Quest Volume 24, No. 1 February 2023 - Free sample

DECOPLANNER

Past, present, and future of GUE’s decompression planning tool

THE MESOPHOTIC ZONE

Deep conservation project in the marine forest of Portofino

PHOTOGRAPHER

BECKYPORTFOLIO:KAGAN SCHOTT

OX BEL HA EXPLORATION

Still searching for the elusive connection to the Caribbean

COMPUTERS & TIMERS

The reliability of modern digital dive instruments has improved

Don’t be a missionary!

I’vebeen diving for over 30 years, and needless to say, my equipment and diving style has undergone more than a few changes since my days as a beginner. Back then, I was the prototypical recreational diver with a bulky jacket-style BCD, a regulator setup with hoses all over the place, double 7mm wetsuits or even thicker neoprene drysuits, and a giant rubber console with analog instruments. Slowly, I gravitated toward a more streamlined and simplistic configuration. But I needed to make these changes gradually, and it took me a few years to fully embrace the DIR/ GUE philosophy.

If anyone had preached or lectured me about the blessings of the backplate or the safety benefits of a team-based approach during my journey toward a minimalistic and standardized configuration, I would not have appreciated their condescension toward me. I needed to discover those advantages on my own. All this took place before I finally enrolled in my first GUE class.

Today, were I to meet my younger self, I hope it would be with an inclusive attitude. I also hope I would recognize the young Jesper’s equipment configuration and diving style choices made perfect sense to him at the time and that it was all good as long as he was safe and had fun.

First and foremost, let’s celebrate all divers. They share our passion and enthusiasm for exploring the underwater world. Even if they embrace a different diving approach, they have chosen to engage in diving activities instead of the numerous other hobbies that compete with diving. It would be unfortunate if they were to meet overbearing missionaries with a patronizing, know-it-all attitude. After all, they just might

leave diving in favor of other pursuits with more approachable and welcoming communities.

But of course, if anyone seems interested in how you configure your equipment or approach dive planning, that is your opportunity to share information on our diving approach. Even better, if they see you in the water and notice your trim and level of control, you have an excellent opening to explain what GUE is all about and how you developed your diving skills to that level.

We know that actions speak louder than words, so giving interested divers a chance to experience how a GUE team executes a dive will have a lot more impact than the missionary approach. One successful back-kick may be all you need to convince the skeptics!

Dive safe and have fun!

Jesper Kjøller Editor-in-Chief jk@gue.com

Editor-in-chief

// Jesper Kjøller

Editorial panel

// Michael Menduno

// Amanda White

Design and layout

// Jesper Kjøller

Copy editing

// Pat Jablonski

// Kady Smith

Writers

// Nils Lucas Jacobsen

// Brad Beskin

// Bjarne Knudsen

// Emőke Wagner

// László Cseh

// Andreas Hagberg

// Kirill Egorov

// Dan Mackay

// Daniel Riordan

// Fred Devos

// Todd Kincaid

// Chris Le Maillot

// Jarrod Jablonski

// Dimitrios Fifis

Photographers

// Becky Kagan Schott

// Kirill Egorov

// Claudio Provenzani

// Andreas Hagberg

// SJ Alice Bennett

// Julian Műhlenhaus

// Derk Remmers

// Alfonso Sabella

// NiccolÒ Crespi

// Tom St George

IN THIS ISSUE

6 10 22 36 42 52

QC CORNER // DREAD OR DELIGHT

Your most important piece of equipment is your brain and its ability to calculate deco, assess and remedy failures, and make you a part of a truly unified team.

THE MESOPHOTIC ZONE

Nils completed his master’s thesis in marine biology, investigating the effects of marine animal forests (MAFs) on the underlying benthic community in the upper mesophotic zone. For two months, he and his team collected photographic samples in the beautiful marine protected area of Portofino, Italy.

