JUNE 2012
I
went fishing! We had high winds and too
much surf to go out for a while so I contented myself with revamping my garden
pond. It had attracted some ugly black
algae that was supposed to cycle itself out but didn’t so I emptied the pot
after catching all the platys – tricky little buggers! I repotted the water lilies and rush, got new
tape grass, Gil repaired a leak and we refilled.
Platys waiting for the remodel on their pond
Since it takes a while for the new water to release its chemicals and mix with the old pond water, the platys were house guests for about 48 hours.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Here are the guys back in their home a few weeks later:
Everyone seems to be healthy and happy - no more black alage
Maybe because summer has come to the north shore and maybe because I'm meeting so many people who really care about the ocean, I'm now involved in contributing to data bases that catalog what is happening on the reef.
Reef surveys:
Reef:org
ReefCheck
Eyes on the Reef
So, June means back in the water on the North Shore,
YEAH! I have been submitting "roving" reef surveys to REEF.org for a year now which is all about fish - their survey form for Hawaii has over 200 species listed and I indicate which ones I see at which coordinates during what time span, what depth, etc.
Now I am also the official reef surveyor
for my friends’ ocean eco-tour company. The visitors that go out with Malama ke Kai (take care of the ocean)
learn to recognize the fish before going out, go see what is there and then
come in and discuss what they saw. (see friends and links)
While
the data I submit is my eyes only, I get to help the visitors identify what critters they got
to see when we come in. It is a sort of
game where they describe a fish to me and I try to figure it out, find it in
their guide book and they confirm what they saw.
My success rate is pretty high so far but a lot depends on how good their
descriptive powers are, not to mention their memory. What great fun – many, if not most, have
never snorkeled before. Of course seeing
a turtle is always a BIG hit.
MKK’s agenda is that people will still be excited about the environment when they get home and make personal life changes toward a better planet from their back yard.
The
Princeville reef where these eco tours are taken is one I normally do not swim
at so I checked it out prior to my first group encounter.
Some fish are abundant and can be seen anytime, anywhere but around
every bend in this coastline, some different fish reside; they have their neighborhoods.
For
instance I see lots of Ring Tail Surgeonfish on the south side, up close and
personal. On the north shore they aren’t
as frequent – or hadn’t been. So, I was
surprised to run into this whole school of ringtails.
Predominately Ringtails, a few White Bar Surgeonfish
In any big group there are a few clandestine strays that like to travel in the crowd
Part
of the deal with Ringtails is distinguishing one from another. They don’t
always exhibit their rings, they all have a little yellow at the eye but how
much? And is the scalpel near their tail black or white? That's the little blade that makes them "surgeons."
Then there is the
pectoral fin, the ones they swim with. Yellow fin Surgeonfish are
supposed to be rare here but I see them all the time. If the scalpel is white, it is an Eyestripe Surgeonfish (more yellow at the eye). Just
too fun and if I can get a picture it helps me distinguish later.
These are Yellowfin Ringtail Surgeonfish - the yellow pect fin is the give away
This shot is fun because they don't always display that dorsal fin
See how sleek they are in the freeway photo above?
So
the other story of the day was on the return to shore I spotted a Snowflake Eel. On closer look I realized there were
two. One was trying to enter a hole
the other was already occupying. A good sized Christmas Wrasse was hoping they would scare up something he could eat so he fluttered nearby.
Apparently the movie button did not engage on the camera so the whole
eel scuffle with pushing and biting I thought I recorded ended up being this one shot
One eel finally won and I saw the Christmas Wrasse shoot out about ten feet below me, sure enough the loser eel was scooting along the sand looking for a new
hidey-hole as well.
June 8
Oceans
Day was celebrated this year by reviving ReefCheck, a project started a long
time ago but not conducted for the last three years. Training for this process was one evening to
learn the system. It included an intro
to coral which I know very little about.
The next evening was a training class called “Eyes on the Reef” which
encourages reports of damaging algae blooms, excess species that could do harm
whether natural or invasive. This too,
included an intro to coral types and what coral damage looks like.
The surveys for ReefCheck are done by setting up a transect line in the ocean, actually two – one for snorkelers and one for scuba guys.
Snorkelers have it easy. Scuba guys need suits, tanks, regulators, etc.
We all used the underwater clipboards to list either fish, invertebrates, or substrate
Buoys marked the starting point of the transect lines and their GPS coordinates were taken
Malama na 'Apapa is the sponsoring group - it means caring for the reefs
What a gorgeous Oceans Day
One
team swims the line - an area 5 meters in every direction - looking for specific indicator fish and marks them on an underwater
clipboard. The next team swims the line marking
invertebrates like urchins and crabs.
After the next interval, a single surveyor records points along the line
for substrate or ocean floor. The joke
was last time out the substrate surveyor had sand at each marker! Not this time, this is a great coral reef.
Transect Line for snorkel team
On the way in we all saw
this school of convict tangs trying to eat while the lavender tangs and one
black spot sergeant try to scare them away from their personal feeding ground. Very entertaining.
