Natural Resources

[Firebrand]

I have a Bachelors of Science degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Unfortunately, there aren't any places to dive in the mountains of western North Carolina. I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, making an annual trek to Key West for opening week of the regular lobster season. I have noticed a general degradation of the coral heads and reefs around the Key West area and would like to gather other divers' opinions/observations of the quality of the reefs and coral heads off of the Key West area. Unfortunately, I am in the military and cannot take more trips to Key West to note the condition of the reefs over the range of the seasons.

I have also noticed a significant decrease in the lobster population for the season. Fortunately, the state of Florida has changed their laws concerning a diver's/boats limit for harvesting lobsters per day. Unfortunately, the thought process of many harvesters is, "If I get my limit early, I'm going back out for more." I feel that as divers, we have an increased obligation to protect our resources for generations to follow, and to leave the environment in a better condition than what we found it. For anyone who regularly dives in the Key West area, please provide your thoughts on the subject matter. I do not want this to become an argument between those with opposing views, just a general collection of divers who want to make a difference for the environment.

 

[RTBCAT]

Here the same thing applies here. You go a protected area underwater park etc. you willl see lots of large Red Rock and Dungeness carbs. Outside these areas carbs are smaller and not as many. Take only what you can eat. Here you can only take male carbs within the legal size limit how about lobsters?

 

[Firebrand]

All lobster are available if they are the legal size limit.

 

[JustinW]

how do you propose to make a dive site better than it was before your dive? What can we possibly contribute to make it "better?" i suppose that very much depends on your definition

 

[archman]

how do you propose to make a dive site better than it was before your dive? What can we possibly contribute to make it "better?" i suppose that very much depends on your definition

Picking up trash is an easy one... one of the summer diving classes taught at Seacamp is called "Reef Rubbish Recycling". The kiddies dive around the Newfound Harbor reef complex with potato sacks, and collect all sorts of junk, year after year.

Other stuff is more technical. Transplanting corals. Removing algal overgrowths. Re-introducing native fish and invertebrate stocks that were previously extirpated. Boy, you should see how quick a couple dozen Diadema can clean the algae off a patch reef!

You see any exotic species, kill/remove on sight. Exotics suck.

And then you can opt for indirect aid. Perform a fish or coral survey. Report to the Coast Guard boats that are illegally fishing/anchoring. Official stuff like this gets compiled and provides the DATA that resource managers need to lobby for enhanced habitat protection and/or enforcement. I think R.E.E.F. surpassed the 80,000 count on fish surveys recently, holy cow!

 

[Firebrand]

Thanks Archman! You covered everything I could think of.

 

[archman]

Thanks Archman! You covered everything I could think of.

Anything for a UNC-Asheville grad! My brother, his wife, and my sister all graduated from there. That's one beautiful little school!

 

[Firebrand]

Cool! That is where I met my wife. Unfortunatly, she will be graduating from the University of Alabama at Huntsville (where I'm permenantly stationed for the Army).

 

[JustinW]

So i stand corrected, although i do not recommend transplanting (fragging) corals for the average diver. We will end up with SPS corals all over with clipped off tips and dead frags across the rest of the bay.

Caulerpa looks so beautiful on the sea floor though......

 

[archman]

Caulerpa looks so beautiful on the sea floor though......

That's my favorite algal group. The anatomy and cellular functions are sooooo cool. If only C. taxifolia hadn't of invaded California, my view of the genus would be perfect.

Ah, Caulerpa... if only it tasted better.