Doug Olander, Editor of SportFishing Magazine, continues to provide leadership on the important issue of offshore oil rigs and the valuable habit they provide. Some misguided individuals from the extreme side of the environmental community are advocating removal of the rigs without considering the valuable habitat they provide. Doug’s recent blog below shares the good news that the Gulf Coast Fishery Management Council has recently voted to list the oil rigs in the Gulf Coast as “Essential Fish Habitat” and “Habitat Areas of Particular Concern”. While this is not a final solution in keeping the underwater portion of the rigs in place, when they are decommissioned, it is a step in the right direction.
Guy Harvey and AFTCO are supporting this effort with a special Rig-To-Reefs T-shirt designed by Guy and distributed by AFTCO and its retail partners. $2 from the sale of each shirt is being donated to the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) to support their educational efforts on the value of maintaining this important habitat. – Bill Shedd
Gulf Rigs to Become ‘Essential Fish Habitat’
Every angler who fishes or ever might fish the Gulf of Mexico, as well as every true environmentalist who cares about the Gulf, owes a major “thank you!” to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.
As I write this (Thursday morning, April 19), the council has just unanimously voted to go forward with the process that will list the Gulf’s decommissioned oil rigs as Essential Fish Habitat and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern, official federal designations designed to protect critical habitat.
This action can be huge in the battle to save about 650 rigs – covered in tons of living coral – from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which has ordered the oil industry to destroy and remove them within the next five years.
The council’s vote directs its staff to prepare the necessary management plans, and it will likely be some months before the council will have a final plan to approve and send on for the Secretary of Commerce’s signature later this year.
But process is in motion!
In a blog last week, I urged council members to vote for EFH. Now I thank them for their wise judgment in taking this important step.
For a more thorough analysis of this action and its implications, don’t miss Sport Fishing’s editorial in the June issue.
—Doug Olander
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
In recent years the Indo-Pacific lionfish has spread from the SE coast of the USA throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean as far north as Bermuda and as far south as Venezuela. They can reduce the populations of native fish species very rapidly particularly by preying upon juveniles and reducing recruitment of all species to the reef habitat.
There are several examples of humans causing the substantial invasion of a (non native) species that thrives extremely well in its new habitat. In short order, this species explodes in biomass because of the lack of natural predators in that new environment and a food source that does recognize the invader as a predator. But none have had the dramatic (possibly immeasurable) damaging effect that the lionfish has had on Caribbean and western Atlantic native fish populations.
The spread of Lionfish in the Bahamas and Caribbean is problematic for native species
In response to the invasion of lionfish around the reefs of the Cayman Islands the Department of Environment now offers lionfish culling courses and licenses the use of Hawaiian slings to assist in capture and killing these fish. Being a small country with a low population but many of whom dive, fish or both, the culling of lionfish has become a weekly operation. Many restaurants are now offering lionfish on their menus.
Several dive companies have one day per week set aside for hunting lionfish, particularly in Little Cayman, the diving crown jewel of these islands. A study on the effectiveness of this culling is being undertaken by the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, (CCMI) which is based on the north side of Little Cayman. Following the Wednesday culling dives, researchers are measuring the catch per unit effort needed to make a dent in the population and cover the 3 mile stretch of wall at Bloody Bay to determine how fast new lionfish colonize the vacated areas. They are also assessing whether the structure and balance of Bloody Bay’s native fish population is affected by the continuing targeted removal of lionfish.
The targeted removal of lionfish has several benefits. Firstly, they are good to eat, so in spearing lionfish rather than grouper, snapper or hogfish, this removes some fishing pressure on the more popular reef species and will help reduce the mortality of juvenile reef fish caused by the invasive lionfish. The removal of significant numbers of larger lionfish means that those remaining are unable to prey upon larger individuals of the resident native fish populations.
Perhaps the best way to get people involved is to hold a lionfish culling tournament. There is the educational component when you register for the event, then the challenge of getting the most, the biggest (or smallest) and the creation of a tournament atmosphere while relieving the reefs of a very dangerous predator.
