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Reef Relief's goal is S.E.A. for C.P.R.
We focus on rigorous Science
to Educate the public
& Advocate policymakers to achieve
Conservation ,
Protection , and
Restoration of coral reefs.
To implement this new vision, the REEF RELIEF
Board developed objectives and strategies to meet the following goals:
Goals for the Fiscal Year (7/1/00 - 6/30/01)
The Reef Relief board of
directors held our annual advance in July,2000, at which time we
identified the following initiatives to be undertaken in the coming year:
Creation of the Key West Marine Park
In cooperation with the City of Key
West, Reef Relief will create a municipal underwater park with shoreline access
to a swimming area for a dive/snorkel experience in an area that excludes
motorized watercraft on the ocean side of the island of Key West from White
Street Pier to Duval Street. The city jurisdictional boundaries out to
600' will be established as a no-take zone to increase marine life populations
in these near shore waters. Buoys will mark the area. Up to two
access lanes will provide egress for existing water sports operators. The park
will become part of the Reef Relief's ongoing Coral Photo Monitoring Survey and
educational materials will be produced utilizing the results of the survey.
Initial surveys of the area indicate a wide variety of living corals and other
sea life, a fact largely undiscovered by most residents. For the past year, Keys
beaches have posted health advisories reflecting high fecal coliform counts due
to sewage leakages.
The City of Key West has adopted an aggressive program to upgrade sewage treatment and adopted a No Discharge Zone for boater sewage. Water quality around the island should improve. Reef Relief founder Craig Quirolo will provide a baseline study of the benthic communities both before and after creation of the park. We hope to document a return to a healthier, vital underwater habitat in the near-shore waters of Key West. We have already received the support of the mayor, the Key West Chamber of Commerce and the Innkeepers Association. Next, Craig will prepare a full color presentation on the project to be shown to interested parties, including the city commission, at which time we will seek a resolution of support. We are also applying for grants to secure funding for the project.
Coral Reef Conservation
Program
This multi-media
awareness campaign delivers basic information on coral reefs and why and how
they should be protected to a diverse audience. This year, the
Discover Coral Reefs School Program will be expanded to all 4th grade
students in the Florida Keys. The program begins with the Reef Relief
Teacher Kit, a video/talk at the Reef Relief Environmental Center and review of
our Coral Reef Guide for kids of all ages.
Next students experience a
narrated tour of the reef aboard a glass bottom boat. Our educators then
give a slide show entitled We All Live Downstream, the students review our
booklet entitled South Florida's Water Wonderland, and have a classroom
discussion of what we can each do. Programs for adults include our annual
Reef Awareness Week in July, online events, production and distribution of Reef
Line-the official newsletter of Reef Relief, and www.reefrelief.org,
the Reef Relief website, in addition to specific publications, papers,
brochures, posters, etc that address special issues. Our educators will
participate in numerous regional educator conferences and make literally dozens
of presentations to special groups throughout Florida, produce radio and
television public service announcements, and offer the College Internship
Program to two qualified candidates per year. All activities are based out
of the Reef Relief Environmental Center & Gift Shop, one of the only public
facilities in the world dedicated to protecting coral reefs. It features
continuous videos, educational materials and a small gift shop. Second
floor offices for Reef Relief staff and volunteers are donated by the City of
Key West.
The Clean Water
Campaign
works to improve water quality throughout Florida. Reef Relief will support
local efforts to plan and implement sewage infrastructure for the Florida Keys,
(especially Key Largo and Islamorada), encourage state and federal funding for
such improvements, and help guide state and federal policymaking regarding
the treatment of sewage in South Florida. The goal is to improve water quality
for coastal areas adjacent to coral reefs by upgrading the way sewage is
treated, including the need for nutrient-removal and reuse. Reef
Relief's Paul Johnson and DeeVon Quirolo will work directly with policymakers,
citizens, and media. This grassroots effort will enlist the Reef Relief
Grassroots Activists Network of volunteers, our e-alert list of interested
parties, and the support of
environmental coalitions.