OX BEL HA // EXPLORATION CONTINUES

The number of new caves exemplifies the extent and complexity.The potential of finding something new drives the small team to improve their skills, procedures, and equipment according to the different challenges they encounter in each section of the caves.

PORTFOLIO // BECKY KAGAN SCHOTT

She believes the biggest secret to successful underwater photography is passion. When shooting something she is interested in and feels inspired by, she believes that it shines through in the imagery.

DECOPLANNER

DecoPlanner has long been the tool that has formed the basis of most decompression schedules used by GUE students. Andreas Hagberg looks at where it all started, what the current state is, and where DecoPlanner might be heading in the future.

CAVE // NAVIGATION & TECHNIQUE

Going into a cave lacking solid navigation skills and proper diving techniques can quickly change the situation from benign to dangerous. We review cave navigation protocols and define what we mean when we talk about good technique in cave diving.

COMPUTERS AND TIMERS

The technical capacity and reliability of dive computers have greatly improved, and today’s decompression computers can very closely approximate current GUE diving protocols.

COVER PHOTO BECKY KAGAN SCHOTT

QC CORNER

DREAD AND DELIGHT

CONFRONTING THE “EEKS” IN ADVANCED DIVING

Brad Beskin feels at home in caves but addresses the need to understand and recognize fear as a human reaction to unusual circumstances.

TEXT BRAD BESKIN

PHOTO SJ ALICE BENNETT

Our brain can often be our worst enemy; it regularly pits logic against emotion in a convoluted and confusing barrage of mixed signals. And diving presents many opportunities for battles between anxiety and excitement, fear and elation, dread and delight.

Despite the depth of training and experience GUE divers obtain, few are immune from the occasional recognition they—cruising beneath the waves—are not supposed to be there. At some point, most technical and overhead divers will encounter the sense of discomfort that often accompanies this realization. Whether this manifests in a sense of unease, dread, or fully fledged panic, what we commonly call “fear” is a mental and physiological risk we must address.

However, I am more concerned in this column with the risk posed by the societal pressure to bury the sensation, ignore it, or even explain it away. In addressing this subject, The New York Times cited Leon Hoffman, co-director of the Pacella Research Center in New York: “Our culture valorizes strength and power and showing fear is considered weakness. But you are actually stronger if you can acknowledge fear.” Murphy, Outsmarting Our Primitive Response to Fear, The New York Times (Oct. 26, 2017). So, to that end, let us talk about fear.

The “eeks”

Admittedly, this sensation is familiar to me. Despite more than 28 years of diving experience and many, many overhead dives, I still get what many cave explorers call the “eeks” from time to time. I have, on occasion, been quick to dismiss them: “it’s not that I’m afraid…must have been CO2…everything was fine.”

In reality, something in my brain triggers the need to question—honestly, directly, and involuntarily—whether I truly want to be on that dive at that moment. My vision narrows, my breathing increases, and my mind wanders down an irrational and unwarranted slippery slope of horribles.

The solution is straightforward: I know the symptoms and can see them coming from the first hair that raises on the back of my neck. Stop, stabilize, signal. Wait. Breathe. Check gas and flow check. Wait. Breathe. In approximately 30-60 seconds, all is right. Rational thought returns; remaining dread dissolves to delight, and the dive continues.

Why does this happen? I am literally writing this in an office surrounded by pictures of cave diving—both of my heroes and of me—thinking of how I can squeeze in another trip to High Springs or Mexico in short order. I don’t consider myself to be afraid of diving—even the overhead or technical sort. Yet, dread and I have become casually acquainted as I extend my limits. Why?

In this, my second opportunity to bend your ear as GUE’s Director of Quality Control, I would like to talk about equipment. No, not your CCR or your DPV, but rather the most important piece of equipment you own: your brain—that complex, spongy mass between your ears that can calculate deco, assesses and remedies failures, and makes you a part of a truly unified team.

