REEF Seminars

[Brian Gilpin]

If any of you REEFers get the opportunity, inquire for me about submitting REEF survey forms without having taken the class from them. I had trouble with this a few years back, after teaching a reef fish course to divers. We followed the protocols and filled out the forms, but we were later told that they were no good since we weren't "properly" trained. Various anti-REEF sentiments were expressed by many divers in the summer of 2001, needless to say.

I will be diving in Catalina for a few days but I will inquire when I get back.

 

[itziar]

If any of you REEFers get the opportunity, inquire for me about submitting REEF survey forms without having taken the class from them. I had trouble with this a few years back, after teaching a reef fish course to divers. We followed the protocols and filled out the forms, but we were later told that they were no good since we weren't "properly" trained. Various anti-REEF sentiments were expressed by many divers in the summer of 2001, needless to say.

Hi archman. I have been taking REEF surveys for the last few months and I have not had a proper fish ID training course from REEF or any other agency. Some of my surveys are already in the REEF database. Whatever their policy was in the past, it must have changed. I joined REEF last summer, and last month I took the first quizzes (to upgrade to level 2) for the Tropical Western Atlantic and Hawaii regions.

As far as I know, they take surveys from anybody who registers in their webpage. At first they place you in their novice category 1. It takes 2 completed surveys and a relatively easy exam (25 most common species) to pass to novice category 2. They have other levels as you go on completing surveys and taking more comprehensive quizzes on fishes.

Itziar

 

[Brian Gilpin]

Hi archman. I have been taking REEF surveys for the last few months and I have not had a proper fish ID training course from REEF or any other agency. Some of my surveys are already in the REEF database. Whatever their policy was in the past, it must have changed. I joined REEF last summer, and last month I took the first quizzes (to upgrade to level 2) for the Tropical Western Atlantic and Hawaii regions.

As far as I know, they take surveys from anybody who registers in their webpage. At first they place you in their novice category 1. It takes 2 completed surveys and a relatively easy exam (25 most common species) to pass to novice category 2. They have other levels as you go on completing surveys and taking more comprehensive quizzes on fishes.

Itziar

Thanks, thats my understanding as well but I was going to check. Obviously no need now. Interested divers can check out the REEF website for fish galleries and sample quizzes. I have not taken any quizzes but hope to soon.

See you back on the surface

 

[itziar]

Thanks, thats my understanding as well but I was going to check. Obviously no need now. Interested divers can check out the REEF website for fish galleries and sample quizzes. I have not taken any quizzes but hope to soon.

See you back on the surface

Hi Brian. I actually found the sample tests a bit misleading, in the sense that the actual REEF tests are NOT multi-choice and are not based on stills. The website is a good training benchmark, but you will be asked to give fish name and family name for 25 short video clips. At least, this is the case for the TWA and HAW zones. The scores for the 50 replies (species name and family name) are added together, and you need to get 80% right to pass the test for level 2 . Any way, it is easy enough, but do not get prepared thinking that you will find the right answer among a list of possibilities.

I enjoyed reading your report about the seminars and outings! Please, keep telling us how it goes.

Itziar

 

[archman]

Thanks for your help guys. I'm now registered with REEF and free to wreak statistical havoc on their database! I didn't know Pattengill was their research director... I went to her dissertation defense on the Flower Gardens Banks a few years back. Cool stuff.
I hope they come up with a Caribbean invertebrate survey design soon, that would be FANCY.

 

[Brian Gilpin]

I just got back from a trip and found the following email from Christy which confirms previous posts.

Hi Brian,

There is no requirement to take a class before starting to conduct surveys. Lots of people basically self-teach themselves through guide books, etc. much in the same way as with birdwatching. However, taking a class always helps. There are always several free fish ID seminars held in conjunction with the Great Annual Fish Count during June and July, see www.fishcount.org for the schedule (it's just starting to be organized so I recommend checking back on that page regularly).

Take care,
Christy

Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D.
Scientific Coordinator
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)
www.reef.org

 

[beachdivequeenbelam]

Are any of you SBers also REEF divers? I have run into them in various places and I am thinking of attending an event of theirs which includes seminars and census diving next month in Monterey.

http://www.reef.org/fieldsurv/index.htm

Anybody have experience with REEF?

