“Don’t Touch The Coral” If you have ever been diving or snorkeling by a beautiful coral reef, you would have heard the strict instructions not to touch, or break the delicate coral which takes years to grow.  We are increasingly aware of the threats to our underwater ecosystems caused by bleached and damaged coral, but did you know about the increasingly popular movement of “Coral Gardening” which is helping to restore healthy coral reefs?

Causes of Coral Destruction

Coral has been measured to be declining at an increasing rate with roughly one quarter of reefs worldwide already damaged beyond repair.  Cyclones, pollution, warmer waters, and ocean acidity, as well as competition from seaweeds and predators are some of the main culprits.  Of course Scuba divers and snorkelers also can take some of the blame if they accidentally break coral, or contribute to pollution through use of destructive sunscreens. Destructive fishing methods such as dynamite fishing, or bottom trawling play a big part of the destruction in some areas. Coral mining is also an issue in some countries, where the living coral is harvested for use in bricks, building, road construction, and to be sold to tourists.

Coral Gardening – Aquaculture of Coral

Coral Reef Farming is the concept of extracting segments of larva of live corals from a reef and then proceeding to grow them in a nursery until adulthood. The technique involves treating coral as if it were a plant, leading to the name ‘Coral Gardening’. Coral Gardening has been enjoyed by many who have a coral display in an aquarium, and there are businesses who grow it for this purpose.  Now Coral Gardening is taking off as a popular conservation effort to restore and create beautiful coral gardens which help to provide the important part of the ecosystem for many underwater species.

How are Coral Gardens made?
Coral can either be reproduced sexually, or asexually by budding polyps. In the first method, spawn is collected, collonised in tanks then into floating nurseries in the ocean. The next step is to transplant it into the sea and secure it, then wait for it to grow!  The Coral can be secured with cable ties, rope frames, and other inventive measures to hold the coral in place.

The more current method is to source coral seedlings from reef colonies or stray coral fragments, by harvesting coral branches, fragments, or nubbins (pieces of coral pruned from the tips). This fragmentation is the most practiced method.

Become a Coral Gardener!

Although you may not go out and set up your own home coral gardening facility, there are places all around the globe where you can become involved in the process. Volunteer projects are available in places such as Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, etc… You can learn more about coral conservation and restoration by getting stuck in, and join an educational dive, such as a Project AWARE Reef Conservation Course where you can incorporate learning to recognize a reef in distress to you dives. Be sure to research the facility you plan to volunteer at to ensure you are working towards the greater good, in a sustainable manner. Remember it isn’t always necessarily hands-on; doing things like educating locals on how to preserve the reef can go a long way! Find out more about actions you can take within your own community too!   

In the meantime, here are some good dive practices to help you help the reefs! Consider taking our Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty to perfect your positioning in the water to avoid damaging vulnerable marine life! Fish ID is another awesome specialty that will help familiarize you with the underwater world; conservation starts with education.

If you would like to learn more ways to help the underwater environment, get in touch with us at Dive HQ Christchurch – 103 Durham Street South – 03 379 5804 – and we will introduce you to Project AWARE!

In August of 2014 the Hikurangi marine reserve opened off the coast of Kaikoura along with a few other protected areas. These included a Fur Seal and Whale sanctuary and also some areas that are off limits to commercial fishing. The areas were designed to protect marine species and the environment that they live in. This marine reserve drew a lot of attention among the diving and fishing community. It’s on the South side of Kaikoura on a popular stretch of the shoreline which was ideal for Christchurch people to stop to Free Dive or Scuba Dive. When we had dived there pre marine reserve it was beautiful but there weren’t a lot of fish, and size crayfish were getting harder to find.

I had dived here many times before it became a marine reserve, and every dive I did there I really enjoyed, but what I was about to see would change how I looked at the coast of Kaikoura forever.

