Oceanographic Magazine / Issue Five by Oceanographic Magazine

ISSUE

Conservation • Exploration • Adventure

C I N E M AT I C C O N S E R VAT I O N USING THE POWER OF FILM TO PROTECT THE MOST BIODIVERSE PLACE ON EARTH

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Oceanographic Issue 05

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Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Letter It was that local support, that coming together of tens of thousands of voices that p ro v i d e d t h e momentum t o a c h i eve something special.

Communities create change. Individuals do, of course, play pivotal roles within those change-making collectives, but it is the sharing of a cohesive message - a unified, deafening chorus - that most often gets results. In the world of ocean conservation these communities come in various sizes - and there are many of them. They are often small but full of expertise, such as a group of whale shark scientists who recently completed underwater ultrasounds on the species for the first time (p.100). They also collected blood and tissue samples, all while trying to keep up with the fast-moving sharks, 20-30 metres underwater. Each scientist brought a skillset valuable to the mission. None of them could have completed the work alone. The same goes for the international team of conservationists working to save the spoon-billed sandpiper from extinction (p.94) - teams from the UK, China and Russia working together to boost the effectiveness of their work. In Dominica, a group of ocean-goers is harnessing sport and spirit to help heal an island devastated by a hurricane (p.30) one community (freedivers) supporting another (islanders).

Will Harrison Editor @oceanographic_editor @og_editor

And then, of course, you have those truly remarkable stories where small groups of people amplify a message beyond all expectation. The Provinsi Konservasi campaign (p.20), which will likely see West Papua become the world's first 'conservation province', was an initiative championed by an international collective of passionate people and organisations, amplified by engaging local communities on the ground in Indonesia. It was that local support, that coming together of tens of thousands of voices - those who would be directly impacted by lasting change - that provided the campaign with the momentum to achieve something special. The wonderful reality, of course, is that all of these inspirational stories and victories benefit the largest community of them all: Earth's.

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Contents O N T H E C OV E R

FEATURE S

F R O N T L IN E FI L M S

Indonesian celebrity Hamish Daud swims with a whale shark as part of the Provinsi Konservasi media campaign. Photograph by Shawn Heinrichs.

Get in touch

West Papua could soon be declared a 'Conservation Province' - a would-be landmark moment in global conservation. Central to the move to legislate have been passionate individuals, committed organisations and a grassroots campaign of media engagement. PAG E 2 0

ED I TO R Will Harrison S U B - E D I TO R

Georgina Fuller

CR EATI V E D I R E C TO R

Amelia Costley

D ES I G N A S S I S TA N T

Joanna Kilgour

PA RT N E R S H I P S D I R E C TOR

Chris Anson

YOUR OCEAN IMAGES

@oceanographic_mag @oceano_mag Oceanographicmag

I N S U P P O RT O F

A S S TO C K E D I N

For all enquiries regarding stockists, submissions, or just to say hello, please email info@oceanographicmagazine.com or call (+44) 20 3637 8680. Published in the UK by Atlas Publishing Ltd. ÂŠ 2018 Atlas Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Nothing in whole or in part may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

A collection of some of the most captivating ocean images shared on social media, both beautiful and arresting. Tag us or use #MYOCEAN for the opportunity to be featured.

Printed by Warners Midlands Plc ISSN: 2516-5941

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CONTENTS

20%

COMMUNITY REVIVAL

T H E CR A Z Y 8

PR O FIT-S HA R ING CO MMITM ENT TO O CEA N CO N SERVAT IO N . A PR O M IS E WE'R E PR O UD O F.

N O MA D E X IS T E N C E

WA DE R S AV IO UR S

UW ULT R A SOU N D S

In a remote corner of the Caribbean island of Dominica a small group of freedivers is breathing new life into an area devastated and left cut-off by Hurricane Maria, the island's worst storm in living memory - a story of destruction, recovery and community.

Environmental activist, author and founder of Plastic Patrol, Lizzie Carr, battles Hurricane Florence on the Hudson River in a bid to highlight the issue of single use plastics blighting the world’s waterways. Her journey to New York took eight "crazy" days.

The Moken no longer call the ocean home. To document this great change, ethnographic photographer, Cat Vinton, who once lived with the Moken, returned to the Andaman Sea. This time though, cameras were placed in the hands of the Moken children.

An international team of conservationists is making headway in its bid to save the spoon-billed sandpiper, a small wetland wader, from extinction. As progress is made at key sites in Russia and China, it could spell good news for other waders that share the same flyway.