Reef Relief's
International Projects
trains communities and
has launched coral reef protection programs in Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Mexico, Guanaja Bay Islands Honduras, and the Bahamas. In the coming year,
in cooperation with Friends of the Environment of Hope Town and the Bahamas
National Trust, we will help communities in the Abacos, Bahamas to strengthen
two marine protected areas-the Pelican Land & Sea Park and the Fowl Cay
Preserve, with additional reef mooring buoy installations, monitor the
recently-established coral nursery at No Name Cay, install demarcation buoys
around the two parks and provide educational materials that include charts of
the buoys, park regulations, and reef etiquette. Reef Relief will return to
Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras to work with the Guanaja
Tourism Association to restore the reef mooring buoy program there that has been
damaged by recent storms. We have obtained a donated boat engine and are seeking
a boat donation to provide to them in order to empower local divers there to
establish a regular maintenance program.
This broad agenda for the coming year will be supported through membership
contributions, grants and fundraising events. These plans are well thought out,
they build on past successes, and will result in measurable added protection for
coral reefs in South Florida, the Bahamas and around the world.
Programs to support these goals
will based on existing efforts including the
Coral Reef Conservation Program, the
Photo Monitoring Survey, the
Environmental Center &
Gift Shop,
International Projects, and fundraising efforts.
REEF RELIEF was founded in 1986 by charter boat skipper, Craig Quirolo, the current Director of Marine Projects. REEF RELIEF is a non-profit corporation, directed by a Board of Directors, a Citizen Advisory Board and a Scientific Advisory Board.
State of The Reef Address, 2000. By Craig Quirolo
Scientific Research and Monitoring: REEF RELIEF provides technical assistance to NOAA, EPA, and many other visiting scientists studying corals and water quality at Key West-area coral reefs.
This relatively easy-to-use, low-tech system to monitor coral reef growth, algal growth, and diseases afflicting corals gives extremely sophisticated and accurate results. The importance of this system can not be stated strongly enough. Craig discovered yellow band disease and has shared his data with several scientists studying coral diseases. Cores from corals infected with the disease have been sent to Dr. Debbie Santivay at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Gulf Breeze Laboratory to determine just what the disease is. On April 11, 1996, Craig was able to alert the scientific community of a browning of purple sea fans in reef areas just off Key West. Again, he provided video footage and data to experts, including Dr. Drew Harvell of Cornell University and Dr. Kio Kim of University of Buffalo, who are studying sea fans. They have discovered a fungus, aspergillus, attacking the sea fans. Usually this fungus is associated with soil, not salt water environments. In 1997, Craig first observed white plague type II, a fast growing coral disease that attacks the base of major coral heads and consumes all living tissue. He has also noted that white pox disease is attacking several different types of corals, including star corals (dicoena) earlier identified at Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary. This proliferation of diseases is not good, but at least scientists who usually only monitor coral reefs on a quarterly basis, are receiving regular episodic updates from REEF RELIEF.
REEF RELIEF IS A GRASSROOTS WATCH DOG THAT MONITORS FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL POLICIES AND PROGRAMS IMPACTING THE CORAL REEF. "REEF RELIEF endorses cooperative federal, state and local efforts to protect Florida's underwater environment. We are actively involved with community and government agencies and provide recommendations and information on public policy and oversight of threats to the reef".
In Florida Bay and in the newly established Everglades clean-up, we urge that both "clean-ups" be based on pure water. We urge -- at in-flow and out-flow areas where water is introduced by government agencies -- that all water be stripped of pollutants until it is nutrient free. The technologies is available. REEF RELIEF will applaud -- and encourage -- a cleaning program, based on clean water, for the Everglades, Florida Bay and North America's Living Coral Reef. Such a program will guarantee the future of these natural wonders for generations to come. For further information, or if you would like to help us in this mission, please write or call us.
"Nothing is isolated in this world. Everything is linked. Problems facing our coral reef, affect other coral reefs. Everything is part of the same puzzle. Not to recognize this is to limit true knowledge".
REEF RELIEF representatives participate in international forums and provide information and training to grassroots organizations and government agencies involved in protecting coral reefs world-wide.
Jamaica Reef Mooring Buoy Project
In November, 1991, REEF RELIEF members participated in a cooperative venture with the
Negril Coral Reef Foundation to install 35 reef mooring buoys to protect the reefs of
Negril, Jamaica.
