Howdy!
I've mixed up my "days," I'm not sure what to do now... so I'll say that on Thursday we had dives number three and four.
Here are pictures from yesterday that I didn't get to upload:
Breakfast, gear loaded, and we headed off of campus. We went back to the Department of Agriculture, where we visited on Tuesday.
We met with Suzanne and Brent again, to hear more details on the critically endangered bird species and problems in coral reefs with military build up, which is only too common.
Suzanne elaborated on the critical level of the ko'ko' (rail) population. It makes me sad to hear about their troubles. IIn 1984, 21 birds were captured and placed in a captive breeding recovery program. It wasn't until 1997 that 100 chicks successfully hatched and the program was really under way. I think it's hilarious how human-like the ko'ko' are in personality. They are so similar to humans! For example, they are
very picky about who they want to mate with, and they are extremely clean creatures. If a male kills his mate or parents kill their young, they will carry the dead bird to the opening of their cage and present it to their human caretaker. Creepy...
Currently, there are 140 rails on Guam and 35 on the mainland, with some in Chicago yeah!
We learned more about the sihek (kingfisher) birds. Brookfield zoo also has some of these guys, yeah! This is the first year that the Dept. of Agriculture has a significant number of catched chicks. When interfering with the breeding process, the scientists in the captivity program discovered the problem: sihek parents do everything correct when caring for their young, expet for when it comes to feeding the young. They feed themselves when they are hungry just fine, but they do not provide food for their children. It's very sad.
Another bird we learnd about is the aga, or island crow. This is a sad story: scientists were finally able to assist successful breeding and the population numbers were increasing. They introduced the birds cautiously into the wild, a "soft release," and even designed intricate electric fence traps on the trunks of some trees with aga nests. This is meant to ward off the birds' most threatening predator, the brown tree snake. (Suzanne admits, they also find dead geckos :[ ). However, in a recent expedition, scientists found only two males alive in the wild. The reason for the bird disappearances is unknown. However, there speculations into whether ignorant people with shot guns had anything to do with the disappearances, perhaps people thinking the birds are a nuisance. So sad.
Brent told us about the MPA's (Marine Protected Areas) on the island. There are four currently, and they are important because you are limited as to what you are allowed to fish for or touch in these areas. There is a big disagreement going on between the environmental advocates and the military officials when it comes to coral reef--and other natural habitat--destruction. The military is often dredging the bottom of the ocean and destructing the coral reef, and the environmental advocates at least demand compensation. Right now plans are underway to dredge part of Apra Harbor. (Incidentally, exactly where we swam later in the day) The military is restoring wetlands in other parts of the island as compensation, but I find this a sad trade off. This is the first time compensation has resulted on public lands rather than on military training lands. I guess that is a plus?
Brent also told us about an illegal sea cucumber farming operation that was caught on Wednesday. Wow! I felt in the heat of the action. People are allowed to farm 100 sea cucumbers per person per day. However, this residence had four individuals and 11,000 sea cucumbers. Um, not okay. Furthermore, you are not allowed to export sea cucumbers, which is a common item in China for consumption. One of the residents is a Chinese woman, who apparently does not speak English... And the residents swear that the cucumbers are meant for a church function. Yeah, right. Not ok!
I was very cold from the A.C. and happy to step out in the ridiculous humidity after our lecture. We headed to the dock, ate some grub, and hopped on our dive boat.
I was partnered with Christine this dive. We were finally doing some work: it was our job, in three separate groups, to lay transect lines underwater and count invertebrate and fish indicator species.
We prepared charts on waterproof paper on slates and jumped in the water. I had my air turned on this time :). We were diving in the open ocean, outside of the harbor. I wondered if this meant different creatures to see...
My group (four of us) were instructed to go to 40', vs. the other groups at 20' and 30'. This means that we were taking on more nitrogen and had to be extra cautious about ascending slowly and waiting before the next dive. At around 40' depth, we held the transect tape end and Kirby and Sabrina swam off about 240 degrees. The current was particularly strong here, because we were on the edge of the drop off (like from Finding Nemo!). If I stayed perfectly still, I started drifting quickly away from the boat. Swimming at a moderate level of exertion into the current, I remained suspended above the same spot of reef. Eek! Breathing, therefore, was laborious and we had to make a point of watching our air levels often. Luckily, I must have small lungs, and I tend to sip air rather than gulp it.