Brain matter matters

Physiologically (and this is admittedly a reductive take), my amygdalae appear to be the culprits: those almond-shaped structures in my cerebral hemispheres, which are considered to be the root of what we identify as fear (the involuntary and often irrational kind of fear). The amygdalae principally define and regulate emotions. They also preserve memories and attach those memories to specific emotions (e.g., happiness, sadness). These emotional remembrances are the reasons I feel anticipation when I hear my high school sports team’s warm-up song for the first time in years, or why my heart flutters when my nose is reminded of my grandma’s cooking.

The amygdalae are also responsible for our fight-or-flight response. The quickening pulse, clenching, pupil-dilating response is automated; it reacts before conscious processes (like logic) have a chance to come online. These reflexes have been tuned throughout evolution to keep us alive. They are, in a sense, a safety mechanism that overrides (or “hijacks”) the voluntary, rational, and analytic functions of the cerebral cortex. See Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Random House (2005).

In activating the fight-or-flight response, the body doses itself with chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. Blood flow to muscles increases (assumedly, for strength or speed); the airways expand to increase oxygen to the blood; blood sugar increases to provide you immediate energy; and pupils dilate. Respiration and heart rate increases. Perspiration sets in. The mind grasps for information, and the response thereto is often out of sync with reality.

Of course, not everyone experiences fear the same way. “The complex neurological and ecological foundations of our fear perceptions and responses means a continuum exists whereby fear for one person may insight bravery and courage, and for another fear may insight terror and vulnerability.” Reed and Smith (2021). And each individual’s response is geared to specific stimuli (e.g., small, confined, dark, and labyrinthine spaces).

We must also acknowledge competing chemical realities. Advanced diving requires the assumption of certain risks. Some risk takers’

brains may be naturally lower in levels of dopamine and/or serotonin (see Manly, What Makes Risk Takers Tempt Fate?, National Geographic (Aug. 15, 2016))—important neurotransmitter regulators of the brain’s reward and pleasure centers, as well as its physical and emotional responses.

What matters here is the fact that certain sensations of fear (and our physiological responses to them) are directly attributable to involuntary responses to stimuli. They are natural, beyond our control, and invariably human.

I suppose this raises the question: Why would we engage in an activity that involves fear? But each of us understands why we might risk an encounter with dread. Pat Jablonski wrote a compelling piece in InDepth’s October 2022 release addressing specific motivations underlying risk-taking in extreme sports like ours. She said, “diving forces divers to pay complete attention to a task, to focus with laser-like precision in order to conquer misgivings, and to attain a skill that few others have. Confidence comes with accomplishment. Leadership emerges. Fear is overcome.”

She’s right; there is nothing akin to the sense of accomplishment that comes with completion of a challenging dive, and I venture many of us undertake advanced dive training to, at least in part, prove to ourselves we can do it. Whether we overcome our fears or merely learn to manage them is the question; our fears likely remain an integral part of many of us. And, of course, a healthy dose of fear may raise awareness and ensure thorough preparation; why else would we religiously analyze gas and adhere to standards?

Talking about Fear

It is essential that those of us who encounter the “eeks” talk about it with our teammates and peers. “Sharing negative emotions can lessen their impact [..], build empathy[…], encourage others to open up about their own negative emotions, and help others recontextualize and overcome those struggles — ultimately boosting morale and performance…” Howe, Menges, and Monks, Leaders, Don’t Be Afraid to Talk About Your Fears and Anxieties, Harvard Bus. Rev. (Apr. 18, 2021).

The alternative is untenable. “The more you try to suppress fear, either by ignoring it or doing something else to displace it, the more you will actually experience it.” Murphy, supra (citing Prof. Kristy Dalrymple, Alpert Medical School of Brown University).