A workshop on protecting Jamaica's coral reefs was held and included presentations from coral reef expert Dr. Thomas Goreau, fisheries expert Karl Aiken, eco-tourist authority Herb Hiller and others. In 1992, REEF RELIEF returned to help host a workshop on water quality issues that provided public input into the creation of a central sewage treatment plant for Negril. In 1993, REEF RELIEF returned to help train members of the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society to implement a patrol of their coral reefs. In 1994, REEF RELIEF founder, Craig Quirolo with volunteer engineer, Dave Cannella, conducted a preliminary survey of the actual length of Negril's famed 7 mile beach and planned the installation of a swimmer's lane of buoys to protect swimmers from boaters and jet skis. On August of that same year, Craig and Dave returned and taught local divers the art of mooring buoy installation and maintenance.
Currently the newly trained divers maintain the buoys and implement a patrol of the waterfront, modeled after REEF RELIEF's Reef Ranger Program.
It was estimated that 160 buoys, 100 augers and 60 U-Clips would be necessary to complete the project. In the end, 90 augers and 70 U-Clips were used. Craig designed a new U-Clip, a single hole U-Bolt, specifically for this project to be used in areas of hard bottom. The U-Clip design will be adopted for future use in reef mooring buoy installations, as it is less expensive and stronger than the traditional eye-bolt that has been in use for years. Dave Canella also devised a new method of setting the augers into the sand which proved a tremendous success.
The Negril Project created the longest and most comprehensive swimming lane in the Caribbean, insuring the safety of the swimmers in the area. It was also one of the first steps of a zoned management system for the Negril Marine Park. At the ribbon cutting ceremony November 2, 1995, attended by many high ranking Jamaican officials, Craig Quirolo and REEF RELIEF were honored for our efforts and presented with two awards.
The complete history and all information on the Negril mooring Buoy project are available in a report called " Protecting Jamaica's Coral Reef: Final Report of the Negril Reef Mooring Buoy Workshop and Installation" (see Printed Educational Materials). Since then, REEF RELIEF's Craig Quirolo has returned to Negril once again to help train Rangers to survey the shorelines of Bluefields, Ocho Rios and the South Coast of Jamaica so that similar reef mooring buoy and swimmer's lane projects can be implemented for these areas. In 1995 Quirolo returned to complete the swimmer's lane project for Negril.
See the Winter, 1998 Reef Line article on the Jamaica Project .
REEF RELIEF'S Efforts To Help Establish Grassroots Coral Reef Organizations, World-Wide
Grassroots organizations are an effective means to protect local environments, to educate,
and to monitor programs established by governments and big business. They are a way to voice
local concerns, so that different ways of life, traditional knowledge, and resources do not
get lost.
REEF RELIEF is happy to information share. In 1996, we helped Coralations, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Puerto Rico's coral reefs, get started by helping to organize a workshop in Puerto Rico on coral reef protection. Our educational materials are used (with proper credit going to REEF RELIEF for their use) as guidelines for their educational materials. We share with Coralations and many other community-based groups, our knowledge about our different activities (environmental education, grassroots organizing, reef mooring buoy programs, etc.), so they can take advantage of what we have done right, and avoid certain pitfalls they are sure to encounter along the way.
In this spirit, information sharing with community efforts from all over the world who desire to protect their coral reefs, are underway.
Photo Monitoring Coral Reefs and Information Sharing
Thanks to the photo monitoring system developed by REEF RELIEF'S founder and director of
marine projects, Craig Quirolo, islands and countries with limited budgets now have access
to a system they can afford that will enable them to monitor their reefs. The knowledge
gained from this system is invaluable. From data provided, the overall health of a reef
can be diagnosed. Trends can be projected, priorities can be set, and critical areas can
be targeted for protection. Just as important, information sharing with other areas can be
facilitated. This monitoring system is being offered to other areas in the Caribbean and
Pacific.
The headquarters for REEF RELIEF is the Reef Relief Environmental Center & Gift Shop
in Key West, located on a busy charter boat dock in Historic Old Town at 201 William
Street. The center features educational displays and information, continuous video, a
resource library, facilities for volunteers and staff, and coral reef gift shop.
It is also headquarters for all REEF RELIEF operations and is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.
The REEF RELIEF Center & Gift Shop is our opportunity to meet and talk with you. So come in and hang out as long as you like when you visit Key West, and tell your friends about us. The Environmental Center is staffed by REEF RELIEF's educational coordinator, Joel Biddle, and REEF RELIEF'S Gift Shop manager, Gerry Blount. Start-up costs were partially funded by a grant from the Elizabeth Ordway Dunn Foundation. Half of the rent for the location is donated by the City of Key West.