Christine and I took off to count fishies after a few minutes. We passed Kirby and Sabrina, then turned around at the end of the 100 meters and counted invertebrates. When Kirby approached me, she indicated that she wanted to say something and wrote on her slate that the depth goes further than 50 feet, be careful. We were instructed to go no deeper than 50 feet, so this was a problem...
Indicator species I noted on dive three include: parrotfish (which are beautifully colorful, like a parrot of the sea!), sweetlips, and some kind of sea wrasse; inverts include sea cucumbers and long-spined urchins. Of course, I saw plenty of other creatures, but they were not listed on our indicator species lists, so I did not include them in the data. I just admired them personally :). Some of the fishies are so tiny! And I think to myself "that is definitely my favorite!" about every 20 seconds. I guess they're all my favorite!
Occasionally I dive vertically downward to look under coral that is sticking out, or into a hole. I just can't seem to find the scary stuff though.
At the end of the transect, it was Christine and my job to pick up the end and swim it back to the other two. We took off and met up with them eventually. However, the transect tape was terribly twisted and caught, and the more Kirby wheeled it in, the worse it got. It was hard to maneuver underwater, with the current, our slates, limited vision, and the tape, and having to check air level constantly. Kirby handed me her slate so she could try to untangle the tape mess, then Sabrina took it, then Christine, then me. With two slates and the tape measure, I tried to not accidentally float to the surface and get an air embolism. At one point I started floating up (and once you pop you just can't stop!), but Christine grabbed my B.C. and pulled me back down, phew! Kirby took her slate back and I wrapped the remaining length of the tape measure around the device for now, planning to untangle it as soon as we got back on the boat. We swam towards the boat a bit and approached 15' depth slowly for a 5 minute safety stop (to allow the nitrogen to off gas from inside our bodies).
Resurfacing, I announced that we had a wee little bit of a problem... then I held up the tangled mess of a tape measure for everyone to see, and most people laughed. It was ridiculous. Out of the water, Christine and I finally untangled it after maybe 20 minutes. Ugh. We also went deeper than 50 feet. I went down to 51' max, Kirby went the deepest to 55'. O
h well! Hehe.
Second dive, our group of four was assigned to 20 feet. Yay! We descended over a HUGE anchor sitting on the ocean floor. This time Christine and I swam the transect line out. I pulled it out and Christine made sure the line fell into a safe place on the reef in a straight line. Looking back occasionally, I would find that the current had led me wayyy off course and I was accidentally curving the line. Whoops! But we laid it successfully and began our invertebrate count, followed by the fish count. Then I wheeled the tape measure back in, correcting the twist that was around the 100 meter mark (the end) and wheeling the entire thing in without a problem. I have experience with tape measures, from when I was a gymnast, laying them out on the vault runway. I guess gymnastics taught me something useful.
At the end of our transect, there were a bunch of other divers nearby and we joined up with them to swim around and look for cool stuff at about 20ft. to 30ft. depth. Sabrina and Kirby saw a baby moray eel (jealous!) and the two Dans saw an octopus who was trying to blend into their surroundings (super jealous!!!). I saw a lion fish that Kirby pointed out to me under a big hunk of coral. Sick! We were wrecking havoc in the wreck. Chyeah.
Christine and I played a hand game underwater while we were off gassing. I did a backflip or two as well.
Back on the boat, we stood out front on the way back to air out a bit. It didn't downpour on us until we were all safely back in the vans and on our way home. Nice!
We showered in a group and headed to dinner, to a nice restaurant. I ordered a pan seared fish appetizer as a meal and it never came, so I ended up eating after everyone. Otherwise dinner was a ton of fun! Some people ordered parrotfish and it came as a whole, entire parrotfish just sitting curled up on the plate. Whoa. It was surreal to see thi
s feat cooked up, after having just seen a bunch swimming around in the water alive. It didn't really bother me so much as make me look different at the prepared fish. Tasted great though!
Some of us felt light headed and sleepy. We blamed the lighting, but perhaps it was from all the diving. We're all okay, but it was weird. I was definitely feeling a bit loopy. Hmm... nitrogen narcosis on land? Idk.
After dinner I was exhausted. We bought groceries then made our way back to the dorms and passed out. Ahhhhhh that feels good. :) Later, B
I've mixed up my "days," I'm not sure what to do now... so I'll say that on Thursday we had dives number three and four.