A group of us had decided to head up to Kaikoura for a couple fun dives one Sunday a few months back. I was in charge of deciding where we would dive which is always a tough job. We were driving up the coast and I still had no idea where we were going to stop. When we saw the water it was so flat I knew where we were going to dive. We pulled over at the lay-by by Barneys Rock and I proceed to tell them we were going to surface swim out to the big white rock and dive around it. So we all geared up and started to head out with our dive buddy. We dropped down on the shore side of the rock and had planned to head around keeping it on our left. As soon as we got to the bottom we noticed the visibility was more than 10m and we knew it was going to be an awesome dive. We started kicking and there was a school of Moki right in front of us. We sat and watched them for ages, they were so curious. There were a few blue cod and butterfish hanging around as well. One butter we saw was massive you could see the long silver line down its side and the bright blue on its fins. I decided to look in a crack in the rock and there would have been about 10 crayfish peering back at me. They were not worried one bit that I was there. We continued swimming around the rock reaching depths of about 20m. All of sudden out of nowhere was a black shape with big eyes. It was a seal who had come to check us out. He played with us for a while and then swam off.

We had now got round to the back of the rock and came across a split in the rock face. I signaled to my buddy to come and have a look. What I saw in front of me is something I never dreamt of seeing. There was around 70-80 cray fish in one hole. They were lined up in rows like they were an army ready to fight. The smaller cray fish were in the front and the big breeding stock were far back in the hole. These were some of the biggest crayfish I have seen. I didn’t want to leave this hole. It was unreal and what if I could never find it again. We had to start heading back, we had been out for a long time and the other divers would be finishing their dive soon. As we swam back round to the front and headed back to the shore under the water there was Paua all over the rocks. There was so many there that they were almost on top of each other. Before we made it back to shore a school of Kahawai quickly swam past us not stopping to see what we were doing. We decided it was time to end the dive and head up. When we got to the surface my buddy and I were so excited about what we had just seen and couldn’t wait to hear how cool everyone else’s dives were.

Every time I think about this dive I want to go back and do it all over again. The difference in the amount of aquatic life in just the first two years of this marine reserve being open is unbelievable. I cannot wait to see what it will be like in another two years!

Read more about how marine surveys are performed in this article.

An article from when the marine reserve was first put in place can be found here.

71% of our planet’s surface is covered in water. Oceans, lakes, rivers, ice caps, glaciers… It is essential to our existence, yet along with our forests, we are progressively – but faster than you think – destroying it. Our sources of survival, and we are the ones ruining them, depriving ourselves.

It isn’t your problem? Think again.

You may not use plastic bags, all your Tupperware is BPA free, and you always, ALWAYS recycle. You have no impact on the ocean’s pollution, and it has no impact on you. Wrong.One cannot simply be impartial to something as vital as the Earth’s waterways. We all play a role in the cycle of life, and we can all play the ‘good guy’. All it takes is knowledge and understanding.

Countries and supermarkets that have banned or started charging for plastic bags is a great start, we should all be aware of the evil doings of the plastic carrier bag. If you are unsure how they are affecting the environment, here are some quick stats:

• A plastic bag gets used, on average, for a mere 12 minutes
• Plastic bags are in the top 12 items most commonly found on coastal clean-ups
• On average, we only recycle one in every 200 plastic bags we use

You can read more, here.

If that means nothing to you, try this:

Turtles easily mistake plastic bags for jellyfish.

In nature, it is almost impossible for turtles (and other animals – not just marine creatures) to differentiate between these carrier bags and their food source, notable jellyfish for turtles.

There are elements that contribute to the plastic pollution that we are well aware of. This is great; awareness leads to prevention, which in turn produces results. However there are factors that are much less known, yet as harmful to the world that surrounds us.

I am talking about microbeads; minuscule balls of plastic used in countless products, distributed worldwide daily. They are used in cosmetics and personal care products of all kinds: scrubs, lotions, soap, shower gel, even toothpaste! They are commonly added as an exfoliating agent, as a binding component to provide smoothness and a silky texture, or to aid ‘spreadability’. In certain products, coloured microbeads are added for no other reason than for aesthetic appeal. You may not even know you are using them as they are so tiny, generally ranging in size from 10 micrometres to 1mm (but in cases up to 5mm in diameter).

 So how are these ‘microbeads’ affecting the environment?

These little spheres are effectively tiny pieces of plastic. They are designed to wash easily away down the drain – out of sight, out of mind, right? They are then so small that they pass through the filtration system in the water treatment plants, washing out into our waterways. Microbeads, despite their size, make up a large portion of the infamous Plastic Soup. They absorb pollutants such as pesticides, oil, industrial chemicals etc… meaning that a single microbead can be more toxic than the water around it. This pollution then moves up the food chain when toxic-coated microbeads are consumed by fish and other marine life. Often, these fish will then enter our food chain which results in us consuming the plastic particles and the toxins. We don’t want to eat plastic, well neither do these animals!

