KEY LARGO, FLA. – Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) is excited to announce the 16th Annual Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Arts Festival, scheduled for April 24-27, 2025. This event uniquely combines invasive lionfish removal with vibrant local arts and conservation efforts, aiming to engage the community in ocean conservation through interactive and educational activities.
Event Schedule
Grand Opening Celebration Planned for June 7-8, 2025, Coinciding with World Ocean Day
KEY LARGO, FLA. – Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) is excited to announce the grand opening of the REEF Ocean Exploration Center for Marine Conservation at the REEF Campus in Key Largo, Florida. The public is invited to join a special grand opening celebration on June 7-8, 2025, coinciding with World Ocean Day.
KEY LARGO, FLA. – All are invited to celebrate ocean conservation during REEF Fest on Oct. 17-20, 2024, in Key Largo, Fla. Hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation, this annual event features educational ocean seminars, social gatherings, diving, snorkeling, kayaking, and a nature tour. Most events are free and open to the public, although online pre-registration is requested. Please visit www.REEF.org/REEFfest for complete details.
KEY LARGO, FLA. – Last week, 14 teams of scuba divers took to the water and collected 1,527 invasive lionfish during the 2024 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Teams fished from sunrise to sunset on Friday, Aug. 16 and Saturday, Aug. 17. On Saturday evening, derby participants and the public gathered at Florida Keys Brewing Company for Invaders on Tap, a lionfish awareness celebration and social with live music, educational activities and games, and lionfish tastings. The derby weekend concluded on Sunday, Aug.
KEY LARGO, FLA. – In a new study published this week in journal Conservation Letters, researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, and Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) demonstrate that fish taxonomy data collected by volunteer scuba divers (i.e. citizen scientists) provide a powerful and accurate tool to track species trends and biodiversity.
Derby sets record for most lionfish caught during a Florida Keys derby, and most lionfish harvested by a single team
KEY LARGO, FLA. – All are invited to celebrate ocean conservation during REEF Fest on Oct. 19-22, 2023, in Key Largo, Fla. Hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation, this annual event features educational ocean seminars, social gatherings, diving, snorkeling, kayaking, and a nature tour. Most events, including the seminars, are free and open to the public, although online pre-registration is requested. Please visit www.REEF.org/REEFfest for complete details.
Size matters – especially when it comes to fisheries management. A new collaborative project SMILE (Size Matters: Innovative Length Estimate) is now underway in the Florida Keys to help collect information about fish lengths. These data are critical for fisheries stock assessments, which are used to manage ecologically and economically important marine species.
KEY LARGO, FLA. – Last week, 18 teams of scuba divers took to the water and collected 919 invasive lionfish during the 2022 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Teams fished from sunrise to sunset on Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 10. The event concluded on Sunday, Sept. 11 at Postcard Inn Resort & Marina in Islamorada, with an outdoor festival featuring lionfish tastings, cooking and dissection demos, games, interactive booths, and live music.
Four-day event includes diving, snorkeling, kayak tours, ocean seminars, and socials