In a meeting with the Minister of the Environment last week, I learned of the plan to have a specialized task force assigned to culling lionfish around the Cayman Islands. I agree with this move. The threat to the coral reef habitat is so great that there needs to be radical action taken. The individual dive operators should not have to do the all grunt work on their own. After all, the dive business in the Cayman Islands is the focal point of the tourism sector.
Little Cayman also has the largest remaining population of Nassau groupers. This species, which is a favourite of divers and is the iconic Caribbean reef predator, may now have a new role in reef fish population restoration. Nassau groupers routinely follow divers and will consume lionfish speared by divers. Some divers say that Nassau groupers lead them to lionfish a bit like trained hunting dogs. For decades the Nassau groupers were traditionally fished heavily by artisanal fishermen at their spawning sites (locally called “grouper holes”) over the winter full moons. The Marine Conservation Board here protected these sites from 2003, and has just renewed that protection for another eight years. Good job! The Nassau grouper might be the knight in shining armour for reef fish populations. If this grouper, along with other large groupers and mutton snappers, can learn to attack and consume lionfish without the aid of divers then natural controls will begin to take effect in reducing lionfish biomass. After all, in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean, lionfish populations are maintained at equilibrium by their natural predators such as large groupers, jacks and the white tip reef shark.
— Guy Harvey
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL—JANUARY 9, 2012— Internationally known wildlife artist and conservationist Dr. Guy Harvey, who took audiences across the planet in the award-winning Portraits from the Deep documentary series, is launching several new film projects in 2012, starting with Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation due for release this spring.
“A critical part of the mission of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation is education and film is a superb way to deliver the messages of science and conservation,” said Dr. Harvey. “Only through understanding the issues can we hope to save our seas for future generations.”
In Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation, Dr. Harvey and two-time Emmy Award winning producer George C. Schellenger takes the audience on an expedition where the jungle meets the sea in an explosion of life, an unforgettable vision of Panama and its surrounding waters. The film will show how scientists are working against the clock to protect a land and sea paradise that attracts visitors from around the world.
“The film will feature massive storms, majestic marlins and even protective dolphins—all part of an adventure that takes place above and below the water,” said Dr. Harvey, whose latest documentary “The Mystery of the Grouper Moon” played a pivotal role in protecting one of the last know spawning areas of the Nassau grouper. An updated version of the documentary is in production. Also, a film revealing scientific breakthroughs in the study of migration patterns of satellite-tagged Tiger Sharks is underway for a 2012 release.
Dr. Harvey and Schellenger have collaborated on several projects recently, including “This is Your Ocean: Sharks”, a 44-minute documentary depicting sharks in their natural environment. This film captures the adventure and passion of shark diving and evokes a call for conservation and protection for the species that today is threatened by over fishing for a growing demand for shark fin soup.
Trailer for “Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation”:
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
Discussion about and awareness of Marine Protect Areas (MPA) continues to increase. Much focus has been put on irrational and ill-advised MPA’s like in those along the California coast, the Outer banks of N.C. or Biscayne Bay, FL. In those cases, politics, rather than science or rational thought, drove the agenda. AFTCO has and will continue to speak out and fight against such ill-advised MPA’s.
The above poor examples does not mean that all MPA’s are bad. Today’s blog is about a different type of MPA, one that is reasonable, supported by sound science, and a good example of how conservationists, and sportfishermen can work together on behalf of the marine resource. This MPA will allow the Cayman Islands to continue to protect their Nassau grouper spawning aggregation site. We applaud Guy Harvey and all who supported him in this effort.
– Bill Shedd
Dr. Guy Harvey Applauds Decision But Says More Needs to Be Done
GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN—DECEMBER 16, 2011— A groundswell of public support generated by Guy Harvey’s latest film The Mystery of the Grouper Moonhas prompted the Marine Conservation Board of the Cayman Islands to extend a ban on fishing the Nassau grouper spawning aggregation site near Little Cayman.
