ocean geographic issue 29 2014

www.OGSociety.org

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Almanac of O

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Plights of Our Ocean

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9:7/

2014

Dr. Hanny Batuna – Hero of the Sea

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ISSUE 29:7/2014The Sustainable Edition

On thE cOvEr:

thresher shark photographed by Steve De neef at Malapascua

This edition’s cover received the most votes from OG’s Associates, Editorial Board and Premier Members.

F O u n d i n G S u P P O r T E r S

ESSay

09 Fish: to eat or not to eat(Sustainable Seafood)Alex Rose

OcEan InSIDEr

55the Vizl effectChristian Vizl Mac Gregor

captUrES

57an absolute essential for Digital Underwater PhotographersGillian McDonald

24 Peter scoones (A Pioneer of the Blue Planet)

Gillian McDonald

27 killing ourselves quickly (Plights of our ocean)

46 the shark that rebuilt an Island

Steve De Neef

67 Dr. hanny Batuna (A Man of the Ocean)

Michael AW, Dr. Mark Erhmann, PhD, Dr. Carden Wallace, Phd, Arlene Batuna

73 a Naturalist in Lembeh Mike Scotland

83 Lionel Unch Nancy Merridew

OcEan Watch

20BLUe(A Global Convergence of the Ocean Arts and Sciences)Ocean Geographic

naUtIlUS’S WInDOW

35Faces of the OceanJayne Jenkins

SOjOUrnS

87Protecting a Phenomenon(The Whale Sharks of Cenderawasih BayMichael AW

64 Garden of the Gods (Art serving nature)

Cassandra Dragon, Charlie Fasano

60 V.I.P (Very important Bag)

conTEnT

M E d i A P A r T n E r

S u P P O r T i n G O r G A n i S A T i O n S

The British Society of Underwater Photographerswww.bsoup.org

International League of Conservation Photogapher(s)www.ILCP.com

MissionBlue™ Sylvia Earle Alliancewww.thesealliance.org

2

PS: Your views consummate a meaningful relationship and keep the fire for quality

burning. We value your views. Write to me at: [email protected]

nature’s capacity for survival is evident. Take Ta Prohm, one of the many temples built in Angkor, Siam reap, during the 12th and 13th century. Today, most of it is engulfed by the roots of the giant banyan and silk-cotton trees (some of them over 400 years old) growing out of its ruins. These trees start out as seedlings that take root in cracks on the roof. The roots flow down the temple walls between the rocks, pushing them apart, yet paradoxically providing support. That is, until the tree dies… then an entire section of the temple will collapse. You do not need to be an engineer to realise that over a period of centuries, these trees would eventually pull the temple apart and bring it down. Trees! And let’s not forget the 102-year-old floating forest; originally a large steam ship condemned to dismantling in Homebush Bay, Australia, after the Second World War, it now houses a forest!

Mankind’s capacity for survival however, is questionable. despite the plethora of knowledge and technology that surrounds us about climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing, rising sea levels, and the importance of our ocean to our survival, we seem happy to continue plodding (more likely rolling uncontrollably at this stage) down the path of self-destruction; not only ignoring but debunking and even ridiculing what scientists have been trying to tell us for decades. instead of changing our ways, we dump even more toxins, more garbage into the ocean – the very ocean we get our seafood from. How revolting is that? There is a reason why i avoid seafood as much as possible. Perhaps the solution to overfishing is to create more awareness about marine toxic pollution. if more people knew that over 10 billion litres of industrial waste (excluding offshore oil and gas effluents) is discharged directly into u.S. waters alone every day, and heavy metals (arsenic, lead, mercury, cyanide, together with over 30 other dangerous chemicals) are often found in marine life, seafood consumption would probably decrease and overfishing would cease to be an issue. i would also like to give special mention to cancer-causing toxins such as pesticides, dioxins, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), and PAHs (poly-aromatic hydrocarbons) and radioactive waste… all of which are found in our ocean – the very ocean we swim in and eat from. is it any wonder cancer is on the rise? We are killing our planet, and ourselves.

However dismal and bleak it might seem, i like to think we still have a sliver of hope. This issue marks the start of our eighth year of production for Ocean Geographic. We have grown over the last seven years, and will soon have two print and two online editions. All this is possible only because of you; just by being associates or members of the society, you have contributed to the production of a benchmark journal of the ocean, helping to educate and inspire conservation of our ocean. You give us that glimmer of hope for this planet. For that and your support, all of us at Ocean Geographic would like to say: thaNk YOU.

lowepro.com

HV_FlipsideSportseries_ChrisBray.indd 1 11/03/2014 5:00:01 PM

Evonne ongChief Editor

EdiTor’SEPISTLE

3OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

Adam ReadAdelene LynchAdrienne SavageAgnieszka MalkowskaAlastair DowAleta PitstockAmanda DiesAndreas JaschekAndrew CarrAndrew AylettAnne-Maree FrostAnthony AtkinsonAnthony TanAqua Pros Swim School IncArmin GeltingerBarbara HintonBari GowanBarry StimpsonBernard HartBob HollisBrent BainBrian JonesBrian DalyBrian NewboldCarl BrandesCarle ParkhillCarly SorensenCaroline LimCharles BowdenChris KowalskiCoreen Lee Pooi YeeCorpus Christi H School Craig KoltaszCraig GrubeDale PonsfordDarren PillDave BallDave SorboDavid HettichDavid HughesDavid KittosDavid WatsonDean BoyceDeborah Bowden

Charter membership is now closed. Join now as Premier Member – see p96.www.OGSociety.org

Dennis ShepardDennis OliveroDes ParozDigant DesaiDorothy SchoolingEmily ChanEric MatsonEric WintersErica LansleyErnie BrooksFaris AlsagoffFenella CochraneFerdie FranklinFreda HoGary WilsonGary SamerGina MascordGordon BrownGraeme ThomasGraham ThompsonGraham ReynoldsGrant GravesGwen Shah-IngramGwen NodaHalszka AntoszewskaHamish FosterHeather SowdenH Bartram & C AllewayHelke FlorkowskiHellmuth WeisserHenrik NimbIan Sheffield-ParkerIan BarchamIan DeweyIgnacio EsparzaInger VandykeIngvar EliassonJanna JonesJanne HultbergJason SantospiritoJeffrey BohnJennifer O’NeilJeroen Deknatel

Jessica SchoonderwaldtJim MorrisonJoanne MarstonJordan ThomsonJorgen RasmussenJukka NurminenKal AttieKathy NikasKellie WoodKian Hing SooKL KwangKlaas MekkingKliment KolosovK Bilham & F CosgroveLarissa CheongLeesa & David PrattLeon EbbelaarLex BeattyMalcolm NeoMalcolm PeisleyMarcel EckhardtMargaret FliermanMarie GoarinMark GerlachMark SeielstadMark TemplemanMartin HavlicekMatt CurnockMaxi Jennifer EckesMelanie TeloniatisMichael HolmeMichal KrzysztofowiczMichelle ChuaMick MoranMickey PascoeMikael JigmoNatalie ForsterNicholas KuhnNick Robertson-BrownNico ParadiesNicola GoldsmithNovianti SongtonoOwen Scott

Charter MembersPatricia Pei Voon LeePatrick SchwarzPaul CastlePaul DoublePaul TurleyPaul GagnonPaul RyanPeter MaerzPetrina TayPij OlijnykRamadian BachtiarRebecca SimpsonRobert YeeRobert HughesRobert Lupo DionRon CurrieRuben GamooSam & Jo BartramSamuel OngSarah JacobSelwyn Gregory SngSimon TalbotSol FooSonia GentleStacey HermanSteve TuckerSusan HowardTeresa HemphillTerry FarrTim GleesonTomos HedgesTony ManningTony & Phyll BartramTravis GrahamTroy HorsburghVictor LendzionowskiVirginia FageW D FongWayde SimesWendy McIlroyWendy CampbellWylandWendy Benchley

Michael AW – Founder

Founding EditorsJoe Moreira: David Doubilet : Dr Carden Wallace : Dr Alex Mustard : Dr Gerald Allen: Emory Kristof : Stan Waterman : Doug Perrine : Jennifer Hayes : Christopher Lee

4

ExPEDITION LEADERS & PHOTO PROChristian Vizl, Mathieu Meur and Michael AWAll Ocean Geographic expeditions are specially research and design for optimum interaction opportunities.

Spots are limited. Ocean Geographic member priority and discount apply.OceanGeographic.org : [email protected]

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR

BREATH AWAY

“ “

Beyond the ordinary expeditions

SOuTH AFRICA – SARDINE RuNS: JuNEDolphins, Bronze Whalers, Dusky Sharks, Brydes and Humpback Whales and Gannets

INDONESIA – CENDERAWASIH BAY: SEPTEMBER Whale sharks, Dr Seus Reef and Ancient Sea

BAHAMAS: FEB / MARCH Great Hammerheads: Tiger Sharks

MALDIVES – BAA AND NORTHERN ATOLLS: AuGuSTSharks, Mantas and Rainbow Reefs

CuBA – JARDINES DE LA REINA: MARCH Silkies & Reef sharks, Goliath Groupers and American Salt water Crocodiles

Geographic staff photographer from 1964 to 1994 and has produced 39 articles for the National Geographic magazine. Kristof’s accomplishments have earned many awards for both writing and photography, including the NOGI Award for Arts from the Underwater Society of America in 1988 and an Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award for Underwater Exploration in 1986. That same year Kristof received the American Society of Magazine Publishers Innovation in Photography Award for their photographic coverage of the Titanic. Kristof was presented with the 1998 J. Winton Lemen Fellowship Award by the U.S. National Press Photographers Association “for being one of our profession’s most imaginative innovators with particular attention to pictures from beneath the ocean brought to the readers of National Geographic magazine.”

Stan WaterMan HonorAry EdiTorStan has been at the forefront of scuba diving since its inception as a recreational sport both at home and throughout the world. Stan was co-director of underwater

photography and the second unit in the production of The Deep, a movie based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel.

More recent productions include documentaries for ABC’s “Spirit of Adventure” series and the “Expedition Earth” series on

ESPn. Stan has received numerous honours and awards for his work in television, including five Emmies, two Gold Medals from the U.K. Underwater Film Festival, four Golden Eagles, a lifetime Achievement Award from the Miami Expo and from Boston Sea rovers, the Cousteau diver of the year Award, the Richard Hopper Day Memorial Medal from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and most recently has been inducted to the International Scuba diving Hall of Fame.

DOuG Perrine HonorAry EdiTorDoug is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost marine wildlife photographers. His photographs have been reproduced in virtually every major nature magazine in the world, as well as in thousands of books, calendars, greeting

cards, posters, etc. His photography has won a number of awards, including the prestigious BBC/ British Gas Wildlife

Photographer of the Year competition in the animal behaviour category and the Nature’s Best/Cemex competition in the Professional Marine Wildlife category. He is also the author of seven books on marine life, and numerous magazine articles.

GeralD allen PhD HonorAry EdiTorGerald is an internationally renowned authority on the classification and ecology of coral reef fishes of the indian and Pacific oceans. He is the author of 31 books and 400

scientific publications. He has an intimate knowledge of fish life on coral reefs, having logged more than 7,000 dives. Field

studies form an integral part of Dr. Allen’s research, probably more so than any other marine biologist. He received a Ph.D. in marine zoology from the University of Hawaii in 1971, having done his thesis on anemonefishes. He served as Curator of Fishes at the Western Australian Museum in Perth for 24 years before leaving to take a position with Conservation International as their Science Team Leader. He is a past President of the Australian Society for Fish Biology, an honorary foreign member of the American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology, and a recent recipient of the prestigious K. Radway Allen Award for Outstanding Contributions in Ichthyological Science.

MiChael aW dirECTor & BoArd MEMBErMichael’s saturated colour imageries have earn him more than 60 international awards; his work have been featured in BBC Wildlife, National Geographic, the Smithsonian,

GEo, ocean GEoGrAPHiC, Asian Geographic, Action Asia, nature Focus to name but a few. in 2010, he was a recipient of

the WYLAND ICON award for Conservation. His most glorious achievement is a Palme D’or for “Philippines – Heart of the Ocean”, won at the World Underwater Pictures Festival, France 2009. He is also a recipient of three awards from the Natural History Museum BBC Photographer of the Year Wildlife Competition in 2000, 2010 and in 2006 he won the Best Winner award in the underwater category. Michael AW is the founder of oceannEnvironment’s a charity organization registered with Environment Australia. in 2008 Stan Waterman conferred Michael with the Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Award by Sharks research institute in recognition of his highly-effective and unrelenting campaign against shark fin soup consumption in the Asia Pacific region. Michael is also the founder of Asian Geographic.

CarDen WallaCe PhD HonorAry EdiTor & & BoArd MEMBErCarden’s research has focused on biogeography and biodiversity, particularly on corals and tropical biota. Her current interests are directed towards other tropical

countries, especially Indonesia. She feels strongly that scientists should give back all they possibly can, in

communicating and applying the results of their work. With her appointment in 1987 as Curator in Charge, Carden Wallace became the first woman to head the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville. Among the high points in her career was the PoL Prize for Environmental research, awarded in 1992 to Carden along with four other scientists from James Cook University for their exciting discovery of mass annual spawning on the Great Barrier Reef by over a hundred species of coral. This dramatic example of sexual synchronization is unique among animals, and its discovery by the team in 1984 attracted immediate scientific and media attention around the world. Carden is a board member of oceannEnvironment

Jennifer hayeS HonorAry EdiTorJen is an aquatic ecologist who has collected a couple of graduate degrees in zoology, marine and fisheries biology. She came into underwater journalism (photography and

writing) out of sheer necessity to enliven dull scientific presentations and publications. To put it simply, strong images

of ancient sturgeons spawning, hatching, migrating are infinitely more captivating to an audience than bar graphs and pie charts. Photography and science lead to natural history articles and then into popular journalism. Jen formed a partnership with david doubilet in 1999 and co-founded the stock photo company; Undersea images inc. Jen and david co-photograph and write for assignment features for numerous domestic and international publications, ad shoots and book projects.

DaviD DOubiletDavid is the world’s most celebrated underwater photographer with over fifty stories published in national Geographic. David challenges himself to redefine

photographic boundaries each time he enters the water. His passion is the undersea majesty of light and how to capture it.

Completely at home on a coral reef, a World War II wreck, a deep dark fjord or among the great giants in our sea, David has relentlessly pursued the many hidden layers of coral reefs around the globe. His cold water work has immersed him in the rich waters of new Zealand, Tasmania, Scotland, Japan, the northwest Atlantic and northeast Pacific. recent photographic journeys have taken him into some of the largest freshwater systems on our planet such as the great Okavango Delta system in Botswana and the St. Lawrence River.

eMOry KriStOf HonorAry EdiTorEmory’s photography has discovered the unexplored worlds of the deep sea. in August 1998 Kristof’s pictures of the Titanic were presented in the National Geographic magazine

article, “Tragedy in Three Dimensions.” The pictures, taken in 1991 employing high-intensity lighting systems, achieved

unprecedented detail due to advances in 3-d computer video-editing. Born in 1942, Kristof studied journalism at the University of Maryland at College Park and received a bachelor’s degree in 1964. Kristof was a national

This is a production from the hearts and souls of a passionate team.

We are blessed with the support of some of the most published authors and image makers of

our natural world. OceanNEnvironment is privileged to introduce the editorial board of

OCEaN GEOGraPhICthe almanac of our seas.

Board of Directors, OceanNEnvironment Ltd

T he Editorial Board

6

DIrECtOr Michael AWrEsEarCh & PuBLIshEr assIstaNt Jannica JigmoEDItOr EmErItus Christopher LeeChIEf EDItOr Evonne onghONOrary EDItOrs Emory Kristof, Wyland,Carden Wallace PhD, Gerry Allen PhD, Alex Mustard PhD,david doubilet, Jennifer Hayes, doug Perrine,Stan Waterman, Michelle Hall and Howard Hall,Laurent BallestafEaturE EDItOr Gill McDonaldsCIENCE EDItOr Alex RosefIELD EDItOrs Pamela Martin, Steve JonesCOPy aND fIELD EDItOr: Mathieu MeurCOPy EDItOrs Mathieu Meur, Gill McDonaldOCEaNOGraPhEr-IN-rEsIDENCE Cabell Davis PhDPhOtOGraPhErs-IN-rEsIDENCE Mikael Jigmo, Jorgen rasmussen, Mathieu Meur, Foo Pu Wen, Christian VizlCONtrIButOrs Mike Scotland, Steve De Neef, Nancy Merridew, Jayne Jenkins, Michelle Westmorland, Jane Morgan, Ellen Cuylearts, Charlie Fasano, Mark Erhmann, Arlene Batuna DEsIGNEr P.S LooiPrODuCtION CO-OrDINatOr Daniel TayaDvErtIsING & EvENts Gill SandsaCCOuNts & CIrCuLatION Alison Redhead OCEaNENvIrONmENt – ExECutIvE OffICErs Cassandra Dragon (Australasia), Gillian McDonald (UK), David Borus (USA), Ronny Rengkung (Indonesia)Emily Chan (Singapore)musIC DIrECtOr Eric BettensBusINEss DEvELOPmENt maNaGEr Sidney Seok (Malaysia)

CustOmEr sErvICE [email protected] ENquIrIEs [email protected] suBmIssIONs [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

WylanD HonorAry EdiTorMarine life artist Wyland has developed an international reputation for his commitment to marine life conservation. Most notable, is his monumental marine life murals, the Whaling Walls. Spanning thousands of square

feet, these massive works of art expose the thrilling diversity and beauty of life that exists below the surface of our ocean planet to more than one

billion people each year. Today, this multi-faceted artist works in multiple mediums, from oils, water colours, acrylics, Japanese ink paintings, bronze sculptures, fine art photography, and mixed media.

hOWarD anD MiChele hall HonorAry EdiTorSHoward and Michele are perhaps best known for their underwater iMAX® fi lms – into the deep 1994, island of the Sharks 1998 respectively. in 2002 Howard was underwater sequence director and

Michele was location manager for Coral reef Adventure, a film in which both he and Michele are featured on-camera. in 2005 they directed and

produced deep Sea 3d which was awarded Best Picture at the Giant Screen Cinema Association Conference and Best Large Format Film at Wildscreen 2006. in 2009 the Hall’s released Under the Sea 3d. This film won best cinematography at the Giant Screen Cinema Association Conference in 2009 and Best documentary at the international 3d Society in 2010. Howard’s career as an underwater natural history film producer, cinematographer, still photographer and writer began in the early 1970’s. His photographs have been published internationally in hundreds of books and magazines including: Life, natural History Magazine, national Geographic, GEo, Terre Sauvage, London Illustrated News, and BBC Wildlife. Howard has authored several books including Sharks, dolphins, The Kelp Forest, Successful Underwater Photography, and Secrets of the Ocean Realm. Michele Hall is an accomplished still photographer whose images have been published by national Geographic, Fathoms, national Wildlife, ocean realm, and many other magazines and books. Howard and Michele have won seven Emmy Awards.

ChriStOPher lee EdiTor EMEriTUSChristopher was the co-founder of Asian Geographic and the managing editor for six years until 2005. Chris was also behind the successful transformation of Scuba Diver Australasia, and was its managing editor

until 2005. He has worked on a range of marine conservation issues including the successful Say no to Shark fins campaign. Chris has also

served on the board of oceannEnvironment. Building on his early career in economic research, he is currently a Senior Economist with the department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) in Australia.

laurent balleSta HonorAry EdiTorLaurent is a marine scientist, photo journalist and documentary maker for the French TV program Ushuaia nature. He was the youngest photographer to have won three Gold diver awards at the World Festival

of Underwater Pictures. in in 2005, Laurent authored with Pierre descamp “Planète Mers” – the book was later translated into five languages and

published by national Geographic. He was the first to capture the Coelacanth in their habitat at 110m. Laurent is also the author for “Secrets de Méditerranée” which was the first to reveal the deep water (180m) of the Mediterranean Sea.

Cabell DaviS PhD oCEAnoGrAPHiC in rESidEnCECabell is a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and is the director of WHoi’s ocean Life institute with over 30 years’ experience in plankton ecology. He has conducted research on 50 oceanographic cruises and co-developed the Video Plankton Recorder,

an underwater video microscope with automatic imaging of high-resolution fragile plankton data. He recently worked with MIT engineers to develop a

small underwater digital holographic camera for imaging plankton. He is now modeling the impact of climate change on the fisheries ecosystem.

evOnne OnG CHiEF EdiTordancing. diving. drugs. not necessarily in that order or done in any specific combination (in case you are wondering). Drugs are her profession. A pharmacist who has spent most of her career lecturing and training, she currently oversees the training within Asia-Pacific for a pharmaceutical

company. diving is her love. An avid diver since 1998, her love for the ocean and wildlife conservation, led her to progress from land to underwater

photography, and eventually cross paths with Michael Aw. After a good deal of cajoling by Michael Aw, she finally started editing her first full issue in 2011 and has not looked back since. She has since written several articles for the magazine as well as newspapers, been involved in several projects with OG and has also been a judge in several international underwater photography competitions. Dance is her passion. If you want to know more, you will have to ask her when you meet her!

