The underwater world and the diving community have suffered a loss with the deaths of Mike deGruy and Andrew Wight, killed in a helicopter crash February 3 near Sydney, Australia.

Both men were divers of long experience and professionals in the media world, bringing the beauty and excitement of Planet Ocean to a global audience. deGruy was a documentary specialist whose work with Sir David Attenborough, James Cameron and National Geographic, to name a few, has been screened the world over. Similarly, Andrew Wight  had been a driving force behind many entertaining projects, recently as a writer and producer of the big screen cave diving feature film Sanctum.

Tributes quickly flooded the internet  and on February 12 hundreds of friends and family members gathered in Santa Barbara, California, to pay their respects at a service for deGruy in his hometown. Among the many who knew both men was DIVER Magazine Publisher Phil Nuytten, who worked with them both on projects that took them all to exotic dive locales in oceans warm and cold. Among others gathered to pay their last respects was Hollywood Director James Cameron, whose collaboration with both men included a project underway at the time of the helicopter accident. Cameron spoke at the service, offering a fine tribute that can be viewed above.

A video tribute from National Geographic can be found here.

Mike deGruy’s personal website can be found here and provides a tribute board where you can leave comments.

In a coming issue DIVER will recall the lives of Mike and Andrew and their many noteworthy achievements that have drawn attention to and championed the water world.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia have been using Google Earth to investigate fish enclosures of the Mediterranean. Read Article.
Source: New Scientist

Could mobile marine life sanctuaries help protect our oceans? Read Article.
Source: The Province

Is the Canadian government ‘muzzling its scientists’? Read Article.
Source: BBC

How do you make great concrete? Study sea urchins of course… Read Article.
Source: BBC

Professor Trites from the University of British Columbia straps cameras to sea lions! Watch video.
Source: BBC

A few interesting websites we have stumbled upon recently…

Historical Diving Society of Canada

Beach Chair Scientist

Shipwreck Exploration and Conservation Society

Mapper

Cousteau Divers

Mike deGruy YouTube playlist

Photo: Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society/KQED

The biological clock of the Pacific Northwest is set to the rhythm of the ebb and flow of five different species of Pacific salmon: Chinook, Chum, Coho, Sockeye and Pink. Preparing to spawn, adult salmon travel upstream from the open ocean along coastal rivers and streams. Later, after they develop into smolt – tiny salmon – they swim back downstream and into the open ocean, where some species may spend up to six years feeding in deeper oceanic waters.  The shallows of the shaded coastal rivers and streams are perfect refuge for the eggs and developing young.  It is here where the adults perform the last, and most important, task of their lives just before they die – releasing eggs and sperm to create the next generation and ensure the continuity and genetic diversity of salmon.  The adult salmon leave another gift: the nutrients from their bodies fertilize the river bushes and trees, recycling dead salmon back into the living system; there is no waste in nature.  This gift directly connects the land to the sea.

The journey of salmon is an ancient migration that supports a complex web of life. In British Columbia two populations of resident killer whales arrive annually like clockwork in the inlet passages, following the runs of adult salmon as they travel to the river mouths and upstream. On land, black and brown bears will travel hundreds of miles to greet the salmon at their final resting place. Unfortunately, in the last century, and especially in the last two decades, this biological clock has changed, with ramifications that ripple through entire ecosystems and place economic hardship on coastal human communities.

Last August, nine to 11 million sockeye salmon went missing from the Fraser River in British Columbia; only 1.7 million fish swam up river. The Fraser River was once known as the world’s most fertile spawning ground for sockeye. What happened to the missing fish? What caused their demise? Climate change? Habitat degradation? Overfishing? Or a more direct insult: the excessive presence of sea lice from farmed salmon in open net pens in the general vicinity of migrating young, vulnerable fish?

