MEDIA CONTACTS:                         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lori Arguelles                          May 30, 1997
Matt Stout

(Houston, TX) -- Touting their passion for the marine environment, members of the award-winning country music band "Little Texas" today challenged divers and snorkelers to actively take part in marine awareness and protection programs -- including the Great American Fish Count. The band issued the challenge as they prepared to perform a benefit concert for the marine environment tonight at Seaspace, the largest consumer dive show in North America.

"1997 is a landmark year for our marine environment," said Tim Rushlow, lead singer for Little Texas. "This is the International Year of the Coral Reef, the 25th Anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuary Program, and the first time the Great American Fish Count will take place on a national scale."

The Great American Fish Count is fast becoming the underwater equivalent to the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Like its avian counterpart, the annual fish census provides ongoing documentation of fish diversity and population trends. Each year an ever-growing number of volunteer divers and snorkelers participate in the event after receiving training in an easy-to-learn survey method developed by fish ecologists.

The event will take place July 1-July 14 in four National Marine Sanctuary communities around the country, including the Flower Garden Banks off the coast of Texas, the Florida Keys, the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara in southern California, and Monterey Bay off the coast of northern California.

"We're here today to challenge the divers of the great state of Texas to get in the water and count fish," Rushlow continued. "When God Blessed Texas' he also blessed the waters with a great diversity of fish species and a beautiful coral reef. It's up to all of us to make sure that the fish, and the coral reefs which they call home, stay healthy."

"We do not know as much about the health and population trends of the fish species and coral reefs in the Flower Gardens as we need to," said Sanctuary Manager Steve Gittings. "That is why volunteer fish surveying activities like the Great American Fish Count and other monitoring efforts are so important to us."

The Great American Fish Count was started in 1992 in southern California as a way to encourage divers to report fish sightings. Year-round fish-sighting activities are conducted by the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, which will coordinate the data-gathering efforts of the Great American Fish Count and make the information available to scientists.

Divers who wish to participate in Great American Fish Count activities must receive training in fish identification and survey methods. Two seminars will be held in Houston Saturday, June 14, 1:00-4:00, at the northwest store of Sea Sport Scuba, 9564 FM 1960 West; and Saturday, June 21, 9:00-12:00, at the southwest store of Sea Sport Scuba, 9301 Bissonet, Suite 190. For a nominal fee, divers will receive the training, the necessary survey materials and a national Great American Fish Count t-shirt. To sign up for either seminar, call Christy Pattengill or Shelly Dupuy at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary at (409) 779-2705.

The Great American Fish Count is a cooperative effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program, and three non-profit organizations including REEF: The Reef Environmental Education Foundation, The Marine Conservation Network, and the American Oceans Campaign.

"Our passion for the marine environment was sparked in part by a dive which three of our band members made last year in the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary," said Little Texas' Rushlow. "They also learned the REEF fish survey and identification methods. Thanks to these experiences, it will be impossible to ever have a boring dive!"

Tonight's performance, "A Big Time with Little Texas," is part of the band's ongoing commitment to marine education and awareness. Proceeds from the concert will be given to three non-profit marine organizations that include REEF, the Flower Gardens Sanctuary Fund of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, and the Seaspace scholarship fund.

Tickets for the Little Texas performance are $20 and are available by calling the Seaspace information line at (713) 467-6675.

For more information on Great American Fish Count activities contact:

South Atlantic and Gulf Coast                     West Coast
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)    Marine Conservation Network 
P.O. Box 246                                      P.O. Box 1854
Key Largo, FL 33037                               Danville, CA 94526
(305) 451-0312                                    (510) 838-2544
e-mail: REEF003@aol.com                           e-mail:MCNFISH@aol.com

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