Surprisingly little is known about the reproductive cycle of whale sharks. A team of marine scientists recently convened in Galapagos to see if they could unravel one of the greatest mysteries of the ocean - using an underwater ultrasound device.

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BEHIND TH E L E N S

C O LUMN S

JOHN WELLER

THE A RT I ST

T HE SOCIAL ECOLOGIST

T HE MA R IN E B IO L O G IS T

P R O J E C T AWARE

Each issue, we chat with one of the world’s leading ocean photographers and showcase a selection of their work. In this edition, we meet Antarctic photographer and Sea Legacy Collective member, John Weller.

Underwater photographer and artist Matt Draper, whose mantra is to replace 'fear with fascination' talks about a recent experience that has pushed him to find a better balance in his art and in life.

Big wave surf champion, environmentalist and social change advocate Dr Easkey Britton discusses the Wavemaker Collective, a convening of ocean change-makers with a view to see how each can "do good better".

Dr Simon Pierce, Principal Scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation, discusses the wonder of biofluorescence - a visually arresting and scientifically fascinating phenomenon.

The team at Project AWARE, Oceanographic’s primary charity partner, look to the year ahead and ask: how will you contribute your time and energy to marine conservation.

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#MYOCEAN

Tim Wendrich Fuerteventura Surfer Finn Springborn dives under a rolling wave at Cotillo Beach, Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, "Due to bad conditions," says photographer Wendrich, they ditched the surf boards and "went bodysurfing for an afternoon". SPONSORED BY

#MYOCEAN

Danny Copeland Azores In the clear mid-Atlantic waters around Santa Maria, a snorkeler connects with a curious manta ray. Little is known about the oceanic mantas that visit the Azores, and encounters with black-morph individuals are especially rare. SPONSORED BY

Grant Johnson Bahamas Since protecting sharks from fishing in 2011, the Bahamas now generates more than $110 million per year from adventurous divers hoping to see the ocean's top predators, such as these oceanic whitetips off Cat Island. SPONSORED BY

#MYOCEAN

David Parias Hawaii What do you see? A small wave crashing on a sun-kissed shoreline, or a great sandstorm tearing towards a distant blue mountain? A beautiful capture - with the distinctive feel of a watercolour.

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#MYOCEAN

Cinematic conservation

USING THE P OW E R O F M E D I A TO P R OT E C T W E S T PA P UA

West Papua could soon be declared a Conservation Province - a would-be landmark moment in global conservation. Central to the move to legislate have been passionate individuals and committed organisations that have championed change for more than a decade. A compelling, grassroots campaign of powerful media engagement has also played a significant role. Wo rd s b y C a n d a c e C re s p i P h o t o g ra p h s b y S h a w n H e i n r i c h s

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ive thousand faces glowed in the light of the twostorey-tall outdoor cinema screen. The people of Waisai, the capital of the Raja Ampat Regency in West Papua, had made their way to the oceanside site just as the sun had set. They now sat beneath a clear night’s sky. As the film played, the crowd’s mood changed regularly - waves of collective emotion that rose and fell like the undulations of a rolling ocean. Cheers erupted as people saw the faces of their own community members on the big screen. Gasps of wide-eyed delight filled the air as whale sharks and manta rays danced across the giant canvas. Angry glances were exchanged as a homemade bomb exploded over a reef. Nods of agreement. Smiles. Tears. And then came the mighty crescendo where thousands of fists flew in the air in unison, when Edo Kondologit - Papua’s most famous singer - took to the stage to perform his song ‘Aku Papua’ (‘I am Papua’). The crowd screamed the lyrics into the night, proclaiming their proud heritage and declaring their solidarity in the name of conservation. West Papua is one of the last pristine places left on this planet. It has the world’s largest mangrove forests, one of the largest rainforests, and the most biodiverse reefs. It needs protecting. After a multi-year campaign spearheaded by locals, international conservationists and NGOs, and supported by local and regional governments, that moment may soon be here - West Papua is in the final stages of being declared a Provinsi Konservasi (Conservation Province) thanks to new government legislation. It is a moment that would put West Papua on course to become the new gold-standard for regional conservation and sustainable development. It would also create a blueprint for conservation initiatives that protect Earth’s most critical ecosystems. The idea of Provinsi Konservasi was first officially raised by the provincial governor of West Papua, Abraham Atururi, who made a ground-breaking declaration in 2015 to establish the world’s first conservation province. Since that declaration, Conservation International (CI), Blue Sphere Foundation, the University of Papua (UNIPA), and representatives of the provincial government have been collaborating to mould legislation that works in the best long-term interests of West Papua. But this was an ambition that started long before the attentions of policymakers had finally been grabbed, long before negotiations moved into the corridors of power. This was a movement built on connecting with the people of West Papua, communicating the beauty of the province to those who would suffer most if it wasn’t protected. For Shawn Heinrichs, the journey began in 2006. On his first visit to Raja Ampat, he was stunned by its beauty. Limestone islands jutted up from the ocean like huge teeth, crowned by carpets of native hardwoods. Reefs PREVIOUS PAGE: The Provinsi Konservasi campaign brought big-scale media to rural communities in Raja Ampat, showcasing the underwater world in a way many had never seen before. THIS PAGE: Raja Ampat - the heart of biodiversity on Earth.