There are many possible reasons why we may be seeing this decline in salmon in this river and other rivers in British Columbia. Alexandra Morton, biologist with the Raincoast Research Society and featured in our PBS/KQED TV special, Call of the Killer Whale, has been warning the Canadian government of the potential collapse of the Fraser salmon population due to sea lice infestations from open net farmed Atlantic salmon.  The wild salmon are exposed to sea lice, viruses and bacteria from the farmed salmon that are treated with antibiotics and delousing chemicals. Of 350 Fraser sockeye salmon surveyed by Ms. Morton in 2007 (the same generation that didn’t return last year), some carried up to 28 sea lice each.  The parasitic lice weaken the fish and lessen their chances of surviving their two years at sea. But the government has refused to accept findings of the scientific studies and is still in denial about the impact from farmed salmon in BC. But for everyone else – First Nations people, scientists, NGOs and local community members – the verdict is in: for wild salmon to thrive in British Columbia, industrial salmon farms have to be removed from the migratory routes of wild salmon or put in closed, contained systems on land so the waste, chemicals and parasites do not destroy the surrounding marine ecosystem. I believe this is a viable alternative to open net cages, but consumers need to put pressure on industry and government to make the change.  We need to support companies that are already practicing this innovative technology. We also need to support companies farming herbivores not carnivores; on land this is the equivalent of farming cows not lions.

Photo: Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society/KQED

In British Columbia, salmon farms began as small operations; today three different Norwegian corporations own 90 percent of the salmon farms. Norway has dominated the international aquaculture industry with the majority of their farms in Norway, Scotland, Chile and Canada. The rest of the world knows that open net cage salmon farms are damaging to the surrounding environment. The once prolific Chilean salmon farming industry has collapsed due to uncontrollable disease outbreaks. Why is there such a demand for a farmed fishery with so many environmental flaws? Because we as consumers do not know any better and continue to purchase farmed salmon.

The impacts of many aquaculture businesses continue to mount as the industry expands around the world. In a recent report from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of international scientists states that half of all the fish eaten in the world today are raised on fish farms rather than caught in the wild.  And although the aquaculture industry has made giant strides in production while trying to decrease environmental impacts, this industry is still putting huge strains on marine resources by using large amounts of feed made from wild fish. In British Columbia, one pound of farmed salmon requires over 2.5 pounds of wild fish, mostly from smaller species like anchovies and herring! This places tremendous pressure on these already strained fisheries.

When we protect the ocean, we protect ourselves and when the ocean suffers, so do we.  Last year the collapse of salmon fisheries in California and Oregon required $170 million dollars in disaster relief for those dependent on the fishery for their livelihood.  It is unclear how much the scarcity of salmon will cost the fishing industry in Vancouver; however, of particular concern are the many native people who live along the river and depend on salmon for sustenance.  How did we reach this dire situation?

Photo: Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society/KQED

Salmon are under attack from many different fronts and everyone wants to blame someone else.  We have to admit, salmon aquaculture has spawned a myriad of serious environmental consequences. And now we are experiencing the consequences of not placing priority on the protection of valuable wild salmon populations as an ocean resource.  It takes great courage to act in the interest of the environment over commerce, but the protection of our wild salmon is now an economic issue.  The loss of these salmon is affecting peoples’ lives in addition to the balance of the ecosystem. We cannot afford to delay taking action any longer; we just hope it is not too late. I always remain optimistic. At the same time that the nine to 11 million sockeye salmon went missing from the Fraser River in BC, Atlantic salmon returned to the Seine River in France after an absence of almost a century. The effort to clean up the river has given this population of salmon a chance to return to its ancient migration route and bring its gifts from the sea back to the land.

Around the world salmon and other large fish species are disappearing on our watch.  Only in the last twenty-five years have we exceeded the sustainable yield of our global oceans. Global fisheries peaked in 1988 and have been steadily declining ever since.  It is time each and every one of us take ownership in the long-term productivity of our oceans. Can you look into the eyes of a five-year-old and tell him or her you’re doing the best you can? We all need to be able to say yes!

This round up of “Little known facts about the ocean” has some great statistics. Read article.
Source: Marinebio

Post Valentines Day blues? Maybe this picture of a hear shaped reef will bring a smile to your face. Read article.
Source: Our Amazing Planet

iPhone and iPad App ‘Guide to tropical marine fish 3′ is now available on the iTunes App store. Buy here.
Source: iTunes

Our DIVER YouTube page has a playlist of videos featuring the late Mike deGruy. View here.

Some impressive photos of the largest fish in the sea. View here.
Source: BBC

Divers launch special mission to retrieve teddy bear from wreck of Costa Concordia. Read article.
Source: Daily Telegraph

The winter issue of DAN’s Alert Diver is out now. Read here.
Source: DAN

Photo: Nancy Marr, Ocean Futures Society/KQED

Beginnings are always a time for renewal and optimism and the debut of 2010 is a good time to consider what we are faced with that concerns the ocean and the environment. The meetings on climate change in Copenhagen must now result in global policy change, but there are other areas specific to ocean policy that must be addressed. They are:

• Treating the ocean as a garbage dump
• Destroying coastal habitats
• Overfishing.

The truth is that even if climate change weren’t an issue, if we don’t address these trends, we will inevitably have a catastrophe.

Everything Goes Somewhere

A few years ago, I visited the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which sadly have become the battered and now visible victims of the ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ attitude.

The NWHI group is one of the most remote landmasses in the world and for the most part has long been untouched by human influence.  But they’re subject to the flow of the North Pacific Gyre, a circular movement of water on a planetary scale that flows from west to east in the northern Pacific Ocean, down the coasts of North and Central America, and then east to west back across the Pacific and finally northward along the coast of Japan.

I have recently walked the beaches of these islands and have seen what the Pacific Gyre now delivers to their shores:  hypodermic needles, computer screens, toothbrushes, children’s toys, fishing nets, cigarette lighters and countless pieces of colourful, yet unidentifiable, plastic.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, now a massive floating island of debris in the Pacific, is a nightmare vortex of trash extending deep into the water column and affecting every marine species that encounters it.  This accumulation of misery is estimated to be twice the size of Texas.

In the central Pacific there are up to six pounds of marine litter to every pound of plankton, and roughly 46,000 pieces of litter in every square mile of the oceans, according to the United Nations Environment Program.  The Pacific Ocean is filling up with trash.

Philosophically, the solution is simple:  we need to legislate biodegradable packing; don’t over consume; buy only what you really need; don’t throw waste into the environment; and recycle. This is an individual and personal issue but it requires the support of governmental policy and the willingness for industrial change.

The Giant Pacific Garbage Patch is caused by each of us every day because when we throw anything away that object goes somewhere. We need to and can control where it goes and that means each of us can take some action concerning what we purchase and where we place it when its usefulness is finished.

Another of my concerns is the old belief that ‘Dilution is the solution,’ which is totally false, especially with the toxic, invisible, chemical brew entering the sea every day. In investigating the status of killer whales in the eastern Pacific, we discovered that they are contaminated with many chemicals, including PBDEs, a class of toxic flame retardants found in mattresses, couches, pillows, rugs, automobiles and electronics, and chemically similar to the banned PCBs.  These chemicals become airborne, enter the water system and the food chain, and have now become a health concern for orcas and other sea life, as well as putting our own pets and children at risk.

As a society, we must shift the burden of proof to the chemical companies to verify that a product is safe before it enters the market. It is irresponsible for the government to step in only after we have proof, 30 years later, that some chemicals have already cheated our children of their future. If we demand that the correct principles be followed – that is, Safe Before It Is Sold – then we won’t be in an eternal cycle of catch-up, having to react to each new crisis.  Prevention is always better than cure.

Photo: Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society

Recognizing True Value

As we discover more connections within the natural system, we are often surprised. For example, our team explored the waters of southeast Florida in the company of Goliath groupers. These gigantic fish are struggling after being decimated by fishermen who didn’t understand that when the fish are easiest to catch—in their mass spawning gatherings—is when they should be left alone.

Also, we haven’t always understood that currents carry the eggs and larvae hundreds of miles to shore, to the protective roots of the mangroves. Baby groupers spend the first seven years of their life protected by this habitat before they enter the deep waters of the sea to grow into the giants we encountered.

