WaterNotes

Ah, now this is a bit more like it.  Seems that TakePart and DisneyNature’s Oceans film have teamed up for the Save My Oceans Tour to highlight marine conservation concerns.  I still haven’t managed to get out to see Oceans – although I’m dying too – owing mostly to the insane nature of field trip season but I’m hoping to get out to see it later this weekend.  You should too! (Oh the life of an environmental educator!)

Save My Oceans is on Facebook, naturally, and they are hosting a blog as well.  Don’t miss the Oceanophilia post by Wallace J. Nichols.

We headed out this morning to a favorite spot of mine on the Banana River branch of the IRL system, Kelly Park on Merritt Island.  Its not a particularly secluded or wild area.  If anything it’s rather highly manicured.  But of all the teaching spots I experienced while conducting field trips this place never failed to produce miracles in the form of visiting dolphin pods, wandering manatees, pelicans, spoonbills, herons, and fascinating fish finds like the day we had a absolute landslide of seahorses show up in the seine nets.

Because it is so highly accessible it is also absolutely unengulfed in debris and trash.  (This is the same place where we pulled a police officer’s badge from the water afterall.)

Of the various finds and selections from the total thirty-eight, these are  worth honorable mention:

• Heavily encrusted and fouled seat cushions from a boat (which had obviously been out there awhile)
• Hannah Montana Wig
• Two large orange net bags used for citrus fruits
• Small sample squares of carpet
• Compact flourescent bulb (oh the irony)
• Balloons and ribbons galore
• Many dozens of feet of monofilament enwrapped around the mangroves and which took a good hour to cut free

Also of particular mention today?  A feeding group of dolphin – probably a nursery pod judging from the various sizes of the dorsal fins present – chasing mullet inshore.   A dead sea turtle carcass that I called in for removal (the smell was outofsight awful).  And a snake.

In fact the snake gets his own paragraph. In between the edge of the lagoon and the beginnings of the mangrove stands at Kelly Park there is one small rivulet where freshwater from the roads above drains down.  Unless it is actively raining or we’re experiencing a very high tidal force, the two little bodies of water do not really meet, although they are all of twelve feet apart.  On one side we have the well flushed and oxygenated lagoon and on the other a tea-colored and tannin-stained back pool of saltwater full of leaves and debris and tiny killifish, sailfin mollies, and countless water boatmen.

I was at first keenly interested in the fish so I crouched down to watch them and waited a good ten minutes for their initial “ahhhhh its a heron, run!!” reaction to my shadow to be forgotten.  They picked between the macroalgae stands and the mangrove leaves and the male mollies displayed their gigantic orange dorsals to the females and flexed their masculine prowess.  I glanced back at the lagoon for a moment, and stood up in shock as I caught sight of a smooth dark s-curving line cutting through the surface of the water hardly three feet off the beach.  The dark head was held just above the surface as the wavelets rolled in and the tail swung effortlessly side to side to propel the animal forward.

I admit, I sort of freaked out. In all my time exploring the lagoon I have never run across any snakes actively swimming in the water.  My curiosity got the better of me and I followed him as he swam past, keeping back just a few feet, trying to get a good look at his body coloration and pattern so I could identify him later.  Blotches and bands were broken up in colors of alternating shades, but it didn’t seem too intensely colored, and I couldn’t think of any other venomous varieties in Florida outside of the coral snake.  Red on yellow, red on yellow.  Nope, not sure I see that.

He dove three or four times, annoyed at my presence and probably wondering if I was stalking him for food.   I have since decided I probably saw an Atlantic Saltmarsh snake, a non venomous species that is currently listed as Threatened, primarily due to habitat loss.

Ah, Kelly Park.  You are always an adventure.

The Smithsonian Marine Ecosystems Exhibit posted this really interesting photo of an IRL dolphin with a bite pattern across its back.   Many of my students believe that if dolphins are in the area then sharks won’t be, but this photo certainly proves otherwise.  I’m tempted to walk around with it in my pocket and use it whenever the moment strikes.