“The film needed to be from the people of Raja Ampat’s perspective, told in their voices, and brought back to the communities themselves in a powerful cinematic package they would never forget.”

The declaration of West Papua as the world's first Conservation Province will bring welcome protections for rural communities.

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teemed with colour and life. “It’s hard to describe”, says Shawn. “For someone who has been seeking out that last perfect, pristine place… when you finally find it… it reaches into your heart and a gentle voice whispers to you, there’s something special worth protecting.” That sense of protection grew deeper when, after two weeks travelling the archipelago, he became acutely aware of a lack of sharks. When he encountered a small fishing boat, he soon realised why. “On the deck of the boat were stacks of bloodied juvenile reef shark fins,” recounts Shawn. “As we got closer you could see flies buzzing over this grizzly scene. I realised the reason we hadn’t seen any sharks was because they had been reduced to a commodity, a price tag placed on exploited species that were going to be auctioned elsewhere in Asia, to further line the pockets of greedy traders with ill-gotten gains. The shock and horror hit me hard. I remember seeing something glimmering in the water, so I put on my mask. It was a beautiful juvenile reef shark rolling back and forth, finless.” Shawn grabbed his camera and slid into the water, heart racing. Dozens of sharks were scattered across the reef. He started filming. “I remember looking at their eyes. [Some] were still alive, except they had no fins and weren’t moving. I was tearing up inside my mask. I decided in that very moment, if it was the last thing I did, I was going to do everything in my power to help save this one place.” When Shawn uploaded the resulting video, Unnatural Selection, to the internet it went viral. His mission had started. It was during Shawn’s ensuing and passionate pursuit of a better protected Raja Ampat that he met a conservation photographer and writer named John Weller. John, at that time, was working to have the world’s last unspoiled ocean, Antarctica’s Ross Sea, designated a Marine Protected Area (MPA). The two men hit it off. Shawn relayed to John how pristine waters right outside notake zones were being decimated by shark-finners, turtle hunters, dynamite and cyanide fisherman, and the live reef fish trade. John, with valuable experience gained through his Last Ocean campaign for the Ross Sea - a campaign that garnered international coverage - wanted to help, and was in a position to do so. The two men partnered up with a local NGO, Misool Foundation, and CI, and focused primarily on shark and manta ray conservation through the establishment of the Raja Ampat Shark/Ray Sanctuary and the increase of no-take zones. Recognising the need to celebrate this profound community-driven conservation, further galvanise regional collaborations, expand existing commitments and new conservation zones, they realised this important story could only be told in a featurelength film. But they knew that to be effective, this could not to be a film shot in Raja Ampat and shown in air-conditioned movie theatres in the United States or Europe. It could not be a film with an outside narrator telling the story. The film needed to be from the people of Raja Ampat’s perspective, told in their voices, and

