Diver checks off item on 'bucket list' with Bonaire dive

One item on my "bucket list" was to dive in Bonaire -- mission accomplished.

Along with Aruba and Curacao, Bonaire is one of the ABC Islands that are the western-most islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean, north of Venezuela.

Bonaire's licence plates proudly declare that it is a "Diver's Paradise" and after experiencing the underwater beauty off its coast, I can vouch for that claim.

There are more than 60 dive locations along Bonaire's shoreline. We dove the West Coast, which is calmer than the East Coast (known as the wild side), where more adventurous divers go for a different dive experience.

While on a recent cruise ship vacation, Bonaire was one of our six stops and I was excited to dive there in the clear blue water with a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. I disembarked the ship at Kralendijk, the main town of Bonaire, where I was greeted by Claire Crowe, who volunteered to take me shore diving. My own personal guide! Luckily for me, Claire’s mother-in-law is a personal friend of mine.

We walked along the shore until we reached the Sponge Bob dive site, which is in front of Yellow Submarine, one of five PADI certified dive shops run by Dive Friends Bonaire. If you're looking to rent gear, take a course, or have your own personal guide, they have it all. Their staff is friendly and welcoming.

After gearing up, we proceeded down the "pool area" and slowly descended to our goal of 45 feet. The slower start and descent works better for me as there is minimal current. It makes for an enjoyable dive all around. Equalizing was not a problem as it can be on boat dives. The marine life was abundant and the trumpet fish put on a great colourful show.

There were Cleaner Shrimp, Porcupine fish, Yellowtail Snapper, a gang of Blue Tang, Cow fish, Squirrelfish, French Angle, Rock Beauty, Honeycomb Cowfish, Whitespotted Filefish and Scrawled Filefish. There were also various corals and sponges, such as Brain, Purple Vase, Sea Fan and Staghorn coral. The anemones, like the Giant Anemone, Social Feather Duster and Christmas Tree Worm were everywhere. Visibility was unlimited.

In order to protect the coral, Bonaire does not allow dive gloves or knives unless part of a dive clean-up program. Make sure you have the correct buoyancy to avoid contact with the coral.

Noticeably absent were the lion fish. Bonaire is trying to control this invasive species (STINAPA) with a lion fish hunting program so if you ever have the chance to dine on Lion Fish please do!

Bonaire is also a snorkelers paradise. Everyone from children to adults can enjoy the beautiful sights from the crystal clear water at the surface.

Some interesting facts about Bonaire: It was discovered in 1499 by the Spanish and became a Dutch island in 1633. It is known as the "Fish Capital of the Caribbean" and "Arizona by the Sea." Flamingos are the island's national symbol. Harvesting of salt has been a major industry on Bonaire for more than 350 years. The Caribbean sea here is as much as 5.2 miles deep. Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until Oct 10, 2010, when it became a special municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The official language on Bonaire is Dutch, while the local language is Papiamento, which is a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch. English is widely spoken on the island and the U.S. dollar is the official currency.

We finished our dive after about 40 minutes. Time flies when you are having fun. It was a grand day of diving in Bonaire and I would like to thank Claire for her great "guiding" and Dive Friends Bonaire for their wonderful hospitality. If you're headed to Bonaire, contact them. They are a wealth of information, and will make your "bucket list" come true, like it did for me.

Kathy Dowsett

www.kirkscubagear.com

Lionfish population is exploding in the Gulf just two years after they first arrived

A small fish nestled among swaying stalks of sea whip coral about 11 miles off the Alabama coast may be poised to shift the balance of life in the Gulf of Mexico.

While it has been less than two years since scuba diver Lawren McCaghren made the first confirmed sighting of a lionfish off Alabama, the animals are now so common that McCaghren said he routinely sees 50 or 60 during a single dive on local reefs.

The sudden colonization of the northern Gulf has scientists using words like alarmed, worried and afraid. First noted off the Atlantic Coast in the 1990s, lionfish swept across the Caribbean in three short years.

“The explosive nature of the population expansion is ominous. We’re getting reports of thousands of them documented across the northern Gulf and thousands in the Keys, all within a few years,” said Bob Shipp, head of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama.

“Whether they replace some of our native species on the reefs, or it is a temporary expansion that will level off, we just don’t know. They don’t have any natural predators. Perhaps some of our predators will eat them, but we have no indication of that yet.”