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aLL rIGht rEsErvED: ©OCEaN GEOGraPhIC, OceanNEnvironment

Reproduction in any form, electronic, print, photocopy or extracts whole or in part is prohibited.

Published by OceanNEnvironment Ltd Member of Environment Australia

suPPOrtING OrGaNIsatIONs

T he Editorial Board

7OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

CAPTURED BY SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST CELEBRATED WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS, this limited edition tribute comprises the absolute finest of over 20,000 images. Only 1914 copies Fine Art Production

• Box bound edition with Five ready-to-frame prints packaged A$198• Classic case-bound limited edition A$118*Each book comes with it own Certificate of Authenticity Order your Copy nowTo order an autographed copy, email us at: [email protected]

Part of the proceeds from the sale of Elysium Epic will go towards the Ocean Geographic Ocean Change Photographic Index (GOCPI). This index focuses on speciation, habitat and climate change images for education and research assessment.

AUTHORMichael AW

PRInCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHERSMichael AW: Ernie Brooks: David Doubilet : Jennifer Hayes : Andreas Jaschek : Amos Nachoum : Jenny E. Ross

ARTISTWyland

SUPPORTInG PHOTOGRAPHERSEmory Kristof, Steve Jones, Davide Vezzaro, Edward Dixon, Scott Portelli, Jorgen Rasmussen, Carl Brandes, Eric Bettens, Emily Chan, Stephen Henshall, Alhay Avila, Bartosz Strozynski, Henry Yip, Elizabeth Quat, Wendy McIlroy, Gwen Noda, Chris Chan

OceanGeographic.org : ELYSIUMEPIC.org

The 100th Year Tribute to Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance Antarctic (1914) Expedition

OUT NOW

Essay by Alex Rose | Photographs by Michael AW

to Eator Not to Eat

(Sustainable Seafood)

e have all

grown up

knowing that

seafood is a

healthy part

of our diet,

but is it healthy for our planet? Bluefin

tuna has been fished to the brink of

extinction, wild salmon spawning runs

get sparser each year, the north Atlantic

cod fishery collapsed in the early 1990s,

and wild shrimp is harvested in one of

the most environmentally destructive

ways ever invented. This may make a

trip to the grocery store to pick up a

piece of “sustainable” seafood for dinner

seem like a daunting task but it all comes

down to being a conscious consumer.

We must all be aware of the choices we

have and which ones are good for both

our bodies and our environment. Fishery

management practices that accurately

reflect the needs of fish populations

instead of the relentlessly increasing

human demand, and laws that reward

sustainable fishing methods and punish

the opposite are also necessary if we are

to continue harvesting our ocean beyond

the middle of this century. Understanding

what sustainable seafood truly means

and using our collective buying power

to shift global demand towards more

environmentally friendly options are the

waves of the future. It is no longer a case

of “plenty of fish in the ocean”. In order

to get a clearer picture of exactly what

“plenty” once was (so that we have a goal

in mind when discussing the rebuilding

of fisheries), we will need to begin by

travelling back into the pre-industrial

world.

The Industrial Revolution was a

period of incredible advancement,

growth, and invention associated with

hallmarks of progress such as the steam

engine, telegraph, reliable light bulbs,

canned food, large-scale assembly

lines, and incredible expansion of our

world’s canals, roads, and railways.

The foundations of daily life changed

drastically as massive improvements

in mining, manufacturing, technology,

agriculture, and transportation altered the

socioeconomic and cultural landscape of

our existence. Nobel Prize winner and

economist, Robert E. Lucas, Jr., once

said, “For the first time in history, the

living standards of the masses of ordinary

people have begun to undergo sustained

growth”. However, our growth has been

far from sustainable. The Industrial

Revolution forever changed the way we

fish, and signalled the beginning of the

age of unsustainable and environmentally

destructive fishing practices in which we

currently find ourselves.

With the advent of steam-powered ships,

humans were now able to regularly

employ quite possibly the most efficient,

yet destructive method of fishing ever

conceived: the beam trawl. This piece of

equipment is nothing more than a large

net held open by a wood or metal beam

that is then dragged through the ocean,

but until steam was used to power fishing

vessels, sailing ships driven by wind alone

were not strong enough to haul these huge

nets. The pestilential power of trawls was

recognized and regularly debated long

before their widespread use. The English

actually convened commissions starting

in the late 1870s with the goal of reducing

the carnage brought on by trawlers,

catalysed by an already apparent decline

in fish catches in the North Sea. These

efforts did nothing to curb the steady

growth of a fleet of trawlers increasing in

size, destructive capacity, and numbers.

Understanding what sustainable seafood truly means and using our collective buying power to

SHIFT GLOBAL DEMAND TOWARDS MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY OPTIONS.

W

10 Fish…to Eat or Not to Eat

E ssay

PRAWN FISHERIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE THIRD OF THE WORLD'S DISCARDED CATCH, DESPITE PRODUCING LESS THAN

TWO PERCENT OF GLOBAL SEAFOOD

r a w l e r s

indiscriminately

capture all living

things in their

path and leave

in their wake

a complete

destruction of

the seafloor. This

was evident at the turn of the century

when fishermen tried to demand that

their governments outlaw the use of these

detrimental fishing practices. A New

England newspaper article in 1911 stated

that, “the continued operation of these

trawlers scraping over the fishing grounds

and destroying countless numbers of

young and immature fish, is the greatest

menace to the future of fisheries, and

the greatest danger the fisheries have

ever faced along this coast”. Sadly, not

only did these factual proclamations not

reduce trawler use, this fishing method

has grown ever more efficient. Nets are

now equipped with chains (to stir up all

remaining wildlife) rock hoppers and

giant tires which allow the nets to be

dragged over uneven terrain, decimating

all habitats as they are pulled along the

ocean bed. According to the Alaska Marine

Conservation Council, 82% of everything

caught by bottom trawling in North Pacific

fisheries is unwanted bycatch, which

is discarded dead and dying back into

the ocean. Factors like this one make it

almost impossible to accurately estimate

the damage done by trawling, but one

does not need to be a fisheries biologist

to comprehend the magnitude of biomass

loss brought about by trawlers and other

types of environmentally destructive

fishing methods such as long lining and

dynamite fishing.

T

T

Prawn trawlers catch 10-20kg of marine species in the tropics to obtain just 1kg of prawns. This "bycatch" is discarded, dead or dying, overboard.

The world’s wild catch remains at an astronomical 170 billion pounds annually; this amount is equal in weight to the entire human populationof China!

Trawling nets are now equipped with chains, rock hoppers and giant tires which allow the nets to be dragged over uneven terrain, decimating all underwater habitats as they are pulled along the ocean bed.


E ssay

One-and-a-half centuries of rampant

pillaging of our world’s waters by

unsustainable fishing practices, has

reduced the bounty of our seas to a mere

glimmer of what it once was. It has been

determined that all the major stocks of

large fish in the world such as cod, tuna,

swordfish, halibut, and many others

have been reduced to approximately

10% of what their populations were in

the 1950s. Ironically, this is the number

associated with the total “collapse” of a

fishery, a term defined as “a state where

90 percent or more of the historical

population is gone.” It has also been

shown that it only takes 10 to 15 years

of modern industrial fishing pressure to

reduce any healthy fish community to

this 10% mark. Yet the world’s wild catch

remains at an astronomical 170 billion

pounds annually; this amount is equal in

weight to the entire human population

of China! As fish populations shrank, our

fishing methods were made even more

efficient in order to extract the same

amount of seafood. Even as I write, our

last giant bluefin tunas are being hunted

down by sophisticated sonar in the largely

unmanageable international waters of the

open ocean, and slaughtered to feed our

bottomless appetite for sashimi. There are

too many exploited populations of fish to

cover in anything less than a book, but in

an effort to succinctly analyse the nature

and condition of our world’s fisheries, I

will focus on four representative marine

animals and the issues associated with

each of them: cod, salmon, tuna, and

shrimp.

All the way up until the 1970s when some

of the first documented local fishery

collapses began to occur, the validity of

the idea that our ocean could be overfished

was dismissed as impossible. Even into

the early 1980s, the U.S was still heavily

subsidizing the expansion of the American

fishing fleet to the tune of about $800

million in order to make up for declining

catch numbers. This huge increase in

fishing pressure along with the use of the

ubiquitous ocean destroyer, the trawler,

brought about something unimaginable:

the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery. In

1992, the Canadian government closed the

Grand Banks to cod fishing and in 1994,

the Georges Banks, known as the most

prolific cod fishing grounds in the United

States and the area whose abundance

gave Cape Cod its name, were officially

closed to commercial cod fishing. This

“industrial fish” that had been the very

image of plenty and the definition of

commonness, was nearly wiped out and

only about 5% of the historic population of

cod remained. Great care has been taken

since the closing of these once-fecund

fishing grounds, and the Sustainable

Fisheries Act was passed in 1996, to

ensure that these populations are rebuilt

in a reasonable timeframe. Policy makers

are always under extreme pressure from

fishing interests to raise allowable catch

limits to satisfy our growing demand for

whitefish flesh, a requirement on the order

of 40 billion pounds annually (that is the

equivalent of 41,000 fully loaded Boeing

747s), but have managed to maintain some

of these crucial cod breeding grounds as

no catch zones, allowing their decimated

populations to recover and stabilize.

However, even with these regulations,

it is unlikely that the North Atlantic cod

ONE-AND-A-HALF CENTURIES OF RAMPANT PILLAGING of our world’s waters by unsustainable fishing practices,

has reduced the bounty of our seas to a mere glimmer of what it once was.

(Gadus morhua) will ever return to their

former levels of abundance, nor will

they really be the same fish. This is due

to two main factors: our unintentional

selective alteration of the cod genome,

and the scarcity of fish for cod to eat. By

fishing a stock to collapse, we are taking

out the biggest fish first, followed by the

next biggest fish, etc. By the time a stock

has reached the stage of collapse, the

only fish left that are still reproducing

and consequently passing on their genes,

are much smaller than what the average

sized fish used to be prior to intense

overfishing. Studies show that “removal

of 70-80 percent of a fish population

has a certain degree of reversibility…

in a case where 20-30 percent of fish are

still in the water, the population may be

unstable and vulnerable but still has a

reasonable potential for recovery because

the genome of the stock is not likely to

have been heavily depleted”. When 90

percent or more of the fish have been lost,

it is probable that the entire fish genome

has been affected and that a full recovery

is unlikely; this is the scenario playing

out in the North Atlantic cod fishery. By

catching all the big animals, fishermen

have inadvertently selected for smaller

fish. The other major problem is that the

fish populations that cod depend on for

food are also drastically declining. Cod

eat fish in the herring family, all of which

require open access to clean, shallow,

freshwater spawning grounds, conditions

which have all but disappeared as a result

of dam construction. These prey species

are also being harvested from the ocean at

unsustainable rates, essentially ensuring

that cod will be unable to return to their

original range or density due to a lack of

food.

13OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

here have been

attempts to both

farm cod and

find a reasonable

“replacement” fish,

neither of which

has been entirely

successful. Farming cod, or any large

predatory fish for that matter, represents a

net loss in terms of marine protein removed

from the sea because several pounds of

feed are required to make one pound of

saleable fish. This poor feed conversion

ratio makes predators expensive to

farm and buy, as well as contributes to

overfishing of

small fish that

are lower on

the food chain.

Replacing cod

with different

whitefish has

been difficult

as well. There

was an effort

to grow the

New Zealand

hoki fishery

s u s t a i n a b l y

in hopes of

d i v e r t i n g

our consumption of cod, but the hoki

fishery also collapsed under the weight of

demand and improperly set catch limits.

Alaskan pollock is currently filling the

void left by cod with an annual harvest of

2 billion pounds, primarily made into fish

sticks and other highly processed, cheap

whitefish products. It is yet to be seen

if pollock can withstand this collection

pressure long term.

The next fish on our menu is salmon.

Salmon has been called “The King of

Fish,” but unfortunately has not been

treated that way. The decline of salmon

populations has been well documented

since the end of the 19th century when

countless river tributaries were dammed

for power generation, cutting off the

access these fish need to their natal

spawning grounds. There is Atlantic and

Pacific salmon and both are anadromous

fish, meaning that they live, feed, and

grow in the sea, but return to fresh water

to reproduce. Each fish will come back

to spawn only in the waters from which

it hatched, making salmon extremely

susceptible to local extirpations resulting

from anthropogenic changes in natural

landscapes. Between the damming of

rivers and streams, which barred them

from reproducing, and the aggressive

fishing of the largest known aggregation

of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the

waters off Greenland beginning in the

1950s, wild populations of these fish are

now virtually non-existent and none are

commercially fished. The story of the

Pacific salmon in the genus Oncorhynchus

is decidedly different. These fish birth

and spawn in the rivers and tributaries

of the American Pacific northwest and

Russia, and spend most of their lives in

the Bering Sea. Increasingly sparse runs

of these fish still occur from California

T

SALMON HAS BEEN CALLED “THE KING OF FISH,”

but unfortunately has not been treated that way. Salmon farms have been linked with a range of

SERIOUS, DEVASTATING, IMPACTS ON THE MARINE

ENVIRONMENT

up to British Columbia, Alaska, and parts

of Russia, and the fishing of these fragile

sub-populations is heavily regulated and

monitored from one year to the next,

but even this has not kept the runs from

diminishing or oceanic salmon from being

caught.

While there is not much wild salmon to be

had, our supermarkets are all overflowing

with their succulent orange flesh. This is

because the majority of the salmon we

consume is farm raised. Being a large

predatory fish, salmon must consume

large amounts of food in order to sustain

themselves and

gain enough

weight to be

able to make

the incredibly

strenuous and

time consuming

journey from

the open ocean

back to their

f r e s h w a t e r

s p a w n i n g

grounds. This

means that the

feed conversion

ratio for salmon

is atrocious. Over the last few decades,

salmon have been selectively bred to

grow faster and get to “market size” on

much less food than wild salmon needs.

It takes 10 kilograms of small fish and

other prey items to produce 1 kilogram

of wild salmon, whereas it only takes

about four kilograms of feed to produce

one kilogram of farmed salmon. This is

still a problematic ratio that reflects an

unfortunately large net seafood loss, but

is probably the least disturbing aspect of

salmon farming.


E ssay

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Pollutants are not the only problem facing farmed salmons. Recent studies have found contamination with radioactive waste and there are concerns about the use of malachite green to kill parasites and infections.

arming of carnivorous

fish species presents

many problems. Salmon

are most commonly

farmed in open ocean

netted pens where they

are in close contact with wild populations

of salmon. This is a serious issue because

many farmed populations of salmon

harbour parasites such as sea lice due

to unnaturally high stocking density, and

as wild fish swim near the pens, they

become infected too. This is particularly

detrimental to young wild salmon and

they often perish. Antibiotics are also

used to control disease and these are

then released directly into the ocean.

There are usually “dead zones,” areas of

low oxygen where life cannot survive,

beneath these fish pens as a result of

large amounts of animal waste and

uneaten pellet food being degraded via

decomposition, a process that consumes

oxygen. There is also the issue of large

percentages of farmed salmon escaping

and competing with wild salmon for

food. Farming salmon is currently not

an environmentally friendly alternative

to catching wild fish, but perhaps the

near future will bring us a land-based

polyculture system of fish, algae, and

filter feeders that reduces waste while

minimizing the environmental impact of

eating a predator.

A fish that should never be farmed is

bluefin tuna, yet this is an idea being

promoted as a “solution” to our great

dilemma with this animal. It is not so

much farming; it is really just fattening.

This unfortunate practice involves netting

shoals of young bluefins, keeping them in

sea cages, and feeding them huge amounts

of wild caught forage fish until they are fat

enough to sell. This method is intensely

flawed because not only is it doing

nothing to reduce the fishing pressure

on these animals, but it is attempting to

farm one of the most predatory animals

in the ocean. As such, the feed conversion

for bluefin tuna is incredibly high at 20:1,

meaning that it requires 20 kilograms of

food to produce 1 kilogram of tuna. This

may sound like a financially suicidal

investment, but the desire for this fish

only seems to be increasing along with its

scarcity.

This insatiable drive to catch every last

bluefin can only be illustrated by the

following: a single tuna weighing 220

kilograms was sold in Japan’s infamous

Tsukiji fish market for 1.8 million dollars

last year. Considering that breeding adult

bluefins can weigh over 680 kilograms, this

was a small fish, and yet it commanded a

mind-boggling price of almost $8,108 per

kilo. The breeding stock of these animals

is being decimated at an alarming rate and

it is estimated that there could be as few

as 9,000 giant spawners left in the western

stock of the North Atlantic. As explained

by Charles Clover in his book The End of

the Line, “The eastern Atlantic bluefin is

now listed as an endangered species and

estimated to be equivalent to the giant

panda in its closeness to extinction. The

western Atlantic bluefin stock is in even

worse shape and is officially described

as critically endangered. That puts it in

the same bracket as the black rhino.”

These incredible animals that can travel

at speeds topping 64 kilometres per

hour and accelerate faster than most

European sports cars, have been fished to

the brink of extinction, making them the

most threatened wildlife that we are still

allowed by law to eat.

The bluefin fishery is particularly

difficult to manage because their

habitat falls into the category of the

“high seas,” a part of the ocean that is

essentially unmanageable. Catch limits

are set each year by the International

Commission for the Conservation of

Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), and every year

these same catch limits are dramatically

broken because there are few ways to

enforce the laws governing the take of

seafood from the open ocean. If we are

to save these fish without imposing a

worldwide moratorium on the catching of

bluefins, we must radically decrease our

consumption of these amazing creatures.

“Dining on a 230 kilo bluefin tuna is the

seafood equivalent of driving a Hummer,”

says Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish,

and should be avoided entirely.

Eating one kilo of bluefin tuna is roughly

the same as eating 200 kilos of less

resource demanding seafood such as

tilapia, sardines, or shellfish. While it

is favourable to consume sea creatures

that are lower on the food chain in place

of eating our ocean’s top predators, this

will not necessarily solve our problems.

Shrimp is a prime example of this paradox.

Trawling is still the most common method

used to capture shrimp in the wild, a

practice that is responsible for levelling

seascapes and wiping out entire species.

Wild shrimp have one of the highest

bycatch rates of anything in the ocean,

with 10–14 kilograms of unwanted bycatch

for every kilograms of shrimp produced.

It is estimated that up to 22 billion pounds

of seafood may be discarded annually as

bycatch, including not just fish but sea

turtles, marine mammals, and sea birds

as well. According to a 2009 marine policy

study, “All modern forms of commercial

fishing produce bycatch, but shrimp

trawling is by far the most destructive:

it is responsible for a third of the world's

bycatch, while producing only 2 percent

of all seafood”. As is typical with the

overfishing of all species, annual catches

of shrimp are decreasing together with

their average size.

F

IT REQUIRES 20 KILOGRAMS OF FOOD TO PRODUCE 1KILOGRAM OF TUNA.

Farming of shrimp

is a valid option,

but the way

most coastal

shrimp farming

is conducted is

detrimental to

our shoreline

habitats. The organic wastes, antibiotics,

and chemicals associated with raising

these marine animals in large densities

often wind up polluting ground water and

estuarine wetlands. As stated by the World

Wildlife Fund, “In some cases, ecologically-

sensitive habitat has been cleared to

create ponds for shrimp production. Also,

some aquifers that supply water to farms

have been contaminated with salt water.

Some forms of shrimp farming have had

a devastating effect on mangroves around

the world. These mangroves are vital for

wildlife and coastal fisheries, and serve as

buffers to the effects of storms. Their loss

has destabilized entire coastal zones, with

negative effects on coastal communities.”

Shrimp farming has the potential to be

both sustainable and highly profitable, but

it must be conducted in environmentally

friendly ways that do not contribute to

pollution and habitat destruction.

Examining the poor condition of four of

our ocean’s most iconic seafood species

can be rather disheartening as it seems

as though we may have already pushed

our fragile marine ecosystems beyond

the point of recovery (in some instances

this might indeed be the case). If global

overfishing continues at its present rate,

most of our world’s fisheries will collapse

by the year 2050. We are harvesting

seafood at a much faster rate than it can

be naturally replaced; 80 percent of our

world’s fish stocks are already either fully

exploited or in decline. Pavan Sukhdev of

the UN Environmental Programme said

that, “We are in the situation where 40

years down the line we, effectively, are

out of fish.”