brought back to the communities in a powerful cinematic package they would never forget. It was during this process that I became involved in the project. Working in close partnership with CI and the Kalabia (a local educational NGO), the Guardians of Raja Ampat film and concert tour of 2014, which, for the first time saw a large outdoor screen move between 12 remote Raja Ampat communities, brought Shawn and John’s vision of grand-scale community engagement to life. The brilliance and fragility of life underwater was relayed to villagers in a way they had never seen before. The message struck home, that the most beautiful and biodiverse place on the planet was in their backyard. The idea was simple: create a moment for these communities that would leave an indelible mark, create a deep sense of pride and ownership and cement a shared commitment to defend, long into the future, the conservation progresses made in the decade leading to 2014. It was a single moment in time, where the communities of Raja Ampat joined together and with a unified voice, proclaimed their commitment to safeguard their future. The events attracted a total audience in excess of 10,000 people - more than 25% of the entire population of Raja Ampat. The Guardians campaign connected the people of Raja Ampat to their own story and ignited a new fire of commitment to conservation that crossed the boundaries of religion, culture, and generation. The film itself also served as a decisive tool in the drive to engage communities, government and funders to support the next phase in Raja Ampat’s conservation strategy. Most tangibly, CI credits the Guardians campaign as the tipping point in long-running negotiations with communities in the Fam Islands (a rich archipelago in Raja Ampat) to declare an MPA. The Fam Islands MPA was dedicated in February 2016, the second largest of eight community-driven MPAs in Raja Ampat. Building on of the incredibly successful Guardians campaign model, we leveraged our new Provinsi Konservasi film, updated outdoor cinema, longstanding collaborations with CI and Indonesian celebrities, and newly-forged collaborations with the West Papua Provincial Government and regency governments, to deliver a unique and high-impact campaign to again tip the scales in favour of conservation. This time the stakes even higher - West Papua faces new and intensifying environmental threats, both terrestrial and marine. The campaign was anchored by six large public events in the major population centres across West Papua Manokwari, Arfak, Waisai, Sorong, Fak Fak and Kaimana. Each event presented the documentary film, a message to the people of West Papua from the Indonesia national government, a live concert performance and appearances from our team of celebrity collaborators - the “Son of Papua” Edo Kondologit, and Hamish Daud, one of Indonesia’s most famous actors. Finally, representatives from the provincial and regency governments and CI publicly addressed the audience about the Provinsi Konservasi initiative.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The three-week Provinsi Konservasi tour exceeded expectations. We witnessed the greatest outpouring of community spirit, determination and wisdom that any of us had ever seen - in the community commentary after each show, Christians and Muslims, men and women, elders and children all spoke as one, calling for even greater protection of West Papua.â&#x20AC;?

MAIN IMAGE: Shark numbers are rebounding in Raja Ampat following improved protections. TOP: A manta ray hovers above a cleaning station in Raja Ampat. BOTTOM: A snorkeller looks on as a whale shark feeds in West Papuan waters.

West Papuan children play in the ocean, the backbone of life in the region.

The film and media tour directly engaged and inspired more than 25,000 people. However, the reach of these events was many times greater: for each event, we invited, transported and accommodated approximately 100 strategically chosen local leaders from the surrounding communities to attend, and then engaged them in an intensive environmental education workshop the following day. The workshops created a direct dialogue between local leaders and representatives from the government, UNIPA, and CI and resulted in a petition signed by more than 700 local leaders in support of the Provinsi Konservasi legislation, otherwise known as the Perdasus. The campaign also led to a personal meeting with key members of the West Papuan Parliament, in which we secured their commitment to pass the Perdasus in the December 2018 parliamentary session. To improve the chances of the Perdasus passing, these parliamentary allies asked for a petition - hard evidence to show other members of Parliament that the world was watching. We gathered more than 34,000 signatures supporting the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Conservation Province via our SeaLegacy campaign (www.sealegacy. org/pages/west-papua). The Perdasus was passed and, provided no objections are registered in the next three months, the legislation will come into force. The world will have its first Conservation Province! The three-week Provinsi Konservasi tour exceeded expectations. We witnessed the greatest outpouring of community spirit, determination and wisdom that any of us had ever seen - in the community commentary after each show, Christians and Muslims, men and women, elders and children all spoke as one, calling for even greater protection of West Papua. We are proud to have helped amplify these important voices and connect the people of West Papua to their own story. But more than anything we are all honoured to have contributed to a decade of visionary conservation work. With the long road for this critical legislation nearly at a successful conclusion, it is time to look forward to the next phase in the drive to protect West Papua. The Perdasus will establish marine and terrestrial reserves, and set in place new guidelines for assessing current and future industries to ensure best practices and long-term sustainability. The next step is the application of these guidelines to create new regulations for each individual industry. Assuredly, industries at risk of censorship in the implementation of the Perdasus will fight against changes in the status quo, and this dissonance, if left unchecked, will likely result in ineffective regulations and insufficient environmental protections that do little to slow, let alone stop or reverse, the degradation of West Papua. It is our responsibility to respond proactively to this predictable situation and guide the critical process of implementation. In close collaboration with CI, our communications work will continue to serve in helping to build the necessary suite of regulations around the Perdasus to truly ensure a sustainable future for West Papua, and bring the vision of the Conservation Province to full fruition.

