Key Largo, FL. On November 4, 2002, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) surpassed a long awaited milestone. On that date, the 50,000th volunteer fish survey was entered into the REEF database! REEF's Field Operations Coordinator, Leslie Whaylen reports "When I was hired by REEF in 1999, approximately 20,000 surveys were housed in REEF's database. Each year, the numbers of surveyors and surveys have increased exponentially". Historically, most surveys were conducted during the Great Annual Fish Count and REEF Field Surveys.
REEF celebrated the Great Annual Fish Count 10th year with great success! The 2002 GAFC included over 90 seminars, 300 scheduled dive events, and over 1500 surveys throughout REEF's survey regions. Due to the increased international interest over the past few years, this year we changed the name of the Great American Fish Count to the Great Annual Fish Count (GAFC). Events took place throughout the US, British Columbia, Ontario, Cozumel, Gulf of California, Jamaica, Belize, Honduras, Bermuda, Bonaire, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands.
During recent months, there have been many reports of non-native indo-pacific and Red Sea fishes including the lionfish, which have been sighted in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The number of lionfish observed indicates that some are surviving the winter water temperatures and expanding their range. Recreational divers and snorkelers are a valuable source of information for tracking fish species including exotic fish because they are looking, taking notice of rare things, and often know what does not belong.