Here are pictures from yesterday that I didn't get to upload:
Breakfast, gear loaded, and we headed off of campus. We went back to the Department of Agriculture, where we visited on Tuesday.
We met with Suzanne and Brent again, to hear more details on the critically endangered bird species and problems in coral reefs with military build up, which is only too common.
Suzanne elaborated on the critical level of the ko'ko' (rail) population. It makes me sad to hear about their troubles. IIn 1984, 21 birds were captured and placed in a captive breeding recovery program. It wasn't until 1997 that 100 chicks successfully hatched and the program was really under way. I think it's hilarious how human-like the ko'ko' are in personality. They are so similar to humans! For example, they are
very picky about who they want to mate with, and they are extremely clean creatures. If a male kills his mate or parents kill their young, they will carry the dead bird to the opening of their cage and present it to their human caretaker. Creepy...Currently, there are 140 rails on Guam and 35 on the mainland, with some in Chicago yeah!
We learned more about the sihek (kingfisher) birds. Brookfield zoo also has some of these guys, yeah! This is the first year that the Dept. of Agriculture has a significant number of catched chicks. When interfering with the breeding process, the scientists in the captivity program discovered the problem: sihek parents do everything correct when caring for their young, expet for when it comes to feeding the young. They feed themselves when they are hungry just fine, but they do not provide food for their children. It's very sad.
Another bird we learnd about is the aga, or island crow. This is a sad story: scientists were finally able to assist successful breeding and the population numbers were increasing. They introduced the birds cautiously into the wild, a "soft release," and even designed intricate electric fence traps on the trunks of some trees with aga nests. This is meant to ward off the birds' most threatening predator, the brown tree snake. (Suzanne admits, they also find dead geckos :[ ). However, in a recent expedition, scientists found only two males alive in the wild. The reason for the bird disappearances is unknown. However, there speculations into whether ignorant people with shot guns had anything to do with the disappearances, perhaps people thinking the birds are a nuisance. So sad.
Brent told us about the MPA's (Marine Protected Areas) on the island. There are four currently, and they are important because you are limited as to what you are allowed to fish for or touch in these areas. There is a big disagreement going on between the environmental advocates and the military officials when it comes to coral reef--and other natural habitat--destruction. The military is often dredging the bottom of the ocean and destructing the coral reef, and the environmental advocates at least demand compensation. Right now plans are underway to dredge part of Apra Harbor. (Incidentally, exactly where we swam later in the day) The military is restoring wetlands in other parts of the island as compensation, but I find this a sad trade off. This is the first time compensation has resulted on public lands rather than on military training lands. I guess that is a plus?
Brent also told us about an illegal sea cucumber farming operation that was caught on Wednesday. Wow! I felt in the heat of the action. People are allowed to farm 100 sea cucumbers per person per day. However, this residence had four individuals and 11,000 sea cucumbers. Um, not okay. Furthermore, you are not allowed to export sea cucumbers, which is a common item in China for consumption. One of the residents is a Chinese woman, who apparently does not speak English... And the residents swear that the cucumbers are meant for a church function. Yeah, right. Not ok!
I was very cold from the A.C. and happy to step out in the ridiculous humidity after our lecture. We headed to the dock, ate some grub, and hopped on our dive boat.
I was partnered with Christine this dive. We were finally doing some work: it was our job, in three separate groups, to lay transect lines underwater and count invertebrate and fish indicator species.
We prepared charts on waterproof paper on slates and jumped in the water. I had my air turned on this time :). We were diving in the open ocean, outside of the harbor. I wondered if this meant different creatures to see...
My group (four of us) were instructed to go to 40', vs. the other groups at 20' and 30'. This means that we were taking on more nitrogen and had to be extra cautious about ascending slowly and waiting before the next dive. At around 40' depth, we held the transect tape end and Kirby and Sabrina swam off about 240 degrees. The current was particularly strong here, because we were on the edge of the drop off (like from Finding Nemo!). If I stayed perfectly still, I started drifting quickly away from the boat. Swimming at a moderate level of exertion into the current, I remained suspended above the same spot of reef. Eek! Breathing, therefore, was laborious and we had to make a point of watching our air levels often. Luckily, I must have small lungs, and I tend to sip air rather than gulp it.