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BEHIND THE LENS

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B R E AT H I N G N E W L I F E

into Dominica

In a remote corner of the Caribbean island of Dominica a small community of freedivers is breathing new life into an area devastated - and left cut-off - by Hurricane Maria, the island's worst storm in living memory. Wo rd s b y Fra n c e s c a Ko e P h o t o g ra p h s b y D a n Ve r h o eve n

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ABOVE: Johnny Sunnex signals a post-dive 'okay' after returning to the surface. OPPOSITE: Sofia Gomez Uribe descends into the impossibly blue waters of Soufriere Bay. PREVIOUS PAGE: Freediver Sayuri Kinoshita ascends in the company of safety divers, sardines and sunshine.

urricane Maria battered Dominica’s shoreline with a ferocity not seen in living memory. Waves towered over and destroyed coastal houses, timber frames no match for the weight of water dropped upon them. Winds tore across the island’s hillsides, ripping trees from fertile ground. Almost every building on the island was damaged or gone. Many people lost their lives. “It feels like Dominica is finished,” reflected one survivor to the UK’s Guardian newspaper. The devastation caused by Hurricane Maria was total. Power was lost across the island, water was in short supply, people were left without shelter. Short-term recovery would focus on life-support - emergency aid, food supplies, clean water. But what of the long-term? How would an entire island go about rebuilding itself? Time, patience and financial support would all be essential. So too would community. When freediver Johnny Sunnex first arrived on Dominica in 2016, the island’s houses and hills were full of life and awash with colour. There was no hint of what was to come. He was in Dominica on a scouting

mission: to find a location suitable for hosting freediving training camps. He stumbled across Soufriere Bay in the southwest corner of the island. No waves, no current and no depth limit - freediving perfection. After running a test workshop he returned with his partner and fellow freediver, Sofia Gomez Uribe. Together they hatched an even bigger plan: to launch Dominica’s first freediving school and competition. Dominica is also known as ‘Nature Island’. Surrounded by the raw Atlantic Ocean on its east coast and the milder Caribbean Sea to its west, the island is typified by both rugged and beautiful terrain: river-soaked mountains, tropical rainforests, volcanic lakes and gushing waterfalls. It is a feast for the senses, from its lush vegetation to natural hot springs and clear ocean coves. It is not overloaded with manicured resorts - something, perhaps, to do with its hills. Sandy beaches are a rarity, but warm, deep and blue waters are abundant - as is the marine life within them. Johnny and Sofia make a striking pair. Johnny was born in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand, into a family of Māori

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The inaugural Blue Element competition later that year was a success, garnering international accolades, grabbing media attention and bringing welcome tourism dollars to the island. In the wake of this initial victory, Sofia accomplished a goal of a lifetime - a double world record. Life was good. Then, in the lead-up to 2017's much anticipated follow-up event, Hurricane Maria struck.

descent. Surrounded by the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean the curly-haired Kiwi swam competitively as a child and grew up surfing. He has always enjoyed being in the water and is one of only a handful of people on Earth who has dived 110m deep on breath-hold. Sofia is a virtual rockstar in her home country of Colombia. Educated as a civil-engineer, the 26-year-old started her aquatic career first as a synchronised swimmer and then a fin swimmer. Now with dozens of National and PanAmerican titles, as well as multiple World Records under her belt, it is clear Sofia was destined for freediving. Gomez Uribe was named Colombia’s most popular athlete in 2017. For a nation whose favourite sport is soccer (of course), that says a lot. Having participated in numerous international depth competitions, both Johnny and Sofia felt they knew what it took to run one - and now they had found the ideal marine environment to bring that ambition to life. After a few successful training events, the pair moved to Dominica permanently. Blue Element Freediving was born. The inaugural Blue Element competition later that year was a success, garnering international accolades, grabbing media attention and bringing welcome tourism dollars to the island. In the wake of this initial victory, Sofia accomplished a goal of a lifetime - a double world record. Life was good. Then, in the lead-up to 2017’s much-anticipated follow-up event, Hurricane Maria struck. On September 18 the most devastating hurricane in the island’s history wrought catastrophic damage to the entirety of Dominica. Much of the housing stock and infrastructure were left beyond repair, while the island’s verdant vegetation was practically eradicated. Roads were washed out, with mud, dismantled power lines and forsaken vehicles strewn

Sardines swarm under the dive platform as Sayuri Kinoshita enjoys the elements, free from the pressures of competition - and her wetsuit.