Nevertheless, there is a taboo surrounding the discussion of emotions, and this permeates high risk activities and environments in a detrimental way. Cultural pressures often dictate that “[a]dults are supposed to control their intense emotions” and “fear is supposed to be curtailed”; these pressures have made the curtailing of fear an “automatic response” to avoid demonstrations of behaviors that might be viewed as “embarrassing” or “aberrant.” See Brymer and Schweizer, Extreme Sports Are Good for Your Health, J. of Health Psy (2013). For males, this can translate into symptoms akin to “toxic masculinity”—wherein somehow the acknowledgment of emotion weakens virility. This fallacy may also dictate the avoidance of emotion for women because high risk activities have no room for “weakness.” This is, of course, arcane and absurd.

Nevertheless, this fallacy (that emotion is somehow equated to weakness) is widely reinforced (at least in the United States) by societal attitudes, which makes it a reality many confront daily. For example, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center found respondents attributed protective behavior as a positive trait for men, while being emotional was viewed negatively. See Walker, Bialik, and van Kessel, Strong

Men, Caring Women, Pew Research Center (July 24, 2018).

Let’s change that. Let’s talk about fear…the “eeks”…the dread that creeps into our delight. In April 2022, a friend of mine—an experienced diver and instructor in Mexico—wrote a social media post about this topic and his own unexpected encounter with dread. He focused on the importance of human connection—the ability of simple eye contact or a reassuring touch to thwart an amygdala hijack. The response to his post inspired this column: dozens of comments reflecting appreciation for acknowledging this reality, personal stories of similar experience, and a shared acknowledgement of this ever-so-human condition. These came from divers all over the world-renowned explorers and amateurs alike.

The message is clear: each of us is human. We are the product of ability and limitation, strength and weakness, amygdala and cortex. We deserve healthy discussion and acknowledgement, both in ourselves and from our peers, of each side of this equation.

Have you encountered the “eeks”? How did you respond—not in the moment, but once the truck was packed and the dive gear put away? I hope you talked about it (and if you didn’t, I hope you will do so next time). On the other hand, can your teammates approach you to talk about their experiences? Do you create a culture of taboo on your team, or do you acknowledge your teammates are human—a product of their dread and delight.

Brad Beskin has been diving actively for approximately twenty-eight years. He first became involved with GUE by taking Fundamentals in 2002, and then Cave 1 with Tamara Kendal in 2003. He is now a proud GUE DPV Cave diver and is looking forward to undertaking

the GUE technical curriculum in 2023. When he is not diving, he earn his living as a civil litigator in Austin, Texas, and he also finds time to act as Director of Quality Control and the Chair of the Quality Control Board for Global Underwater Explorers.

Brad Beskin

STUDYING THE MESOPHOTIC

– A world between worlds

TEXT NILS LUCAS JACOBSEN

PHOTOS ALFONSO SABELLA & NICCOLÒ CRESPI

THE MESOPHOTIC ZONE

Nils Lucas Jacobsen completed his master’s thesis in marine biology, investigating the effects of marine animal forests (MAFs) on the underlying benthic community in the upper mesophotic zone. For two months, he and his team collected photographic samples in the beautiful marine protected area (MPA) of Portofino, Italy. His GUE Tech 1 and GUE Scientific Diver certifications proved to be invaluable tools in his research.

Portofino is characterized by rich and diverse fauna and flora, making decompression stops after sample collection highly rewarding.

Getting cooked in my drysuit and carrying so much gear that I look like a swimming Christmas tree can only mean one thing: We are going for another scientific dive!

Getting here took multiple months spent writing research proposals and planning logistics. A big part of the preparation was honing my diving skills and acquiring the necessary certificates. When I was first inspired to complete the project, I was an advanced open water diver and far from able to perform scientific work underwater. Coming from a different diving organization, I completed the GUE Fundamentals course first. It was a real game-changer for me and provided the solid foundation that I needed for my future endeavors.

In 2021, I completed the Scientific Diver course, gaining the skills and confidence to start my journey as a scientific diver. The courses were demanding, but also thorough, and incredibly valuable to me not only as a diver, but also as a marine researcher.

