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The REEF Fish Survey Project is an ongoing project that enlists trained volunteer divers to collect and report information on local marine fish populations. The divers utilize the Roving Diver Technique (RDT), which is a visual survey method where the divers swim freely throughout a dive site and record on a slate all the fish species they observe on that dive. The count begins as soon as the diver enters the water and as the goal is to identify as many species as possible, divers are encouraged to search under ledges and throughout the water column. After the dive the divers record on a REEF designated scantron the fish species they observed and basic information about the dive site location. The scantrons are submitted to the REEF headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and put into a national database, from which reports are generated on species distribution and population trends, for a specific reef or large geographic regions.

The Fish Survey project began in 1990 and has been highly successful, meeting four major objectives designated by REEF which include:

1) The ability to collect large quantities of presence/absence and relative abundance data.

2) Indication of species distribution throughout a geographical area based on sighting frequency and abundance.

3) Specific species presence/absence and abundance lists may be presented for any given region, subregion, zone or site

4) Measures of similarity in species composition may be computed between any combination of geographical areas.

Here at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) REEF surveys are completed on a regular basis. To date 1,151 REEF surveys have been conducted throughout the CINMS, totaling up to 770 hours of underwater observation! In this time over 123 species have been identified at 89 separate sites in the sanctuary. One of the more recent surveys was a multi day trip aboard the Shearwater to the Channel Islands. From May 5-8 six REEF divers spent many hours underwater identifying and counting fish. In the end they had completed 69 surveys at eight separate dive sites and identified 42 fish species. These eight sites were chosen specifically as part of a field design with the purpose of assisting the CINMS and California Fish and Game in evaluating the marine reserves and providing an in depth inventory of near shore fish. The sites take into account areas inside and outside the protected reserves so as to allow a comparison between species numbers and diversity in the protected and unprotected regions. While eight sites were visited on this trip, there are twenty additional sites that will be visited in the near future to further evaluate the marine reserves.