This article highlighting REEF Fest 2019 was published by SCUBA & H2O Adventures magazine.
2019
Earth is Blue is the magazine of NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries. This article is about the Great Annual Fish Count and Volunteer Fish Survey Project, how citizen science helps sanctuaries, and why marine sanctuaries are important for REEF's work.
Christian Science Monitor wrote a feature about the 7th Annual Winter Lionfish Derby, held on March 30, 2019, at Sharkey's Pub and Galley Restaurant in Key Largo.
We are very proud to share that Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF Director of Science, and Dr. Brice Semmens, Director of California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations and associate professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, have been named Scuba Diving magazine’s April 2019 Sea Heroes! Sponsored by the watch brand Seiko, this award honors the extraordinary work done by scuba divers making a difference for our world’s oceans, reefs and marine life.
NPR science podcast, Blue Dot, conducted an interview with Dr. Joe Gaydos and Diego Montecino, lead authors of a paper published in Science Advances about the decline of the Sunflower Sea Star in the Pacific northwest. The study's analysis included almost 11,000 REEF surveys collected by our citizen scientists from California to Alaska over the last decade. To date, REEF data have been used in three scientific papers to evaluate the impacts of sea star wasting disease.
This article discusses the impacts of citizen science and highlights several citizen science opportunities, including the Volunteer Fish Survey Project.
REEF's Field Survey Trips Program is prominently featured in this article from NAUI's publication for dive professionals.
Hakai Magazine describes the importance of citizen science in studying the ocean, and highlights the Volunteer Fish Survey Project as well as several other prominent ocean citizen science programs.
An overview of a scientific paper published in January 2019, documenting a precipitous decline in Sunflower Sea Star, primarily linked to the devastating sea star wasting disease epidemic that was wide-spread along the US and Canadian west coast starting in 2013, as well as warming ocean temperatures. The study used almost 11,000 REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project surveys collected between California and Alaska between 2006 and 2017 to evaluate the massive decline.
2018
REEF Board of Trustees members Ned and Anna DeLoach teach fish identification and citizen science programs each summer at Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire. Last summer, Scuba Diving magazine editor-in-chief Mary-Frances Emmons joined Ned and Anna to conduct some fish surveys as part of REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project.