The good thing about knowing these

statistics, however discouraging they may

be, is that we still have time to change our

future. Much of the damage that has been

done is at least reversible to some extent

if we are able to accurately measure and

effectively manage remaining fish stocks,

modify and minimize destructive fishing

methods, protect vulnerable ecosystems,

and change our eating habits. We must

establish more Marine Protected Areas

so the fish that are left have somewhere

safe to spawn and grow, while pressuring

governments to limit subsidies that

encourage unsustainable fishing practices.

We need to regulate and monitor fishing

to reduce the amount of illegal catch,

while simultaneously modulating our

global demand for seafood by choosing

sustainable options in our daily lives. It

is also important not to underestimate

the power of conscious consumerism,

and programs such as Seafood Watch,

Fish Watch, and Right Bite have created

“seafood guides” to help us all make

better choices.

If left unchecked, (overfishing) will

destroy the marine ecosystem and

jeopardize the food security of more

than a billion people for whom fish are a

primary source of protein. The Food and

Agricultural Organization confirmed that,

“One in five people on this planet depends

on fish as the primary source of protein.”

Overfishing is ultimately robbing future

generations of their food supply for the

temporary profitability of companies

today and must be stopped before there is

no chance of recovery. So, what are you

having for dinner?

THE GOOD THING ABOUT KNOWING,

however discouraging they may be, is that WE STILL HAVE TIME TO CHANGE OUR FUTURE.

18

E ssay

Fish…to Eat or Not to Eat

You are INVITED to a Benchmark expedition that redefines

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Join the principal team comprising of Dr Sylvia Earle, David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes, Ernie Brooks, Michael AW, Amos Nachoum, Wyland, Göran Ehlmé, and Leandro Blanco in August 2015, on a mission to capture the sights, sounds and splendour of the enthralling Arctic, in an exquisite book, a film and exhibitions across eight major cities.

The expedition will start from Longyearbyen to North Spitsbergen, North and East Greenland and end in Iceland. Besides panoramas of glaciers, icebergs and snowy mountains, the expedition will focus on polar bears, walruses, belugas, narwals, Arctic foxes, auks, snowy owls, muskoxen, Arctic hares, fin and blue whales.

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B LU E – A Global CONVERGENCE of

the Ocean Arts & Sciences

Top : Humpback whales Bottom : Weddell Seal, Terre Adelie Antarctic

Courtesy Disneynature's oCeans

B ringing

together a diverse ecosystem of ocean

all-stars, industry professionals and the

general public, the BLUE Ocean Film

Festival & Conservation Summit (BLUE)

goes beyond showcasing the world’s best

ocean films. These hundreds of films are

merely the tip of the iceberg, just one

facet of BLUE’s multi-disciplinary

platform for collaboration, creative

expression and discussion of complex

issues. It has become the premier watering

hole for governments, scientists, artists,

explorers, actors, and ocean enterprises,

providing a springboard for individual

empowerment and stewardship to help

save Earth’s blue life support system.

Launched in 2009 in Savannah, Georgia,

the festival combines the international

ocean film festival with a world-class

conservation summit and film-making

industry conference. Recognised as a

platform for synergy, BLUE has become

the most magnetic event in the global

ocean community where intriguing

people meet, exchange ideas, and solve

problems together.

Dr. Sylvia Earle described BLUE as “more

than films, more than a celebration of

all things wet, the BLUE Ocean Film

Festival & Conservation Summit brings

together a potent mix of artists, scientists,

conservationists, decision makers,

industry leaders, inquisitive teachers,

lively kids and more. Come to be in the

company of kindred spirits. Come to

be entertained, inspired, informed and

make useful contacts. Come to have a

good time… whatever strums your blue

heartstring, but just come!”

BLUE attracts people working to save our

ocean, which undeniably needs each one

of us being innovative and collaborative.

Events have included a “blue who’s who”

of luminaries including James Cameron,

HSH Prince Albert II, Daryl Hannah, Jean

Michel Cousteau and other celebrities

who are in the spotlight, along with the

ocean’s greatest advocates working

behind the scenes.

The BLUE Ocean Film Festival

competition honours excellence in

filmmaking and the visual media. BLUE’s

Conservation Summit and industry and

conservation programs play a role in

facilitating innovation and professional

development and in helping to get

projects afloat.

BLUE’s co-founders, Deborah and Charlie

Kinder, launched the concept of BLUE

five years ago to meet the need for public

engagement around an ocean in need.

“Film and photography are powerful

tools for reaching broad audiences about

complicated issues in ways that people

can understand and relate to,” said

Charlie. “We understand how challenging

even the best film ideas can be to get off

the ground and wanted to help in that

process by bringing the right people

together.”

In 2013, an announcement was made that

BLUE, the Prince Albert II Foundation and

the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

would team up to host the summit on

alternate years, between Monaco and

the St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay area. The

strategic partnership with Monaco allows

the festival to further its international

reach and collaborations.

During the official announcement of

the partnerships, HSH Prince Albert

II emphasised the need to increase

environmental consciousness and the

important role BLUE plays in bringing

ocean conservation to the forefront. “This

event uses the power of film, photography,

entertainment and science to educate,

empower and inspire ocean stewardship

around the globe,” he said. “To awaken

consciousness toward environmental

protection more effectively, our best

weapons are those that win over hearts

and minds.”

Capt Don Walsh presenting at Blue Ocean Film Festival

Stingray and clouds DaviD Doubilet

21OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

BLUE has also leveraged its extensive film

archive library to create BLUE On Tour,

an international educational outreach

program; this travelling show provides

global and domestic opportunities to

host mini BLUE events with select films

and speakers to address issues relevant

to the audience. “Unfortunately, most

people know very little about our ocean

or why they should be concerned about

its health,” said Charlie. “We are thrilled

by how effective this outreach has been.

BLUE On Tour has already been presented

in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China

and Auburn University in the US.”

BLUE is dedicated to a healthy ocean,

healthy planet and healthy humanity.

Deborah Kinder shared her vision for

co-creating BLUE as a multi-disciplinary

event. “I knew I wanted to be involved

in ocean conservation, but there are so

many issues that I didn’t want to choose

just one problem to devote my time to

because they are all so interconnected,”

she explained. “Visual media is the

most powerful tool we have for raising

awareness and inspiring action. It’s

how we can reach a global audience in

a short span of time and in a way that

helps everyone to understand some very

complicated issues.”

The health of the ocean is not only about

protecting marine life but the health of

humanity. Not in the future, but right

now. It is not something that can be fixed

through crisis management. The goal of

BLUE is to address the major oceanic

issues and engage the public in a fun

and interactive way. The BLUE festival

can let the world know what is going

on beneath the waves, and then create

enough momentum to solve problems.

Whether a member of the general public

or a seasoned professional, everyone

can find something of interest. It is easy

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a captivating mix of arts, science, ocean

lovers and environmental all-stars. Eco-

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opportunity to directly showcase their

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BLUE 2014 is bigger than ever, featuring

more than 150 award-winning ocean

films and more than 40 thought-

provoking conservation discussions,

and technology exhibits that include

manned submersibles and the latest

in ocean innovations. For the first time, Ocean Geographic will attend BLUE 2014, from 3 – 9 November in St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay, Florida. blueoceanfilmfestival.org

James Cameron and Capt Don Walsh receiving their Blue Ocean Film Festival award

Ocean Explorers – Sylvia Earle, Don Walsh, Phil Nyutten, Anatoly Sagevitch, James Cameron, Emory Kristof

22 BLUE – A Global CONVERGENCE of the Ocean Arts & Sciences

O cean Watchave Our Seas FundS

Save Our Seas Foundation is the conservation unit of OceanNEnvironment, an NGO with charity status registered with Environment Australia.

Current ProjeCts• Asia-PacificOceanHealthReport:Ongoing

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• SharkConservation:SayNotoSharkFinsCampaigninEastAsia,from2001–present

• CoralReefs:supportinginitiativesledbysomeof the world’s leading conservation scientists. SOScontributestoprojectsthatmonitormarineprotectedareas,statusofendangeredandthreatenedspeciesintheAsiaPacific.

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A legend among divers’ watches is reborn; this year Rolex brings back a brand new updated version of the Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller, a model created in 1967. This new 40 mm technical divers’ watch is the latest in Rolex innovation: Cerachrom bezel insert in ceramic, long-lasting Chromalight luminescence, paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring, Oysterlock safety clasp and Rolex Glidelock bracelet extension system. Originally designed for the pioneers of professional deep-sea diving, the Sea-Dweller 4000 is equipped with one of the inventions that contributed to its stature: the helium escape valve, patented by Rolex in 1967. This ingenious safety valve releases helium from the watch case as the gas expands during the decompression phases of deep water saturation dives, while preserving the waterproofness of the watch.

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The Watch for Diving LegenDs

Peter ScooneS A Pioneer of Blue Planet

Tribute by Gillian McDonald

Photos by Georgette Douwma, Jane Morgan, Anna Kochergina

There is little, if anything, that Peter

did not know about underwater image

making. A BAFTA and two Emmys,

surrounded by numerous other

awards were testament to his creative

achievements. But it was Peter’s dual

expertise in both artistic cinematography

and technical wizardry which made him

unique and extraordinarily accomplished

in this challenging field. His creative

talent took him many times around the

world for a string of unrivalled wildlife

documentaries, many for the BBC Natural

History Unit in the company of perhaps

the greatest and most distinguished

wildlife presenter ever known, Sir

David Attenborough. However, he also

designed, built and maintained all his

own equipment, remaining at the cutting

edge of his field right up to the end of his

life, with an underwater career spanning

nearly five decades.

Peter was a maverick of the most

productive kind; he did everything his own

way, and that was invariably far superior

to anyone else’s way. After leaving

school as a qualified naval architect, his

eyesight prevented him from training as

an officer. With National Service looming,

he quickly joined the RAF “to learn

something useful”, which turned out to

be photography – ironic considering his

“poor” eyesight. A keen sailor, he caught

a glimpse of the captivating underwater

world while cleaning the bottom of his

dinghy in Singapore. He then persuaded

the Navy to teach his group the basics

of diving, and they formed a diving club.

However, due to limited equipment, they

became highly adept at snorkelling and

learned to hold their breath. “I could hold

my breath underwater for 3-4 minutes,”

Peter said in a recent interview. “You

can’t film while breathing; it disturbs you,

makes you wobble”.

In an attempt to resolve the issue of limited

equipment, Peter built a couple of aqua

lungs using RAF machine shops, recycled

aircraft oxygen tanks and various hoses.

“Demand valves are fairly simple things”

he said, with typical understatement

and modesty. It was not long before his

passion for image-making, diving and

nature came together. There was no such

thing as an underwater housing back then

so Peter had to build his own and in this,

he was truly a pioneer. He would scavenge

discarded aircraft windows, return them

to stores and claim a replacement, thus

acquiring pristine sheets of Perspex

to model housings from. He made

cement from Perspex chips dissolved in

chloroform, controls from used hydraulic

linkages and created waterproof shafts

– this was before O-rings were widely

available. “There was the Rolleimarin

designed by Hass but that was way

outside our budget, Nikonos which

evolved out of Cousteau’s Calypsophot

didn’t emerge until 1963, necessity is the

mother of invention – if it doesn’t exist,

build it”. That basically described Peter’s

entire life in one sentence.

In 1967, Peter formed the British Society

of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP),

together with Colin Doeg. Despite being

seriously ill at the time, he still regularly

attended monthly meetings in London,

right up until the end of 2013. Colin said of

Peter, “Being a superb camera mechanic

as well as accomplished photographer

helped Peter handle with aplomb, the

most dreaded event in any underwater

photographer’s life... a flood. It was an

unforgettable experience to see him

calmly pour pints of sea water out of his

custom-made camera housing and begin

to salvage his expensive video camera

anywhere on land or sea. Surrounded

by an awe-struck audience and often an

ashen producer or client - he could strip

his camera down to its carcass, wash

and sun-dry all the vital electronic circuit

boards and have it working again in as

little as a couple of hours”.

At the end of his nine year stint, he left

the RAF and joined a colour laboratory

in London. For the next few years,

he learnt as much about underwater

filming as possible. To supplement his

strong technical background and optical

knowledge he thoroughly researched

and read everything ever written on

the subject, teaching himself. As his

reputation grew, there came a knock on

the door of his workshop in Richmond,

just outside London. It was David

Attenborough (who subsequently became

Sir David) and a colleague from the BBC

Natural History Unit who wanted to film

a live coelacanth in low-light conditions

- something that had never been done

before. Attenborough was heading to the

Comores islands as part of the BBCs ‘Life

on Earth’ series to follow up on reports

of local fishermen hauling coelacanths up

from the deep. He had heard about Peter’s

latest low-light camera and wanted to

hire it. Peter seized his opportunity. Not

only had he read about the coelacanth in

school and long harboured an ambition to

film it, but he also knew his camera was

a unique and innovative asset and he was

not about to hand it over for someone

else to use. He recalled, “I told them they

could have my equipment for free as long

as they paid for me to go with them and

operate it”.

Thus began Peter’s long standing

involvement with the BBC including

‘Reefwatch’, ‘The Trials of Life’, ‘Sea

Trek’, ‘Life in the Freezer’, ‘The Blue

Planet’ and ‘Planet Earth’ which was the

first broadcast in high definition. These

Peter ScooneS ’S

LONG STANDING ILLUSTRIOUS INVOLVEMENT WITH THE BBC included ‘Reefwatch’, ‘The Trials of Life’, ‘Sea Trek’, ‘Life in the Freezer’,

‘The Blue Planet’ and ‘Planet Earth’

25OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

Peter Scoones at Celebrate the Sea Festival 2009, Manila

Filming sea lions with pole cam-Dyer Island, South Africa

productions brought the underwater

world into the living rooms of the world.

It is certain that they have inspired many

of today’s divers to take the plunge.

During ‘Sea Trek’, Peter enhanced the

polecam which he had originally invented

for filming killer whales in Norway for

an Australian broadcaster. The whales

would not approach if there was a diver

in the water so Peter put the camera on

a pole over the bow of an inflatable boat

and drove right up to the creatures. The

resulting film, ‘Wolves of the Sea’, included

the first recording of whales ‘carousel

feeding’, herding herring into balls near

the surface then using their tails to stun

them before scooping them up. The film

went on to win the annual Wildscreen

Festival. For ‘Sea Trek’, Peter used the

polecam to film dolphins in the Bahamas

coming towards the boat rather than going

away, and this was yet another first.

Peter’s most recent, major involvement

was with yet another BBC/ Attenborough

landmark documentary, ‘Planet Earth’,

which was the forefront of technological

advancement,using High Definition

(HD) technology for the first time. The

chances are, each time you take a camera

underwater, you are using some form of

technology or technique which originated

from Peter’s mind. It would be forgivable

if this uniquely talented man had had a

sense of arrogance or conceit about his

many achievements. However, this was

not so. Peter was more than happy to share

his knowledge and discuss any topic with

openness and generosity. “I’m just a chap

who is learning how to take excellent

pictures underwater.” he told me during

that recent interview. It sounded falsely

modest, but he really meant it.

Peter Scoones, the legendary and

pioneering underwater imagery genius,

passed away peacefully in his sleep at

the age of 76 early on Sunday 20 April

2014, surrounded by his family. Peter,

from London, had been battling illness

for a number of years. Despite finally

succumbing, Peter fought long and hard

against his condition and it was that

strong-willed, single-minded refusal to

give in that shaped much of Peter’s long

and illustrious career in the underwater

world. It was a great privilege to have

spent a couple of months with Peter in

the Red Sea during the last few years of

his life. He was creative and innovative

right to the end, still building bespoke

housings in his well-stocked workshop

and testing them in the field using his

unique blend of vision and technology to

the utmost. He was a very special man

and his family, friends and the entire

the underwater world will be much

worse off with his passing. Peter is

survived by his wife Georgette Douwma,

a highly accomplished underwater

photographer in her own right, and his

two children Fiona and Robin from an

earlier marriage.

BLUE – A Global CONVERGENCE of the Ocean Arts & Sciences

E ssay

26

Ourselves Quickly…Killing

(Plights of Our Ocean)

Report by Ocean Geographic Photographs by Michael AW

Our ocean is the Earth's

life-support system.

It provides food and

oxygen, shapes our

coastal environments,

and regulates our atmosphere and

climate. Through the ages, mankind has

relied on the ocean and its seemingly

immense resources with little concern

for conservation. However, in the last 100

years, our population has grown from

1.8 billion in 1914 to 7.2 billion (ANU);

coupled with industrial development,

the use of fossil fuel and a consumerism

economy, we have placed immeasurable

stress on our world’s ocean. The ocean

is getting warmer faster than predicted,

creating havoc to the world’s climate.

Our ocean sustains all life on earth and

yet we continue to neglect it, harming

innumerable marine life, and polluting

one of our most important resources.

In the battle for the preservation of our

environment, the health of our oceans

should be our number one priority. Here,

we would like to shed some light on the

plight of our ocean, and how we are killing

ourselves rapidly in the process.

Overpopulation

28 Killing Ourselves Quickly…

E ssay

Ocean acidity has increased by 30 percent

globally during the last 200 years. The

changing acidity of our ocean threatens

to throw off the delicate chemical

balance upon which marine life depend

for survival. The basic science behind

acidification is that the ocean absorbs

carbon dioxide through natural processes,

but at the rate at which we are pumping it

into the atmosphere through burning fossil

fuels, the ocean's pH balance is dropping

to a point where life within the ocean is

having trouble coping. Increased acidity

in the ocean would lead to a shortage of

carbonate, a key building block some

animals (and plants) need to build their

shells and skeletons; these animals

include shellfish like clams, oysters,

crabs, lobsters and corals. Corals are

the framework builders of reefs, by

far the most diverse ecosystem in our

ocean. The effects of acidification will

not stop with coral reefs; corals are

simply the first piece in a domino effect

with sweeping impact that will be felt

throughout the ocean.

Ocean Acidification

Coral bleaching

29OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

OverfishingWe have been sucking all life out of the

ocean as though resources are infinite.

In truth, we are already scraping the

bottom of the barrel. Many marine

scientists consider overfishing to be the

worst impact humans are causing on

the ocean. The Food and Agriculture

Organization estimates that over 70

percent of the world’s fish species are

either exploited or depleted. By capturing

fish faster than they can reproduce, we

are disrupting entire ecosystems that

interact with those species, from the food

they eat to the predators that eat them.

These losses make the ecosystems even

more vulnerable to other disturbances,

such as pollution. A complete overhaul

of fishing policies is needed to create

a sustainable system, and this requires

global cooperation.

Irresponsible Fish FarmingAquaculture, or fish farming, is the

growing response to rapidly depleting

fish stock in ocean. While it sounds like

a good idea, it unfortunately has many

negative consequences due to poorly

managed operations. The main problem

with aquaculture is efficiency: 5 to 20 fish

are needed as feed to produce one fish.

Nutrient and chemical pollution can occur

easily in open-ocean operations when

fish feed, excrement and medication are

released into the environment. Farmed

fish may accidentally be released into the

wild, with destructive effects such as loss

of native stocks, disease transmission,

and damaging changes in habitat.

Unfortunately, the biggest hindrance to

overcoming the challenges of an industry

that supplies nearly 50 percent of the

world’s fish food supply is that it currently

remains relatively unregulated.


E ssay

Ghost FishingGhost fishing occurs when discarded fishing nets or lines continue to catch fish and

other marine life. Often, the traps trigger a chain-reaction when larger predators come

to eat the smaller ones that have been ensnared, only to get themselves entangled in

the mess. The issue of ghost fishing is most common with passive gear that has been

abandoned, especially with the long liners.

Ghost fishing caused by discarded fishing nets

31OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

Decimation of the ocean’s most important

predators has significant consequences

that ripple down the food chain. About 50

to 100 million sharks are killed each year,

either as bycatch from fishing vessels or

directly hunted for their dorsal fins, used

in an expensive soup popular across Asia.

Loss of Sentinel SpeciesWhen finned, the sharks are thrown back

into the water, often still alive and left

to bleed to death. Unfortunately, sharks

reproduce fairly slowly and do not have

a large number of offspring, so these

actions have long-lasting repercussions

on the delicate ecosystems they help

regulate. Despite the 1986 moratorium on

many types of whaling, it still continues

to be a problem, with some nations like

Japan looking for loopholes and lobbying

for lax regulations.

Loss of Coral Reefs Keeping the coral reefs healthy is another

major issue right now. A focus on how

to protect the coral reefs is important,

considering coral reefs support a huge

amount of small sea life, which in turn

supports both larger sea life and us, not

only for immediate food needs but also

economically. Global warming is the

primary cause of coral bleaching, but

there are other causes as well. Science is

working on ways, but it also is a matter of

setting aside marine conservation areas.

Figuring out ways to protect this "life

support system" is a must for the overall

health of our ocean.

