The Transect Line – August 2008 | |
Tickets on Sale Now for Reef Rescue 2008! | |
|
|
AliveNotDead.com Reef Rescue 2008 Contest | |
![]() Don’t think you can make it to Reef Check’s Reef Rescue Gala this year? Think again! In preparation for the event, Reef Check and AliveNotDead.com have created a special contest. By registering on AliveNotDead.com, you automatically receive a chance to win a roundtrip ticket to Los Angeles for Reef Rescue 2008. The winner will also receive hotel accommodations for three days and two nights, a VIP ticket to the event, and gear from AliveNotDead.com and Reef Check. If you don’t win the contest, don’t worry—tickets can be purchased at www.reefcheck.org! Be sure to mark your calendars, tickets are on sale now! |
|
Vote For Your Favorites! | |
The deadline to submit photos is August 31, 2008. Everyone is invited to vote for their favorites from September 3– 30, 2008 at https://reefdpd.wpengine.com/photo_contest/. We invite you and your friends to check out the submitted photos and read their descriptions to learn about the different ways in which humans interact with the marine world. Remember that the goal is to raise awareness, especially among people who have not yet experienced rocky and coral reefs firsthand! |
|
Sing the ?Year of the Reef? Song on Video and Win! | |
First Place: One US $500 cash prize Second Place: One US $300 cash prize Third Place: One US $200 cash prize The contest is free to enter, and people from all countries and territories are encouraged to participate. Participants must be 18 years or younger by the entry date and part of a group of three or more. Contestants can submit their videos from September 15 to November 15, 2008, and the public can vote for their favorites from 1 December 2008 to 31 January 2009. Visit https://reefdpd.wpengine.com/flyers/RC_Video_Contest.pdf to download a flyer with more information. You can listen to and download the song at https://reefdpd.wpengine.com/involved/iyor.php. The Official Contest site will be launching soon! |
|
Reef Check California Update | |
![]() The RCCA dive train keeps rolling along…This year, RCCA divers have already surveyed 33 sites, including 6 new ones, stretching from Humboldt County to San Diego!!! We have also finished development of our online interactive data portal, NED (Nearshore Ecosystem Database). This portal allows trained RCCA divers to log-in and securely enter the data collected during surveys. Using the “Map Viewer” function, you can view data summaries, including newly added 2008 surveys. In the near future, users will also be able to perform queries and download the entire dataset for analysis. NED is an amazing tool that ensures RCCA data is readily available to all who are interested in checking out what is happening on California’s amazing rocky reefs, whether they are a diver, commercial or recreational fisherman, or anyone else interested in helping to inform the sustainable management of our nearshore resources. RCCA had a big month in the media: a joint press release was issued with the California Department of Fish and Game that focused on our collaborative partnership and the recent publication of the RCCA 2-year report, “Reef Check California 2006-2007: Citizen Monitoring to Improve Marine Conservation.” As a consequence, RCCA was featured in newspapers, on the radio, and on several NBC newscasts. You can check out the press release and several of the media stories at the links below: https://reefdpd.wpengine.com/news/news_detail.php?id=390 We continue to be on the front lines of improving marine management in California and we need your continued support! Your donations to RCCA go directly to supporting the collection of the critical data needed to manage California’s marine resources. If you aren’t already a member, join us, and if you are a diver, sign up for a 2009 training! Dates will be posted in September! |
|
International Year of the Reef Update | |
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI): On October 10th from 6am-6pm, CNMI’s Organization for Conservation Outreach (COCO) invites Saipan residents to Take the Right Route and reduce carbon emissions, thus helping fight global warming and ocean acidification—issues affecting reefs worldwide. Egypt: The Marine Biology College of Egypt will hold a Reef Check monitoring session from September 6-21, 2008 at Tondoba Bay in Marsa Alam as part of their contribution to IYOR. To learn more, visit www.mbc-egypt.com or contact Constanze Conrad Kosrae, Micronesia: As part of Kosrae’s official annual coral monitoring program, Kosrae Village and Oceanearth are conducting a two-week monitoring session from September 27 to October 10, 2008. The event will highlight the IYOR and collect essential data on local reefs. For more information about how to get involved, contact Katrina Adams. United States: Coastal Cleanup Day on September 20th is an inspiring event where people around the world gather to pick up trash and is a great opportunity to celebrate IYOR! Please note that “Coastal” no longer means cleanups only take place in coastal areas. It includes trash and other contaminants from high up in a watershed that wash down to beaches and oceans below. Find a location near you and join this global effort. If your city, state, or country is not involved yet, be a pioneer and plan your own cleanup! The California Coastal Commission, and Heal the Bay offer ideas on how to get started, but all you really need are trash/recycling bags and a group of people ready to clean-up their neighborhood… and the world’s oceans. United States Virgin Islands: Join the Virgin Islands Resource Conservation & Development Council at their 5t |
