The ocean is a muse to many artists. REEF members have also felt that tug of creativity and sent us amazing pictures as well as commentaries from their travels. Being a part of REEF means sharing the underwater world that we all love which is why we'll be sharing with you the interesting pictures and experiences our members send us. We'd like to do this monthly, but need you to participate so email us your fun or interesting Fish Tales so we can publish them in the next REEF-in-Brief! Who knows . . .
We say it often - REEF is what it is because of our fantastic members. The grassroots nature of the organization is reflected in all aspects of our work, including the amazing volunteers like Audrey Smith who help with daily operating tasks at REEF HQ, the networks of regional REEF partners who enlist new REEF members and provide continuing education and survey opportunities for active surveyors, our members who generously support REEF with financial donations, and of course the thousands of survey volunteers who submit marine life surveys each year.
Every year, more than 10,000 dive professionals from around the world attend DEMA, the flagship event of its namesake, the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association. This year, DEMA will be held October 31-November 3 in Orlando, Florida. REEF is proud to host a booth and present three environmental seminars on how dive operators can promote "fish watching" and the REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project to recruit and retain their dive customers.
We had a number of applicants for the Fall session and narrowing the intern pool to just two applicants was tough because everyone that applied were wonderful candidates. This month we're introducing you to Catherine Whitaker (aka Erin) who (thankfully) arrived early to cross train with our fabulous summer interns before they departedon August 17th. Next month we'll highlight our final recipient, Lauren Finan, who will arrive the week of August 20th.
Greetings from steamy south Florida! We have been busy as rockmover wrasses here at REEF HQ: we finished up two major artificial reef monitoring projects, completed the 11th consecutive year of zone monitoring at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, pulled off the 16th successful Great Annual Fish Count and welcomed two new interns, Lauren and Erin, into the fabulous fun of fish watching.
Thanks to everyone who participated in a GAFC event this summer! This July, over twenty-three events were hosted throughout REEF's survey regions. We are still receiving data from these events and have processed a large amount already!
REEF completed two Advanced Assessment Team (AAT) projects this past month, the Wellwood Monitoring Project and the Spiegel Grove Monitoring Project. Many of you may not know about REEF's AAT program, please check this link to learn more about this very important REEF program. Essentially, as REEF members gain more experience identifying fish and conducting surveys, they can move through our experience level testing and hopefully achieve expert status, after which time these members are invited to participate in special monitoring and assessment
The holidays will be upon us before you know it and REEF is encouraging you to go on line to the REEF Store and purchase your holiday stocking stuffers like our beautiful note cards, wonderful books and DVD's. We still have plenty of Sensational Seas DVD's available as well. We recently updated the store with a large number of exclusive items that you can only get from REEF, so please check it out and put us on your shopping list as REEF funnels all proceeds to help fund our various programs.
Hello and happy October! This edition will be REEF-in-VERY-Brief since our biggest announcement - the launch of the new REEF.org website - will direct you to endless updates on REEF programs, new online tools, an improved REEF Store, and a new member-login that will allow you to get the most out of the new site. Visit www.REEF.org now!