Every few years, I invite readers and colleagues to contribute guest columns in the series Technology and my Hobby/Passion. Over a hundred contributed in the last decade on their birding, charities, cooking, music, sports and every other passion, and how it keeps evolving with technology. Click here and scroll down to read them all.
This time it is Rob Kugel, SVP & Research Director of Office of Finance and Business Research at Ventana Research. Here he writes about his diving and the volunteer work he does with Reef Check.
"I love the ocean. I started with Reef Check in 2010 as a volunteer diver because I fell in love with California’s kelp forest ecosystem. Diving in them is like floating through a forest with fish, marine mammals and – yes – birds (diving cormorants) all around you, some curious, some skittish. And plants and animals unlike anything on land.
Becoming a volunteer diver requires four days of classroom and in-water training as well as annual recertification to ensure the quality of the data we collect. On the first day of our classroom training our instructor kicked off the session by informing us that all Reefcheckers share a common characteristic: We are “adventuresome nerds.”
Cold water SCUBA diving is a different, more complicated sport compared to tropical diving. In northern California, you need a lot more gear and a lot more insulation to be in water that’s usually 50 degrees Fahrenheit (plus or minus). I wear a dry suit because it’s more comfortable and I’m always wearing a hood and thick gloves. And usually, dive conditions here are “less than ideal,” with limited visibility (25 feet is great; often it’s more like 10-15 feet), and strong ocean surge and currents. Some people find all of this too cold and claustrophobic.
Reef Check dives are a challenge because they’re heavily task loaded. You have to accurately identify and count a range of target organisms (specific species of fish, invertebrates and algae) along a transect and write down the things you’ve found, all in these less-than-ideal conditions and within the time limits of your available air. For me, there’s a lot of satisfaction being able to do all that.
There’s also the satisfaction in supporting California’s Marine Protected Areas by collecting the data that demonstrates that MPAs do what they’re supposed to do. Reef Check is also doing experimental work to help restore the kelp forest. Many people are aware of the threats to coral reefs around the world. Few are aware of the devastation of the west coast's kelp forests over the past decade caused in part by a sea urchin population explosion that was the result from an epidemic die-off of sea stars, their main predator. Reef Check is leading projects in California that are designed to find ways to restore the kelp forests.
Five years ago, I joined the board of Reef Check Foundation and I’m also a member of our executive committee. Reef Check began in 1996 to do the first coordinated worldwide scientific assessment of the health of coral reefs. That work confirmed the rising phenomenon of coral reef bleaching. Reef Check’s mission is to save our reefs and oceans and ensure their sustainable future through education, research, and conservation. We have completed nearly 15,000 surveys in over 100 countries. We train thousands of citizen scientist volunteers every year around the world to survey the health of tropical coral reefs and kelp forest ecosystems along the entire coast of California. Government bodies, NGOs and academic organizations use the data we collect to improve natural resources management. Reef Check programs provide ecologically sound and economically sustainable solutions built on partnerships among community volunteers, government agencies, businesses, universities, and other nonprofits.
Here’s a video that I created and narrated to provide a short introduction and explanation of our mission. Most of the technology that we use is embodied in the refinements made of the past 50 years in SCUBA gear. When you watch the video, you’ll see that our survey work is all manual. You have a tablet for securing underwater paper and a pencil to record your findings, a dive light and a 30-meter tape. We’ve tried to find ways to use underwater cameras and video processing software to eliminate or reduce the need for humans but (so far) it’s not practical."
Out There
Great PopSci issue which looks at the edge of everything - in space, under our oceans, the poles of our planet and elsewhere.
We know so little - so much more to explore
August 23, 2019 in Industry Commentary, Oceanography, Space studies, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)