Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
Thank God it's Friday. Work moves to the back burner, social issues move to the front burner. This week we provide two underwater movies to help your work hours pass quickly. Both videos (below the fold) show the devastating impacts of anchor damage on the Caribbean Sea's Saba Bank, in the Dutch Antilles. The videos are short, each about 2.5 minutes long, but the memory should last years. The battle to limit these anchor scars has only just begun.
Special thanks to Shelley Lundvall of the Saba Conservation Foundation for shooting these and posting these at YouTube.
The first video shows damage inflicted by a relatively small anchor chain. Two large Xestospongia sp. barrel sponges lie broken and overturned. We call this habitat degradation. This king of damage is widespread, and difficult to monitor.
The second video accompanies the Friday Deep-Sea Picture below, showing more serious impacts of the really large oil tanker anchors. We call this terrain modification. It happens near ports all over the world. It's along the lines of what a bulldozer might do if it drove through your neighborhood. Use the scuba divers for scale. The depth is 33m.
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Comments
well thanks for ruining my day, peter!
Posted by: Rick MacPherson | November 2, 2007 10:49 AM
But Rick, we're just "scratching the surface"...
Posted by: Peter | November 2, 2007 11:31 AM
I wonder how old those barrel sponges were? They were a good size.
Oh yeah, and you ruined not just my day, but my weekend jackass.
But thanks for bringing this serious issue to light.
Posted by: kevin z | November 3, 2007 7:18 PM
F your weekend. This is business.
Word is the sponges are ~40-50 years old.
Posted by: Peter Etnoyer | November 3, 2007 8:57 PM
So we are all agreed that Peter is the Devil?
Posted by: CR McClain | November 4, 2007 10:29 AM
Ok, ok, fine, no more depressing Friday videos....
Posted by: Peter Etnoyer | November 4, 2007 5:33 PM
Save the depressing ones for monday will ya?
Posted by: kevin z | November 6, 2007 8:21 PM