REEF members are at the heart of our grassroots marine conservation programs. Over 50,000 divers, snorkelers, students, and armchair naturalists stand behind our mission.

This month we highlight Janet Eyre. Janet has been a REEF member since 2002, and has conducted 1,125 surveys. She is on the Advanced Assessment Team as an Expert Surveyor in four of REEF’s regions! Janet happily describes herself as a true fish nerd, and she has taken a lead role in assisting with REEF’s expansions to the tropical western Pacific. Here's what Janet had to say about REEF:

When and how did you first volunteer with REEF or become a REEF member?

A letter from REEF in 2001 was my first exposure to the organization. The letter mentioned the Advanced Assessment Team (AAT) Expert Surveyor program and I remember thinking “wow, that would be cool to dive, count fish, AND do something good for the planet all at the same time.” So, on my next dive trips to the Caribbean in 2002 and 2003, with Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas in hand, I started doing REEF surveys. On my first REEF Field Survey Trip, to Belize in 2003, I tested into the Caribbean AAT. I also started doing surveys in Hawaii, and ended up as an Expert AAT surveyor there in 2004. I have conducted the majority of my surveys on the Kona Coast of the Big Island (Hawaii) where I am lucky to be able to dive with a group of like-minded friends and professionals at Jack’s Diving Locker. We all love diving deep as well as bobbing around in the surge zone in the search for as many species as possible on every dive.

Do you have a favorite REEF highlight or experience to share?

Even before REEF officially started the Survey Project in the South Pacific, I had been sending in the species lists from my Pacific trips. Now that the South Pacific is a “REEF Zone,” I have attained the top surveyor status in that region. The highlight of my REEF survey “career” came on the Field Survey Trip to Fiji in May 2013 when I counted 233 species on one dive! What a rush that was! It was also on that trip that I did my 1,000th REEF survey, so it was a double- milestone trip.

What inspires you to complete REEF surveys?

I come by my “fish nerdiness” honestly – my parents and grandparents were all birders. I never got into that, but once I started diving I was fascinated by identifying the fish, which I realize is basically underwater birding. I can (and do) spend hours just “reading” fish ID books.

Surveying for REEF is a passion for me because it satisfies me on several different fronts – (1) challenging me to find as many fish on a dive as I can, (2) giving me a reason and the means to learn to identify more fish, (3) doing something good for the planet, and (4) making each and every dive a new adventure (which gets harder and harder to do after 1,700 dives).

Do you have a favorite fish find or a fish quest?

One of my favorite fish is the Mandarinfish – its color pattern is just so incredible and gorgeous! I get a total charge out of seeing any “new-to-me” species but there are some fish I really would like to see – Psychedelic Frogfish, Gurnard Lionfish, Helfrich’s Dartfish, and Mola Mola (Sunfish) are at the top of that list.