To work in the upper mesophotic (40-60 m/130-200 ft) zone, I needed to go further—or, rather, deeper—so I set my sights on GUE’s Tech 1 course. As my skills did not yet meet the high standards demanded by technical diving, I practiced my buoyancy, my kicks, and GUE’s standard operating procedures many times during a “training camp” in Sagres, Portugal. Finally, I reached my goal—the technical pass. The Tech 1 course was an incredible experience. My instructor and my team were wonderful. Together, we faced many challenges, simulated various failures, dived in low visibility, and explored the historic wrecks of the Adriatic Sea. GUE’s courses gave me the necessary skill set to perform scientific work underwater and opened a new world of exciting technical scientific diving.

The mesophotic zone

In scientific literature, the mesophotic zone has most often been described as the area between 40-120 m/130-400 ft. These limits are based on convention and do not necessarily reflect a change in biological parameters. Therefore, a more meaningful and unambiguous definition has been introduced for the Mediterranean me-

In scientific literature, the mesophotic zone has most often been described as the area between 40-120 m/130-400 ft.

PHOTO NICCOLÒ CRESPI

PHOTO ALFONSO SABELLA

world of exciting technical scientific diving.

The good visibility and, for winter time, relatively warm water temperatures make for an amazing workplace underwater.

“GUE’s courses gave me the necessary skill set to perform scientific work underwater and opened a new

sophotic zone: as the upper limit, the depth at which 1% of the surface irradiance arrives, and as the lower limit, the deepest depth at which primary producers can be found. As a result, the mesophotic zone is placed between the light-intense euphotic zone (where light is sufficient for the growth of plants) and the dark aphotic zone (with little or no sunlight).

Now that we have the definition out of the way, what is so important about this zone?

It is no secret that coral reefs are in decline worldwide. This decline results from a combination of global and local stressors such as overfishing, storm damage, sedimentation, eutrophication, toxic discharge, disease, ocean acidification, and thermal stress. These factors are believed to be less impactful at deeper depths, not (or only partially) affecting mesophotic ecosystems. Furthermore, mesophotic ecosystems are less exposed to thermal anomalies and the related mass-mortality events that are occurring in the Mediterranean Sea, especially during recent decades.

In theory, the mesophotic zone could serve as an important refugium for organisms escaping unfavorable conditions in the upper water layers and could replenish shallower reefs by providing a nursery ground for larvae and juveniles. These functions are highly debated and urgently require more scientific attention. Moreover, there is information about impacts on mesophotic ecosystems that has been reported, particularly regarding physical damage from hurricanes, impacts of fishing activities, sedimentation, coral bleaching, and invasive species. In contrast, undiscovered, pristine ecosystems characterized by minimal human pressure could serve as a valuable baseline against which we can compare the status of threatened and degraded ecosystems. Therefore, the mesophotic zone may prove an important tool to fight the so-called “shifting baseline syndrome.”

Widely underexplored

But, mesophotic zone exploration is easier said than done. Due to its depth, accessing the mesophotic zone is costly and requires specialized equipment, training, and experience.

Recreational divers can usually reach a maximum depth of 40 m/130 ft, and beyond that, the realm of technical diving begins. Therefore, many studies focus on shallow-water habitats only.

Submersibles offer another option for the exploration of the mesophotic zone. They can reach deep depths and carry heavy equipment like high-resolution cameras. Due to their high operating cost, submersibles have mostly been used in deeper environments, leaving the mesophotic zone largely unexplored. However, in recent years, the scientific interest regarding this research area has been increasing thanks to the improvement (and the decrease in costs) of technologies such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

The good news for all divers and curious people out there is that advanced scuba diving technologies—such as mixed gases (trimix) and closed-circuit rebreathers (CCRs)—make observations and physical experiments at mesophotic depths possible. Given the unmatched capability of direct observations and sample collection, scientific diving is a powerful tool that we should use to its fullest potential.

