Citizen Scientists Dive Into Reef Conservation

Reef Check Gala Oct. 2 Supports Local, Global Marine Monitoring Efforts

The Pacific Palisades coastline is world famous for beaches and scenery, but just offshore there is an underwater world that rivals Yosemite and Big Sur for beauty and biodiversity.

Unfortunately, the state’s growth in population, coastal development, pollution and fishing has placed increasing demands on these near-shore resources. Many organisms that were previously common in high numbers, such as abalone, are now almost gone in Southern California and fish abundance is down in the north.

Reef Check (now in 90 countries) was founded to train volunteers to track the health of coral reefs and the beautiful rocky reefs and kelp forests found in California. Calm, clear warm waters during the fall months allow Reef Check divers to complete most of the annual reef surveys used to track the condition of California’s reef ecosystems at 80 reefs from San Diego to Fort Bragg.

The data are analyzed and results are displayed online for the public and provided to the California Dept. of Fish & Wildlife to help better manage California’s network of over 130 new or modified Marine Protected Areas.

Palisadian Helen Brierley became a Reef Check board member to take an active role protecting the ocean she loves. An avid boater and scuba diver, Brierley has been volunteering with Reef Check for the last four years and understands the need for a lasting, global change.

“The work Reef Check is doing is critically important not just in California but worldwide as well. If we lose the reefs, we lose so much more,” she said. “The reefs are home to potential cures for diseases and who knows what could be lost with the reefs if they go. They are the rainforest of the sea. Losing them is like cutting down the Amazon. So much of the air we breathe comes from marine organisms. Essentially, if the reefs die, we die.”

Reef Check’s most recent report on California’s reef ecosystems showed just how low populations of some fish species had declined compared to the 1970s, but also indicated recovery of some species following the establishment of the marine parks during the past 15 years.

California has also implemented Marine Protected Areas, like underwater parks that allow marine life to grow undisturbed. Reef Check divers like Chris Glaeser, who grew up in Guam, work to survey the protected areas year after year to determine the effect of the MPAs on the total marine ecosystem.

“As a diver, I am seeing more and larger fish within the MPAs. So there is improvement. The effects of pollution, both plastic and airborne have a negative effect on the reefs and the message is getting out of the negative effects to the reefs,” Glaeser said, adding that Reef Check applauds the state’s efforts to curb pollution by eliminating the use of plastic bags.

However, there is still more work to be done and Reef Check is working to spread the word about the need for more volunteer divers to assist in collecting the data that is used by the California Fish and Wildlife and is made public through reefcheck.org.

Volunteer divers are also trained to identify, count and in some cases measure 70 key indicator species that include shellfish such as lobster and abalone, fish such as cabezon and kelp bass and the famous California algae, known as giant kelp. Reef Check trains 250 divers per year in California alone through its EcoDiver Training Courses that are offered throughout the summer in a half dozen coastal cities.

“By training volunteer scuba divers in marine biology and organizing reef surveys, we save taxpayers millions of dollars and provide an educational and fun experience,” said Reef Check Director Dr. Gregor Hodgson.

Reef Check’s annual benefit gala will be on Oct. 2 at the Jonathan Club in Santa Monica. The evening’s honorees include Julie Packard, marine biologist and executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium; Ed Begley Jr., actor, director and environmentalist; and volunteer diver David Horwich, who will receive the Citizen Scientist of the Year Award for his participation in the Reef Check California program since 2007.  

For more information on sponsorship and tickets, please visit reefcheck.org/events/gala2014 or call (310) 230-2371.