Lionfish, named for a lovely mane of elaborate fins that rings their bodies, are native to the Pacific Ocean. They are not native to the Gulf or Atlantic. The fish grow to about 15 inches long, but appear much larger due to the fan of fins that spread out around the body. The body is striped with bands of brown, rust, and white.

Scientists believe captive lionfish may have escaped from aquariums in south Florida during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. A few were seen off North Carolina around 2000, and reports of sightings began trickling in from the Caribbean around that time.

Within three years, lionfish had colonized the entire Caribbean and are reported to have eaten or displaced about 60 percent of the native species on reefs there. Lionfish have enormous mouths in relation to the size of their bodies, similar to a largemouth bass. They can consume fish nearly as big as they are.

The fish have become so prevalent in the Florida Keys that dive groups hold tournaments to see who can kill the most lionfish in a day. About 1,500 lionfish were killed in derbies in the Keys in 2011, a number scientists say represents a small drop in a huge bucket.

“Anywhere you go in the Gulf, you see them. Tanks and pyramids, they’re a given,” said McCaghren, manager of the Gulf Coast Divers shop in Mobile. McCaghren filmed a lionfish swimming on an Army tank off Alabama in September of 2010, the first northern Gulf sighting. Within a matter of weeks, divers reported encountering the fish on reefs off Florida and Louisiana.

“The natural bottom stuff, the Trysler Grounds, you don’t see one or two. You see 50 or 60 out there every dive. They’re on every outcropping,” McCaghren said, referring to an area of natural coral reef habitat about 20 miles off the Alabama coast.

McCaghren said he has killed about 100 using a small spear known as a “Lion Tamer.” Because each lionfish possesses three sets of venomous fins, he said he usually knocks them off the spear and leaves them in the water rather than trying to bring them back to the dock to eat.

A lionfish killed by the Press-Register on Tuesday yielded two small filets. The meat was firm and white and tasted delicious sauteed in butter. To clean it, the venomous barbs were simply clipped off with a pair of wire snips.

If you get stung by a lionfish, run the wound under hot water and seek medical attention. The telltale water stream from an outboard motor can be used to provide hot water if you get stung while offshore.

While federal officials have been encouraging people to eat lionfish, it appears unlikely that such a program will make a dent in the Gulf population. In part, that’s because the fish don’t typically take a baited hook, and in part it is because they have apparently colonized the deepest parts of the Gulf.

“No one expected to see a lionfish at 1,400 feet down, but that’s what we’re seeing,” said Thomas Jackson, an exotic species biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Jackson said he believes that lionfish are reproducing in the deep recess of the Gulf and moving in toward shore. Because the fish are native to the Pacific, he said, they are likely more tolerant of the colder water far offshore than many native species.

Shipp, with the University of South Alabama, said that might explain why most of the lionfish seen by divers in the Gulf are relatively small.

“These fish get up to 15 inches, but we’re not seeing that size. Most of the reports I’ve heard are juveniles,” Shipp said. “That’s alarming. If they are establishing themselves here as juveniles, without even reproducing locally, well, who knows what will happen if they start reproducing around here.”

A survey of scuba divers with spearfishing permits conducted by the Dauphin Island Sea Lab yielded hundreds of reports of lionfish in area waters. One fish was reported under a pier in Old River next to Ono Island, in just a few feet of water. Last week, a lionfish was killed in 11 feet of water at Fort Pickens in Pensacola Bay.

“I’m hoping this won’t be like the brown tree snake in Guam. You’re talking about an entire ecosystem that has these predators in very large numbers,” Jackson said. “Our systems are already stressed. Now we’re adding a very efficient predator.”

Jackson said that it is still legal to import a number of lionfish species in the United States, including species that have not yet escaped into the wild. “It is not a good idea to continue to allow the sale of these fish,” he said.

“I think it’s only a matter of time until the lionfish move into shallower water and get into our coastal ecosystem,” McCaghren said. “Fishermen don’t understand the threat yet because they don’t see them. They’re here now. And the difference they’ve made in just a few years is incredible.”

Thanks to All Alabama Kathy Dowsett


www.kirkscubagear.com

The Taming of the Lionfish

The lionfish is a hot item in SCUBA current events. Though beautiful to observe, the lionfish has infiltrated a marine ecosystem it does not belong to, causing devastating effects to coral reef systems in the Atlantic along the eastern cost of the US and the Caribbean. Local government and environmental agencies are beseeching SCUBA divers to actively hunt and kill the lionfish, which as it turns out, is a rather tasty fish that can be prepared in a variety of ways. So what’s the big deal about lionfish?