The Board, this week, voted to extend the current moratorium another eight years after reviewing extensive research conducted by REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) and Oregon State University and a public education campaign supported by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF) and the Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DOE). The existing ban, in place since 2003, was due to expire at the end of the year. The penalty for catching Nassau grouper in a spawning aggregation site between November and March is up to one year in prison or up to $500,000 in fines.
“The Cayman Islands are celebrating the 25 anniversary since the formation of the first marine park here, so it is fitting that such a strong conservation effort has been made by the MCB and that common sense has prevailed,” said Dr. Harvey.
In filming the research work being conducted by REEF, Guy Harvey and award-winning filmmaker George Schellenger created a compelling and informative 45-minute documentary—The Mystery of the Grouper Moon. The film’s purpose was to document the research and make the results available in layman’s language to the residents of the Cayman Islands. The documentary was shot entirely in the Cayman Islands and was supported by REEF and the DOE. The GHOF also supported the education campaign with custom artwork.
More work needs to be done, according to Dr. Harvey, who makes his home in the Cayman Islands.
“We are all very glad that the Marine Conservation Board has acted positively on the research conducted by REEF and the DOE, as the science clearly shows the recovery of Nassau groupers has not been as successful as expected,” said Dr. Harvey. “This is because fishing for this species still continues during the spawning season, but outside of the protected spawning aggregation sites.”
The Nassau grouper population, according to Dr. Harvey, has maintained equilibrium and has not grown appreciably. Harvey says the next step is for the Ministry of the Environment to legislate protection of Nassau grouper throughout its range during spawning season, between November 1 and March 31.
“This would be similar to the protection enjoyed by conch and lobster populations which remain healthy in the Cayman Islands, but are fished for only during short seasons each year,” he said. “Also the minimum catch size of the Nassau grouper needs to be extended from 12 inches to 24 inches. It is good fishery management to let fish reproduce before they are harvested. A 12 inch fish is immature.”
An added advantage to keeping groupers at a healthy population is that they can serve as a natural culling force on the invasive, non-native lionfish, which are annihilating several species of juvenile reef fish throughout the Caribbean.
“Local fishermen need to realize that these conservation measures will benefit all user groups in the years to come,” Dr. Harvey concluded. “Once the Nassau grouper population recovers it can then be managed and fished within the restrictions of new catch limits, but the spawning brood stock must be protected forever.”
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
Every time I go for a dive in the Cayman Islands I am always on the lookout for the most beautiful of all Caribbean reef fishes, the queen angelfish. If followed too closely, they sneak into a hole and then turn to look at you, but never give you a good profile shot. However, I know that they feed a great deal on sponges, and occasionally you can be lucky and find a hawksbill turtle chowing down on a sponge at a reasonable depth giving you decent bottom time. The turtle is a sloppy eater and there are lots of loose pieces of sponge and scraps to be had, a perfect size for the angelfish’s small mouth.
Queen angelfish are also present at cleaning stations, particularly the juveniles,and will clean parasites off larger predators like groupers and jacks. In the tropical eastern Pacific, a close relative, the king angelfish will be a major player at cleaning stations and along with the barberfish (a butterflyfish species) will cover scalloped hammerheads as they come close to the stations to be cleaned. In such exotic locations as Cocos Island and in the Galapagos, these angelfish form large schools and the sight of them cleaning a large shark is quite a spectacle.
Apart from sponges, the queen angels consume a wide variety of tiny invertebrates, soft corals and tunicates in their normal depth range from the shallows down to one hundred meters. Their mouths are protractible and have fine, brush-like teeth. Typically, one finds them slowly browsing along the reef picking at minute bits of coral tissue, and invertebrates that are lurking in crevices.
