What marine conservation groups deserve divers' $$$?

[highdesert]

Greetings folks -

Our diving (my wife and I) has gotten to the place where we recognize the need to help preserve what is left of marine ecosystems, and heal those that are severely damaged. I suspect that, just as in any other sector, there are marine conservation organizations that are very efficient and beneficial in using their contributed funds, and then there are the others.

Where do (or would) your dollars go, and what reasoning or evidence do you use to support that?

 

[DiveDiva_Ashley]

I am a past intern and volunteer for a marine conservation organization called REEF Environmental Education Foundation which is headquartered in Key Largo, Florida. While I interned there, I conducted several fish population surveys while snorkeling and scuba diving in Key Largo, Marathon, and Islamorada, as well as the government-protected Wellwood Grounding Site, an area reserved for research purposes only. I then entered this information into REEF’s online database and compared my findings with others who had conducted surveys in each area in the past. The surveys not only monitor the type of species recorded in a specific area, but also the frequency of these species. This information was used to monitor the distribution of certain species of fish and if there were large changes in the makeup of the reef, we would seek answers as to why this happened, work towards changes in governmental regulations that would correct the problem, and determine how the species could be reintroduced to the area.
REEF is a very modest organization running on a very small budget due to little diver contribution. They operate out of an old house in Key Largo, and only pay their interns a $500 stipend for 4 months in addition to providing housing in the Keys. There are two volunteers who are not compensated at all who enter many of the survey data into the system. Thanks to the dedication of those who can provide their time and those who submit donations, they are able to make great strides towards keeping the reef as we know it- and not just in Key Largo, but all over the world! REEF has a second office in Washington, and the executive board is made up of several very distinguished divers, including Lad Akins and Paul Humann and Ned Deloach, co-authors of the REEF Identification book series. They are also very active in the Keys, working with the area dive operators to conduct fish identification classes, organizing a yearly fish count challenge, and many other activities throughout the year. They exhibit yearly at DEMA in Orlando as well, and can boast reaching their 100,000 fish survey entered into the database last year. The survey region is constantly expanding as dive shops enlist to become REEF "field stations" and obtain the material necessary to conduct their own fish id classes for divers and potential suveyors. There is no yearly membership fee or anything, all they ask is for any surveys you can do whether you live in Florida or only travel occasionally. I know I must sound like a walking ad for REEF, and perhaps it's because my internship there was the best time of my life. Not only did I get to do my favorite thing (dive), but I also knew that my time was really being put to good use and that I was making a difference in the Tropical Western Atlantic reef region. Anyways, you can learn more at www.reef.org. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. You can also email joe@reef.org if you would like more information on donations. You can donate as little or as much as you want- but know that any gift will help them provide survey materials to divers who learn to conduct the surveys and also help them with their operating expenses. Your donation is also tax-deductable.

 

[ippy01]

Greetings folks -

Our diving (my wife and I) has gotten to the place where we recognize the need to help preserve what is left of marine ecosystems, and heal those that are severely damaged. I suspect that, just as in any other sector, there are marine conservation organizations that are very efficient and beneficial in using their contributed funds, and then there are the others.

Where do (or would) your dollars go, and what reasoning or evidence do you use to support that?

Fantastic question. DiveDiva_Ashley's post is excellent -- she clearly has some passion for REEF. That sounds like a great option. I'd like to add my pitch for Mote Marine as I believe it is an outstanding organization with "real world" results to its name. As a long-time contributor/patron, i believe it is very well run. Here is their donation link:


http://www.mote.org/index.php?submenu=Donate&src=gendocs&link=Support&category=Membership

 

[drbill]

If you live in the High Desert of SoCal, I'd look closer to home for an appropriate organization (not that REEF or Mote Marine, located near my Mom's house in Sarasota FL, are not good ones).

 

[Oceana Diver]

Oceana is first and foremost an advocacy program using science generated by groups and institutions like REEF, MCBI, the National Undersea Research Program, NOAA and MMS to make real change to conserve, protect and restore living marine resources. In collaboration with organizations as diverse as smaller membership based groups like REEF and larger groups like the National Environmental Trust and The Ocean Conservancy, we focus exclusively on bringing about real goal-directed changes in the water in set time frames, usually within 3 to 5 years. In the slightly more than five years of our existence our North American, European and South American offices have led successful campaigns that have prohibited ballast water discharges in the Mediterranean, protected more than a million square miles of ocean floor from destructive bottom trawls, convinced congress to provide increased funding for fisheries observers and to mandate exploration for deep-sea corals and established a network of more than 250,000 Oceana WaveMakers to give a voice in improving ocean policy to scuba divers, sailors and others who love the ocean.