While the mesophotic zone remains widely underexplored, a number of studies have revealed high levels of habitat complexity and important species richness in both temperate and tropical environments. While data indicate diverse mesophotic ecosystems with high endemism, the underlying processes have not been clearly identified. Nonetheless, these characteristics may be attributed to the high environmental stability over glacial sea level changes, as well as the restricted dispersal at deeper

PHOTO JONO ALLEN

PHOTO NICCOLÒ CRESPI

The GUE gas switch procedure offers high safety and should be properly executed, even when diving with only one deco cylinder.

A beautiful Paramuricea clavata in the foreground as the measuring tape is carefully collected. The only thing we take is pictures and we leave nothing behind.

depths due to slower water movements. Both hypotheses (especially the latter) require more scientific attention to draw any conclusions. Earlier studies suggest that the upper mesophotic zone especially (<60 m/200 ft) is inhabited by shallow-water species, as well as species from deeper waters, forming an important transition zone between the two, and possibly resulting in increased diversity levels.

Marine animal forests

At deeper depths, environmental parameters tend to be less variable than at shallower depths. This is especially beneficial for the slow-growing, long-lived species that can thrive and reach large sizes and densities there—the organisms that form the so-called marine animal forests (MAFs). Additionally, due to the lower light availability, fast-growing autotrophs tend to be less competitive, resulting in a higher success rate of others.

If you have ever stood in a terrestrial forest, you have experienced its influence on the surrounding environment. It provides shade, im-

portant habitats, and shelter (from high winds, for example). Similarly, MAFs can alter current velocity, light intensity, and sedimentation rates. They contribute greatly to the 3D complexity of the underwater world and have a positive effect on biodiversity by increasing the amount of available micro-habitats.

One of the most peculiar features in the MPA of Portofino is the beautiful gorgonian forests, mostly made up of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata. Larger structures, such as the ones created by P. clavata, can offer protection from mechanical damage to the understory. It has been reported that colonies of this species are vulnerable to aggregations of mucilage, but at the same time may protect the organisms living below from suffocation by trapping those aggregations. Additionally, gorgonian forests can hinder the spread of invasive species.

Sadly, the ecologically valuable MAFs are facing multiple threats such as mechanical damage from lost fishing gear and recreational diving, the aggregation of mucilage (and the implications of this phenomenon), invasive spe-

PHOTO NICCOLÒ CRESPI

cies, and increased sedimentation rates. Additionally, marine heatwaves are likely to increase with ongoing global climate change, and multiple mass mortality events of gorgonians—linked to high temperatures—have already been documented for the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The loss of gorgonian forests could lead to major shifts in the associated benthic community and could result in lower diversity, as well as lower resistance against (and resilience to) disturbances.

The study

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) represent an important but highly understudied research area. Without knowledge of the distribution and biomass of MCEs, their global role cannot be described, and therefore effective management and protection measures cannot be implemented, making the exploration of such ecosystems highly important.

To understand the functional role of MCEs and protect these valuable habitats, information about their community composition and structure is needed. Thus, the goal of our research was to study differences in epibenthic communities in relation to the density of forest-building species— in this study represented by Paramuricea clavata—at two different depths: 35 m/115 ft and 50 m/165 ft. To highlight the potential of Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry, a 3D reconstruction of one of the analyzed forests was created, extracting the height frequencies of the gorgonian population from it.

In practice, we collected photographic samples at three different sites (two depth levels each) along the south coast of the Portofino promontory. During technical dives, we placed 30 m/100 ft transects on the seafloor and filmed the gorgonian forests as well as the understory. The dives were challenging but very rewarding. As a Tech 1 diver, I was limited to around 20 minutes of bottom time at the 50 m/165 ft level. That was barely enough time

to find a gorgonian forest, place the 30 m/100 ft transect, film the gorgonian forest from above, film the understory during a second pass, and collect the measuring tape. At the same time, it was incredibly important to swim very slowly and keep the camera steady. The margin for error was low, and finding the balance between working fast and swimming slowly wasn’t always easy.