Removal of key species such as sharks and dolphins

Coral reefs are the "life support system" of our ocean.

E ssay


Offshore oil and gas mining

Dead zones

Offshore DrillingOffshore drilling continues to be a debate,

but it is clear that greater oil production

would only exacerbate the dilemmas of

our oceans. The use of fossil fuels is the

reason our oceans have been heating up

and becoming more acidic, but offshore

drilling takes the risks even further. When

oil is extracted from the ocean floor,

other chemicals like mercury, arsenic,

and lead come up with it. In addition,

the seismic waves used to find oil harm

aquatic mammals and disorient whales. In

2008, 100 whales had beached themselves

as a result of ExxonMobil exploring for

oil with these techniques. Furthermore,

the infrastructure transporting oil often

erodes the coastline, creating more

problems.

Mercury PollutionScientists report that mercury levels in

our ocean have risen over 30 percent

in the last 20 years, and will continue

increase another 50 percent in the next

few decades. Emissions from coal power

plants are the primary culprit, dispensing

poisonous mercury that works its way up

the food chain, eventually coming to us

through the fish we eat. This neurotoxin

affects the development of the brain in

foetuses and has been linked to learning

disabilities.

Dead ZonesDead zones are areas of the sea floor

with little or no dissolved oxygen. These

areas are often found at the mouths of

large rivers, and are caused primarily by

fertilizers carried in runoff. This lack of

oxygen kills many creatures and destroys

entire habitats. At our current rate, dead

zones will increase by 50 percent before

the end of this century.33OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

GarbageThe ocean is among our biggest resources for life on earth,

but it is also our biggest dumping ground. It is astounding how

much of our trash finds its way into the ocean. Animals become

entangled and trapped in our garbage, delicate sea life like

coral and sponges are destroyed, sea turtles and dolphins often

choke on plastic bags (mistaking them for jellyfish or squid),

plastic bits also clog up the digestive system of birds and other

marine mammals causing them to starve to death. If that is not

bad enough, hopefully the bigger-than-Texas trash vortex in the

Pacific Ocean and its smaller cousin in the Atlantic will help

serve as a wake-up call.

The dinosaurs did not see the meteors coming.

What is our excuse?

Garbage field found at 2.5 kilometres below the Sulu Sea


E ssay

Faces of the

“I got up and took a good look at the enemy. The dugong – also known as the

halicore – is very much like a manatee, or lamantine. Its body is terminated

by a long tail, and its lateral fins by fingers. The difference between the

dugong and manatee consists in the former being armed with two long

pointed teeth in the upper jaw, which form a defence for each site…Ned

Land, his body thrown back a little, brandished his harpoon. Suddenly a

hissing noise was heard and the dugong disappeared.”

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne, circa 1850

‘ ’Ocean

Manatee, Florida – Have you got My good side Nikon D800E 16mm fisheye

F4 @ 1/160

No strobe

N autilus'sWindow

Coming face-to-face with a great white

shark has to have been one of the most

exciting and memorable dives of my life.

The black motionless eye pierces your

soul, tugs at your heart strings and your

protective instinct kicks in. You just want

to keep returning to meet them again and

again, and show the world their beauty.

But coming face-to-face with a humpback

whale (especially a calf), is completely

different. It is curious, playful and shows

you all the new tricks it learnt from Mum.

The eye of the humpback also follows

you, and if you are calm in the water, Mum

will let you be with her calf – and that is

a feeling of pure joy. Another favourite

of mine is the manatee. It is so ugly, it is

beautiful; some would say only its mother

could love it. My fascination with them

is addictive and I stayed in the water for

hours just enjoying their company.

Seeing the very majestic and fragile

seahorse was like a fairy-tale coming true

as these little creatures look like they

should only exist in Disney movies. They

are so unique and each is so different.

My local dive site in Sydney is home to

many seahorses and I feel so privileged

I have the opportunity to see them on a

regular basis. Other marine residents at

this local dive site include the adorable

and amazing frogfishes. It never ceases to

amaze me, how they can open their mouth

so wide and swallow food almost twice

their body size. I love showing someone

for the first time all these special marine

life and seeing their expressions. It always

guarantees a smile.

Jayne started diving in

the chilly waters along the rugged Welsh

coastline before moving to Australia in

1973. An avid diver and distinguished

underwater photographer, Jayne is

actively involved in many facets of the

diving industry and has been for over

three decades. Jayne has organised

numerous diving expeditions throughout

the Asia-Pacific region, leading her to

work as a safety diver and researcher for

various underwater films, television and

photographic expeditions, including the

cave diving spectacular, Sanctum. It is

Jayne's passion and skill for underwater

photography for which she is known best.

Always willing to donate her images to

ocean conservation projects and good

causes, and with a love for many of the

ocean's most threatened inhabitants

such as sharks, whales and seahorses,

Jayne hopes her images will help to raise

funding and awareness to protect these

creatures for future generations.

Jayne is currently a resident photographer

/consultant with the Catlin Seaview

survey. This is fast becoming a game-

changing creative scientific project. Using

specially designed technology, the Catlin

Seaview Survey will record and reveal the

world's oceans and reefs like never before,

in high-resolution, 360-degree panoramic

vision. Jayne is also Vice President and

Board of Director member to the Our

World Underwater Scholarship Society

(OWUSS) - a scholarship sponsored by

Rolex for young underwater enthusiasts.

Due to her work, Jayne has been honoured

by being inducted into the prestigious

Woman Divers’ Hall of Fame and was

awarded the OZTeK Industry Recognition

Award to acknowledge people who have

made a significant contribution to the

development and advancement of diving

within the Asia-Pacific region. Jayne's

drive and enthusiasm for the ocean is

admirable and she has inspired countless

individuals to take up diving and to

appreciate the oceans.

Jayne Jenkins – Faces of the Ocean portfolio

36 ‘Faces of the Ocean’

N autilus'sWindow

‘Faces of the Ocean’

Potato cod at cod Hole, australia– oPen Wide Nikon D300 Tokina 10–17mm

F14 @ 1/160

twin Ikeleite DS125's

37OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

HuMPback WHale, tonga –inquisitive calF Nikon D300 Tokina 10–17mm

F9 @ 1/160

No strobes


N autilus'sWindow

ornate coW FisH, soutH australia–ready For tHe Party Nikon D200 60mm macro

F14 @ 1/125

twin Ikelite DS125 strobes

Painted Frog FisH, sydney Nikon D800E 60mm macro

F14 @ 1/250

Twin Ikelite DS160 strobes


N autilus'sWindow

australian Fur seal, soutH australia– WHo is tHat in tHere? Nikon D800 16-35mm

F8 @ 1/160

Twin ikelite DS160

great WHite sHark, soutH australia– natures dental Floss Nikon D800E 16–35mm

F8 @ 1/160

twin Ikelite DS160 strobes


N autilus'sWindow

Weedy sea dragon, sydney– dragons oF tHe underWorld

Nikon D300 60mm macro

F20 @ 1/160

Single DS125 strobe

leaFy sea dragon, soutH australia (Top)


F16 @ 1/160

Single DS125 strobe

PygMy seaHorse, raJa aMPat (Right)


F16 @ 1/320

Single Ikelite DS125 strobe

N autilus'sWindow


the Ultimate Underwater Paradise• Pristine Reefs protected since 1960 : Sharks

Galore – Silkies, Caribbean in big numbers : American Saltwater Crocodiles

• Giant Goliath groupers : Tarpons in school : Pristine mangrove forest

the ueenQ Gardens of the

cubandivingcenters.com mail : [email protected] [email protected]

Ocean GeOGraphic cuba Gardens Of the Queen expeditiOn – find out more at OceanGeographic.org cuba

Essay & Photographs by Steve De Neef

TheRebuilt an Island

that

TheRebuilt an Island

that

november 8, 2013 is a day that

will never be forgotten by the Filipinos. Super Typhoon Haiyan,

locally known as Yolanda, passed over the Philippines that day

and proved to be the strongest typhoon to ever make landfall.

Yolanda left thousands dead and millions homeless, changing

lives forever. Since then, many of the affected people have been

struggling to resume their lives and continue their livelihood.

The support from the rest of the world has been enormous but

even with all this help, it has been very hard for some to recover,

especially in terms of livelihood.

One place that

managed to

r e c u p e r a t e

relatively quickly

is Malapascua,

an idyllic island

located just north

of Cebu, where the eye of Yolanda passed.

Miraculously, there were no casualties on the

island but most houses and boats turned into

rubble after this super typhoon passed. One

of the main reasons that Malapascua has done

well in recovering so swiftly is be found at

about nine kilometres offshore, at a submerged

seamount called Monad Shoal.

Monad Shoal is unique; every morning, many

divers descend into the deep blue waters

surrounding this seamount, just to observe a

special spectacle. At dawn, pelagic thresher

sharks (Alopias pelagicus), locally known

as Lawihan come up to the shallower parts

(24–32 metres) of this seamount. Seeing these

gracious sharks appearing from the deep is a

cherished experience. In the early morning

light from afar, they are no more than a faint

silhouette with that distinctive tail whipping

rhythmically from side to side.

Kids playing around the typhoon wreckage, Malapascua

48 The Shark that Rebuild an Island

E ssay

New homes being built on Malapascua

A rainbow of hope comes after every storm

49OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

As they come closer, these silhouettes

suddenly turn into one of the most elegant

sharks in the ocean. None of the divers

are afraid; sharks are nothing like the

man-eating creatures some media portray

them to be. They are in fact, not nearly

as interested in us as we are in them,

and we can count ourselves lucky if they

do come near. These nocturnal oceanic

sharks come here for one reason only –

to get cleaned by cleaner fishes like the

cleaner and moon wrasses (Labriodes

dimidiatus and Thalassoma lunare)

that inhabit the multiple cleaning stations

found at Monad Shoal. Nowhere else in

the world can you see thresher sharks on

a daily basis and observe them up-close.

It is this unique phenomenon that makes

Malapascua famous.

Fortunately for Malapascua, the cleaning

stations at Monad Shoal, and its thresher

sharks were spared from the wrath of

Yolanda. In a matter of days after Yolanda,

Malapascua had already received huge

support from the local dive industry and

previous tourists who fell in love with

the island and their Lawihan. Local dive

resorts and resorts from different islands

all contributed food, money, building

materials, boats, labour and more.

Six months after the typhoon passed,

almost everyone who had lost his or her

home managed to rebuild and continue

with their livelihood. Some locals even

say they have better homes now than

compared to before the typhoon. Tourists

are still coming to see the pelagic thresher

sharks and this is good for the island’s

economy – about 80 percent the income

on Malapascua is directly related to the

dive industry. Some resort owners have

even taken it further and started their own

NGO. Rebuild Malapascua is one of them;

they provide livelihood programs for the

locals and are currently building a modern

medical centre (something the island

currently lacks). Another dive resort on

the island even went as far as buying land

to build 35 new homes for their employees;

the houses were all built using funds

collected from donations worldwide.

Shark tourism at Monad Shoal, Malapascua

nOWHERE ElsE In THE WORld Can YOU sEE THREsHER sHaRKs

On a daIlY BasIs and observe them up-close. It is this unique phenomenon

that makes Malapascua famous.

Many locals on Malapascua rely on

divers visiting the island as some sort

of livelihood, even most fishermen are

happy with the dive industry since this

allows them to sell fish directly to the

resorts for a good price without having

to leave the island. If it was up to Felimar

Malagase, a local dive guide, these

sharks would be protected nationwide

as the income derived from tourism far

outweighs the one-time sale of a thresher

shark at a market. He insists that if

there were no thresher sharks around

Malapascua, tourism would not be what

it is today. Before there was any tourism,

he had to rely on fishing as a livelihood;

working as a dive guide is far more

profitable and reliable. He also believes

many of the donations given by people

after the typhoon are directly related

to the thresher sharks – a belief shared

by many of the islanders. The people

of Malapascua truly love Lawihan. The

distinctive figure of the pelagic thresher

shark can be found all over the island;

from the numerous souvenir stalls to the

basketball court, pictures of thresher

sharks are everywhere. And why would

anyone not love this shark that brings

fortune to the island?

It is not all good news though. In 2002,

both Monad Shoal and Gato Island

(another island known more for its

reef sharks) were declared as marine

reserves by the local government of

Daanbantayan. While this was a step in

the right direction, it has not been able to

stop illegal fishing. Both places still fall

victim to destructive fishing methods like

dynamite and longline fishing. The income

derived from tourism and the associated

marine park fees do not trickle down to

all fishermen who use these places as

their fishing grounds. Some fishermen

have little choice but to continue to fish

there. On top of that, thresher sharks

are still directly targeted and caught as

by-catch on a regular basis. In May 2014,

pictures of thresher sharks being cut up

on the beach in Talisay, Cebu, a place

relatively near Malapascua, made the

news. It is sad that these sharks are both

adored and killed in the same province.

Technically, within the province of Cebu,

thresher sharks enjoy protection but in

reality, this law is often not enforced.

In other areas, like Donsol in the Bicol

region, it is common to see thresher shark

meat at the local market and in all sorts

of dishes; their fins however, never make

it to the market as they are sold for much

higher prices right off the boat.

According to the

Thresher Shark

Research and

Conservation project

(an NGO based on

Malapascua) the

value of one live thresher shark at Monad

Shoal can be in excess of Php6,000,000

(around US$135,000) per year. This same

shark at a local fish market would only

sell for around Php8,000 (US$180). The

meat sells for Php90–150 (US$2–3.50)

per kilogram while the fins can go for as

much as Php1000 (US$22) per kilogram.

Currently, all three species of thresher

sharks (bigeye, common and pelagic) are

listed as vulnerable on IUCN’s Redlist.

This means if no active measures are

taken to protect them, they can quickly

fall into the endangered category or

worse, become extinct – something that is

likely to happen since they are among the

more demanded shark species for global

fisheries. As these sharks are pelagic in

nature, protecting them in just one place

is a good start but it will not do much

in the long run since they can still be

caught while travelling out of protected

waters. To make sure thresher sharks and

tourism on Malapascua survives, broader

protection is necessary. Currently the

only shark that is protected nationwide

is the whale shark. All thresher sharks

are prone to unsustainable fisheries and

by-catch and with their low fecundity

(2-4 pups) and long gestation period,

population can decline quickly. In most

places thresher shark populations are

already down by more than 75 percent

compared to the 1980’s.

For now, there is hope for Monad Shoal.

Since April 2014, the local dive shops

have come together and are sending out

a boat at night to patrol and ward off

illegal fishing activities. Oscar and Alvin

are two of the locals who patrol Monad at

night; however, without any real authority

or resources, they say it is very hard to

stop people from fishing here and it can

be dangerous to try. They can only ask

fishermen to leave, and sometimes they

do, sometimes they do not. Both of them

agree these sharks should be protected and

their importance for the island should be

acknowledged. They said that in late April

Thresher shark, Alopias pelagicus

Steve De Neef is a photojournalist who specializes in conservation, documentary and underwater

photography. His main focus is covering environmental issues in the Coral Triangle region and

he uses his images and stories to encourage conservation of our blue planet. He’s the chief

photographer of the Large Marine Vertebrate Project in the Philippines and a member of the

prestigious Ocean Artist Society. He regularly works with Greenpeace and other NGO’s.

About the author

Steve De Neef

2014, they found a discarded fishing net

near the shoal with a dead thresher shark

caught inside (other dive shops reported

the net had two thresher sharks and a

turtle, all dead). In May, they encountered

four fishermen using dynamite, some

compressor fishermen and long liners.

They know more enforcement is needed

to protect this unique place but in the

meantime; they will do what they can to

protect and preserve Monad Shoal.

It does seem like things are moving in the

right direction in the Philippines. People

are slowly becoming aware of the fact

that sharks are essential in maintaining

healthy ocean ecosystems and are worth

more alive than dead, outcries on social

network sites and newspapers about

sharks being caught are happening

more often. However, the real challenge

is getting fishermen to tap into the

shark tourism economy, as without an

alternative income, it is hard to stop

the fishing. It is not entirely impossible

though, many of the boatmen and even

dive guides in Malapascua used to be

fishermen.

Tourism on the island is developing well

and the thresher’s popularity is growing

and providing jobs. With the right attitude,

some help from the tourism industry,

government agencies and NGOs, these

top predators might still stand a chance.

Researchers from the University of British

Columbia published a paper in 2013

that estimates global shark ecotourism

brings in US$314 million annually and are

expected to more than double in the next

20 years. If that is the case, then it would

exceed the current profit made by shark

fisheries. In order for this to happen, we

have to choose to protect these beautiful

fish just like the people of Malapascua do.

And once you have seen one, it is not a

hard decision to make.

*Editor's Note: With the assistance of our associate, Jovic Santos of Splash Photography, Ocean Geographic and Michael AW donated proceeds from the sale of “Heart of the Ocean” to purchase chainsaws to help rebuild the island. Jovic Santos also sent 1 x 20FCL of brand new clothes for affected areas for Malapascua, Leyte and Cebu. The power saw is still being used on the island and is under the care of Gary Cases, owner of Dive Link.

Protectors of the thresher sharks of Monad Shoal

53OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

The FinesT Beach & Dive ResoRT in anilao, PhiliPPines

The choice of Discerning Divers

Tel. no. : +63 917 866 6332 +63 999 999 7452email : [email protected] [email protected]

Finest Accommodation : Fine Dining : Fine Diving

Visit our website : www.aiyanar.com

Get YOUR PICTURE Published in Ocean Geographic. Your images must be submitted as JPEGs, saved at the quality setting 10 in Photoshop, and must be 1920 pixels on the longest dimension. Please name each file using your name and the subject, for example: JessicaTigershark. Each photo must be accompanied by a 60-word short story. Email your pictures and stories to: [email protected]. Your submission may win you the ‘Image of the Edition’ award – a Merit of Excellence certificate and a A$200 cash voucher which may be used to purchase Ocean Geographic merchandise or offset payment for any OG expedition. Submission of your pictures to YOUR PICTURE constitutes a grant to Ocean Geographic Society to publish the winners at any time in print as well as online.

‘Heavenly Light’Cenotes (sinkholes) are the most peculiar aquatic ecosystems of the Yucatan Peninsula. A wide morphological variety is observed; from caves filled with ground water to open cenotes. In this picture, the sunbeam penetrated at noon, making it a magical diving experience.

This picture was captured at Uitsan, close to Merida city, Yucatan, Mexico.

CONGRATULATIONS TO Benjamin Magana. You will receive the ‘Image of Edition’ award consisting of a Merit of Excellence certificate and an A$200 OG expedition voucher.

“Image of the edItIon” WInner, BEnjamIn maGana

cean Insider

The VIZL eFFecT

There is something undeniably powerful and timeless about black and white pictures. Black and white images evoke moods, highlight details that are usually ambiguous in colour, and it is a technique we can employ to tell compelling stories through imagery. In this first edition of Ocean Insider, we share with you the black and white post-production technique embraced by OG's new photographer-in-residence, Christian Vizl MacGregor. We now fondly call his artistic passion, The VIZL eFFecT.

55OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

colour. This is one of the most important

steps in the process and it involves a lot

of creativity. Here is where I decide if a

light grey is to be taken up to be an almost

complete white or a dark grey into black.

Currently, I am working on a very high

contrast series of images, so I am taking

it to the max. If necessary, I go back to

the tone curves to adjust the highlights

and the shadows. During this process, it

is important to activate the highlights and

shadows clipping function in the upper

corners of the histogram to avoid over or

underexposed areas.

Finally, I adjust the sharpening, noise

reduction and profile correction if

needed. I even add some grain to some of

my images. I love the feeling of intimacy

and profoundness it gives to them. Always

keep in mind that there are no fixed rules

on how to use all these adjustments. They

are all just tools that are available to us

for use in the creative process, applying

each adjustment individually, depending

on your mood and your artistic view.

Photography

is all about light, and in my opinion, it is

the single most important aspect when it

comes to creating appealing, inspiring and

touching images. Far beyond technical

issues, what is most important is how to

apply and manipulate the available light

in order to create pictures with dramatic

effect, carrying depths of emotion, using

contrast and tonalities as a means to

emphasise form and structure. I focus on

the emotional impact of the final shot that

will connect on a deeper level, with the

people who look at these photographs.

Just as a poet uses words to create poetry,

a photographer uses light to create

images. So when I am underwater taking

pictures, one of my goals is to create

poetic images through the use of light.

And this is why I love black and white;

by eliminating the distraction of colours,

I can explore more deeply, the emotional

impact of my images. To create them, it

is important to "see" the scene in black

and white, looking for contrasts that will

emphasise the form. Also important, is

exposing what you want to achieve in

terms of your grey scale and planning

for whatever you have in mind for that

particular image.