This species is found throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, to Bermuda, so may be considered sub tropical and tropical. By no means the largest of the angelfish species, they grow to a maximum of forty centimeters, and weigh just a couple of pounds. Because of its vivid blue and yellow colour, gorgeous face markings and unique shape, it is widely used to advertise dive shops and exotic dive destinations in numerous publications. Easily identifiable from a distance because of their flattened rhomboid shape and brilliant colours, the queen angelfish is truly the queen of the reef and a great subject for an underwater painting.
It is likely the angelfish has a protracted spawning season as pairs can stay together over many months. Other similar, but larger species, such as the gray angel and French angel, may pair for life. Following spawning, as with most tropical species, eggs hatch within twenty four hours and the larvae are planktonic, feeding and growing rapidly and then settling on a new coral reef habitat as juveniles. They are protective of their patch of reef and often engage in cleaning other fish and rays. The colouration of juvenile is different from the adult, but just as spectacular and combined in the same image make a wonderful work of art.
Queen angelfish are long lived and may be encountered in the same reef for many years. They are common but not abundant having few predators. Only man has exploited them to any great extent. For defense, they rely on their ability to fit into crevices in the coral to evade predators. Also, they have two very large backward facing spines on their pre-operculum, which they use to good effect with violent head shakes when held. In some Caribbean islands, they are harvested in fish traps or by spear fishing for food. In other locations, they are taken mostly as live animals for use in the aquarium trade but are not yet considered over exploited anywhere in their range.
So the next time you encounter a queen angel browsing along the reef, try to get the best shot ever of this magnificent creature while you wonder why it evolved with such striking markings and coloration.
It is our collective responsibility to conserve all marine creatures and maintain the biodiversity of this planet. Safe diving!
—Guy Harvey
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
I recently found an old story I wrote while looking up some information about tagging and its benefits. When “Migratory Movements, Depth Preferences, and Thermal Biology of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna” was published in the 17 August 2001 issue of Science there were some great stories to tell. Stories that had to be kept as secrets until the paper was published in Science.
The data presented, and conclusions drawn from them by a team headed by Dr. Barbara Block from Stanford University (and including scientists, anglers and crew making up a who’s who of tuna angling , research and management) created shocks waves across the Atlantic.
National Public Radio, National Geographic News as well local, regional and national newspapers, had already discussed the ramifications of having tuna tagged off Hatteras, cross the Atlantic Ocean, and even enter the Mediterranean Sea in larger numbers than any previous estimates could imagine. This threw a monkey wrench into all management plans and conservation attempts, based on earlier theories, that eastern and western populations of bluefin tuna were separate and need to be managed separately.
Giant Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, each weighing over a quarter-ton — Photo by Guy Harvey
Two types of tags were used in the study, surgically applied internal “archival” tags and pop-up satellite archival tags (PSAT tags in the article’s jargon). Both showed that fish from the west cross over into the eastern Atlantic. These tags, plus captured fish with conventional spaghetti tags, raised the thorny issue of North American fishermen (commercial and recreational) accepting low catch quotas in order to allow the overfished tuna populations to recover, only to have the fish massacred in huge numbers in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. (East of longitude 45 degrees West twenty metric tonnes of bluefin tuna were being caught for every tonne caught in the west!)
The Science paper is fascinating but takes some serious reading! It is not something you can glance at and retain. Some highlights, with some input from me from information gleaned during the tagging process, include:
There were 377 electronic tags in this study. Electronic tags were recovered from a few days to 3.6 years later, AND the TAG program continues to produce amazing results. Internal archival tags totaled 279 with 49 tuna being recaptured. This 18% return rate is extremely high and by itself suggests overfishing.
The 90% data acquisition rate from pop-up tags is a marvel of both technology and tuna survival rates. The return rate is higher since the fish does not have to be recaptured and the data is downloaded through the Argos satellite system. Although, the percentage of recovery is higher less information per tag can be retrieved, because of the high energy needed to send a radio signal, not just burn data onto a chip.
