Stephan’s Blog

Open Letter to the Mayor Of Palm Beach, Florida:

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CLICK HERE to send an Email the Town of Palm Beach and ask them to withdraw their objection to the Critical Habitat Designation. When you click on the link  you will get a preformatted email screen, which contains some suggested language. Customize the text if you can. Individually written letters carry more weight with decision makers. Don’t forget to sign it and please refrain from using offensive language.
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Dear Mayor of Palm Beach,

As you may be aware, a little miracle is happening right now in the shore waters of your city, Palm Beach, Florida. A colony of staghorn coral has decided to settle down right off the famous dive and snorkel site of Breakers Reef, despite the inhospitable environment that challenge its ability to thrive. In fact, you seem to be surrounded by people that prefer to ignore this remarkable biological event, considered by coral reef conservationists and scuba divers worldwide to be a hopeful phenomenon.

What you need to know is that staghorn coral has become incredibly rare in Caribbean waters - let alone off the coasts of sunny Florida! In fact, this tiny coral reef colony-building animal is so rare that it has been protected by the US Federal Endangered Species Act since 2006. 97% of this once flourishing coral species has already disappeared over the past 25 years.

Despite of all of this, the town of Palm Beach seems to think that beach development projects (projects that pose a definite and incalculable risk of coral destroyed by construction, smothered by sand and drowned by lethal runoff) are more important than an endangered species attempting to thrive in Florida waters - admittedly without having received an official construction permit.

It is important to know that staghorn coral contributes significantly to coral reef biodiversity as it provides food and habitat to a wide array of coral reef creatures. Without the protection provided by the branches of this and other types of coral, numerous little coral reef creatures simply cannot survive.

Let’s take the Threespot damselfish for example: These little creatures are often found living among the branches of staghorn coral where they can defend their territory vigorously against intruders many times their size. The male does so to demonstrate to nearby females that he is capable of defending her eggs better than anyone else - and if convinced, the female damselfish swims over to mate and together they produce offspring! See a Threespot damselfish in action, taking cover in the branches of coral and defending its little world against our underwater videographer, Mark (You Tube video)!

Life large and small merits preservation, especially when threatened with extinction. I therefore urge the Town of Palm Beach to reconsider its position on coral habitat protection. Protecting threatened coral reefs and maintaining the town’s shoreline do not need to be at odds with one another. Please be a responsible steward of the fragile resources your town has the obligation to protect. Withdraw your objection to the critical habitat designation and tell the National Marine Fisheries Service to establish the northern boundary at the Palm Beach Inlet.

Respectfully,

Stephan Becker
Founder and CEO
Beautiful Oceans
(514) 907-1935

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Here is what you can do to support the protection of the staghorn coral colony at Palm Beach Breakers Reef:

1) CLICK HERE to send an Email the Town of Palm Beach and ask them to withdraw their objection to the Critical Habitat Designation. When you click on the link  you will get a preformatted email screen, which contains some suggested language. Customize the text if you can. Individually written letters carry more weight with decision makers. Don’t forget to sign it and please refrain from using offensive language.
2)    Vote with your dollars - consider boycotting Palm Beach hotels and restaurants if you are an occasional visitor to the area
3)    Bookmark this page, subscribe to this blog and make sure to follow up. We will post updates on the situation whenever they occur.

Join myself, the PBC Environmental Resource Mgmt., the national and local Sierra Clubs and the Florida Coalition for Preservation in our efforts to preserve recently discovered staghorn coral at Breaker Point dive & snorkel site, Palm Beach Florida.

Background info from Palm Beach County Reef Rescue Blog
Imperiled coral enjoys renaissance - but Palm Beach, activists spar over protections
A little threespot damselfish defending his territory - YouTube video
See Sept. 26, 2009 Palm Beach staghorn video
The threespot damselfish - a link to more information on the Beautiful Oceans website

Women: These advisories are for women ages 18-75, with a body weight of 144 pounds and a meal size of 6 ounces (a little more than one-third pound) of fish before cooking.

Men: These advisories are for men ages 18-75, with a body weight of 172 pounds and a meal size of 8 ounces (one-half pound) of fish before cooking.

