Test Video

I shot this today on Columbia Deep and Columbia shallows. It is test of how I will present some videos as I am blogging which will start around Aug 17th. Lets hope the quality is worthwhile!

Lion Fish Woes!

The Marine Park had a big get-together last night to educate the divers and hopefully solve our lion fish problem. In the end, the truth is the lion fish is here to stay and here is why.
It's a damn durable fish. These things grow at a very fast rate and can be sexually mature in 6 months. They can survive for more than 4 months without eating anything and can thrive in almost any warm water environment. Reported sightings of lion fish are as deep as 500 ft. This is a tough fish! When food is good, they are voracious predators and will eat anything they can wrap their big mouths around. This is why they are so dangerous for our ecosystems.
The good news is they have behaviors which make them pretty easy to catch and kill. They are very territorial so you can find them in the same place day after day. They move pretty slowly and are not afraid of anything. They won't go run and hide when they see divers. If you want to catch them, they pretty much cooperate and let themselves be netted. Trouble is as divers, we must be very careful of their venomous spines. They have 13 on the top and 7 on the bottom of the fish and each one can stick a very painful bit of venom that can last for hours. If stuck heat is the key to break down the poison quickly.
The conference was given by REEF from the US. They have been studying this fish since its introduction in Florida in 1994. The presenter (Lad Akins) was very knowledgeable and did a good job of educating the more than 50 divers that came to help. He showed us how to capture them, how to avoid their sting and why we need to do something now. So far the lion fish has invaded much of the Caribbean and Atlantic seaboard. The only thing that seems to stop them is cold water. They seem to make it as far as Maine but don't survive the winter months. In the Bahamas they have devastated the native species and will likely do the same here if they get a chance. In the first areas they basically did nothing and let nature take its course. Cozumel is in the position to see if this constant vigil and kill method can slow the lion fish invasion and keep Cozumel's reefs in relative harmony.
So the plan is to capture and kill each fish we encounter. So far Cozumel has captured about 60 fish. This has a chance of working well in the areas where the divers frequent but on the East side of the island they will thrive. They can also live very well at depths deeper than we can go.
So our work is cut out for us and hopefully with the help of REEF, the Marnie Park and all the divers on our reefs we can maintain some control over this amazing fish. You have to respect a fish that is so hearty and well adapted. Too bad we have to kill it too.

Spot tracking

Many of you know that I am going to be taking a long motorcycle ride this summer and blogging the whole trip. As of now it will begin on Aug 15th and last for about 2 months. I will start in Denver on a KLR 650 motorcycle, head north to the Arctic Ocean and then south to Cozumel. It will be about 16 thousand miles by the end. I will be writing for a magazine in Southern California (www.adventuremotorcycle.com) and also working to bring awareness to the national safety council's anti cell phone driving initiative. The trip is looking good and I am hoping that my writing is fun and interesting and can take Tony's Follies to a new level.
One of the new things that you will see on the blog is a tracking device called a spot.
http://findmespot.com/barf/

This device will allow me to be tracked every 10 min and will hopefully keep the story more interesting and fun! the map feature will look like this one :
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0zJt7xhiqZ8oClqMteLDVWR1hrAA0k0NN

I would be interested in your feedback as to this part of the trip and the blog entries. There will actually be a map on each blog entry with my actual location. Even if the blog was updated a day or two before when I found and internet connection the SPOT device should show my current location.
Would love to hear your comments on it!

Have a great day!
Tony

The Invasion

Many of you may have heard about the lionfish that have been mysteriously arriving in Cozumel waters. The lionfish is not from around here. In fact they come from the Indo Pacific.

Wikipedia says:

The lionfish is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific region of the world, but various species can be found worldwide. Due to a recent introduction, the lionfish has recently been spotted in the warmer coral regions of the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.^[2] This introduction was most likely caused when a hurricane destroyed an aquarium in southern Florida. DNA from captured lionfish in this region shows that they all originated from the same six or seven fish.

SO guess what? They are in Cozumel and the Marine Park is stressed. They seem to be at a standstill as to what really needs to be done. The controversy is thick really. On the one hand you have a transplanted species that could wreak havoc on local species. They are voracious predators and prey particularly often on smaller and juvenile species. On the other hand, you have a fish that is very attractive, highly photogenic and likes to stay in the same place all the time. As a scuba diver what more could a diver ask for?