Christine and I took off to count fishies after a few minutes. We passed Kirby and Sabrina, then turned around at the end of the 100 meters and counted invertebrates. When Kirby approached me, she indicated that she wanted to say something and wrote on her slate that the depth goes further than 50 feet, be careful. We were instructed to go no deeper than 50 feet, so this was a problem...
Indicator species I noted on dive three include: parrotfish (which are beautifully colorful, like a parrot of the sea!), sweetlips, and some kind of sea wrasse; inverts include sea cucumbers and long-spined urchins. Of course, I saw plenty of other creatures, but they were not listed on our indicator species lists, so I did not include them in the data. I just admired them personally :). Some of the fishies are so tiny! And I think to myself "that is definitely my favorite!" about every 20 seconds. I guess they're all my favorite!
Occasionally I dive vertically downward to look under coral that is sticking out, or into a hole. I just can't seem to find the scary stuff though.
At the end of the transect, it was Christine and my job to pick up the end and swim it back to the other two. We took off and met up with them eventually. However, the transect tape was terribly twisted and caught, and the more Kirby wheeled it in, the worse it got. It was hard to maneuver underwater, with the current, our slates, limited vision, and the tape, and having to check air level constantly. Kirby handed me her slate so she could try to untangle the tape mess, then Sabrina took it, then Christine, then me. With two slates and the tape measure, I tried to not accidentally float to the surface and get an air embolism. At one point I started floating up (and once you pop you just can't stop!), but Christine grabbed my B.C. and pulled me back down, phew! Kirby took her slate back and I wrapped the remaining length of the tape measure around the device for now, planning to untangle it as soon as we got back on the boat. We swam towards the boat a bit and approached 15' depth slowly for a 5 minute safety stop (to allow the nitrogen to off gas from inside our bodies).
Resurfacing, I announced that we had a wee little bit of a problem... then I held up the tangled mess of a tape measure for everyone to see, and most people laughed. It was ridiculous. Out of the water, Christine and I finally untangled it after maybe 20 minutes. Ugh. We also went deeper than 50 feet. I went down to 51' max, Kirby went the deepest to 55'. O
h well! Hehe.Second dive, our group of four was assigned to 20 feet. Yay! We descended over a HUGE anchor sitting on the ocean floor. This time Christine and I swam the transect line out. I pulled it out and Christine made sure the line fell into a safe place on the reef in a straight line. Looking back occasionally, I would find that the current had led me wayyy off course and I was accidentally curving the line. Whoops! But we laid it successfully and began our invertebrate count, followed by the fish count. Then I wheeled the tape measure back in, correcting the twist that was around the 100 meter mark (the end) and wheeling the entire thing in without a problem. I have experience with tape measures, from when I was a gymnast, laying them out on the vault runway. I guess gymnastics taught me something useful.
At the end of our transect, there were a bunch of other divers nearby and we joined up with them to swim around and look for cool stuff at about 20ft. to 30ft. depth. Sabrina and Kirby saw a baby moray eel (jealous!) and the two Dans saw an octopus who was trying to blend into their surroundings (super jealous!!!). I saw a lion fish that Kirby pointed out to me under a big hunk of coral. Sick! We were wrecking havoc in the wreck. Chyeah.
Christine and I played a hand game underwater while we were off gassing. I did a backflip or two as well.
Back on the boat, we stood out front on the way back to air out a bit. It didn't downpour on us until we were all safely back in the vans and on our way home. Nice!
We showered in a group and headed to dinner, to a nice restaurant. I ordered a pan seared fish appetizer as a meal and it never came, so I ended up eating after everyone. Otherwise dinner was a ton of fun! Some people ordered parrotfish and it came as a whole, entire parrotfish just sitting curled up on the plate. Whoa. It was surreal to see thi
s feat cooked up, after having just seen a bunch swimming around in the water alive. It didn't really bother me so much as make me look different at the prepared fish. Tasted great though!Some of us felt light headed and sleepy. We blamed the lighting, but perhaps it was from all the diving. We're all okay, but it was weird. I was definitely feeling a bit loopy. Hmm... nitrogen narcosis on land? Idk.
After dinner I was exhausted. We bought groceries then made our way back to the dorms and passed out. Ahhhhhh that feels good. :) Later, B
No comments:
Post a Comment