There are a number of "correct exposures"

for the blue of the ocean, but a high

exposure will render a light blue that will

turn into a light grey; on the other hand, a

low exposure will render a dark blue that

will turn into a dark grey. Because of the

way the digital camera sensor obtains its

information, it is best to capture the image

in colour, then convert it to black and

white. Once I have converted my images,

I like to give them as much contrast as

possible.

For that, I adjust the luminance of each

primary colour. For example, if I have a

very dark grey tone of the ocean, since

its primary colour is blue, I reduce the

luminosity of the blue, taking that dark

grey into a complete black. I do not think

every image is suited for black and white,

but when it does, there is nothing like it!

For post-production, I use Lightroom 5;

in the 'develop' tab I start with the basic

adjustments like white balance, contrast,

clarity and spot removal. Then I convert it

to Black and White. Then I take a moment

to observe the image and try to find out

what the image needs to bring out the

best of it. How can I improve it in all

possible ways paying special attention

to the emotional impact that it conveys.

Then I scroll down to the black and white

mix, and start adjusting each individual

56 The V IZL EFFECT

Review by Gillian McDonald

Digital Underwater Photographers

An Absolute Essential for

“HERE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN FROM THE PROS, THE MASTERS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP, to create beautiful images of our Ocean Planet in today’s world of digital photography Michael Aw and Mathieu Meur have become the Essential Mentors to thousands of underwater photographers, and here is your opportunity to reach new heights with in underwater photography with this fast track to success book!

– Ernie Brooks

“

ESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS is another excellent book in Michael AW’s popular ‘Essential’ series.

Both Michael and his regular collaborator,

Mathieu Meur, have an extremely rich and deep

history in all aspects of the art of underwater

photography, which they have shared in this

informative book. This is a truly essential guide;

lightweight and portable, yet containing a wealth of practical

information, which will serve photographers at virtually any

level.

Readers will find the modular structure of the book easy to

follow. In module one, the basics of digital photography are

broken down to a basic level, addressed in clear language with

ample diagrams and examples. Topics such as understanding

exposure, shutter speeds and resolution will provide beginners,

who are just embarking on their underwater photographic

journey, with the building blocks to make sense of the

underwater specifics covered in the rest of the book.

Module two moves on to the science and practicalities of

shooting underwater as opposed to land, and also introduces

different lighting approaches. There are plenty of relevant

photos throughout the book, providing a visual context for the

techniques being explained.

Aside from necessary technical information, the book also

covers the aesthetic aspects of photography in module three

– composition and artistic approach. From the machinery of

the tools to the magic of the results, the art is as critical as the

mechanics in achieving success in this field.

Digital EssentialsMod

ule

11/1 Digital EvolutionUntil the advent of digital cameras, the most frustrating thing for a new underwater photographer was the preposterously low success rate. It was not uncommon for a beginner to return with his fi rst 10 rolls of fi lm, only to fi nd 90% of the pictures either over or underexposed. The successful 10% were, at best, images of perhaps half a fi sh tail or out of focus pictures of their buddy. Underwater photography was but a cruel joke for most. Digital photography provided sudden advantages over traditional fi lm for the underwater photographer.

Advantages:

1 Immediate review of images. Underexposed? Shoot again and varythe composition, then shoot another 10, if you need to.

2 By using a large storage media such as a 16GB or even up to a 128GB memory card, you can just about shoot endlessly.

3 Another result of digital is the tremendous saving on consumables and incidentals – there is now no need to buy fi lm, and pay for processing loads of shots which have a high probability of ending up in the bin.

4 Since it is not necessary to spend much money on storage media, you can afford to be trigger happy, shoot more to hone your skills without risking spending a small fortune. The learning curve can be as steep as you like without making a hole in your wallet.

5 Another advantage of digital technology is the tremendous fl exibility that this medium can afford. Whether at home or while on holidays, you can email pictures to your friends and family to share, post them on the web, review them on your computer and create slideshows.

Understanding Digital Photographic LanguageIn order to get the most out of your digital camera, it is important to fi rst understand a few technical terms.

Aperture: The aperture can be thought of like the iris of the eye. The larger the aperture, the more light gets into the camera, and vice versa. Aperture values are typically represented in f-stops (e.g. f2.0, f2.8, f4, f5.6, etc.). The greater the number, the smaller the aperture is. The aperture you set on your camera also has an impact on the depth-of-fi eld. If all other parameters are constant, the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth-of-fi eld is and vice versa.

Depth-of-Field (DOF): Depth-of-fi eld refers to the area of the photograph in front and behind the main focus point which appears sharp. A large depth-of-fi eld means a greater portion of the picture is in focus. Conversely, in order to emphasise a certain feature or area of the picture, you may use a shallower depth-of-fi eld, which will result in a blurred background.

Compact, DSLM (mirrorless) and DSLR cameras.

f2.8 f5.6 f11

9

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module 1_3rd ED.indd 8-9 8/6/14 5:41 am

Shooting Digital UnderwaterM

odule

22 / 1 Seeing Colour & Light UnderwaterLighting conditions underwater differs signifi cantly to those on land. Mastering the use and control of light is the essence of successful photography.

3 metres red is gone.5 metres orange is gone.10 metres yellow is gone.18 metres green is gone.25 metres blue green is gone.30 metres only blue remains.

Colour and Light UnderwaterAs a scuba diver you would have learnt that colour diminishes with depth; water particles interact with light by absorbing respective wavelengths (see diagram above). First the reds and oranges disappear, followed by yellows, greens and lastly only blue remains. The loss of the colour red is dramatic as it is already noticeable at just one metre depth. Another factor that challenges an underwater photographer is that light also diminishes with depth. The density of water being 800 times greater than air at sea level reduces sunlight penetration.

Horizontal distance also reduces light. If you are three metres deep and three metres from the subject, the water between you and the subject absorbs red and orange light as though you were about six metres deep. Compounding the two factors, photographs captured at beyond 10 metres are mostly blue and green. The ocean absorbs the long wavelength light (the red end of spectrum) fi rst. Short wavelength light (the blue end of spectrum) is absorbed last.

1. Natural light photography at six metres or more will have a bluish tinge.

2. The use of a UR-PRO or Magic Filter can be used to artifi cially restore some of the colour, at the sacrifi ce of one f-stop. But in bright day light the UR-PRO fi lter will cause a strong orange tinge when used in water shallower than six metres.

3. Alternative light sources such as underwater strobes are absolutely essential to capture the ‘true’ colour of marine animals.

Shot at 15m natural light – note the blue tinge – lost of red, orange, yellow

HINTS

41

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module2_3rd ED.indd 40-41 8/6/14 5:43 am

The Art of Underwater PhotographyM

odule

33/1 The Aesthetics of Composition I remember one evening in 1989 when I was heading out for a night dive during a photo shoot-out in Flores. Walking past a member of the jury, Gerald Soury from France, he beckoned my attention and told me “I hope you will make many good pictures.” This stopped me to ponder… he did not use the word shoot nor photograph but instead wished me to make good pictures.

Through the years, I have practised following his wisdom. After learning how to play with the camera, there comes a point where you will be thinking about making a nice picture. I have learnt to appreciate photography as a form of fi ne art; our canvas is of course fi lm and in the case of digital, it is the sensor; the camera and lenses are the paint brushes and the medium in which we work is light.

Treat a photograph like a picture – it is a bunch of little details put together to make the whole. So plan the details, the focus, the statement, pick the big or small details to be part of your fi nished picture. We need to spend time working on understanding what it takes to make a photograph, not just the technical aspects but more importantly the artistic approach that must be included to get the end result. Approaching photography from this perspective, the science though essential is secondary, the artist in you is controlling the photographic process.

Taking a picture is really simple – my two-year old can do it just as well as you and I. Place the camera in a stable position and push the shutter to shoot the picture – that is all it takes! But placing the camera in the right position is a very artistic kind of thing – it entails our perception, our point of view. Ask three photographers to shoot at the same subject and you may end up with three picture of the same subject but with three different emphases, three different perspectives. Each picture refl ects the photographer’s point of view, and most often we will fi nd one that is more appealing than the other two.

In composition we will learn about the lines, the horizon line, putting emphasis on the foreground, placed low you are placing importance on the upper part of the scene and we of course we need to pay attention to the intersections, where lines cross, where tones blend together and become one.

Tomato clownfi shNikon D4, single Ikelite DS161, 1/4 power, f22, 1/125s, 60mm f2.8 lens

65

ESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASSESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASSModule 3: The Art of Underwater Photography


58 An Abso lu te Essent ia l fo r D ig i ta l Under water Photographers

Though the world has moved on from the days

of film, post-production processing is still as valid

and necessary as it was when we consigned our

precious films to a professional development lab.

The difference however, is that the darkroom

is now in our own hands. Thus, it is vital to

understand how to approach picture management

and the digital workflow. This is all covered

in module four with some really useful tips on

getting the best from the raw material stored on

your memory cards after a productive dive.

Finally, module five provides more advanced

techniques and much food for thought, including

shooting with models, using continuous light and

even entering competitions.

This accomplished guide is written in an easy

to read, informal style. In some ways, the most

valuable parts of the book are the comprehensive

hints sections sprinkled throughout. If you only

read these useful little nuggets, you would be well

prepared to get in the water and start shooting.

However, I highly recommend you read the

whole book and I guarantee it will expand your

knowledge bank and bring your underwater

photography skills to a whole new level.

The Digital DarkroomM

odule

44/1 Picture ManagementJust like in fi lm photography, the digital photographic process continues after a trip. Previously, the continuation required processing fi lm, reviewing and culling images, cataloguing and storing them for various uses. It is essential that you follow the same discipline. However, instead of good old fashioned fi lm, you will be working with the digital medium.

As a digital photographer, the following software are essential to manage your pictures.1. Adobe Photoshop with Bridge (essential)2. Photo Mechanic – camerabits.com (optional) 3. Lightroom – adobe.com (optional)

Processing and Managing Pictures

Set up a dedicated desktop PC or Mac as your digital workstation. Essentially the faster the CPU, the better. It is also best to have an extra hard drive dedicated to storing images. Again, get the biggest capacity that your budget allows. USB 3.0 or FireWire is essential for speedy download. A high defi nition monitor is highly reccomended – the monitors of choice for discerning professionals are the Eizo CG series. (Eizo.com)

How to Manage Digital Stock?

1 In the assigned hard drive, create a new folder, naming it after the location you have just been to (e.g. La Paz_2013).

2 Create subfolders and name according to the day or sites of your trip. Also create a new subfolder – name it for instance La Paz hi res tiff – this is where you store processed pictures.

HINTS

3 Transfer images from your portable storage device or storage media to respective folders. You should rename all images using the trip location and your name, retaining the original fi lename (e.g. DSC_1888 to LaPaz_MichaelAW). Renaming using Adobe Bridge is a fast and easy process. Open up the folder revealling all the pictures in Adobe Bridge. On Windows, use Control A, and on Mac, Command A – then click Tools > Batch Rename.

4 Review images with Adobe Bridge. Rate and select those with potential. In Bridge, assign 1 to 5 stars by pressing Control 1 to Control 5 on PC (Command 1 to Command 5 on Mac). Delete those that are not worth keeping.

5 First process Raw images in Bridge; open in Camera Raw – pick the white balance tool and click on a point in the picture you think is white or neutral. Make other adjustments such as exposure, clarity and brightness. Save the processed image as TIFF 300dpi in your hi res tiff folder.

83

ESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASSESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASSModule 3: The Digital Darkroom


Beyond the BasicMASTERCLASSM

odule

55/1 Painting With LightsLight is everything in photographywe are essentially painting with light. Light breathes life, depth and emotion into our picture. Of course, our choice of subject, composition and background are all critical but the way we use light can take our image to whole new level. This is particularly so underwater - less light can be more. Time your photographic ventures sensibly and ensure illumination enhances rather than overpowers.

To create spectacular pictures underwater, you must to be able to appreciate natural light. Seeing light in the underwater realm begins with an understanding of how water is affected by light, be it from the sun or your strobe. Most underwater photo images are illuminated in some way by strobes, which bring out the vibrant colours so often associated with marine animals. However, it would be fair to say that all our masters are experts with use of ambient light and most began their career by experimenting with natural light. Seascape imagery lends itself to the use of natural light and most wide-angle images rely on the background blue being illuminated by the sun.

Good use of the sun’s position has a critical effect on the result you will achieve when shooting with natural light. If the sun’s light is coming from your back, your subject will be well illuminated and appear light against a dark deep blue background. The idea is to get as close as possible to your subject to prevent any shades of blue (or green) from merging with those of the background.

Be aware though, as harsh, bright overhead midday sun will sap colour from the picture, making it washed out, overpowering shadows and details. Another dramatic art form of underwater photography is silhouetted images.

This is achieved when a subject is placed in front of the sun. The subject’s black form is then silhouetted against a pleasant blue (or green) background or sunburst. With careful execution, dramatic ‘cathedral lights’ can be easily achieved with digital cameras.

1 Take your exposure reading from the brightest part of the scene to produce a true silhouette, play with a range of different exposures. Use manual mode and bracket with shutter speed. Capturing the ‘perfect’ is subjective – it is all about capturing moods and emotions

2 Shoot into the sun when it is low in the sky: morning between 9am to 11am and afternoon between 3pm to 5pm are the best times to shoot. These are the ‘magic hours’.

3 Catch the light in the eyes of your subject = remember the eye have it all. Focus to capture the life-giving catch-lights in animals’ eyes – these can give portraits that distinctive sparkle.

4 Experiment with camera angles, especially with large subjects. This often adds extra dimension to the subject.

5 Experiment with single and twin strobes. More, however, is not necessarily better. Some of the most iconic underwater images are illuminated with just one small strobe.

Essential TIPS

105

ESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASSESSENTIAL DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASSModule 5: Beyond the Basics MASTERCLASS


“A definitive work packed with readily absorbed INFORMATION, tips and techniques that have made his underwater images admired around the world, Michael Aw’s, ‘Essential Underwater Photography Masterclass’ will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a classic of its kind.

David Strike – Editor, Nektonix/ “Organiser, OZTeK”

“

*you can order your author autographed copy now. Ocean Geographic Member Special: $26

postage included (International) or $23 postage included for residents in Australia and Singapore.

Email: [email protected] or purchase at MichaelAW.com

59OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

cean InsiderV.I.B. (Very Important Bags) – OG’s Honorary & Associates Reveal their Secrets

Camera bag of choice: I have various bags and cases. I choose the bag and the equipment according to the job I'm doing. The one I use most often is a 20 years-old plus Lowepro photo backpack. It doesn't show a model name or number on it and I don't remember, but I'm sure they still make something similar.

What do you put in the bag?“Again, it depends totally on what I'm shooting. My current camera of choice is the Nikon D800E. Lenses will depend upon the subject matter, but might include the Nikkor 80-400mm, Nikkor 17-35mm, Nikkor micro 60mm or 100mm, and/or Sigma 15mm fisheye, or others. Essential inclusions are microfiber cloth (for lenses), flash cards, water bottle, lightweight rain poncho, plus plastic garbage bag to cover pack in case of downpour.”

Doug Perrine – professional: Ocean Geographic Honorary Editor

Why is this your favourite bag? “It holds a lot of stuff, has padded dividers and a cushioned back, is water-resistant, and has padded shoulder straps & waist strap, plus a chest strap, to stabilize the load and make it comfortable on extended hikes.”

Your thoughts on underwater photography:

“ If the picture in your mind is one you've already seen – then there is little reason for you to try to take that picture – it's already been done! If you can envision an image that you have not yet ever seen, and start thinking about how to create it, then you are being creative.”

Camera bag of choice: I always carry two bags, Think Tank Airport Accelerator Backpack & Crumpler Seven Million Dollar Home (think tank lightning fast attachment)

What do you put in the bag?“Think Tank Airport Accelerator Backpack:1 x MDX-5D3 housing : 1 X optical 7.5" dome port, 1 x 4" Mini dome port : 2 x YS250pro strobes & chargers: 1 x Patima Gopro 2 housing : 1 x Extension Port : 2 x Focus Gears : 2 x Dome Diffusers : 2 x sync Cords : miscellaneous: attachments/ ball joint adapters/Allen Keys

Crumpler Seven Million Dollar Home: 2 x 5D MK3 body, 1 35mm F2.8L II USM, 1 x 8-15mm F4L Fisheye USM: 1 x 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM, 1 x EX-580 Flash, 1 x Gopro Hero2”

Foo Poo Wen – serious shooter: Ocean Geographic Photographer-in-Residence

Why is this your favourite bag? “Think Tank Accelerator - Minimalist look, maximum Carry-On capacity, huge range of included paddings, thick carry strap cushions for maximum comfort. help further reduce scrutiny by hanging a plushie! Crumpler Seven Million Dollar – It fits my required Range of camera gears, thick pads, most importantly, it's a gift from my wife.”


“ Every photo you take depicts your state of mind at that point in time.”

60 V. I .B. (ver y impor tant bags) – OG ’s Honorar y & Associates Reveal the i r Secrets

Camera bag of choice: Lowepro for cameras as carry on. I have two - smaller one for just doing topside and roller one if taking all gear. I also use a Pelican case as check-in baggage.”

What do you put in the bag?“Two x D800, 16-35mm lens, 16mm Fisheye, 60mm Macro lens, 105mm Macro lens. Depends on where I am going – sometimes, 80-400mm Nikon zoom lens, cleaning cloths, compact flash cards, chargers.”

Camera bag of choice: Naneu K4L

What do you put in the bag?“I typically put one or two DSLR bodies along with lenses and a land flash, a dome port, laptop and iPad, a bag full of chargers for all my gadgets, dive computers, a toiletry bag and medicine pack, my travel documents, and a bunch of other things.”

Why is this your favourite bag? “My main concern when choosing a camera bag is to ensure that I can fit all my stuff into it, in a safe and secure

Camera bag of choice: Lowepro Pro Roller x 200 AW and also the Rolling Trekker (no longer made) but the replacement is the Pro Runner x 450 AW.” What do you put in the bag?“All my delicate camera bodies and lenses along with flashes, computer, hard drives. Sometimes I pack my Seacam housing and delicate fisheye dome port with my carry on.” Why is this your favourite bag? “Lowepro has always been my bag of choice. I never have issues of early wear and tear – they last a very long time. I can rest assured that the dimensions are designed for carry on for delicate items. In addition, I use a very simple Igloo (Isky) rolling cooler for much of my underwater equipment such as strobes, arms, accessories and sometimes include the housing. It’s simple and for use as check-in, I never worry about it screaming “Hey, I have expensive camera equipment inside.” “

MiChelle WestMorlanD – professional: founding member of ILCP (International League of Conservation Photographers)


“I have had the privilege of photographing marine life since 1984. Each dive gave me new and dramatic experiences. From the tiny creatures that hide in the coral to magnificent marine mammals that give our world balance, it is an environment where new discoveries are made every day. I believe in the power of imagery to motivate stewardship and protection of the fragile underwater world. It is equally important to connect with the indigenous peoples of the world – man is, in fact, a part of nature.”

JaYne Jenkins:– Serious Shooter: Ocean Geographic Associate Photographer

Why is this your favourite bag? “The bag is comfortable to carry and has enough space for what I require. It is also strong and durable.”

Your thoughts of underwater photography:

“ I never dive without one of my cameras. You never know what you might miss.

If you leave it in the backpack, you could miss out on an amazing opportunity.”

Mathieu Meur– Professional, Author: Editor for Ocean Geographic

manner. The zippers should be of strong build, as I subject them to severe tests of endurance. The bag should also be waterproof, or come with a splash-proof cover. This is essential when working around water bodies most of the time. The Naneu K4L ticks all the boxes in this respect. The compartments are arranged ingeniously, the bag is spacious, and yet, it fits nicely into the overhead compartment in planes.”

Your thoughts about underwater photography:

“ I don’t fish, and I don't eat fish. I prefer to capture them with my camera.” 61OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

What is your camera bag of choice?“ThinkTank 'Logistic Manager 30' as check in bag, National geographic rollaboard as hand luggage with laptop x D800 and Olympus EPL-2 in its housing as spare underwater solution in case the checked in luggage doesn't arrive.”

What do you put in the bag?“Housing NA-D800, Dome Zen 230, Strobes: Sea & sea YS-250PRO, Macro port for 60mm. Nikkor 60 mm, fibre optic strobe cables with spares, diffusers, arms and clamps, extra batteries, 7 x CF 500 32 GB memory cards, 4 x CF 1000 32 GB memory cards, chargers forD800, for YS-250 strobes, for EPL-2, Extra O-rings, duct tape, fibre cloth, strips, grease, Sola 1200 & 2000.”

ellen CuYlaerts– Serious Shooter: Premier member of Ocean Geographic

Jane Morgan– Professional : Ocean Geographic Photographer

Why is this your favourite bag? “Filled with my 'basics' this Think Tank bag hold about 22-23kg, the maximum weight allowed by most airlines.” Your thoughts on underwater photography:

“ I try to capture not the encounters I have with marine life but the feelings I experience being there at that time. Past, present and future come together in the healing process of life. The oceans give me so much, I want to give back with images that touch people's hearts so they will care, educate and preserve.”

