Chine bLog - 8. Marine Science and Conservation

Some thoughts on the first paddle itself

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:48:11 +0200

Having shown off the boat, I wanted to jot down a few thoughts on our first paddle in PEACE OF THE PUZZLE. We had been doing a bit of sailing on the Potomac nearer to DC, and paddling in this creek, Kane's Creek, was such a pleasure. It was clean! Kane's Creek emerges from a national wildlife refuge and is thus relatively pristine, given its proximity to developed areas. The water was fairly clear and full of life. My kids were dangling the feet and hands in it - a true pleasure of childhood boating - and we had no concerns.

Not so, just downriver from DC. Off Alexandria, we run into a decent amount of C-R-A-P (we saw the figurative kind, but apparently after a good rain...) in the water and on the shore. There, my wife and I couldn't pull the kids' appendages inboard fast enough. I know we have made a great deal of progress, but we need to do more to make sure our urban riverscapes are treasures for boating of all kinds, not just the "nice view, but, dear god, don't flip it" kind.

Of course, I prefer the quiet of a creek like Kane's anyway. There are many little "islands" of aquatic plants to weave around, low bluffs, and just a bit of foliage (its been so hot here...). There is a good trip report for this paddle on Paddling.net.

By the way, thanks to our friends at American Rivers for suggesting we all focus on the joys of clean rivers on this day and others. October 15th is Blog Action Day for the environment. Please join me in helping out.

World Ocean Day

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 03:48:08 +0200

Today was World Ocean Day. We boaters need healthy oceans, so think about taking action to support this cause. And then get out on the water and remember why you did.

2007 top-10 most endangered American rivers list released

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 01:28:00 +0200

American Rivers has released its annual list of 10 most endangered American rivers. I don't personally know any of these, but I am going to take a guess that most of these a valuable boating rivers that need care.

Interesting sounding interview from Conservation International

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 02:01:00 +0100

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 2/13, at 12:00 EST, Conservation International will be running the latest in a series of interviews with conservation experts and other stakeholders. Tomorrow's interview is with Sheila McKenna, senior research scientist at CI's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. Ms. McKenna had the rough assignment of diving off New Caledonia to learn how the customs and cultural beliefs of the local Kanak community are helping to preserve an important marine resource.

Freeing rivers seems to increase property values

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 02:00:00 +0100

In good news for boats who prefer a natural run of river with plentiful native fish and wildlife, recent research put out by American Rivers gives economic heft to go with natural beauty. In two recent studies, one by a professor at my alma mater, Bates College in Lewiston, ME, property values seemed to be positively effected by dam removal initiatives. And this doesn't even factor in other hard and soft benefits. It will be a nice day when the field of environmental economics REALLY gets going...

Interesting video - "Restoring the Elwha"

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 03:44:18 +0100

American Rivers has an interesting video out on restoration of the Elwha River in Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Looks like it will recreate a nice river for boating, particularly if one likes mixing fishing with their boating. There is also a snippet of a nice native canoe.

Beautiful audio essay / podcast from Nature Conservancy on canoeing Maine's Merrymeeting Bay

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 04:41:13 +0100

This is a really nice audio essay / podcast, done while paddling in Maine's Merrymeeting Bay, where the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers, among others, meet. It describes the Bay's features, fauna, history, and prospects while paddle blades dip and swing in the background. Thanks to the Nature Conservancy for distributing this.

Fisheries lessons from Nova Scotia

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 23:01:53 +0200

I was struck by this piece in today's Washington Post about the death of fisheries in Nova Scotia. Its uglier than I had thought - to the extent that one nice boating past-time is shot:

"All but one of our seafood processing houses has shut down," said Keith Merrill, skipper of Eastern Star, a wooden sailboat that takes tourists on two-hour sightseeing cruises out of Lunenburg, a once-bustling fishing port where draggers and trawlers now lie mouldering away. "They still catch lobsters here, but the ground-fishing is pretty much finished."

Author Angus Phillips draws the lesson that this result portends problems in other areas with poor fisheries management, like the Chesapeake. Interesting piece. And nice Tancook schooner as the lead photo.

"Cold Days on Lake Superior" - Week two of the Superior Waters Project Trip is Up

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 19:06:54 +0200

Check out entry two of the Superior Waters Project trip journal.

Go Carbon Zero

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 04:16:00 +0200

The Conservation Fund has created a nice calculator to help you understand your contributions to greenhouse gas emmissions. It then lets you offset your footprint by preserving forested land as a carbon sequestration tactic.

I highlight this for two reasons. First, and most important, this is a serious issue that profoundly effects our boating environments in specific and the world in general. We all need to care about it and work for solutions. Second, maybe less important in the grand scheme but another valuable incentive, this will be a nice way of helping ensure quality lumber in the years ahead. As forests are recreated and sustainably managed, many of the areas that once supported wooden boat contruction but were over-harvested should come back. The current focus seems to be on the American South and Southest, but the model should work for other regions with other important resources.