Lionfish is the common name for a genus of fish called Pterois, which features about 15 different species. There are 2 species which have invaded the Atlantic and Caribbean: P. volitans and P. miles. Originally from the waters of the Indo-Pacific region, lionfish have been a very popular choice for aquarium enthusiasts in the US for quite some time. There are several theories as to how the lionfish came to be in the local environment. One such theory is that the invasion was facilitated through the destruction of a southern Florida aquarium during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Another tells of lionfish being accidentally released following the hurricane, and yet another proposes aquarium owners were deliberately releasing them into the sea, unsatisfied with the way the lionfish performed in the aquarium. Still others claim to have spotted the lionfish on local reefs even before Hurricane Andrew.

The lionfish has been able to reproduce at such profuse levels due to certain crucial factors:
Lionfish have no natural predators on the reefs of the Atlantic and Caribbean. Any creature that sits at the top of the food chain, unchecked by nature, will enjoy the privilege of populating an area with its own species. But this can have disastrous implications for the area as the system becomes more imbalanced.

Lionfish have a voracious, unbiased appetite for reef species. The lionfish is an indiscriminate predator, feeding on invertebrates, small fish, mollusks, and juvenile species in large amounts. Up to 6 species of fish have been found in a lionfish stomach at one time. They are aggressive and skilled hunters, using specialized characteristics of their bodies to stalk and overtake prey, which they do in one giant swallow.

Lionfish spawn at a highly accelerated rate. The female lionfish releases clusters of 2,000 to 15,000 eggs at one time, which are then fertilized by the male, and hatch 36 hours later. Within 3 days they are competent swimmers, and capable of capturing and consuming small prey. Within 20 – 40 days, the lionfish begins its metamorphosis to adult. Lionfish females can repeat this process on a monthly basis with no set breeding season, and the typical lionfish lives between 5 and 15 years.

Lionfish are hostile and venomous. The lionfish is covered in long, venomous spines that serve as a deterrent to predators in its natural environment, and are incorporated into the capture of some prey. The effect of the venom on prey is fatal, whereas the effect on humans is painful, and can bring about symptoms of nausea and fever, but is very rarely fatal. They are extremely aggressive toward other reef species, either chasing them away from the reef or consuming them in a territorial play.

According to research, lionfish are responsible for wiping out up to 80% of reef species in the Atlantic and Caribbean. A few studies have shown the Caribbean grouper to be a predator of the lionfish, but due to overfishing, there are not enough grouper to contain the wild spread of lionfish populations. That’s where SCUBA divers, snorkelers, and anglers come in.

If you live in these areas or will be traveling to one soon, check into local programs dedicated to controlling lionfish populations. Although complete eradication is deemed unrealistic, people with SCUBA training can be of immense assistance in keeping reef ecosystems from being ravaged by this most unwelcome visitor.

Photos via NOAA’s National Ocean Service, mtarlock, Serge Melki

thanks to Book Your Dive and Creedence

Kathy Dowsett

www.kirkscubagear.com

Related articles

• Lionfish Threaten Coral Reefs Near Fla. (npr.org)
• Bonaire Lionfish Hunters (repeatingislands.com)
• Answer for Invasive Species: Put It on a Plate and Eat It (nytimes.com)

A wakeup call on ocean degradation

Image via Wikipedia

For Deb Castellana, a dive on a reef offshore from Palm Beach Florida in August 2009 was a wakeup call to the degradation of our oceans.

She had returned to re-explore the waters where she learned to scuba dive in the 1980s and went on to become a dive master, teaching the sport there. It is where the Gulf Stream comes closer to land than anywhere else in the United States, keeping the water warm and the underwater life such as coral washed. The reefs were healthier there than most places.

It would not be a happy homecoming.

“The difference in my reef was astounding. I saw bleached coral. When you are doing your ascent and the water is clear it looks like PVC plastic,” says Deb. “When you look closer it is dead coral – coral bleaching.”

