Thanks to support from the SeaDoc Society (http://www.seadocsociety.org), REEF has initiated a multi-year monitoring project around the San Juan Islands in Washington State. The goal of the 10-year project is to identify changes in sub-tidal fish and invertebrate communities. The project will use recreational SCUBA divers from REEF's Pacific Advanced Assessment Team (Level 4 and 5 Expert surveyors), conducting about 100 REEF surveys each Fall. The project kicked off in September, with a team of 18 enthusiastic surveyors diving in the cold (49-degree!) but beautiful waters around the San Juan Islands. Data from this long-term project will be used by SeaDoc and other researchers over the coming years to see how well efforts to restore the Salish Sea ecosystem are working. A major mortality event among sunflower sea stars in the region was coincident with this year's monitoring effort. The team was able to provide valuable information to collaborating scientists from Cornell University and Wildlife Conservation Society on sightings of healthy and sick sea stars.
The SeaDoc Society is a program of the Wildlife Health Center at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. It was founded in 1990, and strives to find science-based solutions for marine wildlife in the Salish Sea using a multi-species approach. Dr. Joe Gaydos (see REEF Member Spotlight in this enews issue) is SeaDoc's Director and Chief Scientist. We extend a big thanks to Joe and all of the SeaDoc Society supporters for making this important long-term project possible. We also greatly appreciate the Friday Harbor Laboratory and Bandito Charters for their logistical support