There were 7065 conventional spaghetti tags applied by Carolina tuna fishermen between the years 1994 and 2000. There were 292 recoveries (4.1%). This is a high rate in itself and valuable information was added, but it is obvious that trained scientific teams with top anglers and crews are more successful than the general public in properly applying tags. (One reason for non-return is probably mortality where a dead fish sinks or is eaten by sharks and the tag cannot be recovered.)
Some tags could record depth (through pressure) and location (by measuring the levels of light). Sunrise and sunset were the “most significant light events” and with an accurate electronic clock allow extremely precise east/west location and reasonable north/south estimates. It became apparent that Western tuna breed later in their lives than originally thought- another huge consideration in conservation and management.
Deep dives to over 500 fathoms (1000 meters) sometimes resulted in lowered internal body temperatures that experiments at the tuna lab showed to probably be the result of feeding on cold squid or fish living at those depths (Block fed captive yellowfins cold bait and measured cold internal temperatures.)
My question is “HOW DO THEY KNOW?” You can dive half a mile in most parts of the ocean and NOT find a meal!
In the field, the emotional highs and lows were enormous! The successful signal reception of the first pop-up tag started a major round of toasts and celebrations. Shortly after, on a rough and stormy night when the second pop-up tag failed to report in on its scheduled time, long faces abounded- until the weather eased and in calm water the tag sang like a bird to the overhead satellite. This alone allowed an adjustment, low tech but important, in additional buoyancy for subsequent tags.
Dr. Block was reduced to tears on the flying bridge one rough day when a large sea lifted the boat and one rudder hit and killed a tuna we were trying to tag. “I’m trying to save them- not kill them!” she sobbed.
The cooperation of anglers and crews, and their donations of time and money were an extremely important factor in the amazing success of this study and along with dozens of scientists and technicians all involved are to be highly congratulated! For more information get a copy of Science (17 August 2001). .
Recently, Paxson Offield was initiated into the IGFA Hall of Fame and a high light of his career and work in conservation was an ongoing program of PSAT tags in marlin. Currently, the internationally noted artist Dr. Guy Harvey is also a leader in not only tagging but other conservation initiatives.
We need people like Dr. Block, Dr. Harvey and Mr. Offield to help conserve our precious stocks of “Marine Megafauna”. AND we all need to do our part to help out.
See my next column in Marlin Magazine for a story of a Sportfishing CLUB gone BAD and becoming a detrimental group of swordfish killing amateur professionals.
Peter B Wright
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
Giant Bluefin tuna are the largest tuna species in the oceans and can attain weights over 1500lbs. Photo by Bill Boyce
The cold clear green water got my heart started as I turned to face the oncoming fish. I saw the first one rise out of the green abyss, gliding, silent and purposeful, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape, the dorsal fin suddenly raised, pelvics lowered and the gills flared as the fish inhaled a slowing sinking herring. It turned sharply and the afternoon sun caught its bronze flanks and the water around the fish was momentarily lit in a golden glow. The fins and tail cut the surface and the bubble stream followed the fish down into the green depths. Then another one rose up and another and then several came in a rush to suck down the drifting herring…..one came so close I could see the scale detail on its cheek and it popped its gills the size of trash can lid. Then a blur of bright yellow finlets as the huge fish passes. The average size of these giant bluefin tuna is 800 pounds. Giants… is the correct terminology. These fish are up to 12 feet long with a 7 foot girth and several that swept by me were in the 1,200 pound range. I panned my video camera on them as they swam past me gobbling up the chum that kept them close to the boat.
In the late summer and fall these remnants of a once larger population of bluefin tuna take advantage of large schools of herring spawning in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and around Nova Scotia, Canada. They put on weight prior to undertaking lengthy migrations south to the Gulf of Mexico or swim across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
I was on board the “Fin Seeker”, a 50 foot lobster boat from Wedgeport, owned by Eric Jaquard and crewed by sons Joel and Camille who had a permit to take 5,000 pounds of bluefin this season. Eric was very selective about what tunas were taken (only five in six days of fishing) and the rest were all tagged and released for science. Those fish that were harvested were meticulously cleaned and iced down before being shipped by air to waiting markets in Japan.