The highest forest density that we observed was around five colonies per 1 m²/10 ft². In comparison, pristine gorgonian Paramuricea clavata forests can easily reach 20 colonies per 1 m²/10 ft² and sometimes even over 50 colonies per 1 m²/10 ft². Therefore, the maximum densities observed here are low compared to other areas. The frequent mass mortality events of gorgonians recorded in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea have likely reduced the densities further.

Additionally, since P. clavata is a filter feeder, it thrives where currents are strong enough to ensure a high food supply, which is often the case at ridges and vertical walls. Since one of the aims of this study was to investigate the shading effect of animal forests, vertical walls and steep slopes were avoided, resulting in lower recorded densities. Due to the density dependence of the forest effect, most of its influence stayed undetected. Nonetheless, we found some important trends in individual morpho-functional groups, such as the increase in cover of encrusting sponges as well as massive and erect sponges with higher forest densities. MAFs may positively influence the cover of corals and sponges through shading of the understory, therefore increasing the competitiveness of heterotrophic species and protecting smaller organisms from mechanical damage.

The biggest differences in the overall community structure were detected between the two depth levels—35 m/115 ft and 50 m/165 ft— which can be mostly attributed to the change in light availability. We recorded a significant de-

“The margin for error was low, and finding the balance between working fast and swimming slowly wasn’t always easy.

A team working closely together makes the process of sample collection easier, more efficient, and safer. It also it increases the fun immensely.

New technologies

Excitingly, the photogrammetry approach resulted in valuable information regarding the height frequencies of gorgonians, providing a 3D baseline of the surveyed area. The forest at 35 m/115 ft at the “Punta del Faro” site was dominated by mostly smaller colonies (< 40 cm/15 in). Pristine and healthy forests will likely be associated with larger sizes. The present results may be an indication for sub-optimal environmental conditions or the presence of disturbances.

Evaluating height frequencies—as well as other descriptors—can give important insights into the health status of gorgonian forests. While today, the sampling process as well as the reconstruction are quite time consuming, both aspects will hopefully improve greatly in the future. With the development of new technologies (like ROVs and AUVs) and their reduction in cost, the sampling process could be sped up and even completely automated. With the advent of high-

try (SfM = Structure from Motion) could offer a cost-effective and timely method to assess the structure and health of MAFs over relatively large geographical areas through time.

Currently, we are further exploring the collected data, characterizing the coralligenous habitat in the MPA of Portofino, and quantifying the impacts of lost fishing gear on the present communities. With this, we hope to create a baseline, providing information about the community composition as well as the current state of mesophotic MAFs in the area. Bringing attention to the issue of lost fishing gear is an important step towards a healthy ocean. Quantifying its impacts, working closely with all stakeholders, and informing decision-makers lays at the basis of all conservation efforts, including handling lost fishing gear.

MAFs hold a high ecological importance and the mesophotic zone represents an exciting frontier for technical scientific divers. Fundamental information on the distribution and extent of MCEs is still not available, highlight-

PHOTO NICCOLÒ CRESPI

tance. Working on my master’s thesis has been an incredible experience; it’s complete, but I will continue to explore the mesophotic zone and

time (and, in turn, time to gather valuable data) by using rebreathers. There is much left to discover, so stay tuned. 

See the photogrammetric reconstruction here...

Nils Lucas Jacobsen is a marine biologist and passionate technical scientific diver. After completing a bachelor’s degree in biology, he went on to study marine biology, with specializations in conservation biology, impact assessment, and mitigation. In the framework of an international master’s program, he visited universities in Portugal, Italy, and France, and worked in research centers

across Europe. The exploration and protection of undiscovered, pristine marine habitats is his main interest. Currently, he is exploring marine animal forests in the mesophotic zone.

www.nils-jacobsen.com

Nils Lucas Jacobsen

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