Pattengill-Semmens, C.

REEF Education Enhancement Program, "Final Progress Report to the NOAA General Coral Reef Conservation Program NOAA Award NA04NMF4630333"

2007

The REEF Education Enhancement Program project funded by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) focuses on education and outreach activities within the REEF Fish Survey Project, an ongoing citizen science project that enables divers and snorkelers to document marine life populations throughout the tropical western Atlantic, coastal North America, tropical eastern Pacific and Hawaii. Through CRCP support to enhance existing programs and to develop innovative new components, we aim to increase the Fish Survey Projects educational scope through the development of lesson plans and an online educator portal, improvement of training materials, support of event-based activities to increase participation in REEFs programs and enhancement of data access tools. The result will be the strengthening of an already successful citizen science program, including increased use and utility of REEF data. This will lead to a better understanding of region-wide fish distributions as well as strong public support for conservation and effective management strategies.

FY2004 CRCP Project ID 1413; Project Title: General Coral Conservation Grants; Principal Investigator: Andy Bruckner