There are two research efforts currently under way in Nova Scotia, one being conducted by Dr. Barbara Block of the Tuna Research and Conservation Centre, based at the Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, please visit: http://tunaresearch.org/. The GHOF gives this research organization a small grant to assist with this effort which is based at Port Hood in the northern district of Cape Breton.
The other research effort is being conducted by Dr. Molly Lutcavage of the Large Pelagics Research Centre based at the Natural Resources Conservation Dept , University of Massachusetts Amherst, please visit: http://tunalab.org/. Dr. Lutcavage’s team were based in Wedgeport in the southwest. The plan was to visit both operations and conduct interviews with respective scientists and crew. Both teams have spent the last decade in the field tagging and tracking the migrations of the bluefin tuna along the eastern seaboard of North America and across the Atlantic to Europe.
Their results have indicated main feeding areas, spawning areas, trans-Atlantic migrations and have assisted in the sometimes controversial management of this species by ICCAT, the international organization that allocates quotas and attempts to regulate commercial fishing for this valuable nomad of the ocean.
This is not my first brush with giants. In January 2003, I did a shoot with Barbara Block off Cape Lookout, North Carolina while she was tagging medium sized and giant bluefin tuna, for my TV series “Portraits from the Deep”. “Giants” are individual tuna that are over 315 pounds and this species grows to at least 1,500 pounds. The previous year I had visited the tuna traps or “almadraba” in Tarifa and in Barbate on the southern coast of Spain. Here I dived with the captive tunas caught in land based traps and witnessed the harvest of 300 giants in a 2000 year old ritual that began with the Phoenecians and then the Romans.
Guy Harvey is working on a Bluefin Tuna Documentary
Long before the species became desirable food, the bluefin tuna was fished by recreational anglers out of Wedgeport, Nova Scotia from 1935 until 1975 in a famous tournament called the Sharp Cup which attracted international teams from many countries. Of these large, powerful animals Charles F. Holder said “Weight for weight, they have double the fighting power of a tarpon. They are living meteors that strike like whirlwind and play like a storm”. Some say the recreational fishery, catch and release only, should be revived in Nova Scotia.
In the early years this species was fished sparingly by harpoon, some were caught on line for canning as they were more of a “nuisance fish” damaging gear set for herring and mackerel. In the mid 1970s demand in Japan for the fresh tuna grew exponentially and so fishing effort for bluefin tuna was greatly increased. Industrial scale long lining and purse seining were added to the traps and harpoon fishery so the populations of bluefin tuna declined to the present day levels where some authorities consider the species close to commercial extinction. However, the researchers are of the opinion that if the quota system is properly regulated (as it certainly appears to be in Canada) then this fishery has the potential to be sustainable in spite of the huge worldwide demand for bluefin tuna sushi.
Along with my documentary producer and camera man, George Schellenger, I spent three days with the crew of the “Fin Seeker” as willing anglers using ultra heavy tackle caught, tagged and released some two dozen giants. Pop-up archival tags were deployed on many fish following capture. The hook was removed using a de-hooking device and the tunas swam free. The PATs record the migration of the tunas as well as depth and temperature data along their routes. A special physiological adaptation called a counter current heat exchanger allows metabolic heat to be kept in the body and not lost through the gills thus maintaining the body temperature well above ambient temperatures, allowing faster swimming speeds in areas rich in prey species. Being “warm blooded” these giant tuna, often called “super fish”, can penetrate the cold northern latitudes and dive to great depths in search of fish and squid.
The winter is coming soon and bad weather arrived so I was unable to visit the Tag–a-Giant research team in Cape Breton. They will be back next year and I will complete the documentary shoot with them at that time. Meanwhile, I will be completing the story of the life cycle of the bluefin tuna including interviews with other research efforts to study aspects of the early life history of this long lived super fish.