Older kids: These advisories are for children ages 6-12, with a body weight of 67 pounds and a meal size of 4.5 ounces (a little more than one-quarter pound) of fish before cooking.

Young kids: These advisories are for children ages 0-6, with a body weight of 32 pounds and a meal size of 3 ounces (a little less than one-quarter pound) of fish before cooking.

Young children are especially sensitive to the effects of seafood contaminants, since their nervous systems are still developing. If your child’s body weight or average meal size is drastically different from that assumed above, please adjust the consumption advisory accordingly.

For example, larger portions contain more contaminants, so fewer meals may be eaten safely every month. Similarly, children with lower body weights may be harmed by smaller quantities of contaminants and should consume fewer meals per month than in the table above.

Teens: Follow the advisory above that most closely matches individual body weight and meal size.

For young adults ages 12 to 18, choose the consumption advisories for either children or adults, depending on the individual’s body weight and typical meal size.

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This is a repost of an article of the Environmental Defense Fund. Read more here.

I jumped up and down today upon receiving this news - had to push it on Twitter right away….:-)

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — The Pacific nation of Palau is creating the first shark sanctuary, banning commercial fishing of all sharks in its waters from vessels that hunt the predators for their fins, coveted in soups as an Asian delicacy.

Johnson Toribiong, president of the island republic, announced the commercial shark-fishing ban today at the United Nations General Assembly, saying “the strength and beauty of sharks are a natural barometer for the health of our oceans.”

Shark populations are in danger of collapse along with salmon and tuna commercial fisheries because of scant protective measures. Great whites, hammerheads and a third of deep-sea sharks and rays face extinction as fishing fleets trawling worldwide seek them for meat and fins, according to the Gland, Switzerland-based IUCN conservation group.

“The situation for sharks at the moment is catastrophic,” said Carl-Gustaf Lundin, head of marine conservation at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. “Their populations around the world are at risk of collapse.”

[READ MORE]

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net

You may be well informed about the ink that has been flowing to praise the outstanding customer service, excellent gourmet cuisine and exceptional quality of diving available at Wakatobi Dive Resort, South-Eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia. The local dive sites are indeed stunning and the Wakatobi Dive Resort accounts for one of the world’s best diving destinations. After all, the resort is located in an area commonly referred to as ‘The Golden Triangle of Marine Biodiversity’, a place that roughly encompasses the coral sea around Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

While training Wakatobi Dive Resort staff in GPS coral reef mapping, I witnessed firsthand the exceptional beauty of the local coral reefs (click here to view a 3D coral reef map in Google Earth). Pristine coral heads, healthy fish aggregations, and fascinating coral reef architecture make diving the local coral reefs an experience that is out of this world. Throughout my career as a dive professional and GPS ocean floor geographer, I have seen a lot of reefs. Although I think I am not easy to impress, the wealth of life on the reefs of Wakatobi Dive Resort took my breath away on several occasions.

When mapping a coral reef, you are pretty much focusing on the variety of tasks that need to be accomplished during the dive: bathymetry (depth) measurements, recording GPS coordinates and time codes on a dive slate, all while keeping an eye on your scientific equipment that is attached to a surface marker buoy floating some 15 to 20 meters above your head. I rarely get distracted when I am collecting data on the reef or training people in the water, so something really exceptional needs to happen to throw me off. But, that’s pretty much what happened at the end of my dive at Zoo, one of Wakatobi Dive Resort’s great dive sites, which is on our list for a 3D coral reef map. I was about to take down the last few in a series of special features on my dive slate when I suddenly found myself in a huge ball of schooling fish, probably several hundreds of them. The kaleidoscope of colors and the sheer number was so overwhelming that it made my jaw drop and with it my dive slate. The school of fish was so dense that they sometimes blocked the view of my dive buddy students and the surface marker buoy!

Despite what one might think, the fact that Wakatobi Dive Resort has chosen a remote island off the Indonesian coast of Southern Sulawesi, as its place of operation does not guarantee for healthy coral reefs and such prolific marine life. Just in case you were not aware, South-East Asia is also a place on earth where some of the most destructive fishing practices take place; dynamite fishing, cyanide fishing and muroami netting, to name just a few, are common practices in this region of the world.