We had missed the critical connection of the mangroves, which were seen by some as useless obstructions to coastal development – and so destroyed.  Throughout the world where mangroves have been removed there has been coastal erosion and loss of fisheries.

Now we know. We better understand that mangroves, marshlands, wetlands, swamps, and near-shore reefs not only protect the land from storm and surge, they also serve as nurseries for fish we associate with the open sea. We must have a similar appreciation for tropical coral reefs, which protect island shorelines, provide a source of food for millions of island people, and play a critical role in island economies that depend on tourism.

The solution is simple—maintain, protect and restore these critical habitats and realize their true value.  We have sacrificed too much for seaside condominiums that are now in foreclosure.  We cannot afford to risk foreclosure on our sea life.

The Easiest Solution

Ninety percent of all large fish populations are at risk from overfishing and most commercial fisheries are in decline. The problem is enormous but the solution is clear, quickly effective, and costs little.

The most direct solution to overfishing is the creation of Marine Protected Areas or MPAs, a prescribed part of the ocean that is off limits to fishing or any activities that would disturb the natural functioning of that area.  This is not a new idea.  I learned years ago while in Fiji that when a high chief died, a section of reef was set aside from fishing for a few months or years as an act of respect to the local chief.  The villages then could have a great feast to honor the dead chief with a predictable supply of fish and shellfish.

In the United States, the first marine protected area had nothing to do with fish or the ocean; it was part of the space program off Cape Canaveral.  A large portion of the sea and coastline near the launching pad of the U.S. space program was declared off limits to all fishing and boating to secure the area for missile launches.  Years later, it was noticed that at the perimeter of the area, there was a crowd of fishing boats because the fish were so abundant.

The phenomenon is simple:  with no fishing pressure, populations were able to rebound and repopulate the protected area.  The abundance was so great that fish began to spill over outside the area and create a profitable fishing ground.  Scientists stepped in to study the effect of total protection and discovered that, in specific areas in as short a time as three years, some fish populations are able to repopulate and begin to spill over.

With only 0.8 of one percent of the global ocean under protection, we must step up the pace toward more MPAs. But there is another shift that needs to take place.

Photo: Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society

The Inland Sea

We are on a collision course: world population is increasing and so is the demand for seafood as climate change threatens the fragile food web and at a time when we have reached a possible tipping point of overfishing in all the world’s major fisheries.  So when we need it most, the once abundant supply of seafood is vanishing.

In part, the solution lies in duplicating the success we have already had on land.  At a crucial point in ancient civilizations, we moved from hunter/gatherers to farmers.  We need to do the same with seafood.  We need to make the technological leap to farm herbivorous fish without the ocean; in other words, we need aquaculture on land, far from where we may do any harm to the sea and natural populations of sea life.

The hope for the future lies in self-contained fish farms dotted across the landscape, serving metropolitan areas, creating supply where demand exists, in Berlin, Topeka, Paris, Madrid, Beijing, Johannesburg, Lima.  My vision is of a thriving seafood industry located near metropolitan areas and supplying homes and restaurants with seafood fresh from the farm, providing a healthy product with minimal transportation.

The opportunity is enormous: the U.S. imports over 84 percent of its seafood.  U.S. aquaculture provides only five to seven percent of the demand for seafood and that is mostly in the form of catfish.  There is an opportunity to create a vastly successful industry to meet an exploding demand and to do it in a way that protects the environment and sustains the seas.

A Global Shift

In today’s marketplace, no business can ignore its environmental footprint because its customers now want to know what that business is doing to minimize waste, minimize use of resources, and create products that are not harmful to the environment. We are beginning to experience a wave of sustainable prosperity and it is a wave capable of reaching all shores.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are a symbol of a new direction.  At a special screening of our film, Voyage to Kure in 2006, then President Bush was moved by the beauty of this marine paradise and shocked by the trash piled up on the shore.  He immediately acted to create what was then the largest marine protected area in the world, like the MPAs spreading around the globe.  These areas become our partnership with nature where we uphold our side, which is basically to do no harm.  We know the harm we have done to the ocean, and now we must act with greater commitment and knowledge and speed.  It is time.