What a thrill to spend an hour in the water with these magnificent creatures and to capture their brilliant colours and movement for my next work. These are big fish and I will need to prepare a big canvas. The adventure continues….
It is our collective responsibility to conserve the marine environment and maintain the biodiversity of the planet.
—Guy Harvey
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
Masses of Dead Red Snapper shows the result of rushing to remove offshore oil rigs by using dynamite
Last week on this blog we reprinted an excellent report from Doug Olander, editor of Sport Fishing Magazine, entitled “Stop the Plan to Destroy Our Gulf’s Living Coral Reefs” and the attached photo is a follow up to that blog.
Sportfishermen appreciate the habitat value provided by offshore oil rigs. We think it is important to understand and evaluate the importance of this habitat prior to removing the rig once the oil beneath it has been extracted. Some in the extreme environmental community are so blinded by their dislike for the oil industry that they push to have this important habitat removed without consideration of its potential future habitat value as an artificial reef site. They call it junk on the bottom of the ocean, while the fish and other ocean life call it home.
Since 1995, AFTCO, starting with our former Chairman Milt Shedd, has been working in California to help create a Rig-To-Reefs program. The goal of this program was to evaluate habitat value of an offshore oil rig before it was removed. If it was determined to be a net positive to the marine resource, the underwater portion of that rig would left in place as a life producing artificial reef. The photo shows the obvious damage that canbe caused by removal of an offshore oil rig. But what about the unseen loss? What about the vast quantities of marine life and habitat that is destroyed sight unseen? Converting off shore rigs to artificial reefs can be a valuable tool in our collective efforts to look after the ocean resource.
— Bill
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear,
please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
In an editorial a few years ago, I asked this question: Would anyone mind if the federal government ordered hundreds of coral reefs around the Florida Keys to be dynamited into rubble and hauled away?
One hopes the rhetorical nature of that is obvious. Hell, yes! The uproar would be huge, particularly among environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council.
So I have to wonder why such environmental groups haven’t spoken out against destroying hundreds of living coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico. In fact, at least one — the NRDC — is on record actively opposing any effort to stop such destruction. These groups are aware of the plan, but I suspect most of the public is not or there would be more pushback.
While any government directive to destroy reefs may sound crazy, here’s how it’s going down.
For years, the feds have obligated oil companies to eventually yank out all non-producing oil rigs in the Gulf. That has been happening, but slowly.
Late last year, in what the Coastal Conservation Association calls a knee-jerk reaction to last summer’s oil disaster, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a directive that all such rigs be pulled out within five years.
That would mean at this point, about 650 offshore rigs would be destroyed. That’s 650 individual, massive, living, vibrant coral-reef ecosystems — obliterated. (And keep in mind, these are huge vertical reefs offering structure and coral where otherwise there would be only barren, smooth bottom.)
But now there may be hope — in the form of federal legislation just introduced by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter called the Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act of 2011. “I appreciate the Coastal Conservation Association bringing this issue to my attention,” he says. “More than ever, we need to create habitat for marine life in the Gulf, not dispose of it. These idle rigs are serving a valuable purpose supporting our fisheries.”
Indeed, Dr. Bob Shipp, chair of the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council has theorized publicly that one of the main reasons the Gulf is truly swarming with red snapper is the existence of so much habitat where decades ago there was so little.
The Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act would not allow platforms to be removed until assessments are completed to determine whether a platform supports coral populations or other protected species, and to identify any species that have recreational or commercial value. If it is determined that a structure supports substantial reef ecosystems, its decommissioning would be halted until it can be determined that removing it would not harm the reef ecosystem.
A breath of sanity, you say? A big 10-4 to that: From this angler/conservationist, a huge thank-you to both Vitter and CCA.
BUT — the fat lady is far from singing on this one. Legislation proposed and legislation enacted may be poles apart.