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Somewhere under the rainbow... Sofia Gomez Uribe takes a break from the vertical.

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“This is the closing of a chapter. We’ve finally completed something we set out to do two years ago. We promised to put on a second Blue Element, and we did it. To everybody in the village of Soufriere, thank you for accepting us, and for helping put on Blue Element 2018. Dominica has been so welcoming to us, so this is our way of giving back.” JOHNNY SUNNEX

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TOP: Sayuri Kinoshita in competition-mode on a rainy day. BOTTOM: Freedivers and fish swarm together below the Blue Element competition platform.

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“Hurricane Maria destroyed a place that I love, a community that has given a lot to my life, the place where I achieved my two world records and many good memories. It crushes my heart to see what has happened. I’m sure we will be able to help the community rebuild their lives and dreams.” SOFIA GOMEZ URIBE

everywhere. Torrents of brown water and lumber cascaded down every ravine, path and street, pushing into any open space where houses once stood. Roofless buildings left residents unprotected and exposed. Many families ran out of these collapsing structures during the storm, praying and hoping that the sunrise would come and the chaos would end. But that bright morning never came, and the storm raged on, wreaking havoc everywhere. An estimated 65 people were killed. The economic losses across the island totalled $1.37 billion. When the ferocity of Maria eventually subsided, the devastation of the catastrophe was incomprehensible. How would people survive? Where would they begin? Stranded in Miami due to grounded flights, Johnny and Sofia began fundraising for their new neighbours and friends in southwest Dominica. The industrious pair set up an online campaign dedicated to providing aid for the communities of Soufriere and Scotts Head. The campaign raised more than $30,000, with every cent put towards purchasing critical supplies - generators, water purification systems, food and first-aid for the two villages. Eventually, Johnny was able to fly out of Florida to a nearby island and requisition a boat to transport the supplies to the frightened families who desperately needed them. The aid Johnny and Sofia provided was not just critical, it was life-saving - the villages of Soufriere and Scotts Head had been completely cut-off from the national aid effort. In the aftermath of the storm, when his own house was lost, the dive platform he fabricated from scratch for Blue Element and other essential equipment totally destroyed, Johnny persevered. The positive, purposedriven personality of Sunnex was on full display. He stayed on the island to dig out, clean up and rebuild along with other resilient freedivers. One full year after the storm, as the island’s greenery began to rebound, so did spirits. Then, in November and December 2018, Dominica welcomed the international freediving community back to the island for the second edition of the Blue Element Freediving competition: 22 athletes representing 14 countries. An incredible 20 new national records were set. Beyond the economic boost Blue Element brought to Soufriere during the competition, the success and reach of the event made a much bigger statement. While the island is still very much on the road to recovery, events of the scale of Blue Element accelerate that process. Johnny and Sofia have created a business that has a symbiotic relationship with the island, both benefitting from the other. On a human level, Sunnex and Gomez Uribe have found their ideal freediving venue and a place to call home, while the neighbours and businesses of Soufriere (and beyond) are seeing increases in visitors and tourism dollars vital for the area’s ongoing rehabilitation. Sofia and Johnny have accomplished plenty as freedivers, but perhaps their most spectacular achievement to date has been the way they have ferried hope, help and resiliency to so many people in Dominica. The rebuilding process will take time, but the long-term results could see Dominica take on a leading role in sustainable ecotourism and become one of the world's first truly climate-resilient nations. Entire communities are being planned in areas less prone to flooding. New buildings will have better hurricane resistance. A new network of shelters will provide supplies and support so that responses to future storms are more effective. There are also plans to develop a geothermal energy system that would make the island greener than it already is - and it would also help restore power more quickly in the event of another storm. And then, of course, there’s the third edition of Blue Element, set for November 2019. In so many ways, the competition underscores what we humans are capable of, and what we can do together. Commitment. Compassion. Community. Dominica is back.