This obviously begs the question - How does Wakatobi Dive Resort fend off destructive fishing methods to protect the very resource its business relies upon? Intriguing as well - What is the reason behind the sea of waving hands and the genuinly warm smiles given by the local community on our way from the Wakatobi Dive Resort charter through the local villages all the way to the reosrt? Well, turns out that the connection between happy local communities and healthy coral reefs is, simply put, a finely balanced agreement established between the villages and the owners of Wakatobi Dive Resort. An agreement based on the payment of an annual lease paid to 17 village communities and the delivery of resort-generated electrical power in exchange for a promise to respect no-fishing zones on the local coral reefs. Local fishermen were quick to realize that this agreement brought direct benefits to the community in the form of additional revenues; they also realized, there are also spillover effects from protected reefs that seem to be replenishing adjacent fishing grounds that provide areas for sustainable amounts of fish to continue traditional fishing activities.

The result is a protected 20 KM (12.5 miles) coastline of prime coral reef that is made available for divers and snorkelers to enjoy in a high-end resort atmosphere. With direct monetary contribution, the Wakatobi Dive Resort Collaborative Reef Conservation Program seems to have achieved what other destinations still dream about – or may have never imagined; a coral reef preservation model based on solid foundations using a simple business equation – payment of monies in exchange for the protection of the very resource the diving business relies on. This simple business equation still seems to elude quite a few shortsighted dive business owners in many of the tropical diving destinations where coral reefs are dwindling.

In the words of Wakatobi Dive Resort Founder Lorenz Mäder, “Destructive fishing methods are the economic equivalent of slaughtering the goose that lays golden eggs… I believe that alignment of interests, and that includes long-term financial interests, with local communities can do much more to protect the valuable reef resources in Indonesia than a rigid system of grants and education attempts by environmental organizations ever could”.

Maybe the way dive businesses handle the importance of local coral reef preservation should become part of our trip booking decisions before we hand over our cash? Those that do not care beg the question, why should we care about them?

Best fishes, Stephan

For more information, please visit Wakatobi Dive Resort Marine Conservation page.

It has been quite some time that I wanted to use our educational materials - especially our 3D coral reef maps - to make available online edutainment for the pleasure of Scuba divers, snorkelers and the entire family. Happy to tell you that this has finally been done!

Bahamas, San Salvador, North Pole Cave South

For the occasion of World Oceans Day on June 8th, we launched the Alpha version of our first Online Coral Reef Treasure Hunt. I am sure there will be plenty of things that can be improved in this new online game  - so please, do improve me!…;-)

The idea is to make people play with knowledge related to coral reefs and in turn reward them with prizes to win. For now, we post a riddle every second day. Each riddle relates to a specific coral reef and the creatures that can be found on that reef. The correct answer to the riddle provides a letter of the alphabet. In total, the first treasure hunt is composed of 13 riddles - so that’s 13 letters. Put together the letters unveil a phrase or a word. And those that get the phrase or word right participate in the final draw for the prize. Pretty simple I think, but i am really wondering if people actually find it that simple. When you know the answers it may appear simple, but you can go quickly wrong with that!…;-)

Hey but why talking about it if i can actually show you how it works! Here is an example of a riddle:

“On the North Pole Cave (S) dive site located on San Salvador in the Bahamas there is an elongated creature capable of changing color at will in order to blend into a new background. What is the name of this peculiar behavior? Take the 3^rd letter of the first name of this behavior and insert it into box # 11.”

So… North Pole Cave (S) is the dive site that you see at the top of this blog - and when you access our website and search for North Pole Cave (S) you will find a list of creatures that hang out on that particular dive site (of course there are more species than our list of fifteen, so we chose only the most interesting ones in terms of behaviors that can be observed in the water).

Now, if you have a closer look into that species list you will discover one species that is more elongated than others - the Atlantic trumpetfish! From there you would visit the page for that creature (we will add links to them on the page of the coral reef map to make it even more easy for participants) and read through the text to discover that peculiar behavior of the Atlantic trumpetfish that the riddle is referring to…

Now i don’t want to spill the beans here, but there are just two behaviors in the ‘Attack & Defense Behavior’ section that could possibly have anything to do with ‘blending into a new background’…

And from there you would just count the letters as indicated in the riddle: the third letter of the first name of this behavior is… ? Right, I guess you got it.

What do you think? Easy, tough, too long, not interesting? Send me your comments - I am burning to know….;-)

Hey - is that nice or what?! Our client Club Med has invited me to become an expert on the brand-new Club Med insider website. The Club Med Insider is an online community for Club Med aficionados and invites them to leave their vacation impressions and pictures, share tips and tricks about everything Club Med  travel and vacation related. As a first contribution I posted Beautiful Oceans‘ Top 10 Things You Can Do to Protect Coral Reefs:

Beautiful Oceans

My expert page is here.

Here are our Top 10 Things You Can Do to Protect Coral Reefs:

1. Follow the three R’s: Reduce, reuse and recycle at home, work and school. Most – if not all – of our current environmental problems that directly impact coral reefs, including global warming, stem from overconsumption. Overconsumption takes a heavy toll upon the resources of our planet - such as water, oil and other raw materials. We use huge volumes of these resources each year to produce plastics, cars, TVs etc. – more than we really need. On your next shopping trip, think about what you really need and avoid items that are environmentally unsound, such as those that are not recyclable or that have excess packaging. Ask yourself: How much more stuff is enough? Watch Annie Leonard’s video on the subject and share it with others: www.storyofstuff.com

2. Use water responsibly. Make sure that sewage from your home does not represent a burden for the environment by minimizing your use of chemicals. For example, try to use phosphate-free detergents for doing your laundry and dishwashing. Excess nutrients such as phosphates find their way from wastewater into the watershed – the area that drains into a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, or wetland – and eventually reaches the ocean where it can negatively impact reefs. Always try to conserve water, as the less water you use, the less runoff and wastewater eventually find their way back into the oceans.

3. Educate yourself about coral reefs and the creatures they support. As a Senegalese environmentalist once put it: “We only protect what we love, we only love what we understand and we only understand what we have been taught”. In furthering your own education, you can help others understand the fragility and value of the world’s coral reefs. Enrol into educational programs such as the Beautiful Oceans Coral Reef Adventures that combine fun and education to help SCUBA divers, snorkelers and the entire family in becoming coral reef guardians.

4. Select tourism operators that care for the environment. Choose tropical marine tourism organizations that are environmental conscious and strive to lower their ecological footprint. Do they manage water consumption responsibly? How do they take care of the waste? Is there a recycling program in place? Let them know you are an informed consumer that cares about the impacts tourism has on reefs.

5. If you dive, don’t touch! Keep your fins, gear, and hands away from the reef, as this contact can hurt you and will damage the delicate coral animals. Control your buoyancy in order to stay off the bottom, as disturbed sediments can settle on and smother the corals. Always follow the golden rule: take only pictures and leave only bubbles.

6. Keep the marine environment clean. Help keep our reefs and beaches clean, and in addition to picking up your own trash, carry away the trash that others have left behind. More than just an unsightly nuisance, beach and reef litter poses a significant threat to the health and survival of marine organisms, which can swallow or get tangled in beverage containers, plastic bags, six-pack rings, and other debris. Remove only recent waste from the natural environment, as waste that has been in place for a long time often becomes a home for marine organisms.

7. Be an informed aquarist. As an aquarium hobbyist, buy only fish and other organisms when you know they are not endangered or threatened species and have been captive bred or collected in an ecologically sound manner. Voice your concern by asking store managers where their stock comes from and how it was caught – unsustainable collecting practices such as cyanide fishing have decimated reefs across the Pacific for the sake of the aquarium pet trade. Some species of fish, corals, and other invertebrates are so at risk that their trade is strictly controlled by the international conservation organization known as CITES – visit www.cites.org to ensure that you are not purchasing threatened species.

8. Watch what you eat. If you like to eat fish and other seafood, make sure that the species you choose to eat come from sustainable fisheries. Many types of seafood are threatened or endangered due to overfishing or habitat destruction, while other types of seafood are farmed in ways that produce waste which pollutes the ocean. Download a free sustainable seafood guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to learn what types of seafood to avoid if you care about their future: www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch.asp

9. Support organizations that contribute to the preservation of coral reefs. Many national and international organizations have coral reef conservation programs, and your support will make a big difference.