Reef Relief is guided and directed by a dedicated board of directors who are assisted by a small staff. (Hyper links on individual's full names will send direct email. Please direct all general inquiries here.)
Marci L. Rose, Esq. , President — Marci received her Juris Doctor from Capital University where she concentrated in environmental law. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1972 and is the Chairman of Clean Florida Keys.
Captain Victoria Impallomeni , Vice-President — A true Key West native and former President of Reef Relief's Board of Directors, Victoria is a marine biologist who has been a wilderness guide in Key West for the past twenty five years.
Secretary — (Position Vacant at present).
David Ethridge , Treasurer — David has been involved in Florida Keys publications for 23 years. While owner of Florida Keys Magazine, he published some of the first stories which addressed problems with near shore water quality. Currently, David is editor of Solares Hill. He has also served as President of the Key West Literary Seminar for the past eight years. He lives in Key West with his wife Iva Stanley. They have four sons.
Paul Johnson , Paul is an independent consultant specializing in marine and governmental affairs who resides near Tallahassee, Florida. Paul is also the Regional Director of Environmental Solutions International, Inc., of Washington, D.C. and has been a board member of Reef Relief since 1998.
Howard Fulton — Howard is an executive with American Express who was originally instrumental in the American Express campaign to donate two cents to Reef Relief every time the American Express Card is used in the Florida Keys.
Becky Roper Matkov — Becky has been involved in historic preservation for more than twenty years. She has served as President of the Junior League of Miami, Inc. and the Heritage Trust and for ten years was the manager of the Elizabeth Ordway Dunn Foundation.
Wendy Weir — Wendy has been active in the area of coral reef and tropical rainforest conservation for the past thirteen years. As co-founder of Coral Forest, a coral reef non-profit organization now merged with Reef Relief, she focused on the preservation of coral reefs around the world through education and grassroots action.
Bob Weir — A member of the legendary rock band the Grateful Dead, Bob is an active environmentalist and humanitarian. His primary areas of interest focus on the preservation coral reefs, tropical rainforests and temperate old growth forests.
Randall Hayes — Randy is an action-oriented organizer. He is founder and president of Rainforest Action Network. Randy is a leader in the efforts to halt destruction of tropical rainforests and to fight for the rights of indigenous people.
Dorothy Lee Witwer — Long-term advisor on non-profit affairs and a key supporter of Reef Relief.
Wayne Fox — Concerned conservationist and Key West charter boat captain who operates a circa 1800 replica of a Chesapeake Bay skipjack for educational tours of the backcountry.
Bob Soos — Business leader and diver, Bob manages radio stations US One Radio and ConchFM.
Citizen Advisory Board Members
Matt Babich
, Old Town Resorts
William Kemp
, Kemp & Green, CPA
Elliott Baron
, Mangia Mangia & Café Karumba
Clyde Hensley
, Traveler’s Palm Guesthouse
Buco Pantelis
, Waterfront Market
David Harrison Wright
, Designer, artist
George Witwer
, Key West Resident.
Mimi Stafford
, Key West Resident.
Jackie McCorkle
, Key West Resident.
Puksu Igualikinya
, Indigenous people’s representative/tribal
leader, Kuna Yala, Panama
Dr. Brian LaPointe, Brian has been involved in research on water quality in the Florida Keys for nearly twenty years. He is on the research staff of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and operates their laboratory on Big Pine Key. A specialist in eutrophication and algal impacts on coral reefs, Brian is recognized around the world for his expertise.
Harold Hudson,
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Restoration Biologist - We call him the "Reef Doctor."
Dr. James Porter,
University of Georgia, Dept. of Ecology.
Coral reef scientist USEPA Water Quality Protection Program FKNMS.
Dr. Drew Harvell,
Cornell University, Sect. Of Ecology.
We are working with Drew, studying <Aspergillosis> on sea fans.
Dr. Bill Alevizon, Fisheries expert and Marine Biologist.
Craig Quirolo — Founder, Director of Marine Projects.
DeeVon Quirolo — Executive Director.
Michael Blades — Project Coordinator.
Joel Biddle — Educational Coordinator.
Doris Palmer — Webmistress.
Tina Sullivan — Retail Assistant.
Renata Meador — Financial Manager.
Plus a great many fantastic interns and volunteers!
