The vanishing Vaquita

The Vaquita is a small porpoise endemic to the Gulf of California. It coexists with the Totoaba, a fish targeted for their valuable swim bladders that are thought to be highly medicinal in China and trade for thousands of dollars on the Black Market. Under pressure from conservation groups and the US government, the Mexican government has placed tight restrictions on fishing in northern GOC, but they are difficult to enforce, and the local people struggle to survive and may continue to succumb to the draw of Black Market profits. And so, the Vaquita continues to decline. It's population is not estimated at 30... a number that may not allow for recovery.

It's a sad, but true story of greed, abuse, and short sightedness. The current US administration has demonstrated a blind eye to important environmental issues, and have relaxed protections put in place by previous administrations. That is not to say we no longer have a voice and with enough support and pressure, can help turn the tide before this animal vanishes on our watch.

What can we do to help?
Support The Center for Biological Diversity CLICK HERE
Support the World Wildlife Fund CLICK HERE
Visit the Marine Mammal Commission for more information CLICK HERE

Watch this:

After Irma

This needs no further explanation...

Storm Surge - Part 2

A friend of mine described this phenomenon on Currituck Sound after a hurricane blew through the Outer Banks of North Carolina. His description was eerie. This video makes hurricane force clear.

Here is the original Facebook post:

Long Island, Bahamas ! There is no more ocean ! As far as the eye can see . And they don't know where it went ! Wow .... Irma is more powerful than people think ! Be safe guys . 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 P.S. This is not me filming ..... Update: Long Island has the all clear .. The sea is gradually coming back! Praise God....



Meanwhile, in the Florida Keys:

STORM SURGE

Flashback: Ocracoke Island, August 16. A low pressure system had been hanging off the coast for a few days. The ocean was BOILING. It sounded like a freight train. We headed for the beach anyway, anxious to get in and recoup a lost year away from it!

When we pulled up, I took one look and said, "Um. Nope! This is not good. I don't like the look of this. Not a good idea to get in that water."

Storm surge, Ocracoke 2017

My son, Dave, ignored my pleas, threw on some sun block, grabbed his surf board and headed into the water.

I implored: "Dave, this makes me very nervous! Please don't go in!"

He was undeterred: "Mom, it's fine."

The fear reduced me to tears.

He fought his way through the surf, was justly pummeled, and returned about 10 minutes later.

"You were right, Mom. It's too big."

"Number one, I'm always right. Number two, you made me cry!"

Soon after, the Park rangers stopped by each car to tell everyone to stay out of the water. Unbeknownst to us and just up the beach, a man had drowned the previous day in the rip current while attempting to save another man caught in it.
                  ____________________________________________________________

Jump ahead to today: Hurricane Irma has already flattened parts of the Caribbean and now threatens the Florida Keys and South Florida. NOAA is predicting up to 9-foot storm surge in parts of South Florida. This storm surge dwarfs the surge above. According to NOAA Hurricane Center (CLICK HERE for link) and the map below, 9-foot storm surge inundates a huge portion of oceanfront.

South Florida with potential 1- to 9-foot storm surge

While I sit high and dry in the Fish Cave––many miles from the ocean, reading posts on Facebook from friends who plan to ride out the hurricane––I'm reminded of ocean's power and destruction. It's real. It's unfeeling. It can knock down buildings, wash out bridges, rip up trees, toss boats and trucks, wash over islands, and drown people and animals in it's path.

Absolutely Love the ocean! But also fear and respect the ocean... and if possible, get the hell out of the way.

Hurricane Irma... 2 Amazing Views

From the ground:



From SPACE:



(They are one in the same.)

ORCAS! HUMPBACKS!

One tiny drop in the Ocean from Wild Sky Productions on Vimeo.

Horseshoe Crabs

Photo credit: Carl Safina

On my way back from the Keys a few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation between two students. One sat next to me in the airport terminal, the other sat on a beach counting birds that were feasting on horseshoe crab eggs.

Then, this morning, Carl Safina posted the following excerpt from his book, "The View from Lazy Point:"

"When horseshoe crabs were new under the sea, fish did not yet have jaws, corals were just evolving, and flowering plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals did not exist. Hundreds of millions of years later, dinosaurs would rise, flourish, and vanish. Right around closing time, we've strolled in, and they're still here."

Just a thought...

Bragging on a Good Thing

Bragging on my cohort and coauthor, Luiz Rocha, Ichthyologist and Curator at the California Academy of Sciences. He is not only a gifted scientist, but also a passionate educator and conservationist.

To visit Luiz's California Academy of Sciences' page, please CLICK HERE.

Fishing for Litter - Scotland

This is great.
Rather than turning their backs on a problem that is pre-existing, ongoing, and might seem overwhelming -- these fishermen have adopted a positive attitude and taken up the cause.
Our oceans have become our dumping grounds. Out of sight out of mind, as they say. But for those who make their livings on the water, the problem is never out of sight.
My hat off to the folks who thought up this initiative, and to the fishermen who are making it happen.

Wouldn't it be fabulous if this program goes GLOBAL?

Cordell Bank - a sound investment

I love this!
A simple concept set to simple music and illustrated in simple fashion.

Water > phytoplankton > krill > fish > bigger fish > even BIGGER fish.

Krill are one of the most important links in the chain.

But let's not forget: the chain really starts with water. Keep it clean, folks!

Midway

The sad truth.

MIDWAY : trailer : a film by Chris Jordan from Midway on Vimeo.

Fish boy goes skiing

OK.
So, my son is my best fishing bud. I taught him at a very early age, and thank goodness he still likes fishing with me. It's a copasetic and competitive deal. He can out-fish me when he tries and there's a lot of "Who got more?" or, "Who's fish was bigger?" But we always have a great time and don't really care about the score. Keeping score just makes it more interesting.

