This weekend I was enraged. No, not because my Bears lost the Super Bowl. It was the continuing dominance of the invasive Asian alga Sargassum filicinum in our dive park. And, not being of sound mind, I took action to clear up some of the problem... but in a way I knew might be detrimental to other locations. I ripped hundreds of plants out by their holdfasts and just let them drift.
In consultation with marine botanist Kathy Ann Miller, it was determined that this could indeed act as a dispersal mechanism allowing the alga to reach other locations. Heck, it's everywhere here... but could drift to San Diego or other ports of call (which, of course, is how it probably got to the West Coast and Catalina... but from Long Beach).
I'm "talking" with her about employing a different method to get rid of this highly invasive species. It is my contention that its presence in dense stands is preventing the recovery of our giant kelp (Macrocystis) in the dive park by shading out the young microscopic stages and preventing their growth.
I'd like to see if I can organize a weekday event where the Sargassum filicinum is removed by folks trained to ID it (not very difficult but there are related species here, too), but the detached plants are gathered by other divers and towed to the stairs so they can be piled up for proper disposal (and I don't mean a 21-gun salute) either in our landfill, or as compost for the organic gardeners on the island if I can arrange their cooperation.
So are there divers who might be interested in such a project, most likely later this month? It would entail doing a few fairly shallow (max 40-50 ft) dives in the park to remove it. Some would have to serve as cutters, others as tow-ers and some as land-based assistants to bring it up the steps.
Perhaps I can get SCUBA Luv and/or CDS to offer free air fills for this. Perhaps we could tie it in with an event at night if people can stay over. Heck, I'd be willing to have a party up at the house with video in the background and comraderie in the foreground!
I'm talking about a weekday because it will definitely silt up the water and lower visibility for classes and other recreational divers in the park, so I'd like to minimize that.
PM me or post her if this might be of interest.
PS... If you don't know about this introduced species, check out my column on it at:
http://www.starthrower.org/products/DDDB/DDDB_200-249/DDDB_219 Sargassum filicinum.htm
In consultation with marine botanist Kathy Ann Miller, it was determined that this could indeed act as a dispersal mechanism allowing the alga to reach other locations. Heck, it's everywhere here... but could drift to San Diego or other ports of call (which, of course, is how it probably got to the West Coast and Catalina... but from Long Beach).
I'm "talking" with her about employing a different method to get rid of this highly invasive species. It is my contention that its presence in dense stands is preventing the recovery of our giant kelp (Macrocystis) in the dive park by shading out the young microscopic stages and preventing their growth.
I'd like to see if I can organize a weekday event where the Sargassum filicinum is removed by folks trained to ID it (not very difficult but there are related species here, too), but the detached plants are gathered by other divers and towed to the stairs so they can be piled up for proper disposal (and I don't mean a 21-gun salute) either in our landfill, or as compost for the organic gardeners on the island if I can arrange their cooperation.
So are there divers who might be interested in such a project, most likely later this month? It would entail doing a few fairly shallow (max 40-50 ft) dives in the park to remove it. Some would have to serve as cutters, others as tow-ers and some as land-based assistants to bring it up the steps.
Perhaps I can get SCUBA Luv and/or CDS to offer free air fills for this. Perhaps we could tie it in with an event at night if people can stay over. Heck, I'd be willing to have a party up at the house with video in the background and comraderie in the foreground!
I'm talking about a weekday because it will definitely silt up the water and lower visibility for classes and other recreational divers in the park, so I'd like to minimize that.
PM me or post her if this might be of interest.
PS... If you don't know about this introduced species, check out my column on it at:
http://www.starthrower.org/products/DDDB/DDDB_200-249/DDDB_219 Sargassum filicinum.htm