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Column

By Matt Draper

The artist

REPLACING FEAR WITH FASCINATION

eplace fear with fascination. These words have stuck with me since the very beginning of my journey under the surface. It is motto I am proud to communicate through stimulating imagery that fosters love for the ocean. Personally, “replace fear with fascination” means more than understanding the large pelagic predators that grace our oceans. It’s deeper than that. It’s a balance between heart and head, a fight to not only survive but to strive in doing so. It comes from a place deep within, that part of us that searches for inner peace: fear to fascination is consistent with dark to light. One cannot exist without the other. The understanding of fear, and the learning of associated limitations, is an important life balance. And when we head into darkness, it is invariably with the intention to source light - an important process in my current life, and one that brings new life after pain. I have always known what these words mean to me, but sometimes struggled to truly communicate that intricacy and personal meaning thorough my art, especially when it comes to sharks. Recently, I journeyed through a profound experience where I embodied my spirit animal, the mighty tiger, an apex predator shown the utmost respect by most beings on Earth. I left this profound experience with new tools to find a better balance in my life. Days later I was dissecting ancient langue surrounding the wild tiger through the Book of Symbols and read a passage that truly summed up my mission to replace fear with fascination, as well as offered teachings into how we should truly respect these apex beings: "To respond to urges by killing, caging or degrading the great (*white shark) cat is to brutally repress one of nature's most extraordinary incarnations of creative aggressiveness and sovereign instinct. The resolution seems to be in balance and boundaries." MD

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About Matt Matt Draper is an Australia-based underwater photographer who specialises in wide-angle black and white imagery. He spends countless hours in the water, learning to better understand the species he interacts with. By meticulously studying and patiently moving through each untamed environment, he is able to reveal distinct characteristics and behaviours.

@mattdraperphotography

www.mattdraperphotography.com

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I left this profound experience with new tools to find a better balance in my life. Days later I was dissecting ancient langue surrounding the wild tiger through the Book of Symbols and read a passage that truly summed up my mission to replace fear with fascination...â&#x20AC;?

Oceanographic Issue 05

THE

crazy 8 Environmental activist and founder of Plastic Patrol, Lizzie Carr, battles Hurricane Florence on the Hudson River in a bid to highlight the issue of single use plastics blighting the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waterways. Wo rd s b y L i z z i e C a r r P h o t o g ra p h s b y J o e l C a l d w e l l & M a x G u l i a n i

Oceanographic Issue 05

PREVIOUS PAGE: Lizzie looks toward the Manhattan skyline, the boldest of finish lines. THIS PAGE: Lizzie upriver, not a skyscraper in sight.

“I couldn’t get off the water quickly, which is exactly what I needed to do. The shoreline was thick with brambles and vegetation - there was nowhere to land.”

he air is hot and humid - the kind that’s difficult to breathe in. It’s early morning on September 6, 2018 and I’m alone on the water. There’s a stillness around me, the calm before the storm, as I get ready to embark on my biggest challenge yet. The weather forecast had looked good. New York had been in heatwave before I flew out, but with Hurricane Florence on the way the whole weather system is thrown. The dynamics of what lies ahead have changed drastically. As I make last-minute checks, photographers, press and camera crews gather to capture the moment. The realisation hits - this is finally happening. It’s a milestone trip for me, one that’s been months in the planning. In the final build-up to launch the excitement is palpable. I’m ready for this. The plan is to paddleboard the entire tidal length of the Hudson River - launching from Albany in New York State, finishing at the Statue of Liberty 170 miles downriver, where New York City meets the Atlantic Ocean. Shutter-buttons click and cameras roll. With nose pointed toward the Big Apple, I step onto my board, place my paddle in the water and pull. As first days go, mine on the Hudson could have gone better: 33C heat, zero cloud cover, paddling against an incoming tide. I did, eventually, settle into a steady rhythm, but had to work for every stroke. It was beautiful though, and I made sure I soaked it all in. Dark clouds rolled in, bringing torrential rain, choppy water and the first crackle of thunder with them. Then lightning. Storms were forecast, but not for another two hours. With no support boat, an inflatable board and a carbon paddle in my hand, I couldn’t get off the water quickly, which is exactly what I needed to do. The shoreline was thick with brambles and vegetation - there was nowhere to land. My only option was to paddle hard to a huge road bridge about ten minutes downriver and take refuge. Crackles turned into claps. The thunderstorm was in full swing. Lightening struck the horizon in all directions. The power of nature can be intimidating. It’s easy for fear to kick in, for panic to set in, but it’s important to keep a level head. I made the decision to push past the bridge, paddling harder than I thought I could to reach the logistics team on the ground, half a mile ahead on a landing pontoon. My arms burned as I raced to reach them. I felt sheer relief when I reached them. The weather wasn’t the only challenge. Cargo ships were also a very real danger. The Hudson might be beautiful, but it doubles-up as a wide commercial shipping lane. The boats that move freight up and down the waterway leave huge wakes. I had to be alert to both the boats and the waves they created, particularly as we often shared the same part of the river - the points where the water flowed fastest.