REEF Member 27727
I am going on the Annual Fish Count in July.

 

[Brian Gilpin]

REEF Member 27727
I am going on the Annual Fish Count in July.

Where will you be doing the count? Will you be part of an organized group. Im hoping there will be some organized groups in Monterey.

 

[itziar]

I will continue Brian's thread and give a bit more info on REEF seminars.

Encouraged by the good reviews you all had sent about these seminars, I finally joined a fish ID workshop that REEF organized with the Veracruz Marine Park last week. This was their entry level fish ID course, which prepares the attendants for level 2 experience. Since I already had passed the level 2 quizzes, I was not sure I was going to learn much, so I contacted the REEF instructor, Lad Akins (actually, he is also the Executive Director of REEF), and he encouraged me to join the group. I am so glad he did! I did learn a lot!

The course was set as a weekend activity, with about 7 hrs of lectures, revision and quizzes, and 3 boat dives in the Veracruz Marine Park. REEF and the Marine Park also organized a course for kids, on Friday, with snorkeling instead of scuba for the field identification work. The Marine Park contacted me the week before to check whether I could translate the course into Spanish, as our instructor had very limited command of Spanish, and most of the attendants had little command of English. I actually ended up translating the Friday course for kids -- they had such a great time drawing and speaking about their unidentified mystery fishes -- and another volunteer, a biologist, translated the course for adults, which I also attended. There were 5 kids and 12 adults for the full REEF course (theory and field work), and there were 12 more adults that attended just the seminars, but not the dives, due to lack of space in the boat.

Apart from the usual suspects we were about to see: angels, grunts, damsels etc, Lad also showed us a couple of new gobies that REEF identified last November in the Veracruz area and that were not previously known; and a wrasse that was previously known just in Belize. Part of his mission here was to get samples of the "Jarocho goby", as the class unanimously decided to call it -- "jarocho" is Mexican slang to name the inhabitants of Veracruz -- and bring them back to the USA to get analyzed. I received news that the samples are already there.

The dives were fantastic, although I missed not having my trusted buddy (and husband) by my side -- he was not interested in the course, but dived with the operator we usually go with in Veracruz, and had a great time, all the same. We did a first dive in "Isla Sacrificios", which has been closed to the public for many years now, in an attempt to recover an environment which, being the closest island to the city, was deteriorating rapidly. The visibility here sucked (~5 m) but I was amazed at the number of fishes we could see in our very limited vision volume, and for the first time I could see a school of huge tarpons swimming only a meter away from me. That was awesome! On the second day, on different reefs, Lad took me under his wing and showed me on the field the two new species of gobies they had identified previously, and helped me identify some of the other gobies and blennies in the book I still have trouble with. That was so cool! Underwater tuition! Visibility here was better too (15-20 m).


The tests: I reported before that when I took the quizz for level 2, it was based on videos. Well, actually that seems to depend on the instructor. Lad had his quizzes based on stills. Nevertheless, still the same system: 25 cases in which to give species and family name. The level 3 exam (which I took, and passed) was the same system, but with 100 cases.

Brian, to your relief, I can assure you that not all REEFers are tree huggers. I went out for fish tacos after the dives with three other surveyors and the Marine Park sub-director, and for Argentinian-style steaks with the Marine Park Director, the Marine Park person in charge of the Fish Monitoring Programme, and Lad... Hey, maybe you should come down here to get to know some more fishes and relax a bit!

The Marine Park is supposed to organize now some regular outings to do fish surveys. The director of the Park has recently gotten this job after many years running the Cozumel Marine Park. In Cozumel, as per her words and the reports in scubaboard and REEF, they seem to have assembled a very active surveying team of volunteers, who are monitoring the fish population. Here she is starting all over again. Let's see how it goes... I'll let you know...

Itziar

 

[Brian Gilpin]

I will continue Brian's thread and give a bit more info on REEF seminars.