Anyway, he's now a student at Montana State University. He's a long way away from the ocean. And yet, he rode his bike miles and miles, then hiked a few more to go fishing for trout. When the season turned and the snow started to fall, he hung up the fly rod and bought a season pass to Bridger Bowl - the ginormous ski resort outside of Bozeman.

Big mountains. Steep runs. Deep passes and drop-offs. Lots of snow.

Thus, his latest and greatest back-flip into snow that will evaporate or melt into water which will eventually find its way to the ocean. So we can catch more fish. Together.
Yay.

Short, Sad, and To The Point

It's An Octopus Eat Bird World

It's often been said that Octopi are among the most intelligent animals on Earth. Clearly, this picture shows how opportunistic they can be... I imagine the octopus creeping up from behind - quietly reaching a suction cup-loaded arm toward the leg of a seagull - grabbing the leg, and not letting go. This has probably happened over and over again, but this may be the first time it's been recorded. After all, seagulls and octopi live in close quarters. And the octopus is one smart dude.

CLICK HERE to read more!

Don't Touch! Or, if you are a Goatfish... Don't Sleep!

I have a HUGE library in my office. The majority of books are about fishes - but I have a sizable collection of books about many other of aquatic life forms. One of the creepiest, and more informative books I own is Dangerous Marine Animals, by Bruce Halstead, M.D. When my kids were little, I actually hid this book from them because it contains numerous, graphic photos of the injuries people have suffered due to misencounters with venomous and toxic marine animals.
The book includes the well-documented outcomes of encounters with sharks, barracudas, jellyfishes... but it also includes the not-so-well-known dangerous critters like corals, sea urchins, and sea snails. Yep, sea snails.

Cone snails are one of the most venomous gastropods in the sea. A puncture wound from a Cone snail may result in intense pain, numbness, tingling in the mouth, dizziness, and paralysis. On our coast, these snails are mildly toxic, in other parts of the world fatalities have been reported.... from a SNAIL sting! Invertebrates and fishes in the wild don't stand a chance against the Cone snail. Some Cones have lightning-fast barbs that shoot out and harpoon their prey. Other Cones use stealth to approach their prey.

In the video below, the Goatfish is at rest. While the narrator says the Cone is releasing chemicals, I haven't read anything to corroborate this. But clearly, the Goatfish does not respond by swimming away.

Bottom line: it's a snail-eat-fish world under the surface. My rule of thumb? When you're in the ocean, DON'T TOUCH! Especially if it's a Cone snail.

More New Species!

Wow. More new species in our own back yard.
Aweseome. CLICK HERE.

Diana Nyad - an Inspiration

I was rooting for Diana Nyad. Who wouldn't? What an incredible undertaking. And, although she didn't reach her goal, in my mind she didn't fail. The only failure is the failure to try.
Kudos, Diana!
Click here.

Trip to the Plastic Gyre

Part One:

It's well known that the oceans are cluttered with flotsam, jetsam, and flotillas of drifting debris. The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is a giant whorl of floating plastic refuse that has been estimated to rival the size of Texas. I've read that this place would be impossible to clean up due to its vast expanse. It is also impossible to guess how many animals swim through or fly into this toxic dump. Interestingly, the majority of the garbage comes from land, and not sea-going vessels.
Part Two:

It is also well known that the animals that pass through this area directly ingest a lot of plastic. They also ingest planktonic animals that have stored plastic toxins. Eventually, the toxins accumulate as they move up in the food chain.
Part Three:

I've been to sea. I know what it's like to bake on a windless, seemingly bottomless expanse. We passed the occasional jumble of line and bouys, but we never saw the dump. But, it was there... in molecular form. What a bummer.

A Tough One

Photo credit: Jorge Silva, Reuters.

As an artist (and now, teacher), I am very sensitive to artistic critique. OK, go back...

When I was in high school, my art teachers broke me down, criticized my work, prodded me to change, change, change. They found little in my style or choice of subject to praise. Ultimately, I gave it up to focus on my second love: Marine Science. It wasn't until years later that I stumbled upon a professor and a program that encouraged BOTH of my talents: art and science. In the end, I was lucky. I've had a wonderful career, and have been able to parlay both passions into a lasting legacy.

Now, as I teach 60 middle school boys the art of Science Illustration, I am very careful to encourage, not criticize. Their egos can be quite fragile... at this jucture, they can feel great about their progress, or just toss in the towel.

So, I was conflicted about this 'work of art.' On one hand, art is subjective -- there is no right or wrong when it comes to art (except in the case of pornography!). On the other hand, I don't feel a natual landscape is enhanced by human art. The landscape, or seascape, is ideal and most beautiful when left untouched. And when they are defaced and defiled, well, they are just that: defaced, defiled. Examples: Mount Rushmore (Yuck!); Red Rocks (Ditto); anything created by Christo (Sorry! I don't believe cloaking landscape in fabric is an improvement in the name of art); anybody's intials carved into a tree.

I understand the need for conservation and preservation of coral reefs. They are very fragile... But to say this work of art was created as an alternative attraction to divert divers away from the reefs? Seems to me like a flimsy excuse for littering the ocean floor to create revenue. This collection of statues is no more compelling to me than a collection of rusty oil drums. It may be art, but in my opinion, it doesn't belong at the bottom of any ocean. The ocean cannot be made more beautiful by human impact. I suppose in this case, my bind to the earth won over my bind to art.

Wicked Cool Video

I don't know about you, but the Frogfish lure just melts me. How can this be? God? Evolution? Both? Certainly, the Frogfish cares not. He just knows it works.

Colours Of Ambon from Alex.Be. on Vimeo.