We got a nice break from fundraising today when we got to go to Galveston and talk to NOAA and Texas A&M Galveston people who were involved in their own form of conservation projects in the ocean. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and they have about 14 sanctuaries stationed on the coasts of the US that protect the wildlife out there and give them a place to thrive without human enroachment. The one that the Galveston NOAA is associated with is the Flower Banks, three banks, all about 70-150 miles off the coast that are coral reefs!
Coral reefs are super awesome, if you've never been to one before, they are hotspots of biodiversity and hold a variety of animals from corals to sponges, to fish and sharks and rays. Their ecosystem is so incredibly intermingled that it interconnects with other oceans and even the shore. Thousands of millions of fish and sharks and turtles migrate every year. They don't stay in the same place hardly ever, and this coral reef may only be their home for one season, but it's increasingly valuable because that's where they are safe, and usually where they choose to lay their eggs. So we can see the value in conserving one, if not for biodiversity, then for research, because it's so intricate!
They found about 2-3 new species in the past few years, of coral or fish, or something, and have been adding them to their super long survey/catalogue that they have been building ever since they started. Our presenter told us some about what they were and why they were important and then told us all about what had been happening in the past five years. So we got the gist of it, it was really unique, and not discovered until the 1930s or something, and it was deeper than they had seen any coral reef go previously. Plus it was stationed on sand domes, and one location had managed to form a lake, about 14 inches deep, of salt, because of the way the geography worked. And then they told us all about how the hurricanes in recent years had been affecting the reef, and what they had been seeing and recording. Basically, the damage from the hurricane is from the really intense waves that it stimulates, that manage to smack the bottom and rip coral and other bottom dwellers off the bottom and tear up some parts of the reef while others are left completely untouched. She told us all about how they record the history of the reef and take pictures at exact angles, etc. And do surveys of the number of fish or rays, etc. They also will collect lionfish, an invasive species that has been devastating Florida and managed to move to the Gulf; without it's natural predator, it eats everything it can, leaving none for the inhabitants. So NOAA does a lot to promote conservation and help conservationists research and educate the public about why we should help, and what we can do to help.
Our next stop was A&M Galveston, after a quick lunch at the beach. We meet the main marine biologist at the campus, and he took us on a tour of his facilities, complete with labs, and tanks with fish and turtles in them, and classrooms. It really made me miss Baylor, but that's beside the point. All he was telling us about his studies and his research was super interesting, and it even got me interested in wanting to go out to sea and measure turtles, etc. He had done many studies, but the one or two most interesting to me were that sea lions and seals had sensors on their whiskers that could detect the trail of a fish, and follow it. And they measured a turtles bite strength through it's stages of maturity, because it is such an ecological interest, and it's life history is super unique, they wanted to find out more about it! His studies were based on the morphology and histology of the animals in the sea, and he did all of this to help his students understand, but also to help conservationists and the public understand how cool and unique these animals where and why they should be protected.
Then we went to talk to Dr. Kot, the marine biologist who does his studies out in the field and the university basically funds him, while he gets grants for equipment from other sources. He was studying an area 100 miles north of New York, and had recently done a study on whales, and how they react to fishing nets. He had seen in his past research that there were a good amount of whales who were injured by the line, and had healed, but it altered their way of life. One, in particular, had cut his neck on the net, and it healed, but it wasn't as easy for him to swallow as much food. So Dr. Kot was naturally interested in preventing whales from getting injured and came up with an experiment testing different nets and how whales react, and if they do. He found that they could see the nets, and they would avoid them, if they weren't feeding (preoccupied). He also found that they recognized the black and white nets better than any others, but those were not the cheaper ones used by the locals. So he came up with a solution, he put fin like appendages (basically string) on the end of the nets and the whales could hear the nets moving, and would move away from them. His study was super cool because it was productive! It got the locals involved in his research and in conservation and eventually will publish a paper that will inform the science community about this and hopefully get word out how to help save whales from getting caught in nets. His information was very copious and it was amazing how much I learned from one hour with the man. He was very intelligent and really good at his job, and I appreciated him teaching us about what he had learned recently. He also showed us a tracking devise that would help them understand more about the whales life history and patterns; it was a suction-cup arrow that had a data recorder inside of it.
Today was definitely themed marine, and I appreciated it. It was a different side of conservation that people don't always see, because they aren't out at sea! Yes, I could have made a pun, but it would have been awkward if no one got it. Tomorrow, we're starting project work, and hopefully it will pull through, but we've been skeptical lately and it's been stressful. Until then!
No comments:
Post a Comment