Encouraged by the good reviews you all had sent about these seminars, I finally joined a fish ID workshop that REEF organized with the Veracruz Marine Park last week. This was their entry level fish ID course, which prepares the attendants for level 2 experience. Since I already had passed the level 2 quizzes, I was not sure I was going to learn much, so I contacted the REEF instructor, Lad Akins (actually, he is also the Executive Director of REEF), and he encouraged me to join the group. I am so glad he did! I did learn a lot!

The course was set as a weekend activity, with about 7 hrs of lectures, revision and quizzes, and 3 boat dives in the Veracruz Marine Park. REEF and the Marine Park also organized a course for kids, on Friday, with snorkeling instead of scuba for the field identification work. The Marine Park contacted me the week before to check whether I could translate the course into Spanish, as our instructor had very limited command of Spanish, and most of the attendants had little command of English. I actually ended up translating the Friday course for kids -- they had such a great time drawing and speaking about their unidentified mystery fishes -- and another volunteer, a biologist, translated the course for adults, which I also attended. There were 5 kids and 12 adults for the full REEF course (theory and field work), and there were 12 more adults that attended just the seminars, but not the dives, due to lack of space in the boat.

Apart from the usual suspects we were about to see: angels, grunts, damsels etc, Lad also showed us a couple of new gobies that REEF identified last November in the Veracruz area and that were not previously known; and a wrasse that was previously known just in Belize. Part of his mission here was to get samples of the "Jarocho goby", as the class unanimously decided to call it -- "jarocho" is Mexican slang to name the inhabitants of Veracruz -- and bring them back to the USA to get analyzed. I received news that the samples are already there.

The dives were fantastic, although I missed not having my trusted buddy (and husband) by my side -- he was not interested in the course, but dived with the operator we usually go with in Veracruz, and had a great time, all the same. We did a first dive in "Isla Sacrificios", which has been closed to the public for many years now, in an attempt to recover an environment which, being the closest island to the city, was deteriorating rapidly. The visibility here sucked (~5 m) but I was amazed at the number of fishes we could see in our very limited vision volume, and for the first time I could see a school of huge tarpons swimming only a meter away from me. That was awesome! On the second day, on different reefs, Lad took me under his wing and showed me on the field the two new species of gobies they had identified previously, and helped me identify some of the other gobies and blennies in the book I still have trouble with. That was so cool! Underwater tuition! Visibility here was better too (15-20 m).


The tests: I reported before that when I took the quizz for level 2, it was based on videos. Well, actually that seems to depend on the instructor. Lad had his quizzes based on stills. Nevertheless, still the same system: 25 cases in which to give species and family name. The level 3 exam (which I took, and passed) was the same system, but with 100 cases.

Brian, to your relief, I can assure you that not all REEFers are tree huggers. I went out for fish tacos after the dives with three other surveyors and the Marine Park sub-director, and for Argentinian-style steaks with the Marine Park Director, the Marine Park person in charge of the Fish Monitoring Programme, and Lad... Hey, maybe you should come down here to get to know some more fishes and relax a bit!

The Marine Park is supposed to organize now some regular outings to do fish surveys. The director of the Park has recently gotten this job after many years running the Cozumel Marine Park. In Cozumel, as per her words and the reports in scubaboard and REEF, they seem to have assembled a very active surveying team of volunteers, who are monitoring the fish population. Here she is starting all over again. Let's see how it goes... I'll let you know...

Itziar

What a great report. Since my original report I have done more than a dozen survey dives. I am slowly progressing in my skill level although I have not taken any tests yet.

My diving fun has been enhanced many times over. It is great fun to find a species you have not found before!

The enviro thing must be contagious. I have lost my taste for fish. When I was on the Vision recently I must admit it bothered me to see the spearhunters bring up fish.
Haven't gone vegan or anything yet though. My friends are more than a little concerned. The worst sign though is that my wife thinks I should dive with REEF divers rather than DIR people because they are more geeky and I fit in better.

So beware Itziar. It could happen to you! Glad to hear you have a marine park. Your counts will help document its effectiveness and encourage decision makers to create more.

I will be continuing my surveys here in California as well as the Sea of Cortez.Thanks for the encouragement and keep us posted on your progress.