MiChael aW– Professional, contributing underwater photographers. Senior Fellow, ILCP

Camera bag of choice: Lowepro Pro Trekker AW 400, Lowepro Prorunner 350 AW

What do you put in the bag?“Seacam housing, one mini-dome, S45 viewfinder, two x Ikelite DS161, three DSLR, one topside flash, one mini, lenses required for the assignment or expeditions, chargers, one dive computer, laptop, duct tape, spare O rings, media cards, sync chord, fibre cloth, marker. Other housings, ports etc. are checked-in.”

Why is this your favourite bag? “It has my name on it! But seriously, LOWEPRO is innovative and they make

the toughest bags that simply last and last…. And last. The zips are waterproof and come with their own rain poncho – most importantly, the brand has strong environmental policies.”


“ Underwater photographers are ambassadors of the ocean. Our ocean is in trouble. It is essential that we use our pictures to bring greater appreciation and preservation of the ocean. Shoot with passion. Be original, be the first.”

Your bag of Choice: My trusty companion is a Lowepro Pro Runner 450. I use it for camera bodies and lenses both at home and on location. As I'm quite small framed I found that lots of camera bags were too large and put a strain on my back. However, this little number fits me perfectly and I can spend all day hiking in rough terrain and hardly notice that it’s there. The only downside is often not being able to fit enough in, so on travel overseas I put on an extra photo jacket for extra lenses.

Your thoughts on Underwater Photography: Shooting underwater has always been a form of meditation for me, once my head is underwater it’s as if nothing else exists, just my camera and me. Wildlife photography will help you to live in the moment as your entire being is concentrating and waiting for that perfect shot!

62 V. I .B. (ver y impor tant bags) – OG ’s Honorar y & Associates Reveal the i r Secrets

The GreaTesT show Beneath the SeaS

AfricA’s Big AnimAls speciAlist

Beyond The ordinary

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founder of African Watersports, Walter Bernardis, has devoted a lifetime of research and work to tiger sharks, Great Whites, and the most exciting marine animal interaction on our planet – the sardine run. Discerning underwater photographic experts such as michael AW, Amos nachoum and Franco Banfi choose to shoot exclusively with Walter. You too can go with the best!

B LU E – A Global CONVERGENCE of the

Ocean Arts & SciencesGarden of the

Gods

Report by Charlie Fasano Cassandra Dragon

Photographs by Emily Chan

– Art Serving Nature

Shiva, the main figure of the Garden of Gods – adopted by Ocean Geographic Society.

(An Ocean Geographic Save Our Seas Project)

The state of the world’s coral reefs indicate strong signs of anthropogenic damage; in some places, more than others. Pemuteran, Bali, is no exception, with heavy scars in the reef to remind the villagers of a time when dynamite and cyanide were used to extract coral and fish. Even though this is no longer practised, the scars remain.

While coral reefs around the world have shown their ability to rebuild after physical damage, we have found several ways to help them along. The Pemuteran Bio Rock Electric Reef initiated by Tom Goreau, PhD, and the Underwater Temple Garden installed by Chris Brown and his team at Reef Seen Divers’ Resort, are examples of how artificial reefs have been able to successfully restore nature’s underwater splendour.

Garden of the Gods was an idea conceived some three years ago. Inspired by the Christ of the Abyss statue in Florida, Cassandra Dragon shared her concept with Chris Brown after diving the Underwater Temple Garden. As with all successful projects, the meeting happened over a couple of beers, formalised with a handshake, and the Garden of the Gods project was spawned.

As the name suggests, Garden of the Gods is an underwater garden with statues expressing the Balinese culture by giving reverence to the local folklore and beliefs. The word “garden” is appropriate for the project as it is an artistic garden installed to grow corals for all of nature to thrive. Indeed, garden projects are important both above and below water, to help nature rebuild. It is also essential that this project benefits the local stakeholders, and respects local religious culture as well as village authorities.

With over 40 almost life-size statues, the Garden of the Gods is one of the largest and most ambitious man-made underwater art attractions undertaken in Asia-Pacific. This underwater site is in Pemuteran Bay, about 400 metres in front of the beach at Reef Seen. Inspired by the Balinese legend of Dewata Nawa Sanga, the statues of eight Balinese Gods (Brahma, Rudra, Mahadeva, Sangkara, Vishnu, Sambhu, Iswara, and Mahesora), are set in a circle

each positioned according to one of the eight directions of the wind. Shiva, the chief God, is positioned in the centre, sitting on a large turtle (this is in honour of a turtle conservation project in Pemuteran), Ganesha is at Shiva’s left side, together with Balinese musicians and dancers depicting the performance of “Bedawang Taksu” – ‘the spirit of the turtle’ dance, created locally and inspired by Reef Seen Turtle Hatchery and Balinese Dance projects. The four

species of turtles found in the area are also represented in the garden, along

with stone lamps, fountains and benches.

These statues demonstrate that the interaction between man-made art and environmental science forms a complex reef structure over time for marine life to colonize, inhabit and increase biomass on a grand scale.

These eventual underwater living sculptures will offer divers a mystical underwater experience of another world where art intertwines and develops from the effects of

nature with the efforts of man. One of the greatest benefits of an

Bleganjur, musician of the Gods

Left: Each statue ismeticulously crafted by skilled masonswith the detail and symmetry of finecalibre art

Above: "Planting" a garden of statues underwater is no easy task

65OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

artificial reef is that it will reduce marine tourism pressure on existing natural coral reefs, allowing repair, regeneration and recovery from human impact.

Garden of the Gods touches all aspects of culture, community and the concept of art serving nature. It is what makes art important for man and nature. The statues are an honourable representation of the local beliefs; local villagers can relate to the garden as it is a part of their cultural heritage. The art is shared with everyone in the community and with anyone visiting. The ocean-loving people of Pemuteran can view their gods and share it with the many tourists who come here to dive.

The aesthetics and craftsmanship of the statues is excellent. Each one is meticulously crafted by skilled masons with the detail and symmetry of fine calibre art. These structures not only help regrow corals, they provide protection and a place for fishes and invertebrates to flourish. This project drives home the point that art can be used to drive conservation. From a cultural perspective, the Garden becomes a piece of art that gives back to the people through nature and reverence.

Besides the deployment of the statues, it was crucial to get the local community involved and educated on protecting the reef in the surrounding water along with an emphasis on employing and educating the local villagers. This meant that the local villagers would benefit and profit from their hard work and patience in protecting, repairing and maintaining their marine assets. They would have to be responsible for monitoring the existing bio-rock installations, as well as assisting in the construction and maintenance of Garden of the Gods.

It is important that the local villagers are the main beneficiaries. Foreign and domestic owned businesses coming into the area must ensure that a large majority of their staff are from the village, and help locally-owned businesses to operate in a manner that will ensure economy and conservation of the area can develop, not just for tourism, but also for education and sustenance. Only then will the Garden of the Gods be able to serve as an example for other villages to follow. Over the last few years, 20 locals in Pemuteran have been trained as “Reef

Gardeners”. This is a team of young people recruited from the various fishing organizations trained to maintain and protect the reefs of Pemuteran Bay. They are taught methods of protecting the reefs of the area by removing the crown-of-thorns starfish and the Drupella shell. At the same time, they also learnt to repair broken corals that have been damaged, either by careless boat anchoring, nets, divers or by natural causes. Between 1996 and 1998, over 75,000 crown-of-thorns starfish were removed from the Pemuteran Reefs coupled with the repair of broken corals, effectively hundreds of years of coral growth was saved. Much like gardeners on land, the Reef Gardeners attend to their underwater gardens. The Reef Gardeners are now responsible for the maintenance of the Garden of the Gods.

With the fanfare of religious ceremonies, the statues were deployed from the 23 to 29 of May this year. It is the aim of the founders and sponsors of Garden of the Gods to inspire conservation of our seas and communities in Bali and beyond. The reef restoration projects in Pemuteran have provided the younger generation with education and new skills for job

placements in the tourism industry.

How you can ADOPT A GODYour sponsorship helps preserve the future of the environment in Pemuteran, along with the development of the existing positive initiatives that allow the community to manage the destination for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. One hundred percent of the funds donated go directly to the project. Your contribution helps support the recruitment and training of new Reef Gardeners to maintain existing and future projects.

OceanNEnvironment is proud to adopt the Garden of the Gods into the Ocean Geographic – Save Our Seas program. You can help by sponsoring one of the statues in the garden and/or make a donation to help train new Reef Gardeners. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Statue SponsorsChris Brown : Paul Brown : Michael AW : Emily Chan :

Datuk Dr Saw Huat Seong

Wyland: Sven Fautz : Cassandra Dragon : Luisa Sacerdote : Tracey Jennings : Georginne Bradley : Jay Ireland : Larry McKenna :

Paul Turley : Keiron Keene : Amanda & Adrian : Paul Tanner : Siva Shanker : Tommy & Carla Hughes

Ocean Geographic Society : Ocean Artists Society : Sea Gods Wetsuit

O cean Watchave Our Seas FundS

66 The Garden of the Gods – Ar t Ser v ing Nature

Dr. Hanny Batuna A Man of the Ocean

“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

—Albert Pines—

DR. HANNY BATUNA WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN; a Hero of North Sulawesi, a Hero of the Sea. He was an adventurer; always curious, intrinsically drawn to the ocean and what it holds; he was happy going where no one else had gone before. The joy of exploration drove him to venture beyond whatever risks and dangers there may be.

He was a visionary who saw the prospect and potential of Manado – training new divers, sharing the splendour of Bunaken Marine Park which he has helped protect and share with the world, not as a business but as an avenue for people to enjoy the gifts of the sea.

He was a healer, who tended to the sick throughout the day and night. He was a courageous professional – he was instrumental in bringing in a decompression chamber to Manado, not just for decompression sickness but for treatment of other illnesses as well. Dr. Batuna was a quiet achiever, an honest gentleman who enjoyed pursuing causes he believed in rather than for glamour or expectation of any recognition.

Dr. Batuna first scuba dived in the early 1970s; with a curious mind and buddies of pearl divers, he explored Manado Bay in search of pearls. The equipment they received from the local traders was comprised of double hose regulators, harness and tanks with J valves. There was no buoyancy device (BCD), no depth gauge, pressure gauge or wet suits. Fins only came much later. After several hundred dives, Dr. Batuna finally got to use a horse collar BCD in

1978, in a YMCA open water course while he was on post-doctorate study in New Orleans.

Determined to share his piece of heaven with expat friends; Dr. Batuna started NDC, the first dive centre in North Sulawesi in 1981. Unfortunately, he was

ripped off by his local partner. Undeterred, he opened up Murex Dive Resort in November 1987, setting the course for Bunaken to become one of the top diving destinations on our planet. It was in those early years that Dr. Gerry Allen, PhD, an ichthyologist, came and dived with Dr. Batuna. After being introduced to the diversity of Manado Bay and Bunaken, Gerry promoted the area in scientific circles and would return many times.

I am blessed to have met Dr. Batuna in 1988 in Chumphon – we were both candidates at a NAUI diving instructor program. We hit it off instantly and it was then that Ineke and Dr. Batuna invited me to Manado. However, as a high-flying advertising professional, I had absolutely no idea where Manado was. In 1992,

after retiring from the world of advertising, I finally visited Dr. Batuna at Murex Dive Resort, and my life was changed forever.

I remembered Dr. Batuna took me for my first dive at Bunaken Marine Park. He showed me the abyssal wall of Lekuan One; that wall was adorned with over hanging soft corals and golden sea fans. In just a couple of days, he introduced me to an underwater paradise so lush and bountiful, with reef fishes and sea turtles, that I thought it was a heaven on earth.

I was then only an unqualified novice underwater photographer. With tenuous confidence, I asked if I could stay to make more pictures for a book about Bunaken. Of course, at that time I had no idea how to write or produce a book, but it seemed like a good idea, not to mention a great excuse to remain in paradise. Dr. Batuna and his wife Ineke were generous, welcoming me with open arms and sort of

adopted me into the family.

I ended up staying for eight months in the loft of the dining area at Murex Resort. ‘Beneath Bunaken’ was finally published in 1993. The Governor of North Sulawesi and Mayor of Manado bought thousands of copies. The Minister of Tourism, Joop Ave, used ‘Beneath Bunaken’ in his trade mission around the world and also as a Gift of State at the Asia-Pacific

Dr. Batuna and Michael AW at Murex circa 1996

” I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.”

—Maya Angelou—

68 Dr Hanny Batuna, A Man of the Ocean

E ssay

Economic Co-operation Conference of 1994. Silk Air bought hundreds of copies, and started direct flights from Singapore to Manado in 1994. In plain words, my career was launched all because of Dr Batuna’s faith in me, and the rest is history.

I remember going out on the maiden voyage of the MV Serenade, the first live-aboard in North Sulawesi built by Dr. Batuna, in 1992. Our journey was to the Togean Islands in Central Sulawesi. There were several chickens on the back deck of the vessel. As we returned from a dive each evening, I noticed there would be one bird less on the deck. When I asked Dr. Batuna what happened, he told me that it had gone to chicken heaven. In the years to come, we made several more exploratory expeditions on the Serenade to Sangie and Talaud, Halmerhera and we returned to the Togean a few times. He showed me several amazing reefs he had previously discovered, underwater volcanoes and wrecks, and we also explored many new ones.

Dr. Batuna was an adventurer. In my first trip to Manado, together we salvaged the telegraph off the Molas wreck. In 1993, he brought me to explore Lembeh Strait - that was way before it became world famous. We found loads of nudibranchs, and other strange critters we had never seen before. Then Kungkungan Bay Resort was established in 1994 and again, history was made.

Dr. Batuna was also a dedicated healer. With a small boat, he often visited remote villages in outlying islands, moving from village to village to promote healthy living and give free medication. His daughter, Angelique, has said that although he owned a private practice, he was not

a good businessman; he would accept payment with bananas and other crops, sometimes none. Ibu Batuna was the one that kept the business going. In his gentle demeanour, he demonstrated a quiet authority over his staff and crew, and I admired his kindness towards the local villagers we visited in our travels.

I feel honoured and privileged to have known and spent time with Dr. Batuna. He has taught me well. I am glad that he had been recognised with the Ocean Geographic Hero of the Sea award in 2011, a well-deserved recognition for a modest visionary who ignited the spark that has made Manado a premier dive destination worldwide.

Dr. Batuna, your legacy remains and you live on through many of us. You live on in our ocean; I will smile each time I see you through colonies of Acropora batunai, a very beautiful staghorn coral named after you by Dr. Carden Wallace. You were there when we first discovered the species in the Togean Island in 1997. Each time I return to the sea, I shall also look forward to swim among swarms of Batunai damselfish (Amblyglyphidodon batunai), the damselfish named after you by Dr. Gerry Allen, PhD. From the depth of the ocean and the bottom of my heart, I thank you for inspiring love for our ocean, our families and friends.

Michael AW

DR. BATUNA WAS A VISIONARY WHO SAW THE PROSPECT OF BUNAKEN – sharing the splendour of the marine park which he has lobbied to protect with the world, as a destination for people to enjoy the gifts of the sea.

Batunai damselfish (Amblyglyphidodon batunai) – named after Dr. Batuna by Dr. Gerry Allen, PhD

MY Serenade – first live-aboard dive vessel in North Sulawesi – built by Dr. Batuna

69OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

their opinions on important next steps for conservation work and managing marine tourism in Bunaken. Those talks (and many subsequent ones with their daughter Angelique and son in law Danny) served largely as my initial schooling in marine conservation, and I've drawn on those lessons and perspectives ever since, applying them also to my work in Raja Ampat and the Bird's Head Seascape over the past decade.

Over the next seven years, we lived in North Sulawesi. Hanny and Ineke welcomed us like family into the extended Batuna clan. When Arnaz was pregnant with our first two children, they insisted that we spend the last few weeks of both of her pregnancies at MUREX whilst awaiting labour, and our kids have long looked at the Batunas as their Indonesian family. Indeed, my fondest memories of North Sulawesi are of attending Batuna clan get-togethers - weddings, birthdays, Christmas parties and visits to Hanny's farm in Wowontulap. Always the humble and soft-spoken gentleman, Hanny nonetheless commanded the utmost respect and adoration of the younger Batunas (children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren and in-laws). Paired with the flair and sophistication (but no-nonsense pragmatic leadership) of Ineke, they were a model couple presiding over a storybook-like extended family whose closeness was unlike anything I had ever experienced in the U.S. Though I doubt I will ever be half as successful, I resolved to try to create in my own family, that same tight-knit atmosphere of warmth and

respect that Hanny and Ineke engendered in their family.

The other aspect of Hanny's character that left a lasting impression on me was his quiet and confident style of leadership. His staff, of which there were many (from farm hands to dive guides to boat drivers and cooks), unanimously had an enormous amount of respect for Dr. Batuna and showed a dedication to and trust in him that was without parallel in my experience. Over the years of watching their interactions, it became clear to me that he commanded such respect from them precisely because of the generosity and respect he showed to all, and his willingness to take on any task. I am quite sure that for many of his staff, the fact that Hanny - a highly educated and world-travelled doctor of medicine - was willing to also change the oil on the engine or haul up dive gear on to the beach was something that quietly impressed them in a way no other "boss" had ever done. If only our current world leaders showed the same degree of humility, generosity and respect for all, our planet would be a very different place.

Indonesia, and indeed our Ocean Planet, has truly lost a "Hero of the Sea". Hanny will be greatly missed, but as Michael Aw eloquently notes in his eulogy, his spirit and teachings live on – in his children, grandchildren, and the many, many lives he touched during a long and remarkable life. Farewell, Dr Batuna.

Mark Erhmann PhD

I first met Hanny Batuna in 1993, as a graduate student coming to North Sulawesi to investigate climate change signals in long-lived coral skeletons. Though our main area of work was to be the Sangihe-Talaud Archipelago, MUREX

served as a comfortable base at the start and end of the 3-week expedition, and my strongest memories of the trip were of the generosity and warmth of Hanny and Ineke. I had spent the past two years of my PhD work living in the relative austerity of a small fishing village island in South Sulawesi. The verdant paradise of the MUREX estate, with excellent home-cooking and family aura engendered by the Batunas, immediately made me want to uproot myself and relocate to Manado. The ongoing push to conserve the stunning reefs of Bunaken National Park, inspired by Hanny's dedicated efforts of more than a decade at that point, was an eye-opener to me; my experience with reef management in Indonesia then consisted only of watching my Makassarese neighbours spreading their sea charts on a table and planning their next 1–3 month bomb-and-cyanide fishing voyage!

Four years later, I made that move. In 1997, my wife Arnaz and I, spent the latter half of our honeymoon at MUREX, and began preparing to move over to Bunaken Island. I eagerly listened to Hanny and Ineke speak of the history of Bunaken and the challenges facing it, and

The fact that Hanny – a highly educated doctor of medicine - was willing to also change the oil on the engine or haul up dive gear on to the beach was something that quietly impressed his staff in a way no other "boss" had ever done. IF ONLY OUR CURRENT WORLD LEADERS SHOWED THE SAME DEGREE OF HUMILITY, GENEROSITY AND RESPECT FOR ALL, OUR PLANET WOULD BE A VERY DIFFERENT PLACE.

Acropora batunai, a very beautiful staghorn coral named after Dr. Batuna by Dr. Carden Walllace, PhD. Pic by Paul Muir.

E ssay

70 Dr Hanny Batuna, A Man of the Ocean

I first met Dr Hanny and Mrs Ineke Butuna in 1994, the second year of what was to become a 20-year enchantment with Indonesian coral reefs. Introduced by Michael Aw, I was astonished to make the acquaintance of such an erudite and respected medical practitioner, who had also quite clearly devoted his life to the sport and science of diving! More than this, Hanny and Mrs Batuna held nightly court with a diverse assemblage of divers from around the world, in their tranquil and beautiful dive resort MUREX; they even ran their own live-aboard – theirs was a life deeply connected with the ocean.

Dr Batuna was described to me as one of the pioneers of diving in Indonesia. I believe that he was paramount in setting standards for dive safety and dive medicine and protocols for the operation of dive teams, while at the same time setting an environmental ethic that has had a strong and continuing influence on the dive industry throughout Indonesia. His generous spirit has been remarked upon by many, and I truly believe that a legacy of this generosity is a joyful and caring attitude to the marine environment that we should strive to maintain in his memory.