You can help save the Gulf’s living reefs — and I hope you will by taking just a moment to click here to go to the CCA web site and send a message to your legislators supporting Vitter’s bill.
Don’t let public apathy or astoundingly misguided “environmentalists” destroy the Gulf’s vast, thriving reef system. As sport fishermen, let’s show, yet again, who the true environmentalists are. Put another way, ask yourself: “Is saving a living coral reef and its communities of marine fish worth one minute of my time?” Do it now — and pass it on. Together, we can stop the destruction of the Gulf’s reefs.
— Doug Olander
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please
visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
The sale of Guy Harvey Sportswear supports the marine resource in many different ways with its sale of each Guy Harvey product, a contribution is made to the GHOF
During the spring sampling season, three ongoing projects of the Florida Program for Shark Research at UF’s Florida Museum of Natural History, one in collaboration with researchers from Florida State University (FSU), focused on the distribution and movements of adult and subadult sawfishes in the southern portion of its Florida range.
We produced a survey of the waters surrounding U.S. Navy properties in the Key West region in order to determine the current status of sawfishes in those areas for the U.S. Navy/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Because of obvious security constraints, we were the first fish biologists to sample in these waters in decades.
Concurrently, in conjunction with Dean Grubbs and fellow FSU scientists and the John Carlson of the National Marine Fisheries Service, we sampled the middle and lower Keys and Tortugas region and Florida Bay, catching and satellite tagging eleven sawfishes. Satellite tags give long time and distance of movement information and we hope our tagging will help us better understand seasonal horizontal (up and down the coast) and vertical (depth) movements of the critters.
We also caught and multiple tagged two large adults in Florida Bay, the tags being traditional “spaghetti,” satellite, and active acoustic models. The last allowed us to manually track the minute to minute movements using a receiver held under the boat. Our first saw was “lost” within the first hour or so as it gave us the slip by scooting over a shallow bank, then boogying before we could detect its signal. Having learned our lesson, on our second capture we got in 38 hours of tracking over three days, including day-night comparisons. The sawfish moved about in deeper channels by day, then moved onto shallow, seagrass beds by night. It chose the same shallow grassy area on successive nights, demonstrating some short-term site fidelity. Next spring we plan to initiate placement of underwater listening stations on the bottom and tag the sawfishes with passive acoustic tags. These tags will leave a unique “bleep” on any receiver as the sawfish swims near, allowing us to track localized movements over longer periods and larger areas. We also will continue to satellite tag these and other sawfishes.
While sampling for sawfishes we also caught many sharks and rays. All of these animals also were measured, sexed, sampled (tissue for DNA) and tagged as part of ongoing studies of their biology and movement patterns. We also continued our work in Indian River Lagoon (IRL), where we began tagging young bull sharks with spaghetti and passive acoustic tags in a “new” region for us, the St. Lucie River estuary. This work is being done with our colleague, David Snyder, of Continental Shelf Associates. We also continue to download data from our underwater array of receivers in Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River and the northern IRL, where tagged bull sharks and rays still roam.
During this time period we put 5000 miles in land travel on the Guy Harvey adorned Hell’s Bay and God only knows how many sea miles on our faithful vessel!
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
I would like to welcome you to the Guy Harvey Sportswear web site. Here we will feature my blog where I will report on expeditions, adventures, and various marine conservation efforts. We will also include various guest bloggers, videos and photos that I believe you will find interesting, whether you are a serious fishing or diving enthusiast, or simply someone who cares about the marine resource, loves living the coastal lifestyle, or just wants to learn more about Guy Harvey sportswear.
I would like to welcome you to the Guy Harvey Sportswear web site. Here we will feature my blog where I will report on expeditions, adventures, and various marine conservation efforts. We will also include various guest bloggers, videos and photos that I believe you will find interesting, whether you are a serious fishing or diving enthusiast, or simply someone who cares about the marine resource, loves living the coastal lifestyle, or just wants to learn more about Guy Harvey sportswear.
