Video requesting permit to remove invasive Sargassum horneri from Catalina Dive Park

[drbill]

I've put together a draft version of a video I plan to send to the California Dept. of Fish & Game (CDF&G) and Commissioners to request a permit to remove the invasive Asian alga Sargassum horneri [= filicinum] from our Casino Point Dive Park... soon to become an official marine protected area. I thought some of the members here might be interested in seeing it:

 

[Teamcasa]

Nice work Dr.Bill.

 

[fnfalman]

Dr. Bill,

How do you propose to remove the china grass? Is there already a predetermined method to remove them without spreading the "seeds"?

 

[AndyScuba]

Next time I am at Casino Point, i'll bring my fishing licence and take the 10lbs limit. They should put a scale right next to the stairs. ;o)

 

[pfulks]

good work, if you are doing a full on project. I know some people from the LA underwater explorers club that would be more than willing to help, like Me!

 

[drbill]

Dr. Bill,

How do you propose to remove the china grass? Is there already a predetermined method to remove them without spreading the "seeds"?

Certainly this has been a concern since the stuff first appeared. Many said we should not pull it and let it drift away as it would colonize other areas. Well, everywhere it could be on Catalina is already colonized.

Could it disperse from here to the mainland? Studies off Asia suggest that drifting mats of this species do not contribute to gene flow between populations, so it is possible they might sink before reaching the mainland.

There are concerns about reproductive products being carried by divers from island waters back to the mainland in SCUBA gear, then disseminated there. No definitive studies that I'm aware of that show this though.

 

[H2Ocean]

goodness almighty, I hope a Marine Protected Area isn't in the works of legislation to lock down some more of the ocean for the rights of Asian alga Sargassum horneri [= filicinum], I mean doesn't it have just as much right to its environment as anything else? Maybe we can give it a protected area. And then monitor it. Police it and only allow Asian alga Sargassum horneri [= filicinum] to freely live there. Its either observe it for being a natural occurance even if it was by contamination, or develop some form of task force? I'm lost on this one.

 

[drbill]

H2Ocean... it has every "right" to exist in its natural geographic region, but not here in our waters where it has serious effects on native species. If you think it is a natural event that it got here, you are not understanding the difference between native and non-native species and appear to need some training in ecology, evolution and marine biogeography. Of course if this is all tongue-in-cheek, that's a differ t story!

 

[ItsBruce]

Bill, very well done.

So, let me get this straight: The government has established a MPA to protect a portion of the ocean from damage by humans, but is giving free reign to an invasive species to destroy it.

As Ronald Reagan used to say: "Who is going to protect us from our protectors?"

Edit: Essentially, by creating an MPA, the government is going to destroy the area entirely. I wonder if the same government would protect the mosquitos that carried malaria or the rats that carried bubonic plague.

 

[drbill]

Not that sinister, ItsBruce. I'm assuming that the CDF&G and Commissioners will immediately understand that having a non-native species so dominate a few of the new MPAs is totally inconsistent with their goal of preserving the native stocks in our waters and with the purpose of the new MPAs and will "immediately" agree to the start of dialog to plan for its removal.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the issue of invasives in an MPA.