NOAA's Reporter's Coral Reef Tip Sheet
June 9, 1997 - Week 23

Beginning on Oceans Day, scuba divers in Hawaii and Florida will join hundreds of other divers around the world for Reef Check 1997, the first global survey of coral reefs.  For the 11 weeks between June 14 and August 31, reef scientists will train and lead more than 100 teams of volunteer divers from 35 countries to measure the health of more than 300 coral reefs around the world.  The teams will perform one-day rapid surveys of reef sites using tried-and-true techniques, such as counting selected species of fish, coral and sea urchins, and measuring the amount of coral coverage -- dead and alive.

Kauai will be the first location in Hawaii for Reef Check 1997.  The first Hawaiian Reef Check dive will take place in the nearshore waters of Hanalei Bay, just in front of the Princeville Hotel. This site was selected due to its dynamic situation -- it is popular for snorkeling, subject to the output of a nearby river, next to a popular tourist beach, and the surrounding waters are popular for surfing and boating. The sponsoring organization for Kauai Reef Check is Save Our Seas.

While the Hanalei Bay Reef Check divers are in the water surveying the status of the Bay’s coral reefs, the Clean Oceans `97 Conference will be in full swing at the nearby Princeville Hotel. The Clean Oceans 1997 Conference will be held June 13-15 and will  feature Bobby Kennedy Jr., senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council.  The overall focus of the conference is The International Year of the Reef.  For more information about the Clean Oceans 1997 Conference, call 1-800-767-4101.

At the other end of the United States, volunteer divers will begin surveying the coral reefs in the Florida Keys.  Florida Reef Check dives will take place from June 14 to August 30, with one site surveyed each week.  A group of West Point Cadets will be one of the first Reef Check groups to dive in the Key Largo area.

STRI Mobile Reef Exhibit in Washington, DC

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's bilingual traveling coral reef exhibit "Nuestros Arrecifes/Unidos por el Caribe: Our Reefs/Caribbean Connections", will be on display in Washington, DC, at Union Station from June 18 - July 9, 1997.  Visit the exhibit between 8:OO a.m. - 5:OO p.m. weekdays at the train station.

The exhibition is expected to travel to Honduras in July and to Jamaica in late October.

For more information contact:

Georgina De Alba
email: DEALBAG@tivoli.si.edu
 
Upcoming Event

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Fisheries Working Group "Workshop on Reef-Destructive Fishing with a Focus on Cyanide and the Live Reef Fish Trade" will be convened in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico June 9, 1997.

For more information contact:

Coalter Lathrop
email: coalter.lathrop@noaa.gov

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE REEF PLEASE CONTACT:
 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON US REEF CHECK ACTIVITIES PLEASE CONTACT:
 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON REEF CHECK EVENTS AND DIVES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD PLEASE CONTACT: