Archives for posts with tag: marine protected areas

Grouper Etiquette

September 16, 2016 //
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My name is Grouper Goodall. I’m a female Goliath Grouper writing a doctoral dissertation on human and grouper behavior. You can read more about my studies here.

During my research, I’ve discovered humans have an inexplicable need to dive with us. It’s true, we, Goliath Groupers, are a sexy bunch. Look at our burly torpedo-shaped bodies and our relaxed poise just hovering around like meditating yogis. We are adorable.

Now during spawning aggregation season (from August to October), we up the ante from adorable to awesome. After all, we’ve waited a whole year to have sex. So we gather at our singles bars, checking out sexy partners (if we can figure out who is the other sex) and we look our best. We call it courtship.

Goliath Grouper spawning aggregation or singles bar

Grouper Goodall and her buddies at a singles bar checking out sexy partners, if they can figure out who is the other sex. Photo Credit: Walt Stearns

During this critical time, your obsession for making us your dive buddies can easily get out of hand. Or fin. You’ll be surprised to know that in our grouper society, we have a code of polite behavior: a grouper etiquette. It has worked for the last 11 million years since the Miocene epoch. We are not going to change our ways, no matter how many selfie sticks you throw at us.

So, for your own good (and ours) I’ll share with you the basics of grouper etiquette.

Consider this an inter-species wake-up call

1) Avoid aggressive diving

We are irresistible, I know. But it’s rude and outright scary for us to see a diver approaching head on at full speed. I mean, when I see such locomotive divers, I pee my pants (If I could wear pants). We don’t follow Euclidean geometry. The shortest distance between you and me is not a straight line, but a soft curve. You should approach me gently, sideways. You’ll be surprised how close you can get to us. Obey this basic first rule of etiquette or you shall only see our tails.

2) Do not block the exit

Always give us a way out. Do you see where my head is? That means, if I decide to swim away from you in a jiffy, I’ll go towards where my head is pointing. So give me space or I might kick you in the gonads in my panic escape.

3) Do not chase after us

You might remember there was once a Jesus guy who said “let the children come to me”. It’s the same with us. You can get close to us, but for a photo portrait kind of close (when you do the citizen science project) don’t chase after us, of we’ll get the hell out of there. We’ll come up to check you out. Look, we are very curious. We like to pop up and ask you “Hello, What’s up? How’s it hanging? But, if you have a hose hanging in there, tuck it in. Come on, be a neat diver and don’t go around steamrolling the corals and the seabed. Not cool.

4) Do not feed us

We’ve worked out the whole year to look this magnificent for spawning season. We’ve done our yoga, eaten all the right foods. Yes, we might look a bit chubby to you but it’s the perfect kind of fat ass. Do you know how difficult it is to keep our spherical beauty? So don’t show up with hot dogs and who knows what. Feeding us breaks our delicate Rubenesque balance.

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Remember, avoid aggressive diving, no blocking the exit, no chasing after us, and no giving us food.

I wish you a great diving experience. I’ll be watching you.

 

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Categories Marine Conservation

Message in a Bottle

June 25, 2012 //
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About a year ago, I presented my research at the International Marine Conservation Congress in Victoria, Canada. This was only the second time the  international marine conservation community met to develop new strategies for marine conservation science and policy.

At the Congress, I was interviewed by the team from Mission Blue, founded by world renowned deep sea explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle. I shared my views about the importance of marine conservation and where we are in terms of marine protected areas. The entire interview and an illustration are posted at the Mission Blue Blog.

It took the talent and creativity of artist Asher Jay to find a visual home for one of my quotes from the Mission Blue interview. A few days ago, Asher Jay opened her new art exhibit in New York: Message in a Bottle. Asher hand-painted  plastic PET bottles (post-consumer waste) using them as vessels to share the voices of individuals leading scientific research, conservation and policy change to ensure ocean life continues to flourish.

My message…

“We are part of the ocean.  If the oceans die, we die with them, so marine conservation is essential for our own survival. Every second breath you take comes from the ocean, so if you are against marine conservation you are only allowed to breathe from 9 am to 9 pm and the rest of the 12 hours you have you cannot breathe at all.”

… was paired with this bottle

Message in a Bottle by Asher Jay

There are 100 Ocean Voices in the exhibit, each one with a unique message and image. Both the images and the messages are a great source of inspiration.

There’s also a dedicated image gallery, for the entire exhibit.

If you are reading this blog, it means you are breathing. Half of the oxygen you are using comes from the ocean, produced by microscopic algae in the plankton. Tiny oxygen-producing natural factories. If you plan on continuing breathing for a while, I hope you find inspiration on how to do so in Message in a Bottle.

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Categories Marine Conservation, Uncategorized

Minnow Fishing

May 1, 2012 //
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Every time I participate in a fisheries meeting in Florida, fishers agree on the need of using “good science” to drive fisheries regulations. As a scientist, I should be thrilled of such comments. However, with a few notable exceptions, it seems to me fishers identify “good science” as the one that supports what they want to do: catching fish. Any science that calls for reduced catch limits and fishing closures is, according to them, “bad science”.

The conflict was painfully illustrated once again at a recent meeting of the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) in Cocoa Beach, Florida. As we worked through the meeting agenda, which included impending closures to fishing in deep water reefs to protect deep water corals as essential fish habitat, an impromptu forum opened up, where commercial and recreational fishers voiced their concerns.

In a textbook example of fishing down the food web, a veteran commercial fisherman complained of regulations set during the last decade, as the populations of the most valued fish species have been going downhill, he had less and less fish to catch, ever switching to smaller species. “ I’ll end up fishing for pinfish !!!” he said.

New fishers who have moved into the business during the last decade, including younger generations texting on their iPhones during the meeting, complained that there’s plenty of grouper and snapper in Florida and regulations should be eased on to allow for more fishing. Such shifting baselines syndrome was not lost in one of the old timers, who shared his memories when he began fishing in Florida, 40 years ago: “Many times mine was the only fishing boat around, and I didn’t have much trouble to find fish” he said.

The combination of fishing down the food web, and the shifting baselines syndrome reminded me of tragic and hilarious PSA from Shifting Baselines.org.

Fisherfolk rarely recognize their own impact on the species they exploit. There are mortgages and expensive boats to pay. In many cases, they view cutting back on fishing effort as a luxury they cannot afford.

Ultimately, in a consumer-driven economy, we are all consumers of the products fishermen provide to us. We must educate ourselves on making sustainable seafood choices, such as those provided in Seafood Watch. Our choices will eventually drive sustainable fisheries.

Otherwise, we’ll end up fishing for minnows.

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Categories Fisheries Science, Marine Conservation