10. Spread the word! Remember your own excitement at learning the value and importance of coral reef ecosystems. Use your newly acquired knowledge to educate others and raise awareness about the plight of coral reefs and what can be done to help.

What a great week! I just returned form the Florida Keys where I spent one week with students and faculty of the Florida Keys Community College (FKCC) to initiate training on our Beautiful Oceans proprietary GPS coral reef mapping protocol. No better opportunity to escape the Canadian winter … :-)

Under the direction of Dr. Patrick Rice, FKCC’s new head of Marine Sciences, fourteen students got trained on the new protocol and hit the water on Looe Key last Sunday to test their newly acquired skills. It went extremely well and I can’t wait for the mapping data to arrive here in Montreal so that we can run it through our 3D mapping software for the development of beautiful 3D graphical representations of Looe Key reefs!

Miami Herald’s Cammy Clark reported on the event. Her video interview can be accessed here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/video/index.html?media_id=3338981

Incidentally I learned from Douglas Rudolph (”Rudy”), FKKCs diving safety officer and teacher of the underwater photography class that Scuba Diving magazine just rated Looe Key Reef as the #4 dive destination in North America! How did they know what site we were going to map first?… ;-)

How does GPS coral reef mapping work? See here.

The outcome? Looks something like this:

GPS coral reef mapping by Beautiful Oceans

Congratulations to Patrick, Rudy, Lucja, Nick, Jim, Justin, Jenna, Levi, Arnie, Jeremy,  Nick, Connor, Kate, Lee and Chad for having successfully completed the first ever 3D GPS coral reef mapping training course offered through an academic institution! Many thanks to Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle, Dr. Randy Charles, Dr. Patrick Rice and Mr. Bill Chalfant for having brought this great opportunity to FKCC students. Special thanks to Christa for the cup of hot coffee served every morning in the diving lab… :-)

The following  is a blog entry from Chuck Dowell, a certified Beautiful Oceans Science Instructor. Chuck is organizing an eleven day coral reef exploration in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and Beautiful Oceans Coral Reef Adventures. If yo you are in search for a fun edutainment dive or snorkel trip in July, this may be a great thing to do. I invite you to download the schedule at the end of this post - it truly looks fantastic!:

Hello everyone.  My name is Chuck Dowell and I am Beautiful Oceans Science Instructor # CD541201.  I would like to share some information about an eleven day exploration of coral reefs, whale sharks and other ocean life, mangroves, island flora and fauna and wildlife in Utila, Honduras that will take place July 1 through 11, 2009.  In an effort to appeal to a wider range of persons, the trip is being offered in three formats.

First, it is can be taken as a “for credit” course offered by the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) entitled “Field Studies in Ecology”.  This may appeal to current undergraduate and graduate students who need additional college credits to complete their degree requirements.  Course fees include 3 credits tuition, round trip air transfers, over night double occupancy lodging at Utila Lodge for ten nights, three meals daily, daily snorkel/dive excursions, Island Tours, Whale Shark Certification, Beautiful Oceans Coral Reef Architecture and Organisms and Coral Reef Ecosystem and Food Web course materials and Certifications and all daily on-island educational sessions.  Daily educational sessions will be conducted by Dr. Rob Davis, director of the Whale Shark and Ocean Research Center (WSORC).  Airfare to and from the island, departure tax, reef fees and boat crew tips are not included.  The cost for this option is $3858.00.

Second, the trip can be taken as a “non-credit” course offered by the Pennsylvania State University.  It includes all of the above but does not include the three college credits.  The cost for this option is $3145.00.

Finally, for the diver only, the trip can be taken without any of the educational sessions.  It includes round trip air transfers, over night double occupancy lodging at Utila Lodge for ten nights, three meals daily, three dives daily, two night dives and Whale Shark Certification.  Airfare to and from the island, departure tax, reef fees and boat crew tips are not included.  The cost for this option is $1652.00.

Contact me at cdowell@hummelstown.net for details.

We are fast approaching a March 27th deadline for determining whether there is enough interest to keep this opportunity available.  If you are interested, please don’t wait!

To download the flyer, click here.

To download more information about the Penn University field trip, including Beautiful Oceans curriculum, click here.