|
|
|
![]() |
Have you signed the International Declaration of Reef Rights? Join the 12,330 ocean lovers from 140 countries who already have! Click here to sign the International Declaration of Reef Rights |
Reef Check Teams in Action | |
Win It For The Reefs: Ocean Blue Education Students Become EcoDivers
We began our epic Bahamian adventure with 10 individuals traveling from places as far flung as Washington state and as close to home as Freeport, Grand Bahamas. It was some “connection” with the ocean world that had called each of these students to sign on to a marine science expedition at sea. One by one they stepped aboard the Morning Star, sharing nothing more than the same wide-eyed expression. Throughout the program, the crew of high schoolers participated in core classes of sailing, diving, coral ecology, fish & inverts, photography, and real ocean research—including Reef Check monitoring. Reef Check was paramount in providing our students with the opportunity to utilize their new underwater skills and marine knowledge as EcoDivers. As part of the Reef Check team, O.B.E. analyzed various reefs throughout the Bahamas this summer. Our goal was to assess and compare reefs inside the Exuma Land and Sea Park with other non Marine Protected Areas off of Conception, Long Island and the Northern Exumas. In total, we collected data from five locations with plans to establish more transects as part of a continued monitoring system. Each Reef Check diver gained awareness of their own relationship to the sea while gathering pertinent information as to coral cover, fish/invert populations, and site conditions. As the number of dives under Reef Check belts increased, each diver experienced a transformation in how they “saw” the reef: they were no longer just passive viewers of life beneath the waves, but had become active thinkers about reef conditions of the past and proactive eco-divers for healthy reefs in the future. It was July 30th when we made our final port in Nassau. Each and every student stepping off the boat and onto their next adventure shared the same wide-eyed expression—wide open to the possibility of the reef actually “winning” some day. Ocean Blue Education is excited to continue creating pathways for students and educators to dive into the adventure of ocean research and start making a change in our oceans’ future. We thank Reef Check for stimulating a community o |
|
|
|
CISS Students Stand Proud After Successful Data Dive Quest
Responsibility for collecting usable data weighed heavily upon the hearts and minds of the students. Supervised by Reef Check instructors from Scuba Cat, a professional scuba diving company in Phuket, and Professor and Reef Check Thailand Coordinator Suchana Apple Chavanich, the data collection dive successfully ended nine months of training, study, sweat and tears. Divided into groups comprising six students, a Reef Check instructor, and a CISS assisting adult leader, each team descended into the water, identified fish and invertebrate species, and collected data on the health and types of coral found along the section of reef chosen for the study. The first team entered the water early in the morning, confident of the skills necessary to collect data within the strict Reef Check parameters. Pairing off with a buddy, the team immediately broke into three buddy teams. The first buddy team conducted the initial fish count; the second team followed 15 minutes later and identified as many invertebrates as possible, and the third team followed closely behind to perform a substrate coral study. Seventy intense minutes later, the teams surfaced with the precious data they had worked so hard to collect. An hour later, a second dive team left the security of the Scuba Cat, a boat named for the scuba company owned and operated by Sarah Kench. Breaking up into similar buddy teams, the second group followed the same format as the first group and collected additional data during their 70-minute session. In the early afternoon, the final six-member team entered the water collecting data that could be compared against the early morning data. Conserving air as much as possible, this team spent a full 80 minutes underwater identifying, counting and rechecking for accuracy. The end of this dive ended the first Reef Check study for CISS and Scuba Cat and answered the one question that had haunted the students, instructors and adult leaders for the previous nine months: Could a group of middle school studen |
|
|
|
Reef Check Reunion Establishes 9th Survey Site
Volunteers from the “Bleu Marine” diving club, supported by Arvam and Aquarium teams, then surveyed a new site in the natural marine reserve, close to the popular seaside resort community of Saint Gilles. Located on the outer slope, the site is the ninth survey site of the Reef Check network in Réunion, a process which started in 2003. Additional activities for IYOR 2008 included: the development of a website for French overseas territories; increasing the number of sites under the Blue Flag ecolabel promoted by local collectivities; involvement of private partners s |