oppertunistic observations

Protecting Marine Life Through Education, Service, and Research

REEF was founded in 1990, out of growing concern about the health of the marine environment, and the desire to provide the SCUBA diving community a way to contribute to the understanding and protection of marine populations. REEF achieves this goal primarily through its volunteer fish monitoring program, the REEF Fish Survey Project. Participants in the Project not only learn about the environment they are diving in, but they also produce valuable information. Scientists, marine park staff, and the general public use the data that are collected by REEF volunteers.

Mission

REEF conserves marine environments worldwide. Our mission is to protect biodiversity and ocean life by actively engaging and inspiring the public through citizen science, education, and partnerships with the scientific community.

Vision

REEF envisions divers and marine enthusiasts actively engaging in marine conservation. With knowledge, training and the opportunity to get involved, these marine citizen scientists make significant and ongoing contributions through REEF’s strategic partnerships with government agencies, science and academic institutions, the non-profit sector, and local communities. Divers and snorkelers are in a unique position to observe and document the many valuable and vulnerable living marine resources. They play an important role in bringing information to the surface that adds to the knowledge base of ocean ecosystems and facilitates informed decision-making. Through REEF’s efforts, marine citizen scientists impart an ethic of stewardship to current and future generations.

About us

Volunteers, researchers and scientists do a lot of field observations. Including these data into a global digital system creates a powerful tool for conservation, research, policy, experience and education. With Observation.org we want to offer a practical and useful, free tool for all field observers around the world to record and share their plant and animal sightings. Observation International focuses specifically on observers who attach importance to registering their observations in a politically independent manner. Observation International is a nonprofit organization without lucrative purpose. The main objective of International Observation is the optimum facilitation of observers in order to make their nature experience even more valuable. As a foundation, Observation International wishes to involve as many local communities as possible in its activities. Doing so, we respect the rights and achievements of these communities, observers and researchers.

Our commitment to you
The Foundation Observation International guarantees its users that the data entrusted to it:
• can be publicly consulted, unless decided otherwise by the observer, and taking into account the interests of biodiversity and nature protection (obscuration of certain data)
• while in legal review are under the ownership of the Foundation, the observer retains control over  her or his entrusted observations,
• are available for research, policy and study unless the observer has made a reservation,
• are not interpreted or adapted to serve private or governmental interests,
• can be consulted free of charge.

From us to you
With Observation.org we strive to:
• offer the registration of all species groups,
• have species lists for all regions worldwide,
• manage and guarantee a real-time system,
• implement species names in accordance with international standards,
• cooperate with local communities as much as possible, working in accordance with their wishes in regional pages,
• make available tools to add evidence, such as photos, movies, sounds, or descriptions,
• generate data of the highest possible quality, using automated and / or manual validation.

Global tools for birders, critical data for science

• Record the birds you see
• Keep track of your bird lists
• Explore dynamic maps and graphs
• Share your sightings and join the eBird community
• Contribute to science and conservation

Overview

A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales.

eBird’s goal is to maximize the utility and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers. It is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence. For example, in May 2015, participants reported more than 9.5 million bird observations across the world!

The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network of eBird users. eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond.