Ma'afu Marine Lecture Series:: Shark Reef Marine Reserve: Conservation, Research and Shark Provisioning

Ma'afu Marine Lecture Series

Shark Reef Marine Reserve: Conservation, Research and Shark Provisioning

Ni sa bula vinaka, Colleagues !!

Mike Neumann has kindly agreed to give this week's Ma'afu Marine Lecture, following on from Helen Sykes' inspiring talk on Fiji's Shark Sanctuary Campaign.

Mike will be talking about the origin of Shark Reef Marine Reserve and associated tourism and research aspects. 

Many of you will have seen a number of press releases this week, announcing that researchers from the University of Miami, Florida have completed the first satellite-tagging study to find out how ecotourism impacts on tiger sharks. I copied a summary of their paper below and attached a related paper from 2011. More information can be found under the following links and may provide a useful background for Mikes' lecture.

• www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17299522
• www.functionalecology.org/view/0/index.html
• www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110627143831.htm
• www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13683500.2011.585227
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/59874229/Global-shark-currency-the-distribution-frequency-and-economic-value-of-shark-ecotourism-by-Neil-Hammerschlag

Please join us :

Date: 15.03.2012
Time: 4:30 pm
Venue:   Veitiri Conference Room, IUCN Office, 5 Ma'afu Street, Suva 

Mike Neumann is a retired lawyer and banking executive.

He now lives in Fiji and is a full-time marine conservationist with a special interest in Sharks.

As always, please kindly share this invitation widely with friends and colleagues, we look forward to see you on Thursday afternoon in Ma'afu street,

Vinaka Vakalevu,

Jan

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Don't bite the hand that feeds: Assessing ecological impacts of provisioning ecotourism on an apex marine predator

Neil Hammerschlag, Austing Gallagher, Julia Wester, Jiangang Luo and Jerald Ault

Ecotourism activities that use food to attract and concentrate wildlife for viewing have become a controversial topic. This debate is best exemplified by the shark dive tourism industry, a highly lucrative and booming global market. Use of chum (fish parts and blood) or food to attract sharks to divers has generated significant concerns, with many criticisms focusing on the potential for ecological and behavioral impacts.

To tackle this issue, we conducted the first satellite telemetry study to examine the long range movement patterns of tiger sharks (the largest apex predator in tropical waters) in response to dive tourism. We studied two separate populations of tiger sharks: one that originated in Florida and the other in the Bahamas. At the Bahamas site, nicknamed "Tiger Beach," chum is regularly used to attract sharks for diving purposes. In contrast, shark feeding for ecotourism is illegal in Florida waters.

Satellite tracking revealed that both groups of tiger sharks displayed similar, long distance migration patterns into the Atlantic. Our data suggests that ecotourism activities do not impact the long term shark movements. Instead, this study allowed us to make several new discoveries related to the previously unknown ecology of Atlantic tiger sharks. Tracked sharks spent a large amount of time in the open ocean, thus challenging conventional wisdom that tiger sharks are generally more "coastal" than "pelagic" species. Both groups of sharks followed the Gulf Stream north east, into areas of high productivity, suggesting an opportunistic foraging strategy for this species. This trait, and the relatively low percentage of daily consumption needs estimated to be provided by chumming, may combine to make tiger sharks less susceptible to the behavioral changes explored here. We further speculate that the Bahamas tourism site may serve as an area for female tiger sharks to gestate while pregnant, before heading off to feed or birth elsewhere.

Because shark-based ecotourism generates significant economic and conservation benefits, and further because our data did not provide evidence of tourism impacting long-term movements of tiger sharks, we believe that managers should not prevent shark diving tourism unless new data were to demonstrate otherwise.

---

Jan H. STEFFEN
Regional Marine Program Coordinator
IUCN Oceania Office
Private Mail Bag
5 Ma'afu Street
Suva, FIJI

Ph     +679 - 331 9084
Fax     +679 - 310 0128
M    +679 - 938 2722
jan.steffen@iucn.org
www.iucn.org/oceania

You Can Help Give Sharks a Fighting Chance

Sharks are in the fight of their lives. Critical shark species - including hammerheads, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish - failed to receive international protection at the recent Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meetings.  

Make a gift and help call for immediate protection of sharks worldwide. 

Global shark populations continue to decline - some by more than 90 percent in the last two decades. And they continue to be fished faster than they can reproduce.

Many scientists fear the worst. Losing these top predators has devastating impacts on our underwater ecosystems and local economies. When sharks disappear, entire food webs can shift and valuable economies become devastated. We need your help.  

Become a Project AWARE Patron today for just 25 ($, £, €) or more. With your support, Project AWARE is securing protection for sharks. We're working to close loopholes in shark legislation, support establishment of effective MPA networks and engage divers in underwater research, data collection and awareness projects.  

Your contribution will help continue fighting for sharks and sustainable ecosystem management. Thank you for helping secure a future for our underwater world.

Sincerely,

Dr. Drew Richardson
Chairman, Project AWARE Foundation

Shark and Marine Conservation - Bite-Back

The UK's fastest growing shark and marine conservation organisation. Learn about endangered sharks and threatened fish species plus global marine conservation issues. Then do something about it!

Shark and Marine Conservation - Bite-Back

Information and support of the cause to end whaling

We recommend these sites for their information and support of the cause to end whaling.

• Greenpeace
• Boycott Japan
• International Fund For Animal Welfare
• Sea Shepherd
• World Wildlife Fund
• Natural Resources Defence Council
• Save the Whales
• Whale Nation

Many of the sites listed above also have anti-whaling petitions and projects to support and protect whales. I would strongly urge you to help these organisations with all their endeavours. While we may not directly agree with the tactics used by some groups we understand and respect the resolve they show in the campign to save the whales. One thing we all have in common is a love of these amazing marine mammals.

Oceana – Protecting the World’s Oceans: Shark Report

Oceana – Protecting the World’s Oceans: Shark Report

The End of the Line?, a new report by Oceana and WildAid, provides an overview of the factors affecting the survival of sharks, as well as a call to action to reduce the demand for shark products and implement solutions as part of the global effort. The consumption of sharks and shark products are driving shark populations to extinction, and this new report serves as a wake-up call to act now.

Download full report here.

EarthTalk Reader's Q&A: Coral Reefs And Hybrid Cars

Love it that someone is actually talking about this in real terms!

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EarthTalk Reader's Q&A: Coral Reefs And Hybrid Cars

Q: I’ve heard about the die-off of coral reefs due to global warming. I’ve also read that coral reefs themselves store carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main global warming gases. So if coral reefs are dying out, isn’t that a double whammy that increases the CO2 in the atmosphere? -- Tom Ozzello, Maplewood, MN

According to marine scientists, the world’s coral reefs—those underwater repositories for biodiversity that play host to some 25 percent of all marine life—are in big trouble as a result of global warming. Data collected by the international environmental group WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund) show that 20 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been effectively destroyed and show no immediate sign of recovery, while about 50 percent of remaining reefs are under imminent or long-term threat of collapse.

Most scientists now agree that global warming is not a natural phenomenon but a direct result of the continual release of excessive amounts of CO2 and other “greenhouse” gases into the atmosphere by human industrial and transportation activity. And the small but prolonged rises in ocean temperature that result cause coral colonies to expel the symbiotic food-producing algae that sustain them. This process is called “bleaching,” because it turns the reefs white as they die.

But researchers working with the Coral Reef Alliance have found that while coral reefs do store CO2 as part of photosynthesis, they tend to release most of it back into the ocean (so they are not what are known as “carbon sinks”). As such, the release of CO2 from dying coral reefs is not a major concern.

Of course, the ocean itself is a large carbon sink, storing about a quarter of what would otherwise end up in the atmosphere. Landmasses (and their plants) soak up another quarter of all the CO2 emanating from the Earth’s surface, while the rest rises up into the atmosphere where it can wreak havoc with our climate.

Recent findings indicate that the Antarctic Ocean is getting less efficient at storing CO2, and this raises serious questions about the ability of our oceans to handle everything we throw at them. The study’s authors fear that “such weakening of one of the Earth’s major carbon dioxide sinks will lead to higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the long-term.”

Not everyone is forecasting gloom and doom. Some Australian researchers believe that coral reefs around the world could expand in size by up to a third due to increased ocean warming. “Our finding stands in stark contrast to previous predictions that coral reef growth will suffer large, potentially catastrophic, decreases in the future,” says University of New South Wales oceanographer Ben McNeil, who led the controversial 2004 study that was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Geophysical Research Letters. “Our analysis suggests that ocean warming will foster considerably faster future rates of coral reef growth that will eventually exceed pre-industrial rates by as much as 35 per cent by 2100,” he adds.

In spite of such theories, the majority of marine scientists remain pessimistic about the future of coral reefs in a warmer world. One can only hope that the optimists are right.

Short of buying a new hybrid or other “green” car, are there ways I can make my existing vehicle more eco-friendly? I bought my car recently and am not quite ready to give it up. -- Bettie Hilliker, Lansing, MI

Choice of vehicle may well be the biggest factor in determining the environmental impact of your automobile-based travels. But a considerable amount of energy is used—and pollutants emitted—in the production of any new vehicle, including hybrids and other more fuel-efficient options. As a result, many environmentalists believe that practicing good driving habits and performing adequate maintenance on an older car are probably better options for the environment than causing the production of a new vehicle.

According to the website GreenerCars.org, there are many ways to green up one’s driving habits. Obeying speed limits, utilizing cruise control and avoiding jackrabbit starts will maximize fuel economy and minimize tailpipe emissions while also preventing unnecessary wear-and-tear. Staying off roads during rush hours is also advisable, as stop-and-go driving burns excess gasoline and promotes smog. Opening vents and windows to cool off instead of using the air conditioner, an inherently inefficient appliance that consumes more fuel and leads to more emissions, is also good advice.

Drivers can also help minimize their environmental impact by keeping their cars well maintained. According to GreenerCars.org, getting regular tune-ups—where a qualified mechanic changes fluids and checks for and corrects problems such as worn spark plugs, under inflated tires, dragging brakes, misaligned wheels and clogged filters—can significantly improve fuel economy and minimize harmful emissions. GreenerCars.org also recommends seeking out low-rolling-resistance (LRR) replacement tires, which are specifically designed to improve a vehicle’s fuel economy, when the original ones wear out.

Beyond regular maintenance, a handful of small companies now sell green-friendly fuel additives that purport to increase fuel efficiency while reducing emissions. Such products—including Bluestar Environmental’s Omstar D-1280X gas additive and Suntec Bio-Energy’s diesel additive—are normally targeted at fleets of vehicles, but individuals are free to use them as well. Owners beware, though: Use of such products could invalidate automakers’ warranties, so read the fine print in your owner’s manual before pouring anything out-of-the-ordinary into your fuel tank.

Of course, getting out of your car altogether—or most of the time—is a far greener choice than driving even a well-maintained new or old car conscientiously. Some employers now offer federally-subsidized “commuter choice” incentives whereby workers can derive financial benefits by telecommuting (working from home), or by walking, biking, using public transit or carpooling to and from the office.

Another option is to join a car sharing service like Zipcar or Flexcar, whereby you pay a modest monthly membership fee and can then rent cars parked nearby by the hour only when needed. The companies operate on both U.S. coasts, as well as in major Midwestern and Canadian cities.

CONTACTS:

GreenerCars.org “Green Driving Tips,” www.greenercars.org/drivingtips.htm

Bluestar Environmental, www.ablustar.com

Suntec Bio-Energy, www.suntecbioenergy.com

Zipcar, www.zipcar.com

Flexcar, www.flexcar.com

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION?
Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881;
submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/ , or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com

Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php

Egypt Stops Reef Fish Exports

Egypt have cancelled a decree which allowed companies to collect reef fish and export them to Europe and other markets .

According to the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), the previous decision had a devastating effect on nature and on the coral reef condition in the whole area. HEPCA launched a huge campaign against this decision and lobbied with other agencies, enthusiastic individuals, and major media representatives.

As a result of the decision HEPCA have ceased legal actions against the Minister's old decree.

Further Reading: http://www.hepca.com/

International Underwater Photo & Video Competition

Under the Blue 2007

Over $20,000 in Prizes!

Next in the series of UnderwaterCompetition.com underwater imagery events, and on the heels of the popular Our World Underwater & DEEP Indonesia competitions, Wetpixel, DivePhotoGuide and the 2007 SCUBA Show are proud to bring you “UNDER THE BLUE 2007”.

Photographers will compete in four still image categories, including a category for images that focus on California’s unique and beautiful underwater environment, and one video category. Winners will share in more than $20,000 in prizes, including premium dive travel, underwater photography and diving equipment! Travel prizes include trips to some of the top photo destinations in the world including Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Australia.

2007 CATEGORIES

1. Majesty of the Oceans
2. The Macro World
3. Man & the Sea
4. California Underwater
5. Video

Shark Alliance send open letter to Commissioner Borg

On March 1st, 2007, the Shark Alliance sent an open letter to Commissioner Joe Borg. The letter calls on Borg to ensure that the European Union (EU) use the occasion of next week’s meeting of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Committee on Fisheries (COFI) to address the plight of the world’s valuable yet vulnerable shark populations.

Commissioner Borg acknowledged last year that a comprehensive set of management measures is required and the Shark Alliance calls on him to set a timeline for plan development and implementation.

Less than 20% of COFI member nations have completed the promised National Plans of Action and no international catch limits for sharks have been adopted. COFI provides a key opportunity for the EU to take the floor during discussions of the FAO International Plans of Action (IPOAs) to report on progress and expected completion of this important goal.

OPEN LETTER TO COMISSIONER BORG
Commissioner Joe Borg
European Commission
B-1049 Brussels

Dear Commissioner Borg:

On behalf of the Shark Alliance, a coalition of 27 non-governmental organizations committed to improving European shark policy, I am writing to urge you to ensure that the European Union (EU) use the occasion of next week’s meeting of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Committee on Fisheries (COFI) to address the plight of the world’s valuable yet vulnerable shark populations. We thank you for recently underscoring the EU commitment to producing a shark action plan, as agreed at the 1999 COFI meeting, and request that the EU take the floor during discussions of the FAO International Plans of Action (IPOAs) to report on progress and expected completion of this important goal.

It has been eight years since global concern over the plight of these slow-growing and under-protected species led to the adoption of the Shark IPOA. Sadly, progress under this agreement has been pitiful. Less than 20% of COFI member nations have completed the promised National Plans of Action and no international catch limits for sharks have been adopted. We believe the EU, given its role and influence in the global fisheries arena, has the responsibility to set a good example and act as a leader in encouraging other fishing countries to conserve sharks on national and regional scales.

Since 1999, scientific warnings of shark depletion have only intensified. The IUCN now considers one third of European sharks (and closely related skates and rays) assessed to be Threatened with extinction. Advice from International Council for Exploration of the Sea scientists to end fishing for severely depleted spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks, considered Critically Endangered off Europe by the IUCN, has been ignored. Rapid expansion of deepwater shark fisheries has led to disaster for the targeted populations and associated industries. Last week, IUCN experts added shortfin mako and thresher sharks to the IUCN Red List, demonstrating that even the fastest, widest-ranging sharks are vulnerable to serious overfishing.

The Shark Alliance agrees with your assertion during last fall’s European Parliament debate on shark finning that prohibiting the practice is not sufficient to ensuring sustainable shark fisheries and that a more comprehensive set of management measures is required. Whereas we appreciated your commitment to complete such a plan at the earliest possible date, we believe setting a timeline for plan development and implementation is necessary to ensure steady progress and timely completion of this critical task.

Considering that much preliminary work has been done, we believe that the plan can be completed by the end of 2007, provided sharks are given the high priority that is warranted by their biology and status.

Sharks are among the oceans most vulnerable animals. As top predators, they are also vital to marine ecosystems. We believe the upcoming COFI meeting offers the EU a key opportunity to signal a new era of responsible stewardship of these exceptionally imperiled and important species. We hope you will embrace this opportunity by ensuring that the EU delegation details its plans and timeline for shark conservation and calls on other nations to do the same.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Sonja Fordham, Policy Director

Read more about the Shark Alliance HERE

Effort to Catalog Species Tops One Million

April 10, 2007 — By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A worldwide scientific effort to catalog every living species has topped the 1 million milestone.

Six years into the program the total has reached 1,009,000, researchers report. They hope to complete the listing by 2011, reaching an expected total of about 1.75 million species.

Thomas M. Orrell, a biologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said the finished catalog will include all known living organisms, from plants and animals to fungi and microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoa and viruses.

"Many are surprised that, despite over two centuries of work by biologists and the current worldwide interest in biodiversity, there is presently no comprehensive catalog of all known species of organisms on Earth," Orrell said.

The listing does not include fossil species from the past.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System-Species 2000 Catalog of Life provides access to data maintained by a variety of scientific organizations, each specializing in a certain area.

For example, information on dipteran flies is maintained by the Agriculture Department's Systematic Entomology Laboratory at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Natural history museums in London, the Netherlands and New York maintain clothes moth, dragonfly and spider data. Experts in Canada and Paris keep the data on Ichneumon wasps and longhorn beetles.

These lists are peer-reviewed and checked technically, and then integrated into special software for the catalog.

The project, involving some 3,000 biologists, is led by Frank Bisby of the University of Reading in England and Orrell.

"We tidy it up and do a peer review to see which pieces are the best ones to use, like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle," Bisby said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "If you want to do international comparisons, you need a master list. It's a little like if you were running a supermarket, you would have to do an inventory."

Having internationally accepted standards for species' names will help researchers compare the diversity of life in various regions of the world and produce uniform catalogues of germs, packets of seeds or genetic resources, he said.

Only rarely is there competition among names, such as occurred with sea anemones, hard corals and spiders, and occasionally an element of subjective opinion plays a role among the peer reviewers with various taxonomic expertise, Bisby said.

"It can sometimes be very difficult to decide," he said.

Taxonomy, the formal system of naming living things, was launched by the Swedish scientist Karl von Linne -- known as Linnaeus -- in the 1700s and his name still appears in the database.

Look up gray wolf in the ITIS catalog and it produces the scientific name Canis lupus. Go to that listing and find that the wolf was given its scientific name by Linnaeus in 1758 and has two synonyms. Included are the wolf's common names in English, Spanish and French. So, too, its scientific classification and reports where it is distributed.

Confusion occurs when the same plant or animal has many common names in different places. Taxonomists seek to solve that problem with the catalog's use of scientific names along with the various common uses.

The biggest section of the database currently is LepIndex, listing 253,680 species of lepidoptera, which are butterflies and moths.

At the small end of the scale is a database that covers 86 species of krill, the tiny shrimplike creatures that whales eat.

The U.S. Geological Survey's National Biological Information Infrastructure is providing support for the effort.

Associated Press writer John Heilprin contributed to this report.

Catalog of Life: http://www.catalogueoflife.org

Catalog source data: http://tinyurl.com/258ej4

National Biological Information Infrastructure: http://www.nbii.gov

Source: Associated Press

Trawling, Industry Threaten India Turtle Nesting

DEVI, India -- The scattered carcasses of dead turtles bake on the hot sand. Scraps of the white shells of turtle eggs surround a hole where stray dogs have dug up a nest.

