Make Yourself Count: A Volunteer Diver Conducting Her First Fish-Count Survey Should Think of It Like Going to a Party, Leda Cunningham Says.
By Kevin Wadlow, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon
Jun. 30–”There will be people there you don’t know,” said the executive director of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, “but the more time you spend with them, they become easier to recognize. You relax and have a good time.”
From REEF’s world headquarters in Key Largo, staff and volunteers are coordinating international events and activities for the 2007 Great Annual Fish Count.
Gary Davis, a scientist who organized the first Fish Count in 1992 in California’s Channel Islands National Park, will be in the Keys next weekend for an informal celebration of the 16th annual count.
Paul Humann, a noted marine photographer and trustee of the nonprofit REEF, also will lead fish-survey dives on the Keys reefs with a group from REEF’s Discovery Tour.
The Great Annual Fish Count has been renamed from the original Great American Fish Count, reflecting year-round survey activity that now extends beyond U.S. borders to the Caribbean and Canada.
With results from more than 105,000 volunteer surveys submitted since 1993, Cunningham said, one of the Fish Count’s most notable achievements has been “showing that people will do this, which is cool. It’s one of the real success stories of the citizen-science movement.”
Many professional biologists and academics initially were skeptical that a corps of volunteer recreational divers could compile a library of useful scientific information.
Now, those same professionals delve into Fish Count results.
Statistics compiled by REEF have been used in fish-population studies of marine-protected areas and artificial reefs, and in assessments of whether a particular species is being overfished. The National Marine Sanctuary Program is a major supporter.
“We have one of the most charismatic study subjects out there,” Cunningham said. “This is something that inspires passion in a lot of our volunteers and keeps them active in the sport.”
Previously, scientists relied on basic techniques to gauge fish populations. They totaled catch logs from commercial and recreational fishermen, or went fishing themselves.
“Now we don’t have to kill fish to count them,” Cunningham said.
Nearly 10,000 divers have contributed a Fish Count survey since 1993, with about half considered currently active in the effort. Divers can fill out survey information after attending a REEF fish-identification workshop.
About 2,000 survey forms arrive at REEF each month, where Field Operations Director Joe Cavanaugh logs the results into a database.
A handful of volunteers hold Golden Hamlet status after submitting more than 1,000 surveys.
“One of them lives in New York City, which means she has to make a real effort to go diving,” Cunningham said. “That’s the power of the program.”
REEF’s five-year assessment of fish life on the Spiegel Grove shipwreck will wrap up this year, and the group expects to be active in a similar effort when the Vandenberg is scuttled off Key West.
“Everybody wants to know about the effect of artificial reefs,” Cunningham said, “and the answer is: we don’t know yet.”
Shipwrecks and other artificial reefs do support a lot of fish, she said, but still unknown is whether the man-made habitats foster increased breeding and larger overall populations, or lure fish away from natural habitat.
REEF goals for the coming year include getting volunteers to submit their results on an online survey form, and enlisting more dive operators to participate as a REEF Field station by organizing survey dives.
Other Keys events are being planned for July, the peak month for Great Annual Fish Count activity. Details will be announced at the group’s Web sites at http://www.fishcount.org or http://www.reef.org.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon
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