So do we kill it or do we love it?

2 days ago I had my first encounter and in my mind I am still torn with the decision.

When last we met our intrepid adventurers (I always wanted to write that) they are happily enjoying an afternoon swim on Santa Rosa reef. The wall is beautiful, the vis is striking and all 6 divers are performing swimmingly. HEHE.

Katherine (Marty’s wife) is just ahead of me and points out something interesting. I pop down to 83 ft and she points to a flowing black fish on the edge of the wall. Sure enough the arch enemy of the Cozumel reef ecosystem has come out of hiding to flaunt his wrath. The 5 inch fish is just hanging out enjoying the early evening and fully prepared to pose for pictures. Marty obliges him with camera in hand (thank you Marty for the shots you see here). Tone Scubaman moves in for some views as well and the California boys, Jeff and Kevin are equally impressed. I signal to everyone to standby and I head, as slowly and quickly to the surface, as I dare. Gotta hurry, don’t wanna get bent.

When I get to the surface, Carlos is there and he throws me my mask box so I have something to capture said invader there in. On return to the scene of the crime, the bold and unflinching predator is in exactly the same place as when we arrived, basking in the glory that is his own, his ocean, we are just visiting and he knows it. Unfortunately, the marine park feels differently. I know my job as guardian of the marine park is to subdue such vile and dangerous predators and deliver them forthwith to marine park jail.

So I arrive on scene with plastic mask box in hand and attempt to herd the bold but deadly lionfish into captivity. Once again he has other ideas on the matter. It seems he does not want to go inside? He darts around escaping each time. This puzzles 10-year-old Margo, who has been watching the whole event. She thinks the ecologically minded, super green diver guy ScubaTony said “don’t take anything, don’t touch anything inside the marine park”. And she would be correct. I did say that and do say that all the time. Meanwhile back at the ranch (always wanted to say that too), the brave lionfish has decided bold is no longer working for him and he now hides deep inside the reef so that no mask box or ecologically minded, super green diver guy will take him away to marine park jail. I give up and continue the dive with my guests, a couple of which have used up a lot of their air at 83 ft. Lion fish 1, Scubatony zippo!

Next day is Monday and I have a couple other divers onboard. The Marine Park is happy to hear of our discovery the day before and gives me a couple of fish nets so that I might apprehend the terrible invader with more success! We dive Maricaibo (amazing wow type dive), do our surface interval at El Cielo and head back to Santa Rosa to attempt once more to bring the little outcast to justice. It all goes like clockwork and within a few minutes we arrive at the same place on Santa Rosa wall at 83 ft, with Marine park apprehension devices in hand. The bold lion fish has resumed his vigil and moved approximately 13 inches from his original location, where I harassed him into submission the day before. This time he gives up without a struggle knowing that Scubatony and his mighty divers, with the help of the Marine Park, has bested him. We have him captured and marvel in the glory or our success. Lionfish is in the net but struggles very little knowing that attempts to excape would be futile. Lionfish 1, Scubatony a bigger ONE!

We get him back to the boat and Carlos puts him in a bucket of water for the journey back to Caleta. After a short while his belly begins to swell. I think he has decompression sickness from coming up from 80 ft. The little guy is upside down on the surface of the bucket but can’t right himself or swim down. He is still flapping his gills and appears to be in some distress. Everyone on the boat feels bad for him. I, in particular, have guilt. This beautiful fish, which was honestly the highlight of our dive, is dying a painful death all because he was offspring of some rogue fish that was originally stolen from his home waters of Southeast Asia and freed by an act of nature to survive and breed in a new ocean on the other side of the planet.

I give him over to the Marine Park along with the soggy nets they loaned me. As I do, I feel remorse. Actually it is more like grief. I have done what was expected of me. This lion fish will not eat up the small and weaker fish here in Cozumel. He will not breed and make more of his own kind. He will die a painful death and later be dissected and his DNA tested to see where he comes from.

This event still troubles me. Margo questioned me as to why I captured the little lion fish. I explained the reasons and she understood; but she had every right to feel that I was wrong in doing so. I don’t know if we have the power to stop this invasion. Since their first sighting last winter, there have been more and more captured each month. At best, we might be able to slow a complete invasion but I think the beautiful little lion fish is here to stay. Perhaps we should just enjoy them and see what nature will come up with in the new balance of life that is the Cozumel Marine Park.