Until a decade ago, this beach on India's east coast used to witness one of nature's most spectacular sights -- the mass nesting of tens of thousands of Olive Ridley turtles on a single night.

Not since 1995 has that happened. These days just a handful of turtles come to the beach at Devi to nest, and its status as one of three main nesting sites for the Olive Ridleys in India's coastal state of Orissa is under threat.

Read the full article on ENN...

Tagging of Pacific Pelagic (TOPP) research project

The Tagging of Pacific Pelagic (TOPP) research project explores the Pacific, using a carefully selected group of animals from its ecosystems to gather data about their world. As a pilot program of the Census of Marine Life (COML), an international endeavor to determine what lives, has lived and will live in the world’s ocean, TOPP scientists will tag individuals from 21 species of marine predators in the Eastern Pacific to obtain an “organism’s eye” view of their world. Jointly run by Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Lab, the University of California, Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory, NOAA’s Pacific Fisheries Ecosystems Lab, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, TOPP also includes team members from several countries.

TOPP tests the effectiveness of using animals to gather biological and environmental data, tracking the individuals’ movements while recording valuable oceanographic and ecosystem data from their immediate surroundings. TOPP tags have collected and returned massive quantities of this data, helping scientists build a rich picture of key travel corridors and “ocean hot spots,” or gathering zones where animals feed and breed. While several projects have tagged limited numbers of individual species, TOPP scientists and engineers lead the animal-tagging research community in building a broad, multi-taxa (group of species), interdisciplinary approach to data collection and sharing.

Read more about this great project here...

Full protection for great white sharks

Sunday, 1 April 2007, 2:38 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Government 1 April 2007 Media Statement

Full protection for great white sharks starts today

White pointer sharks will now be fully protected within the 200 nautical miles of water around New Zealand, and from fishing by New Zealand-flagged boats further afield, the Ministers of Conservation and Fisheries announced today.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter said despite the white pointer's reputation as a predator, it was vulnerable to fishing and becoming rarer throughout the world.
"These majestic animals occur naturally in low numbers and, without protection, could be pushed to the brink of extinction. The Wildlife Act provides a strong deterrent against targeting great whites with a $250,000 fine and up to six months imprisonment as a maximum penalty."

Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said the white pointer shark was not known to be targeted by commercial fishers but was occasionally taken as by-catch. "However, recreational fishers do occasionally target them because there is some demand for jaws and teeth as fishing trophies.

"No one wants to see an animal hunted to extinction for the sake of a jaw or a few teeth, or to be placed under pressure by accidental catch. Under these new regulations no fisher will be able to profit from taking a white pointer, and any fisher inadvertently catching one will have to return it to the sea, intact, and alive, if possible," Jim Anderton said.

New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton

However, it is still legal to use shark nets to protect swimmers around beaches in Dunedin, and fishers accidentally catching and killing white pointers will not be prosecuted, provided they register the death with authorities.

The Wildlife Act makes it illegal to hunt, kill or harm a white pointer shark within New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ - 200 nautical mile limit around New Zealand). It will also be illegal in New Zealand to possess or trade in any part of a white pointer shark. As well, New Zealand is a signatory to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and has an obligation to prohibit the taking of white pointer sharks.

The species will be further protected on the high seas by the Fisheries Act, under which New Zealand-flagged boats will be prohibited from taking white pointer sharks while fishing outside the EEZ.

Read more at Scoop.co.nz...

Declaration of Reef Rights

Scientists warn that depleted shark populations disrupt marine ecosystems

In research published in the journal Science, scientists have warned that the depletion of shark populations is disrupting marine ecosystems.

The research suggests that overfishing of sharks releases their prey from predation, causing a knock-on effect down the food chain. A team of biologists from Dalhousie University analysed data from the past 35 years, finding that while 11 shark species had dramatically declined in abundance, 12 of the 14 fish species they prey on had increased.