I look back in gratitude at the wonderful underwater sights revealed to me under Dr Batuna’s guidance – ash slopes and underwater volcanos in Sangihe-Talaud, unique coral faunas of the mysterious Togian Islands, wash-pool headlands in the North Sulawesi peninsula, miniature jewel-creatures in the Lembeh Straits and the magnificent coral walls of Bunaken. Many of these contributed names to new species of staghorn corals, but the gorgeous Togian Islands table-coral Acropora batunai will always remind me of wonderful trips on the MV Serenade, nights spent in the fine company of the MUREX mob and an exemplary and much treasured Indonesian citizen and man of the sea, Dr Hanny Batuna.

Carden Wallace PhD

What made my father a great man? It was his acts of kindness, his integrity, his genuine care for others, his passion for the environment, and his love to his family. He was a man of few words, yet meaningfully communicative. His departure left a profound sadness, his presence deeply missed. My father had always been my role model, my rock and my hero. I learned generosity, kindness, a love for nature and the outdoors from this wonderful man.

A medical doctor by training, my father was a general practitioner who specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis. His encounters with many coastal people fuelled a desire to help cure them of this disease. He had a private practice established at the front part of our modest family home in Manado. Some of his patients were farmers and fishermen from remote villages with little means. They would bring their harvest as payments for medicine and consultation, and would travel the great distances with sacks of bananas, sometimes cassavas, and filled his waiting room with anticipation and hope. He gave them the same attentive care and respect, listened closely to their troubles and treated their illnesses. On my travels to these tiny villages years later, I would come across people that had received his kindness and it always touched me how fondly he was remembered. So true, the quote from the author Maya Angelou,” I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

His work for the health department often took him to remote places to distribute medicine to the government clinics. With his interest in nature and the underwater life, he would happily do these trips and took his family along with him. Some of these trips were journeys by boats or by

four-wheel drive jeeps on damaged roads, crossing rivers with washed out bridges. This way, he fostered the love of nature and adventure early on in our childhood. My father’s zest for adventure and marine exploration led him to be a pioneer scuba diver in North Sulawesi. When he founded Murex Dive Resort with my mother, my siblings and I went through SCUBA certification and were hooked on the sport as well. One dive I did together with my father and my sister Angelique, was at Ron’s Point at Bunaken. This dive spot is notorious for strong currents. The dive started off with a gentle current along the wall but then the current became stronger, changed directions and swept us off the wall. Suddenly we were in the middle of a downward spiral current. I remember seeing my depth gauge fall from 18 to 30 metres within seconds. My sister, dad and I held hands and started finning furiously toward the surface. We held on to each other with my father right there keeping us calm and assured until we surfaced. We talked about that dive later and still reminisce about the thrill, my sister and I did not feel scared nor did we panic - it was as if with our father holding our hands, we were invincible.

My parents shared a spiritual bond and were in love with each other till the very end. My father loved to surprise my mother with presents; my siblings and I quickly learned to recognize his giddy smile when he was hiding something special. He overflowed with love for my mother and his family and we were ever so blessed because of him. My father’s tender smile is what I remember most. He left too soon, but I know he lives on in me, in my children, in the ocean he helped protect, and in the many people whose lives he helped change for the better. I love you, Papa.

Arlene Batuna

I truly believe that a legacy of this generosity is a joyful and caring attitude to the ocean that WE SHOULD STRIVE TO MAINTAIN IN HIS MEMORY.

I reminisced about the thrill, my sister and I did not feel scared nor did we panic – it was as if

WITH OUR FATHER HOLDING OUR HANDS, WE WERE INVINCIBLE.

71OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

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Essay & Photographs by Mike Scotland

in Lembeh

Michael aW

DARWIN HAD ALWAYS REGARDED WALLACE AS THE CO-AUTHOR OF EVOLUTION. He used Wallace’s collections and field notes for much of his research. THESE LEGENDS OF SCIENCE HAD ENORMOUS ENTHUSIASM, AND POSSESSED POWERS OF OBSERVATION AND DEDUCTION THAT WERE SECOND TO NONE. If SCUBA had been available then, Darwin’s HMS Beagle would be full of fish tanks; Wallace’s famous collection of eighty thousand beetles would be thirty thousand gobies, and the British Museum would be full of South East Asia’s marine critters.

Charles Darwin

and Alfred

W a l l a c e

were two of

the greatest

minds of the

n i n e t e e n t h

century. I feel

for them because they missed the best

of the Galapagos and South East Asia –

beneath the waves. Unfortunately for

them, SCUBA had not been invented then

and snorkelling was rare in 1855. Can you

imagine what they would have written

about if SCUBA had existed then?

I can only imagine what it would be like

if they were alive today and enrolled in

a scuba diving course. They would most

likely be chattering away in excited voices

after their first dive: What about the rays

and sharks? I wonder if they have a

common ancestor. Those eight species of

wrasse are a perfect example of adaptive

radiation.

Today, there are millions of well-informed

naturalists who love the sea. SCUBA

is a great example of new technology

opening the door to new discoveries. The

growth of knowledge that we are all a

part of is inspiring. In the last forty years,

our knowledge of the sea has exploded

exponentially.

THE NEW AGE OF EXPLORATIONDarwin and Wallace were heroes in the

great age of exploration; twenty-first

century naturalists are all players in the

exploration of the world’s underwater

wilderness. It gives us hope that all

divers can raise the consciousness of the

human race and save the seas for future

generations to enjoy.

Lembeh Strait is right on the Wallace

line. This deep-water boundary separates

the Malaysian archipelago and the

Australasian landmasses. However, there

is no true Wallace line under the sea. This

geographical barrier is irrelevant for most

sea creatures. I marvel at the species of

fish and sea slugs from Lembeh that are

not uncommon in Australian waters.

The list includes cornetfish, frogfish,

aeolid sea slugs, coral banded shrimps

and many more. Recently, we have been

photographing convict gobies right here

in Sydney, just a few kilometres from

my home. I had delighted in discovering

these beauties in Lembeh just weeks

before.

I regard Lembeh Strait as nature’s Noah’s

Ark. All manner of marine life reside

here in a condensed version of the best

that South East Asia has to offer; an

underwater zoo filled with an incredible

biodiversity of marine life.

74 A Naturalist in Lembeh

E ssay

One of the most dramatic critters that I

encountered in Lembeh Strait was the

Bobbit worm (eunice aphroditis). They

are, without a doubt, the most efficient

predator of the segmented worms.

Annelids have two main classes. The first

includes earthworms and leeches. The

other consists of polychaetes or bristle

worms. Bobbit worms are the biggest and

most ferocious of the polychaetes.

They are highly photogenic with their

iridescent shiny bodies and fearsome

jaws. During my stay at Lembeh, I asked

my dive guide, John, if we could find

the Bobbit worm and maybe even feed

it. John is an excellent dive guide with

intricate knowledge of the seventy dive

sites in Lembeh, making him an invaluable

asset for divers.

He replies, “No promises, we will try a

dive site called ‘Retak Larry’ tonight.” We

motor off from Dabirahe Resort into the

sunset, heading north for Retak village.

This dive site was named in honour of

Larry Smith, an American critter finder

who was famously known as ‘King of the

Critter Hunters’ before he died.

The sunset’s burnt orange and mauve

hues created a mellow feel as we geared

up. We head down to the dark volcanic

sand sea floor just seven metres below. It

appeared barren for a brief moment and

then, I spotted a beautiful mimic octopus.

The excitement had begun! I followed

John down to 15 metres and within a few

minutes, we had a stunning one metre

Bobbit worm. Its head was 20 centimetres

out of its burrow waiting in ambush for

its dinner. I photographed it left, right and

close up, fascinated by its terrifying jaws

and shimmering body. I could imagine the

excruciating pain if the worm decided to

bite me.

John found a baitfish and steered it

towards the Bobbit worm with his metre

long reef stick. The Bobbit worm took the

scent. I pre-focussed, making sure that I

had the baitfish in focus and room for the

Bobbit worm to enter the viewfinder.

The monster struck with lightning speed!

I pressed the shutter as soon as I could.

I had missed it completely! The worm

had caught the fish and dragged it into

its burrow within a few hundredths of a

second. My reflexes operate only within

mere tenths of a second. I was out of

my league in the lightning-fast game

of survival in the sea. All I managed to

photograph was a cloud of sand.

We tried again on another night. John

steered a larger fish toward the Bobbit

worm. It opened its deadly jaws wider

and struck with the same lightning speed.

This time, the worm had to strike several

times to catch its dinner so I could take

a few shots. It was a gruesome display of

predatory power. The Bobbit worm is one

of the most efficient killers I have ever

seen; the double clamp jaw of the worm is

an adaptation suited to its killer lifestyle.

Watching this ferocious predator in action

is a brilliant example of natural selection.

LETHAL CARNIVOROUS BOBBIT WORMS

Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois) feeding. Lembeh St. North Sulawesi

Michael aW

75OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

Crustaceans are a great case in point

to illustrate natural selection. It seems

crustaceans are in the middle of every

food chain in the sea. They are a major

food source for most carnivores –

everything eats them!

Predators, small and large, gorge

themselves on crustaceans all day, every

day. Just how do crustaceans survive

against these incredible odds? The answer

of course, is via mass reproduction.

“Make more babies!” is the war cry of the

crustaceans.

NATURAL SELECTION IN SHRIMPS…OVERCOMING THE ODDS.

During my stay, it seemed that

everything was breeding; every crab and

shrimp had loads of eggs. Lembeh was

like an underwater maternity hospital. I

spent a lot of time exploring soft coral

trees. With John’s help, I photographed

cowries, soft coral crabs, porcelain crabs,

alpheid shrimps and gobies on these

Dendronepthya corals.

Prawns, shrimp, lobsters and crabs are

decapods i.e. ten-legged crustaceans.

Alpheid shrimps, like all of the decapods

have ovaries with vulvas on the sixth

segment from the front; males release

sperm from the eighth segment. The

male will place a sperm packet inside the

female’s vulva, and she will then use it to

fertilise her eggs over the next few weeks.

I spotted hundreds of shrimp eggs under

her tail. Crabs devote a lot of energy to

reproduction. The female crab not only

carries the fertilized eggs, she regularly

fans them with fresh oxygenated water

to help their development.

Crab with eggs


E ssay

THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN ZEBRA CRABS

Zebra crabs can be found on the toxic and

elusive sea urchins. They have adopted

the same cryptic colouration as their host,

giving them the perfect camouflage. One

sea urchin had three large zebra crabs on

it. Both females were heavily pregnant –

I could see her broad female abdominal

flap protecting hundreds of eggs.

Crabs have tiny abdomens, probably

making up only two percent of their total

body mass (they are all chest and head).

Female crabs have broad abdominal flaps

while those in males are very narrow.

Under the flap, females have five pairs

of hairy appendages. She glues her

eggs to these appendages, protecting

them with her broad flap. Males on the

other hand, have only two pairs of these

appendages as the other three pairs

have completely degenerated. These two

remaining appendages are the equivalent

of crab penises and have been modified to

transfer a sperm packet into the female

crabs’ vulva.

Crustaceans have a sense of smell that

rival that of sharks. When the female

ovulates, she releases a pheromone into

the water. Males detect this ‘perfume’

and come running to her side. She, of

course, cannot mate until she moults.

Mother Nature has given female crabs

the ability to synchronise egg fertility and

moulting. Males have special claspers to

restrain the females. They can be seen

coupled together for up to two days until

her old shell is shed. During this time,

she is vulnerable to predators. Males will

protect her and defend her from predators

for a few days until her shell hardens.

Zebra crab

77OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

Female mantis shrimps use

their front appendages

to carry thousands of

eggs in a ball, where she

protects them until they

hatch. Their eggs and larvae are highly

prized by predators, all of which devour

eggs by the millions – few eggs actually

survive to adult hood. A mother mantis

shrimp knows that her eggs will be eaten

immediately once she lets them go, so

she must remain vigilant and hold on to

them until they hatch to increase their

chances of survival.

The wheel of karma however, turns the

tide once these mantis shrimps grow into

adults. They turn into one of the most

ferocious predators on the reefs eating

everything from lionfish to puffer fish

and even the deadly blue ring octopus,

by literally punching (or slashing) their

lights out.

MANTIS SHRIMPS AND THE WHEEL OF KARMA

Mantis shrimp

he next dive,

I noticed

a group of

six cardinal

fish. A single

male, with

the enlarged

jaws, had eggs

in its mouth.

As I tried to

get some photographs, I quickly realized

that the other five were females and only

the male had the enlarged jaw, specially

adapted for mouth brooding of eggs. The

females were preventing me from getting a

clear shot. I was observing a group of fish

cooperating to ensure the safety of their

progeny. They were guarding the breeding

male, presumably prepared to sacrifice

their lives to protect him!

On a night dive, my dive guide John

became very excited. He urged me to

photograph a small cardinal fish. I took

a fleeting photo and was about to move

on. John made it very clear that I had to

look again. It was a male with eggs in its

mouth. I photographed the eggs and again

was about to move on.

John was gesticulating excitedly. So I

turned back to take a closer look at the

cardinal fish again. I could not believe

it! The eggs in its mouth were actually

hatching. I quickly settled in to coordinate

a photograph of the eggs being expelled

from its mouth, hatching larval fish. It was

all over within seconds – the large mass

of eggs was expelled. I would have missed

this very rare event twice over except

for the persistence of my excellent dive

guide. I did feel a little silly!

My buddy on this dive was Godlife, an

excellent local underwater photographer.

He said he had been waiting for this

opportunity for many years and had never

seen it. His camera was playing up and

he was so distraught that he was joking

about being in tears. I realized I had just

had a golden moment. Right time, right

place, right camera lens. Sometimes you

can be lucky!

CARDINAL FISH New Born


E ssay

FLAMBOYANT

CUTTLEFISH HATCHLINGSWe found a single flamboyant cuttlefish

egg in a bivalve shell. By a stroke of luck,

John was able to get it to hatch right

before my camera! I had my 105 mm

macro lens with a close-up wet lens on

– perfect for photographing the birth of

this flamboyant cuttlefish. The shots were

satisfactory, but I knew I could do better!

A few days later, John found another shell

with thirteen ripe eggs! We had a golden

opportunity. I could see fully developed

six millimetre flamboyant cuttlefish

moving inside the eggs. When the eggs

were gently touched, the juvenile used its

tail spike to puncture a hole in the egg,

squeezed out half way and then seemed to

give up and stopped. Then with a sudden

surge of energy, popped out and swam

off. Its first reaction was to adopt the

attack posture and flash its bright colours

at me. Beautiful!

The world expert on cephalopods,

Dr. Mark Norman from Australia, has

confirmed that flamboyant cuttlefish

possess a powerful toxin. It is not

tetrodotoxin like the blue ring octopus

but a completely new, equally powerful

toxin. The flesh of this sepia is inedible. At

one second after birth, they were making

bright displays to warn off predators.

These toxic hatchlings can therefore

survive in open water.

This is a brilliant example of an adaptation

to survive the extreme environmental

pressure of predation. Survival of the

fittest here means the hatchlings have the

protection of toxins and they also have

fully functioning chromatophores from

birth.

We observed an adult flambuoyant

cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) feeding.

They have eight legs and two hectocotylus

tentacles, which are twice as long and

these are used for feeding and mating.

First, they extend their long feeding

tentacles towards their prey. Seemingly

taking aim and judging the distance of

the strike. Next, the hectocotylus is fully

retracted. Then, they strike with full

speed. The prey fish (they like fish) is

grasped in a split second and delivered

into the beak of the cuttlefish. Cuttlefish

usually use the beak to cut the fish just

behind its head to sever their spinal cord

in a single bite. Like all molluscs, the fish

is shredded using the flesh-rasping tooth

known as the radula, before swallowing

smaller pieces of fish.

Flamboyant cuttlefish

79OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

I had to wait until the 11th day of my

trip to find a Rhinopias scorpionfish.

These fish specialize in mimicking the

colour and texture of the leather coral,

Sarcophyton. I took plenty of photos of

my Rhinopias from every angle. However,

I was thinking about the other night’s dive

with the Bobbit worm. As soon as I got

back in the boat, I said to my dive guide,

“John, I think that Rhinopias is hungry.”

Rhinopias often stay put for days. That

night, we managed to relocate the lethal

predator by looking at the depth contour

near our prime site. John brought a

fusilier close to the Rhinopias. The prey

was two-thirds the size of the predator.

The Rhinopias struck with lightning

speed and gulped down half the fish. It

took a moment to rest then gulped down

some more. At the end, a huge bulge in

the stomach could be seen. It was in the

shape of a fish! A large fish tail was poking

out of its mouth for minutes.

We repeated the same feeding technique

with a frogfish one night. This time, the

RHINOPIAS SCORPIONFISH

prey was the same size as the frogfish. The

frogfish might look cute but it is one of the

most lethal killers in the ocean. It ate the

fish although it took a few minutes to get it

all in. Both predators have an expandable

stomach – a necessary adaptation for

gorging on enormous meals.

Rhinopias eyeing its next meal.

E ssay


I would like to think that many divers

are well–versed (or at least have an

interest) in marine biology and evolution.

We regularly see the effects of natural

selection when sharks clean up sick,

injured fish. We see the bright colouration

of flatworms and nudibranchs warning fish

that they are toxic. We see nudibranchs

CRYPTIC CAMOUFLAGE AND WARNING COLOURS

Bright colours in marine animals like the nudibranch and pygmy seahorse warn predators of thir toxicity

mimicking flatworms, leatherjackets

(filefish) mimicking Valentine’s puffer

fish and even hybridization of species

of angelfish. The sea is a paradise for

students of evolution and Lembeh is a

special Garden of Eden where divers can

see real magic in the waters.

Wallace was the first to explain the

significance of bright colours to warn

birds not to eat toxic caterpillars. Warning

colouration is far more common in the

sea. Lionfish show off their bright colours

to warn preditors about their toxic spines.

81OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

WALLACE WROTE ABOUT HIS CONCERN WITH WHAT HE REGARDED THEN AS THE IMPENDING CALAMITY ON OUR PLANET: deforestation and its damaging effects. These days, it has become an even greater threat to the planet. My view about ANTHROPOGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE IS THAT DEFORESTATION IS THE ELEPHANT IN THE CUPBOARD THAT IS EQUAL TO CARBON DIOXIDE OUTPUT. We all need to go and plant a tree every week. The two culprits are the chainsaw and the internal combustion machine.

I make no bones about it. I am a fan of

Wallace. He wrote books on the distribution

of animals across continents, and is

considered the father of Zoogeography,

the geographical distribution of life. He

observed geographical boundaries and

the effect of isolation on species. He

speculated on pressures that created

change in species. The basic premise

of evolution is that species change over

time. Wallace developed the idea of

natural selection independently and did

many more years of field research than

Darwin did. Darwin regarded Wallace as

one of the foremost thinkers on evolution

of the nineteenth century. They were co–

authors of these concepts.

When we venture underwater, we can

see the marvels of adaptive radiation that

so captivated Darwin in the Galapagos

Islands. Darwin’s finches are the textbook

example used to teach millions about how

finches adapted to survive in ecological

niches in differing environments by

developing anatomically different beaks.

This meant that finches could survive

on different diets and not compete with

each other for the same food source.

Each species developed a niche in which

it could survive and proliferate, avoiding

competition.

We see many examples of this grand idea

at Lembeh that clearly illustrate this point.

Darwin’s lecture could well have been

about the variety of butterfly fish derived

from a common ancestor. Darwin was

only 22 years old when he sailed on the

Beagle for his five-year round-the-world

trip. Wallace was in his late twenties; he

did fourteen years of field research.

If Darwin and Wallace were alive today,

they would surely be avid scuba divers,

possibly your buddy on the dive boat. You

could tell them about your underwater

adventures and discuss the survival of the

hairy sea hare and its cryptic camouflage.

They would delight in seeing your

collection of underwater photographs

and marine discoveries. After each dive,

you would be engrossed in a sparkling

conversation involving some of the

greatest scientific ideas of all time.

Mike Scotland learned to dive in 1976 and became a Padi Instructor in 1982.

After having taught actively for many years, he developed the Marine Biology

for Scuba Divers course twenty years ago. He loves to teach the anatomy of

marine life. He is a BSc in Maths and Zoology. His first underwater camera

was a Nikonos II but he is currently using a Nikon D200 in a Nexus Housing

with two Inon strobes.

About the author

Mike Scotlandwww.mikescotlandscuba.com

E ssay


Essay by Nancy Merridew

Lionel Unch“ ”(Harvard University Summer School 2013)

OU ARE ABOUT TO MEET A SERIAL KILLER

– Lionel Unch. A quick,

clean kill is not his style;

instead, he dismembers

victims and devours them alive. However,

Lionel is not depraved and his struggle

to survive reflects the ordeal of all living

beings. Not so long ago, Lionel was the

guest of honour at a neighbourhood feast.

