering your data, just select the longer list in the "Species View" field at the top of the data entry field. You can find the new paper in REEF's online store here - http://www.reef.org/node/433.
Please join me this year by giving a gift to REEF this holiday season! I want to thank all those who have been so generous and have donated already. If you haven’t given yet, we are still a long way from our goal. Your donation this winter is critical so we can continue protecting marine species all year. Click here to donate now.
Examples of REEF’s important work that directly benefit marine species include:
We are proud to share news of a new scientific publication using REEF data that was recently published in the top-tier science journal, Ecology. The paper, "Demographic modeling of citizen science data informs habitat preferences and population dynamics of recovering fishes", was co-authored by fisheries scientists from NOAA Fisheries and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, along with REEF's Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens.
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.
We have just the thing for after the holiday rush is over -- free, educational REEF Fishinars. These hour-long sessions let you 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 will be adding new ones for 2015 soon. On the schedule so far....
While we can't do much about dreary winter weather, booking a trip for the coming year might be just the trick to lift your mood. REEF trips are a diver's dream vacation! Destinations include Fiji, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Roatan, Cozumel and more. Expert-led fish identification education combined with citizen science and world-class diving make our trips unique. Visit www.REEF.org/trips to find out more, and then contact us at trips@REEF.org or 305-588-5869 to book your space.