How can you avoid using microbeads?

One of the biggest issues with microbeads is identifying them in the first place. You may not wish to be using them, but they might be sneaking into your products unnoticed. We simply do not always know what we are looking for. If that face scrub or moisturiser you are about to buy lists its ingredients, then take a peek down the list. If you see polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate, or polymethyl methacrylate then pop it back on the shelf. More and more brands are being pushed (more or less willingly) into using natural exfoliants, of which there are a multitude. These include coconut husks, apricot shells, pumice… look out for products using these as an eco-friendly alternative! Several countries have already signed bills to ban or in the very least phase out microbeads entirely. By switching to a bio-degradable alternative, you are helping protect our oceans and waterways. To help you identify the good brands and products from the bad, visit the Beat the Microbead website.

What else can you do to help?

Sometimes the smallest actions mean the most. These days, too many people take the ‘I’m just one person, I can’t change anything’ approach. The truth is, if we change that mentality and all play a small part, we can make big changes.

Here are some simple steps you can take to help reduce plastic pollution:

• Substitute plastic carrier bags for reusable ones
• Carry a reusable water canteen and coffee cup – skip takeout coffee cups by providing your own
• Say no to straws!
• Avoid disposable plastic cutlery
• Use BPA free, reusable containers to store your leftovers
• Recycle and compost as much as you can

As divers, we are more aware of the underwater world and what is going on beneath the waves. We need to become ambassadors for the oceans!

Tell us how you help reduce plastic pollution. What steps do you think we should all be taking to stop the plastic panic!

With just over a week to go, I am getting increasingly excited about the release of Pixar’s new film, Finding Dory. After marveling at the accuracy when portraying the underwater world in Finding Nemo, I look forward to seeing what new levels Pixar will go to in their most recent masterpiece.

Following the story of Dory – a forgetful regal blue tang – as she sets off in search of her long lost family, viewers will be introduced to an array of lovable marine characters. Divers, you can practice your fish ID skills as the plot unravels, thanks to the attention to detail Pixar invest in each and every one of their films. Meanwhile, marine biologists worldwide rejoice, pleased by the conservation message that the original film and its sequel aim to instill in the viewer. However, the good intentions backfired massively, as we witnessed after the release of Finding Nemo in 2003.

Regal Blue Tangs like Dory cannot be bred in captivity

Internationally, people followed the story of the poor little anemone clownfish Nemo, as he was abducted from his home and taken to live behind glass (by P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney – no less!) His loving, yet slightly overprotective father frantically searches for his lost son, while Nemo plots ways to escape his captor.

The message is clear – Fish should not be taken from the oceans, put into tanks, and left on display because you think they look pretty! That is a big NO-NO. Yet somehow, people suddenly rushed to pet shops and aquariums looking for a nemo of their very own. Clownfish sales went up as much as 40% in some places, breeders struggling to meet the sudden increase in demand. Fortunately for the world’s anemone clownfish population, our little orange and white striped friends are reasonably easy to breed in captivity. This phenomenon lead to the creation of the Saving Nemo foundation, who look to educate the masses on the truth behind having an aquarium at home. What many fail to realise is that 90% of all fish in captivity were taken directly from their homes in the ocean. This is leading to a decrease in the population of fish such as clownfish in the wild, meaning some species will eventually face extinction.

Clownfish are happiest in their natural habitat!

This issue comes into play with the release of the sequel. Will sales of blue tangs boom in the same way clownfish sales did in 2003? Unlike Nemo, Dory cannot be bred in captivity, although research is being carried out, marine biologists have yet to discover a way to breed our favourite character. If you see a blue tang in captivity, it will have come from the wild. It is estimated that a whopping 400,000 regal blue tangs are collected from their natural habitat every year, if demand increases, so will that number. Here’s hoping that Pixar get their message on conservation across loud and clear with this new film! If you are taking your little ones to see Finding Dory next week, make sure they understand the importance of fishes staying in their natural habitat!

A much better way to experience the whole cast of Finding Nemo, is to visit them personally! Witnessing marine life in its natural habitat is a great reason to learn to dive. Many of the protagonists can be found in Fiji, join us there in August! Come and talk to us to find out more! We can also tell you all about project AWARE, and how to get involved saving our oceans!