Sneaker males are downright dastardly. Isabella Rosselini shed some light on this in her series Seduce Me on the Sundance Channel, but it also got press on the Life series on Discovery Channel.

Sneakers aren’t strictly just for cuttlefish either.  My lovely Apistogramma cichlids that I kept in aquaria during high school and college had their share of Dude-Looks-Like-A-Lady approaches to furthering their genes too.

Earth Day 2010 is less than a week away and to commemorate the 40th anniversary DisneyNature decided to release its new film Oceans. In partnership with the Nature Conservancy they’re doing something rather spectacular for the entire opening week (from April 22 – 28th) and have committed to donate $0.20 for every ticket purchased towards the Conservancy’s marine protected area project in the Bahamas.

Bahamian reefs are some of the healthiest within the wider Caribbean and deserve protection for a number of reasons.  They have been identified in several studies as an ideal location for a larger marine protected area (MPA) and even the Mission Blue project included them in their list of Hope Spots.

Alongside release of the film there is, of course, several website resources going up, including a short list of five suggested actions for the public to benefit our oceans:

1. Use reuseable shopping bags
2. Eat sustainably
3. Create an ocean friendly garden at home (no matter where you live)
4. Adopt a Coral Reef
5. See Oceans, Save Oceans

I’m all for getting messages out to the public as widely as possible, and Disney certainly has the kind of influence we need to spread awareness.  I am excited to see two chefs take on the challenge of preparing delicious – but still sustainable – suggestions for seafood including Dan Barber whom I’ve highlighted previously on WaterNotes.

That said, I’m worried that the simplified changes suggested above won’t be enough to really get people who see Oceans motivated to make a real commitment to living ocean friendly lives.  I have to remember that any attempt to gain interest in change – without going overboard – is probably a good thing overall for conservation messages.  I just wonder if perhaps our attempts are too simple, and not enough to garner real attention or commitment.

What do you think?  Have I been reading TreeHugger, Discovery, Grist, EWG, and all the others too much?  Is this a perfect level to introduce to people for ocean friendly living?  Or is it possible that we could be launching something more with this enormous campaign potential presented by a pivotal film release by Disney?

Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue project continues to gather steam after the successful trip out to the Galapagos just last week. With several celebrities in tow (some of the few people who could afford the huge fundraising-level ticket price of $20,000), Dr. Earle and a few dozen scientists met up onboard to discuss the future of her Hope Spots presented so eloquently in the 2009 TED Prize speech.  Several issues became highlighted, and it seems the overall group broke up into leading projects, including one that will attempt to target ocean education in the classroom in some way.

TED is promising to slowly leak videos of the speakers and the projects from this “TED at Sea” adventure over the coming weeks and I’m terribly anxious to see and hear exactly what was discussed and what is ahead for the future of the Mission Blue project. (Incidentally you can join Mission Blue through FaceBook, just as  you can follow WaterNotes on FB.)

UPDATE: TED posted Mike deGruy’s talk at lunch today, and its on one of my favorite ocean creatures, the octopus – particularly their shockingly advanced capacities for behavior and even, dare we say it, personality.  Enjoy!

Earle’s foundation chose 18 Hope Spots from around the world, including two in my relative backyard with the Sargasso Sea and the Bahamian Reef system.  Low and behold while checking out the Bahamian Reef pages I discovered several very familiar photos!  Seems the Mission Blue team raided the galleries of the Marine Photobank, a development I’m entirely tickled to see.  Hopefully that won’t be the only way my name becomes associated with MB projects in the future.

If you have photos of marine species or habitat areas always keep in mind that the Marine Photobank is one of the few resources online that allows for image sharing to nonprofits, magazines, and blogs alike.  The lovely little stingray above was a recent ‘donation’; he was a mystery animal to me until today.  Seems he belongs to the species Urobatis jamaicensis, the yellow spotted stingray which is known to frequent shallow coastal zones from North Carolina through Florida and into the Caribbean basin.  Seagrass beds are apparently very important for partuition for this species, not unlike many others, and is currently listed as Least Concern.

Hmm, learn something new everyday!