There was not only less coral, but fewer desirable fish and a lot more of a troublesome species known as lionfish. Lionfish are native to the Red Sea and the Pacific. “They are very pretty and people had them in aquariums. But some people in Florida released them on the reef and they spread like wildfire. They eat everything on the reef. The pretty tropicals are gone. They (lionfish) have spread as far north as North Carolina. They’re all over the Bahamas and the Caribbean.”
On the positive side, says Deb, the goliath groupers have returned in great numbers. “I worked as a dive master there every day seven days a week for 10 years and I saw one goliath grouper in 2,000 dives. They protected them because they were so rare. The one I saw was in cave and was the size of a Volkswagen. It was amazing. I saw one and never saw another until 2009, when they were all over the place – on all the wrecks and in schools.”

But overall, what she saw on that dive alarmed her. Shortly afterward, she quit her job and devoted herself full-time to promoting environmental awareness.

There was no shortage of causes to address, but probably none more urgent than the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. She found a role with Sylvia Earle, the first female chief scientist for the National Oceanographic and Atmosphere Administration and also an explorer in residence at National Geographic.

“When the Deepwater Horizon blew up they called Sylvia. They call her ‘Her Deepness.’ She is ocean royalty. Sylvia has been my idol for 30 years,” says Deb.
Sylvia had worked with many ocean conservancy groups and was looking for someone to write a blog. Authorities were trying to keep the media away from the spill area but the story needed to be told. Deb observed from planes and boats the horrific impact of the spill on the environment and wrote about it on both her blog and Sylvia’s.

“We really don’t know how many sharks or whales were killed in that disaster,” Deb says. “There was one pod of resident Orcas in Gulf and it looks like they survived.”
Sylvia’s work also emphasizes the positive. For example, she identifies “hope spots” in the oceans that are still pristine enough to save and reconstruct the healthy ocean environment of 200 years ago. Google Earth records these “hope spots” on its site.

“Sylvia went to Google and said most of the planet is ocean. Since then it is unbelievable what Google has done. You can zoom down and it takes you underwater.”
Deb, who lives in California, has also contributed in determining the status of sea lions, whale sharks and herring in the Gulf of California. “I found that the herring population had collapsed from over-fishing. The Chinese were coming in there and wiped them out. But the herring have come back and the sea lions, too.”
Outside San Francisco’s Golden Gate is the Farallones Marine Sanctuary designated in 1981 to protect the rich biological diversity of the area off the rocky Farallon islands 20 miles offshore from the mainland. Among the 25 endangered species in that area are blue and humpback whales. The sanctuary is run as a non-profit organization and has been a success.

“You would not believe the whales,” says Deb, adding that they see at least three blue whales in those waters, the largest creatures on Earth. “We’re not sure if they’re coming back or not.”

Deb says Oakland is one of the busiest shipping ports in North America and this can be a problem in October when “the water is boiling with sea life.” Last year, a ship came in with a whale wrapped around its bow. At Boston, a similar problem was avoided by changing three traffic routes so ships can stay clear of whales.
Another group protecting sea life is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which patrols in the Antarctica south of New Zealand where there is a southern ocean whale sanctuary. The group’s ships provide a presence to deter poachers in an area where there is otherwise no enforcement.

A world traveller, Deb once lived in Sweden and was impressed with the Swedes’ dedication to environmental conservation. So clean is the water now “they go salmon fishing on their lunch breaks in middle of Stockholm. When they had the very first Earth Day the people in Sweden took it very seriously.”

Deb’s passion for the ocean began with her love of sailing when she lived in New York. “But for half the year my boat was on blocks and I couldn’t sail.” So she moved to Florida, sold her sailboat and bought dive gear. “I immediately became addicted to it. I couldn’t believe if you are underwater you could swim right up to a sea turtle.”

That discovery, in turn, led to her growing awareness of the importance of conserving oceans and the sea life they support.

To that end, she is now working with the Coast Guard in San Francisco to ensure people get hazardous material training and instruction on how to capture and handle birds covered with oil from a spill in the ocean.

“When we had the last spill, well meaning people would start chasing them and they’d fly away and die. We need all hands on deck because an oil spill could happen five minutes from now.”

Kathy Dowsett

www.kirkscubagear.com

Related articles

• Shark's Lionfish Lunch (repeatingislands.com)
• Bookshelf: Sea Change (learntodivetoday.wordpress.com)
• imabonehead: Pictures: Sharks Taught to Hunt Alien Lionfish (news.nationalgeographic.com)