The lead author of the research, Dr. Ransom Myers, a world-renowned fisheries biologist, sadly passed away on March 27, aged 54.

Read more here...

Shark Declines Threaten Shellfish Stocks, Study Says

Dramatic declines of large North Atlantic sharks due to overfishing have upset the balance of entire marine ecosystems, a new study shows. Now scallops, clams, and oysters are paying the price. Smaller sharks, skates, and rays that are normally eaten by the large sharks have become so abundant that they are ravaging shellfish stocks, the researchers say.

Read more at National Geographic...

Dive In To Earth Day 2007

Dive In To Earth Day is an international Earth Day celebration that mobilizes environmentally conscious communities, park managers, dive shops and other marine lovers around the world to take a stand in protecting our endangered water world.

Dive In has become a huge driving force for environmental awareness and has involved thousands of participants in active marine conservation. In the past seven years, Dive In organizers have held 2,000 marine conservation events in 117 countries worldwide, removing trash, educating children and their communities, supporting marine protected areas, and much more.

Sign up their website here...

Calling All Divers to a New Conservation Cause

Click to load release in new window	Cambridge/Nairobi, 27 July 2004 – Snorkellers and scuba divers across the globe are being enlisted to help save the world’s oceans and seas. A new initiative, called earthdive, is being launched in which professional and amateur divers are being urged to record the health of the marine environment including coral reefs, mangrove swamps and coastal waters. The scheme, which is being supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through its World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) in Cambridge, England, is the brainchild of Chris Long. Mr Long, a keen diver and the founder of Run the World (a mass participation event which raised awareness and funds for victims of the African famine in 1986) said: "If threats such as pollution, over-fishing and climate change continue, it could lead to dire consequences for the global population". "earthdive wants people with an interest in diving to understand that what they see under the oceans is not just beautiful, it also sustains human life, and they can help to preserve it by simply recording what they see," he added. Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director, said: "The world’s oceans and their valuable habitats provide food and livelihoods for many people across the globe in activities ranging from fishing to tourism." "In conserving the oceans, we are not only saving a key part of the planet’s life support systems and many wonderful marine life-forms, we are also playing a key role in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals in areas from poverty eradication to hunger reduction," he said. earthdive membership is extended to divers and snorkellers of all abilities, as well as anyone with an interest in marine conservation issues. The key feature of the scheme centres on encouraging members to record findings from their dives on the earthdive website (www.earthdive.com). By doing this, they will be contributing scientific data on key indicator species to build a Global Dive Log (GDL). This Global Dive Log is sponsored by P&O. Members also sign an international petition, demanding action to protect the oceans, which will be delivered to the United Nations in 2005. Meanwhile 50% of all membership fees go directly to marine conservation projects. UNEP-WCMC, which has been providing scientific assessments of biodiversity for a quarter of a century and is one of the world’s leading centres for coral reef conservation, is providing a unique mapping service. It will allow divers to pinpoint locations and log their observations, which in turn can be shared with other divers and the scientific community. Mark Collins, the Centre’s Director, said: "We are making a significant contribution to the development of the earthdive Global Dive Log through our innovative interactive map service (IMapS). By combining recreation with conservation, earthdive can help spread important environmental messages to a much wider audience." These sentiments are echoed by Coral Cay Conservation (CCC), another earthdive partner. Formed in 1986, the organisation aims to help sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty through the protection, restoration and management of coral reefs and tropical forests. Much of their work depends on the goodwill of volunteers, who make tens of thousands of dives a year to survey marine life. Coral Cay Conservation’s Founder and CEO, Peter Raines MBE, is a keen advocate of the earthdive principles. "There is a natural link between diving and environmental protection, and we are working closely with earthdive to encourage more people to bring the two together. Recreational diving is a fast growing sport, with more than 1.5 million new divers being certified each year. earthdive has a unique opportunity to unite this rapidly-growing community in vital conservation activities, which are ultimately of enormous benefit to us all," he said.