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 Joe Gaydos, Ph.D., an avid REEF volunteer in Washington State and Director of the SeaDoc Society (a REEF Field Station). Joe has been a REEF member since 2003 and has conducted 120 surveys. He is a member of the PAC Advanced Assessment Team, and Joe was instrumental in initiating the AAT San Juan Islands Annual REEF Monitoring Project that kicked off this summer (see story in this enews issue). Here's what Joe had to say about REEF:

How are you involved as a REEF member?

I conducted my first REEF survey in Washington State in 2003, and have been doing them ever since. In addition, the program I run, the SeaDoc Society, is a REEF Field Station. We’ve hosted numerous fish and invertebrate identification classes and multiple Great Annual Fish Count dives, but I’m most excited about our new monitoring program collaboration. We’ve partnered with REEF to have Advanced Assessment Team Divers come to the San Juan Islands for annual week-long survey trips. We expect that over the next 8-10 years these data will help us understand long-term sub-tidal changes in the ecosystem.

What inspires you to complete REEF surveys? What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned doing a REEF fish survey?

I live and dive in the Salish Sea, a 17,000 square kilometer inland sea shared by Washington and British Columbia. The data collected by REEF volunteers are valuable to the managers in the region who are working to recovery declining species like Northern Abalone and Rockfish. I love being able to collect data that is meaningful.

In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of REEF’s projects and programs?

As a scientist, I love that the REEF data are collected in a way that is scientifically rigorous. Volunteers are trained and their level reflects their training and experience. Also, it is great that the data are collected and stored in a way that they will always be available for evaluation – even decades from now. This is citizen-science at its finest.

Where is your favorite place to dive?

My favorite place to dive is about 2 miles from my house. It’s a high current area split by an island so you get the benefits of seeing all of the invertebrates that flourish in the current, but you can always dive on one side of the island or the other. The site is familiar, but strikingly beautiful and I always find something new. The water is cold here and people generally expect everything to be dull and they are amazed to see videos or stills of colorful invertebrates and fishes.

Is there a fish (or marine invertebrate) you haven’t seen yet diving, but would like to?

Here, most everybody wants to see a Giant Pacific Octopus – 150 lbs, 2,240 suckers (unless it’s a male, then they only have 2,060) – what’s not to love. But me, I still want to see a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker. They’re only the size of a golf ball, but dang are they cute. When is Disney going to make a movie starring one of them?! Maybe this year.