All of that being said; every ocean conservation entity I've mentioned, including Oceana (and probably some I didn't mention) deserve your support. We are a relatively small community of environmental activists trying to do an enormous job. Over 90% of all foundation money going to environmental groups goes to the 1/3 of the planet covered by land. All of us doing the work to protect the 2/3 covered by water need your help and the help of your friends with your donations and participation in our efforts. So, I'd encourage you to go on our website www.oceana.org and become a WaveMaker or visit the sites of some of the groups I've mentioned and become members of a couple of us. It will all be time and money well spent.

 

[DiveDiva_Ashley]

Honestly, you can't go wrong when you contribute to marine conservation as you will help preserve the reef that we dive and the ocean that surrounds us. Every diver should be thinking more about what we can do to keep the reef around for the next generation.
I do want to point out that though REEF is headquartered in Key Largo, Florida, REEF has an active citizen science diver monitoring program all along the west coast of the US and Canada, as well as down South through the Galapagos and in Hawaii (in addition to the Caribbean/Florida and East Coast regions). Over 10,000 volunteers from all over the world have contributed surveys to REEF- which amounts to over 4,000,000 fish sightings! This valuable scientific data is then presented to scientists, government agencies and conservation organizations to facilitate use of the data in research, resource management and public education. REEF fills in the gaps in data on distributions, abundances, and trends of marine organisms for large-scale monitoring initiatives. This data and data like this is the backbone of environmental awareness and helps us learn to better understand our planet and push for legislation that will help to preserve our oceans.
In addition to monitoring fish populations, REEF also conducts special projects that focus on other aspects of reef preservation. There is an invertebrate monitoring program, called the Living REEF Project, the Grouper Moon Project, the Exotic Species Sighting Program, and the Sea Turtle Sighting Program, among many, many others. A complete list of current projects can be viewed at: http://www.reef.org/data/projects.htm
But I agree with Oceana Diver in that all of these entities are deserving and really would benefit from your support. There is so much that must be done to help preserve our great oceans- so review the different groups out there and know that your contribution will not be wasted. Contributing to our planet's oceans is a very honorable thing and one that more divers should consider so that our children, grandchildren, and future descendants will be able to enjoy the reef as much as we have been able to during our lifetimes.

 

[drbill]

Many good suggestions. If you are in California's high desert, you might consider the Catalina Conservancy Divers (www.ccd.org) since they focus their efforts in SoCal. If you are in the high desert of Arizona, Nevada, Oregon or Washington (or worse!) I can't offer any help on local organizations.

 

[earthdive]

Hi, there is an organisation called www.earthdive.com. They don't want money, they just want your dive experiences. You can add your dive logs to a Global Dive Log online and the data is used by UNEP-WCMC to give our oceans a health check!

 

[stillhope]

Thanks for asking about marine conservation projects and offering me the chance to tell you about:
"SEA-Inside: Pacific Northwest" is a non-profit project and the PNW's ONLY underwater TV series <http://SEA-Inside.org>. For the last year this series has appeared on 12 public access stations from Seattle to Oceanside, and one station in Paris, France. The point of the show is to give the general public a chance to meet their underwater neighbors, a precursor to promoting better stewardship.

SEA-Inside: PNW not only features "cool dives" captured by diving videographers, but also underwater poetry, science, underwater photos, sculptures, etc. By mixing science with art, literature, and nature, the show aims to present broad spectrum views of the underwater world -- more of a real-life integrated whole than is portrayed by most nature shows. So it's not surprising that SEA-Inside: PNW has aired underwater videos promoting REEF and other research efforts.

SEA-Inside: PNW seeking donations and sponsorships (tax deductable) to continue it's work, and it's also seeking content. So any of you out there with West Coast underwater video, photos, or other art or poetry, please contact me. Submission guidelines are also published on the web site.

 

[Utila_ecology]

Please check out the website of a new Honduran registered NGO, http://www.utilaecology.org whose aim is to conduct and support applied marine research using a combination of academic scientists and volunteer data collection and then to use this information in the creation of innovative community education programmes and to support effective conservation strategies. They offer 2,4, or 8 week volunteer packages where participants are engaged in active research projects on coral reef health; fisheries populations; cetacean surveys; and terrestrial ecology. Volunteers also participate in community projects that UCME is undertaking at the time. Programmes start every 4 weeks throughout the year. This is fundamentally a highly focused research organisation and is looking for committed volunteers - minimum age 20 - to assist in data collection. Hope this helps.