REEF CHECK - A GLOBAL VOLUNTEER MONITORING PROGRAMME TO HELP SAVE THE REEFS. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT. - To participate in Reef Check in the BVI click here. WHAT IS REEF CHECK? Reef Check is designed to meet the needs for a simple rapid monitoring protocol that can be used to measure the health of coral reefs globally. Reef Check International was set up in 1996 and has been very successful. Now over 50 countries are involved and over a thousand reefs a year are being monitored. Reef Check also helps raise public awareness about the value of reefs, threats to their health and solutions to these problems.  Ultimately, Reef Check aims to provide local communities with the tools to manage their own reefs. GOALS OF REEF CHECK Education - achieved by training Government staff, volunteers and NGO's in coral reef monitoring.   Monitoring  - provides data for the annual global reports and assists management.  Publicity -  focuses attention on the plight of coral reefs. Annual results are published by media such as CNN and BBC and major newspapers. Locally Reef Check has helped to bring the attention of governments to the plight of their coral reef ecosystems. REEF CHECK IS FUN - JOIN A TEAM OR START IT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Click here to find out about Reef Check BVI. Go to the Reef Check website to learn more about protocol. Call ARK for assistance and advice if you wish to start Reef Check in your Caribbean home island.  In the BVI teams have included volunteer sport divers, tourists, scientists, charter boat operators, dive instructors and members of National Parks Trust and Conservation and Fisheries.  You can be a part of Reef Check BVI, whether you live here or are just visiting. You can view the reef check methods online. The data analysis and submission forms are also available here. Dive surveys take place between June and August, so let us know if you would like to participate next year.  A marine biologist trains each team in the simple monitoring methods and then leads the surveys. The methods are easy to learn, and training and surveys rapid, so participants have a lot of fun while collecting valuable scientific data. The surveys are based on counting easy-to-identify, global and regional reef health indicators such as live coral, grouper, lobster. A basic analysis package is provided so that each team can interpret its own results. In addition all data are sent to headquarters for inclusion in the global coral reef status report published with Reef Checks partner, GCRMN  (Global Coral Reef Monitoring network). REEF CHECK PRODUCES RESULTS. In 1998 and 2005 Reef Check documented unprecedented coral bleaching events that damaged reefs around the world. Reef Corals are sensitive indicators of climate change. If predictions of global warming are correct then coral reefs are seriously threatened. Overfishing: Reef Check results showed that overfishing has reduced high-value reef species to dangerously low levels on a global scale. For example not one grouper was recorded at about 50% of reefs surveyed. The same was found for most high value species including lobster in the Caribbean.