Claws snapping away like castanets, he

jigged his eight other legs in delight and

scuttled through an entrance tunnel.

Lionel’s long antennae whipped through

the royal blue netting rope as he tore flesh

from the corpse.

Our killer is well-understood by ecologists

– he is a lobster of the North American

Atlantic, Homarus americanus. Lionel

never knew his father; his mother left

straight after Lionel hatched from the

safety of her tail’s wide crook. Around

seven years ago, as a metanauplius larva,

he entered the harrowing Planktonic

Development Club. Predators ate most

of Lionel’s several thousand siblings but

he survived the next few larval cycles,

metamorphosed to his current scorpion-

like form, then descended to a new life

on the sea floor. So far he had beaten the

odds.

Lionel’s shorter antennae seek out meals

for his versatile palate. Breakfast might

be a starfish – ambushed as she slides

along a crevice, using his cutter claw to

amputate her arms then shred them into

morsels. Supper might be a sea urchin

– their needled patches fall away, like a

Mohawk being scalped, when his crusher

claw flexes. Crack! A mussel’s death throe

pings through the Atlantic; next stop,

Lionel’s gullet. Lionel could likely have

eaten another lobster or two in his time

too.

Lionel slaughters freely but is always

in the cross hairs. His eyes scan for the

shadows of octopuses, fish and seals

who could snap him right up. Encased

in an olive polychrome armour, streaked

orange, teal and maroon, with matching

gargantuan claws, Lionel’s exoskeleton

has saved him more than once. But his

shell has no defence against parasites

and bacteria. If lobsters could talk,

Lionel would probably agree that life

is precarious, and that only one thing is

certain, as the Fight Club adage goes, “on

a large enough timeline, the survival rate

for everyone drops to zero.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

CHRIS MANNING’S SHOULDERS BULGED AS HE HAULED THE TRAP ONTO THE DECK. Sorting

the catch, he was careful to avoid the

lobster handshake – years ago one

had got him right in the webbing of

his thumb and forefinger, and he never

forgot the introduction. Manning was a

Massachusetts lobsterman; since he was

a boy he had loved Hull, loved being on

the water and loved lobster. That fine

white 42-foot boat, the Carolyn M, was

named after his wife. When they married,

his business became a family affair – C&C

Manning Lobster and Fish. Carolyn knew

it inside out. So did CJ, their youngest of

four kids. At 10 years old, CJ wanted to

grow up like his dad, with his own 12-foot

boat to play on, and his very own little

lobster trap on board.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

LIONEL SPENT HIS LAST NIGHT

with other lobsters suspended in a yellow

wire crate off the dock, behind the

Manning family home where his gills were

flushed fresh by Hull’s tide.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

CAROLYN MANNING’S FLIP FLOPS CLICKED ACROSS THE PLAZA FLAGSTONES

at the Harvard Summer Farmers’ Market.

Her toenail polish gleamed scarlet, uniting

the colour theme of her cotton singlet and

the procession of lobsters that decorated

her white sandal straps. Each of those flip

flop lobsters was around an inch long –

the same size Lionel had been when he

first swam out of the plankton. Of course,

back then, he was not scarlet.

Behind Carolyn’s right shoulder, pastry

seller Ben Van Meter reflected how, at

another time, Lionel’s status might have

been different. In America’s pioneering

days, lobsters were everywhere, like a

plague of “insects from the bottom of the

ocean,” shunned by all but the very poor.

But with overfishing came scarcity, he

said, and lobster became the food of the

rich.

It was coming up to Fourth of July – a big

time of year for cookouts and lobster was

popular. On Carolyn’s stall table, right next

to a whopping dried claw, shell crackers

sold for US$3. Stainless steel scales

gleamed on the red-and-white checkered

tablecloth, ready to be crowned with

crustaceans. Lionel had weighed in on

another set at 1.5 pounds – a long way off

the titanic 44-pound lobster world record.

Carolyn had sold two of her steamed

lobsters that day, shrouded in foil, at

US$10 each. Other customers preferred

to steam their own but welcomed cooking

advice.

Beaming, Carolyn shared her recipe: Boil

4 inches of water, toss in live lobsters

(they do not need to be covered with

water), bring it back to the boil then

cook for 14 minutes. When the scarlet

metamorphosis occurs, serve with melted

Y

84 “Lionel Unch”

E ssay

butter and corn on the cob. No seasoning, no garnish.

Van Meter spiced it up. Lobsters are not so passive

when it is their turn to play prey, he said. They have

been “known to kick off the lid and jump out of the

pot.” It is more than a little off-putting when lobsters

“scream” while they cook but that sound, he reassured,

is just steam escaping the shell.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

LIONEL WAS IN THE DARK. Stacked alongside

nine companions in the cooler, in relative tranquillity

under a damp hessian sack, rubberbands bound their

claws. A couple of other lobsters had left earlier and

not returned. Lionel might have been wondering what

was so good out there, when the lid lifted, light invaded

the cooler and a hand plucked Mr L. Unch away.

North American Atlantic lobster, Homarus americanus.

Nancy holds three bachelor degrees in Arts (History),

Science (Marine Biology; Human Physiology), and

Medicine, from Australian universities. In 2013, she

completed an intensive Journalism short course at Harvard

University, and a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and

Hygiene in England. Currently working in Australia as a

medical doctor, Nancy refuses to let go of her other interests

and is thrilled to join the team at Ocean Geographic! Nancy

loves nature and geology on all scales – microscopic and

colossal – especially fossils, phytoplankton and seaweed. Her

favourite topic is the Galápagos Islands. Sir Charles Darwin

– epitome of creativity, genius, scientific rigour, humility and

endeavour – is her idol. Writing on nature, ecology, history,

patient experiences, public health, infectious diseases and

medical education, Nancy reflects on her global travels,

education, work and social life –which deliver extraordinary

encounters.

About the author

Nancy Merridew

MichaelAW.com

85OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

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Essay and Photographs by Michael AW

Protecting a Phenomenon

The Whale Sharks of Cenderawasih Bay

here are several

places in the world where whale sharks

congregate: Christmas Island, Red

Sea, Galápagos, Belize, the Seychelles,

Western Australia’s Ningaloo reefs, and

Donsol in the Philippines. At each of

these locations however, the sharks are

only resident for a period of one to three

months before moving away. Nothing

else in this world compares to the recent

discovery of the massive congregation of

whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) around

fishing platforms (bagans) in the southern

part of Cenderawasih Bay Marine Park,

in West Papua, Indonesia. Documented

by the fishermen near Kwatisore village,

whale sharks can be found simply

‘hanging around’ their fishing platforms

throughout the year! This is the only place

in the world where you do not have to

swim after the sharks – position yourself

beneath a bagan and you could have up to

12 sharks swimming right up to your face.

Legendary filmmaker and conservationist,

Valerie Taylor (affectionately known as

the Queen of Sharks), referred to this

phenomenon as the new 8th natural

wonder of our planet.

Located on the Eastern fringe of the

Indonesian Archipelago, Cenderawasih

Bay is as remote as the Baliem Valley

on the Eastern half of the island of

New Guinea. The bay itself harbours

substantial secrets to the geological

history and tectonic evolution of the

region. Geologists established that until

recent times, the bay was geologically

isolated from the flow of the Pacific tides.

This isolation has somewhat consecrated

Cenderawasih to be an ancient sea with a

high percentage of endemic fish and coral

species that are found nowhere else on

the planet. Conservation International’s

senior consultant, Dr. Gerald Allen,

an ichthyologist, proclaimed the bay

"the Galápagos of the East” based on

documented findings of an "evolutionary

cauldron" of new and unique corals,

shrimps and fish species. Extensive

surveys documented 995 species of fish

and over 500 species of corals - about

10 times more than the entire Caribbean

combined!

Like most that came, it was our passion for

sharks that lured us to this remote outpost,

to document and protect one of our ocean’s

most threatened giants. Our first (the

exploratory trip) was in November of 2010,

when I had all but an eight-day window

before my next presentation; from London.

I flew to Singapore then Jakarta, and several

domestic flights later, I finally met up with

my team in Nabire. It was like going back

in time; from multi-million-dollar airport

terminals to a short airstrip peppered with

washing lines and dilapidated shacks,

complete with dogs running out to greet

our aircraft on landing! Our fixer on the

ground, Ronny Rengkung, happened to

know the local chief of police, so the latter

picked us up from the airport and made all

ground arrangements for our brief sojourn.

At the break of dawn the next day, our

convoy of two small fibreglass boats laden

with camera equipment and dive gear sped

across the calm waters of the bay to look

for the fishing bagans two-and-a-half hours

north of Nabire.

T

88 Protect ing a Phenomenon – The Whale Sharks of Cenderawas ih Bay

S ojourn

Cenderawasih Bay is the only place on earth where you do not have to swim after the sharks – position yourself

beneath the fishing platform and you could have

12 SHARKS SWIMMING RIGHT UP TO YOUR FACE.

One of the many fishing platforms (or bagans as the locals call them) scattered around Cenderawasih Bay.

89OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

It was only in 2009 that we first learnt

of the presence of whale sharks in

Cenderawasih Bay, and that their

fascination for the fishing platforms

(bagans) is much like that of bees

to honey. About 23 of these semi-

mobile platforms are located in the

vicinity of Kwatisore village at the

southern end of the marine park.

At dusk, massive nets are lowered

beneath these platforms to about 18

metres. Floodlights illuminate the

water from the surface to attract

millions of ikan puri (three-inch

baitfish). In the morning, the nets

are raised, bringing up tons of ikan

puri. Some are collected to be used

as bait for bonitos and any excess

would be left in the net hanging just

beneath the platform. The whale

sharks in the bay have learnt to suck

these small fishes from the net. Out

of amusement or companionship, the

fishermen decided to feed buckets of

ikan puri to the sharks.

The first time we approached a

bagan, the fishermen told us there

was a shark below. In a flash, we

were in the water and found a

juvenile about 3 metres in length.

We were not satisfied – one small

shark was not good enough! We

bounced back into the boat and

headed to the next bagan. There,

we were told, there were many "big

fish". We jumped in to find seven

whale sharks. They were swimming

placidly around under the platform,

occasionally rising up to the bottom

of the nets filled with small fishes.

They hung vertically in the water as

they sucked, completely oblivious to

our presence, moving on only for a

breather or after being bumped off

by another shark. The congregation

of the seven animals ranged from 3

metres to 13 metres; big, powerful

and much more gregarious than any

other whale sharks I had ever seen

before. I knew immediately that this

was a very special place.

Whale shark hanging vertically, sucking on one of the fishing nets beneath a bagan.

CENDERAWASIH BAY IS THE FIRST SITE IN THE WORLD

TO WITNESS whale sharks feeding from a fishing net.


S ojourn

Within an hour or so, we had over 12 sharks

around us – sharks outnumbering humans!

With fishing nets that were brimming with

juicy tidbits, they hung around, completely

at ease with our company, even curious.

Not being a predatory animal, their eyes

are tiny relative to their body size, with

soft surrounding skin that wrinkled up

and closed over the eyes as they ate. They

would swim right past us, avoiding contact

with the exception of the occasional gentle

push to get us out of the way of their feast.

They seemed aware of our presence; apart

from the odd gentle sideswipe, they nearly

always managed to keep their enormous

tails from hitting us. After the three-day

recce, we confirmed that whale sharks are

opportunistic feeders, able to associate

human companionship with food.

Cenderawasih Bay is the first location in

the world to witness such behaviour.

Whale sharks are opportunistic feeders able to associate human companionship with food.

A sloppy and rather undignified moment with large, fleshy, colossal mouths all around me.

MY GRIN WAS AS WIDE AS THE SHARKS! It was a moment to die for.

91OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

In September of 2011, Ocean

Geographic organised

two 10-day expeditions;

over twenty days, we

documented 35 individuals

beneath five bagans. We

began our observation each

day at first light, though

sometimes we would start before sunrise

to find up to six sharks feeding in the

dark. However, typical of sharks, lions

and humans, prime feeding times are in

the mornings and evenings before sunset.

At 7 am, we would usually have two to

three juveniles placidly feeding from the

net but by 10 am, there would be about

ten animals, ranging from 2 metres to 12

metres, congregating to feed off the net or

receive handouts from the fishermen on

the platform. Noon is the lull period with

only a couple of juveniles still hanging

around, hoping for more handouts. At

about 4 pm when crepuscular rays radiate

through the water like a dinner bell, the

sharks seems to shed all inhibitions and

frantically rush in with mouths agape,

climbing on top one another with great

urgency, taking in as much food as

possible before nightfall. Throughout the

four days, all members of our expedition

were able to approach the sharks up close

and make eye contact both on snorkel and

scuba. Once again, they were gentle and

swayed their powerful tails in a manner

to avoid hurting their human friends!

Seemingly unopposed to our presence,

some rose vertically alongside to pose

with their clumsy bubble-blowing tactile

friend.

At one point, I was composing a shot of

three sharks confronting fishermen on top

of the bagan for more food; unknowingly

two bigger sharks approached the bagan

from behind me. I felt a push and the next

moment I felt like ham between bread,

sandwiched between five animals, each

weighing about 15 tons! Albeit a sloppy

and rather undignified moment with large,

fleshy, colossal mouths all around me,

the sharks were gentle and I managed to

Whale sharks outnumbered divers.

Cenderawasih Bay lit the flame of FERVOUR TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT this magical place.

S ojourn


escape from beneath them. Flabbergasted

but my grin was as wide as the sharks. It

was a moment to die for; a whale of a tale

(pun intended) that I shall talk about for

the rest of my life.

Besides the fact that whale sharks rise to

the surface of sea to feed on plankton and

small fishes, very little is known about the

Rhincodon typus. We do know that they

are cold-blooded, breathe through gills

and they are the biggest fish in the ocean.

This year-round congregation and feeding

off the fishing bagans in Cenderawasih

Bay is the first of its kind known. To further

understand the range of these sharks, in

December of 2012, Dr. Mark Erdmann led

a Conservation International expedition

and successfully tagged five sharks. With

the tags, the five whale sharks actively

collected data of their daily diving and

ranging behaviours. The tags used were

pop-up archival satellite-linked tags; once

attached to the shark, they remained there

for around 200 days. At a programmed

release date, the tag detaches from the

anchored tether, floats to the surface, and

begins transmitting the data recorded

(depth, water temperature and roaming

range) to earth-orbiting satellites in the

Argos system. The tagging exercise was

a significant effort in a far-flung place to

learn more about these incredible animals

and hopefully, unravel the mystery

surrounding them — where and how

they mate, how they spend their early

years. The tags may or may not provide

some answers but our primary concern

should be to protect their well-being and

habitat for future generations. We now

know that the sharks in the bay traverse

great distances into the Pacific Ocean –

a few of them have been documented to

return to feed in the bay. Though data is

still insufficient to determine the number

of whale sharks that frequent the bay, we

do know if the shark fins merchants move

in, all the animals in the bay could be

harvested in just a few weeks!

Whale sharks are already listed as

Vulnerable in the IUCN Redlist. But

the population at Cenderawasih faces

imminent danger as they are the prime

target of ruthless shark fin merchants.

Known as the king of sharks, whale shark

fins are considered the most valuable

Conservation International’s senior consultant, Dr. Gerald Allen, calls CENDERAWASIH BAY “THE GALÁPAGOS OF THE EAST” based on documented findings of an “evolutionary cauldron” of new and

unique corals and fish species

93OG Issue 29 : 07/2014

and therefore in greatest demand in

Hong Kong. Our observations confirm

that sharks unintentionally entangled or

accidentally caught in the fishing nets

are astonishingly frequent; for now, the

fishermen release the animals voluntarily.

Since the publication of a story in National

Geographic in 2011, the phenomenon

of Cenderawasih Bay gained worldwide

attention. Besides the incursions of live-

aboard diving vessels, scientists from

WWF and Conservation International

also visited to document, research and

promote conservation of these animals.

Many lobbied for complete protection of

the species in Indonesia. Finally, in late

2013, the Indonesian government issued

a ministerial decree on shark protection

status. The regulation gave whale sharks

full protection status; this means that

killing a whale shark for any reason is

strictly prohibited.

Cenderawasih Bay is an ancient sea with

endemic fishes, a fairyland of soft and

hard coral reefs. Together with its year-

round congregation of feeding whale

sharks, it is the beauty of nature’s creation

personified, lighting the flame of fervour

in us to preserve and protect this magical

place. Cenderawasih Bay is a global

treasure. Ocean celebrity, Valarie Taylor,

has a better description: the 8th natural

wonder of our world.

Quick Facts about theBiggest Fish in the ocean

Whale sharks becoming unintentionally tangled or accidentally caught in fishing nets are astonishingly frequent.

Scientific Name: Rhincodon typus

Life span : Estimated to live 70–100 years

Mouth: Up to 2m wide and can contain more than 4,000 tiny teeth.

Maturity and size: After an early growth spurt , whale sharks grow slowly, reaching maturity around an estimated 25–30 years of age. The smallest free-swimming whale shark measured just over a 30 centimetres and was captured in the Philippines.

Culture: M ost cultures where whale sharks are found have special names for them, typically relating to their size and characteristic spots. In Madagascar they are named “marokintana” meaning “many stars” and Mexicans call them “domino” – like the game.

Conservation: Whale sharks are listed as Vulnerable to Extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), which helps to regulate their trade. Whale sharks are protected in several countries worldwide

— including Belize, Mexico, Honduras, the Maldives, Australia, Indonesia, the Seychelles, India, and the Philippines. However, the highly lucrative shark fin trade and the growing mega-aquarium trade continue to put pressure on their population. Fishing also poses a serious threat to their survival; these animals can get entangled in purse, drift and gill nets, and risk being struck by ships while they bask or feed at the water’s surface. They are targeted by artisanal fisheries and occasionally by purse seine netters, primarily in the Indo-Pacific region. Although the meat is rarely consumed outside of eastern Asia, whale sharks are increasingly captured for their liver oil (used to waterproof boats) and for their fins (used as shop signs and status symbols).

*Since 2010, Ocean Geographic has been conducting annual whale shark photographic expeditions to Cenderawasih Bay on the MSY Seahorse. All divers interacting with whale sharks now contribute a fee of USD30 per person to the Kwatisore village; additionally, the fishing bagans contracted to allow divers to interact with whale sharks beneath their platform receive a fee of USD 300 to 500 per day. Such arrangements encourage the local stakeholders to accord greater protection of the sharks. To participate in OCEAN GEOGRAPHIC ANNUAL WHALE SHARK PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPEDITION TO CENDERAWASIH BAY in September/ October, email:[email protected] or check out www.OceanGeographic.org

S ojourn


ONE competition: 15 Categories38 Prestigious Awards

Pictures are a powerful medium for conservation. Images reveal untold stories, stir emotions and change hearts.

Ocean Geographic encourages the use of images to

CONSERVE AND CELEBRATE THE BEAUTY OF OUR PLANET.

You are invited to share your experiences and special moments in the sea. YOUR PICTURES ARE IMPERATIVE TO PROMOTING THE CONSERVATION OF OUR OCEAN.

As your work will influence change, we acknowledge its importance by awarding you with prestigious Awards for Outstanding Achievement, Merit of Excellence and Special commendations. The Ocean Geographic Pictures of the Year Awards are named in honour of some of THE MOST CELEBRATED IMAGE-MAKERS OF OUR OCEANPlus cash & holiday prizes

ONE OCEAN Award – the SYLVIA EARLE Award for Outstanding Achievement

Portfolio Award – the DAVID DOUBILET Award for Outstanding Achievement

Animal Portraits – the EMORY KRISTOF Award for Outstanding Achievement

Animal Behaviour – the DOUG PERRINE Award for Outstanding Achievement

Black & White Print – the ERNIE BROOKS II Award for Outstanding Achievement

Colour Print – the VALERIE TAYLOR Award for Outstanding Achievement

Seascapes – the CARDEN WALLACE Award for Outstanding Achievement

Creative Vision – the WYLAND Award for Outstanding Achievement

Feature Length movie – the RON TAYLOR Award for Outstanding Achievement

Fish Behaviour – the GERRY ALLEN Award for Outstanding Achievement

Short Movie – the HOWARD HALL Award for Outstanding Achievement

Small Exotic Animals – the NEVILLE COLEMAN Award for Outstanding Achievement

Seascapes with model – the KURT AMSLER Award for Outstanding Achievement

Young Photographer of the Year Junior & Senior – the ALEX MUSTARD Award

The OCEAN GEOGRAPHIC Merit of Excellence Award for Novice Photographer

THE OCEAN GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOJOURNALIST AWARD

The MASTER OF COMPETITION AWARD – the overall Winner

2013 Winner: Amos NachoumAnimal Behaviour –

Doug Perrine Award for Outstanding Achivement

F THE YEAR COmPETiTiON

PiCTURES

FiNAL CALL Entry Close 31 Aug

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