Please take the time to go see how you can help.

The Lake Superior Project - two kayakers take on gitche gumee

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 03:39:00 +0200

From our friends at Paddling.net comes this interesting tidbit: under the auspices of Wilderness Classroom Organization (WCO), two kayakers, Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla, are circumnavigating Lake Superior in order to draw attention to its myriad assets and challenges. Paddling.net will apparently be running stories from the trip; the first one, with an overview, came out in their recent newsletter.

As I have noted in the past, Lake Superior ("the big lake they call gitche gumee," in Gordon Lightfoot's immortal words) is stunning. Being the largest body of fresh water on the planet and being butted against many industrial areas makes for challenges, as its siblings to the South can no doubt attest. Good luck to Amy and Dave on this voyage, and may it inspire others to care so much for this great boating ground.

EarthDive, an online community and global dive log

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 19:13:01 +0200

One nice thing you can do with a small boat is find nice dive and snorkling spots. A small boat makes that much more area accessible in a sustainable way. I raise this because in looking through past e-mails today I came across an old blog post from a contact who was at Oceana. He was highlighting the EarthDive project, a consortium project to aggregate dive reports in the interest of making more information available for science and conservation. The core of it is a Global Dive Log - basically when you join and enter your dive records, the data is captured with other members, and the information stored such that it can be queried. Very cool use of technology.

We saw "An Inconvenient Truth" last night...

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 04:08:07 +0200

My wife and I saw An Inconvenent Truth, Al Gore's movie on climate change, last night. You must go see this movie. Whatever you think of Al Gore, put it aside and just look at the evidence - it is too compelling to ignore and cuts through a lot of the garbage. Bottom line: this issue is the real deal and we all need to be worried about it. Check out the trailer if you need a preview, but it know that it doesn't really prepare you. The movie is way more entertaining than may be described.

As lovers of small, naturally-powered boats, especially wooden ones, I think we can give ourselves a small pat on the back (provided we use sustainable forestry products). By dropping a paddle or oar or flying before the wind, we are getting our rush in a decidely carbon-friendly way. So add that the list of reasons to feel good on your next outing. Heck, a well-placed fouling substance in the tank of a Cigarette at the launching ramp, and you have yourself a carbon-negative trip! I'm kidding of course - that is way too nice a treatment for a Cigarette. ;^)

Back to the "whatever you think of Al Gore" comment at the beginning: prepare to be impressed. His intellect was never in doubt (or oughtn't have been), but he lets his passion and humor out more than we have seen him do in public before. He is striking in his command of the subject and confidence as a leader. Damn shame he couldn't pull that out in 2000...

By the way, for anyone who remembered my prioir post on climate change, the film makes reference to Greenland being a lynch-pin in the sea-level rise problem (all that land-based ice). The movie's blog notes that Greenland is starting to go. Might be time for those of us near-seal level to begin scouting paddling routes in the nearest upland forest...

Innovative approach to overfishing

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 03:43:22 +0200

Also worth a look is this story on NPR's Morning Edition, from July 6th. It talks about a program run by The Nature Conservancy that buys out fishing licenses and then leases them back with provisions that ban destructive trawling. I like the idea - it isn't a substitute for marine protected areas like we recently got (yeah!) in the Northeastern Hawaiian Islands and Northern Pacific, but it is a good step to limit fishing while letting captains stay in the game. Definitely an important model to have in the marine conservation playbook.

Latest on the warm, brown Chesapeake

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 03:24:20 +0200

I read with interest Angus Phillips' piece in Sunday's Washington Post about the masses of sediment that deluge the Chesapeake during rain storm like we've had here recently. He writes:

Is the Chesapeake turning into a dead mud hole? Every year it seems to get worse, and it's not just my imagination. "It's becoming way too common," said Bill Dennison of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Studies, when asked about the frequency and duration of mud blooms. He spent most of last week monitoring the mess in the bay... The conclusion? It's bad. "We got about half of what we got in Hurricane Agnes," said Dennison, referencing the horrendous deluge that buried the bay in mud 34 years ago, wiping out great swaths of shellfish and submerged grasses that never recovered... "The peak daily flow during Agnes was 1.1 million cubic feet of water per second over Conowingo Dam" where Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River enters the bay, he said. "Last week we had 450,000 cfs for peak daily flow there..." But Dennison worries that with population expansion, land development and the continued filling-up of reservoirs with mud, water roaring down the Susquehanna and other rivers is significantly thicker with crud today than it was a generation ago.

It doesn't take a lot of time on the water around the Bay to see how this plays out. Even the central Bay, near Annapolis, is murky - and that is after a clear spell. I know it is hard to make a living in farming these days, but I also understand it doesn't take much of a buffer of vegetation and / or wetland to hold back much of the run-off - we need to more aggressively figure out how to help landowners take this step. I also think we need to do what Germany does with run-off. Basically, you have to pay for whatever water comes off your property. This is fair to me - managing storm water is a cost of owning a piece of property; not charging for it is actually an undesirable subsidy. You'd see a lot more intelligently managed parking lots and subdivisions if we could put this policy through, and our boating areas would be much the better for it.

June 2006 is National Rivers Month

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:30:30 +0200

American Rivers lists a number of events related to National Rivers Month, June 2006. Several interesting options here.

Great news - exciting new boating spots opening up

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 04:23:00 +0100

All right - continuation of my rant here - I promise not to make this a regularity if others promise not to keep threatening the coasts as I know them. The issues aside, there is a fascinating new data tool available on line courtesy of the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona. It lets you browse expected effects of sea level rises that appear to be in progress. I've seen this analysis before, and it is pretty intuitive, but just in case you hadn't contemplated this recently...

Continue reading "Great news - exciting new boating spots opening up"

New service on Chine bLog: e-advocacy links

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 04:29:38 +0100

So I really didn't start this blog to do a lot of political ranting, but the fact is that there are threats on many fronts to the boating environment as we know it (to say nothing of the availability of quality boatbuilding lumber). There seems to have been a flood of news in the last few days:

Of all the factors that drive a major storm such as humidity, wind shear or broad air circulation patterns only the steady increase in sea surface temperatures over the last 35 years can account for the rising strength of tempests in six oceans around the world, including the North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology reported... Their research revealed that the increase in the most severe storms category 4 and 5 hurricanes have doubled since 1990 was directly linked to the rising temperatures of tropical oceans, which warmed globally by 1 degree Fahrenheit during the same period. Warm water vapor rising from the sea helps energize massive storms. [See the LA Times article]

"It's a white desert out there," Berkelmans told Reuters in early March after returning from a dive to survey bleaching -- signs of a mass death of corals caused by a sudden rise in ocean temperatures -- around the Keppel Islands... Australia has just experienced its warmest year on record and abnormally high sea temperatures during summer have caused massive coral bleaching in the Keppels. Sea temperatures touched 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit), the upper limit for coral. [See the Yahoo! News article]

These are a few of the issues - I could add overfishing, mercury pollution, mindless "taming" of rivers, and on. Sorry if it bothers folks to hear it, but we are just doing a lousy job of taking care of the resources that make for fulfilling boating experiences (in which I include related activities like diving, fishing, swimming, etc.). Please think about what you can do to help. If you feel so moved, I have added links to advocacy campaigns I think are worth supporting. Please consider learning more about these issues and joining these and other campaigns.

A quote to think about...

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:49:00 +0100

This from the great Dave Barry:

When you finally see what goes on under water, you realize that you have been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.

That comes from newsletter from The Ocean Conservancy... or maybe it was Oceana... I can't remember which. They both do good stuff. {side rant} guys, you have the same mission! - MERGE for crying out loud and stop splitting resources!!{/side rant}

I think this line is important on a couple levels. One, as a diver, I know full well what he means. The first time I went down and came eye-to-eye with a Yellowtail Snapper it blew my mind. This is a world under threat, and the more of us understand that and care about it the better.

I also think about it in terms of boating. One of the joys, to me, of messing about in small boats is that you are close to the water. You can see beneath the surface and connect with that world so much more than you can in a larger boat. Last summer I spent nearly every day of my vacation out in my kayak, and nearly every day I managed to paddle into a school of feeding stripers ("striped bass," properly, or "rockfish," for those in the Chesapeake area who don't know its real name). It was amazing watching these animals - not that I don't find them tasty, but they are more impressive in the water, away from a plug. Being just above the surface I was able to just float over them and watch them - it was pretty special. I strongly recommend taking in both sides of the water's surface on your own voyages.

Two fascinating tidbits of marine science

nospam@example.com (Tim) — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 04:28:28 +0100

Two fascinating pieces in the January 2006 issue of Discover (can you tell how big my reading pile is?): The first is a map of the travels of the December 2004 tsunami. This is amazing. I guess they tracked the wave with satellites and it turns out it didn't die in the Indian Ocean! In fact, they measured abnormal wave heights 29 hours later off Nova Scotia! This wave headed across the Indian Ocean, banged a sharp right around Africa, and kept going up the Atlantic. I guess it makes sense, but it is amazing to think about. Apparently it followed the mid-ocean ridges for some reason. Not sure why...

The we have the sighting last year of the first live giant squid. Now think about this: here is an animal that is 30 odd feet long and seaped in lore, but science had never seen one live. Yes, they live thousands of feet down, but this is a big animal. I mean, 30' is one big plate of calamari. It is also amazing how voracious squid are in general. I guess this thing attacked the bait and left a tentacle behind trying to get it. I read something about a smaller species maiming a diver off Baja - they are some serious hunters. So this fits my "fascinating and awe-inspiring" definition pretty well.