Oceanographic Issue 05

F E AT U R E

Lizzie heads for the water, a place she now describes as her playground.

Oceanographic Issue 05

F E AT U R E

Four days in and the weather took yet another turn for the worse. Heavy rainfall, crosswinds of up to 36mph, and then thunderstorms. Hurricane Florence was due to hit the East Coast the following week, and New York was in her path. Dauntingly, I knew the weather would only worsen as I made my way to the city. At this point it felt like everything was pitted against me. There are moments on the water when everything just works. There are other moments when your mind starts to wander, often to places you don’t want it to go. When the fear kicks in it’s hard to keep yourself out of that, and there’s no one around you to snap you out of it. It’s up to you, but you’re tired - and often scared. The first place my mind goes: why am I doing this? Paddleboarding completely transformed my life. From the first time I put a board in the water I was hooked. It saved me. It began after being diagnosed and overcoming my battle with cancer. I craved familiarity and routine, so I returned to my deskbound career, but knew instantly things had to change. I wanted to make the most of my second chance. I quit my job with no plan, and whilst I was busy trying to work out what to do next, paddleboarding became that very thing. I always say cancer was my biggest curse and my greatest blessing - because of what it’s taught me about life and the way it’s changed it. I love being on the water, it’s my playground. But every time I’m out there, I can’t help but notice the plastic everywhere - it’s heartbreaking. When I read that 80 percent of marine debris starts from inland sources, and I saw a focus on the beaches and oceans, I started campaigning against single use plastics. I knew we needed to tackle the issue from its source - our rivers, canals and inland - before it reaches the oceans. My mission is to rid the world of single use plastics and use my voice to campaign and draw attention to the issue of plastic pollution, ocean health and, ultimately, climate change through adventure. The challenges I’ve set myself have earned me international recognition. In May 2016, I became the first person in history to paddleboard the length of England solo and unsupported. I completed the 400-mile journey in 22 days, taking more than 2,000 photos of plastic. That’s when I created Plastic Patrol. Plastic Patrol started out as a one-woman crusade and a vehicle to inspire community clean-ups across the UK through the medium of adventure. It quickly evolved into so much more. It’s a grassroots movement that mobilises, empowers and motivates people on the ground. Paddleboarding the Hudson was my way of sparking a conversation about the issue of plastic pollution in the US, one of the world’s biggest consumers of single use plastic. The stateside movement is gaining momentum and passionate individuals and organisations are pushing hard for change. I wanted to use my platform and voice to generate additional awareness where I could, because that's what it takes - people and pressure. When I passed the halfway mark, there was lots

to smile about. I’d captured valuable data on my SmartFin (new technology that allowed me to measure temperature, motion and assorted characteristics of the water), caught up on the distance lost on the first day and completed the first of the Plastic Patrol beach clean-ups - 11 bags of rubbish collected. The adventure felt real and under control. Most satisfyingly, the seemingly distant finish line now felt within reach. And then, suddenly, the Statue of Liberty stood before me, her arm raised triumphantly to the sky. I had reached the finish line. I had covered 170 miles in eight crazy days, collected plastic and raised the call for others to join the fight. Physically and mentally, it had been my toughest challenge to-date. It was a thrill to bob on that famous water, Manhattan’s vast skyline stretched out before me. You can do whatever you want to, if you believe you can. When I returned to land the adrenaline eased and the aches and pains kicked in. I felt exhausted, but elated and proud of what I had achieved. Logging every bit of plastic was time consuming but the data invaluable. Throughout the journey I geotagged hundreds of images that will help to build an important picture and evidence base for change. I’d taken samples to be checked for microplastics and collected a range of other information using my SmartFin. We don’t have a lot on river temperatures yet, so that data capture was particularly gratifying. The Hudson River Park Trust have an archive which my information will feed into and Riverkeeper are using my pictures as comparisons to their findings. Longer term the data will help inform public policy and allow us to work more closely with manufacturers to minimise waste. It will educate on patterns and trends identified in waterway research and identify areas where clean-ups should be concentrated and where communities can be most effectively mobilised. I’ve realised on my journey that the only way to connect people with the problem is if they see it firsthand. I hope challenges like the Hudson Project will allow people to connect with the problem we’re facing. What we do in the next five years, the decisions we make, will have a huge impact on the future of our species. We are all responsible and need to take ownership. Plastic Patrol, now a registered non-profit with more than 1,000 volunteers, has so far rid UK waterways of 189 tonnes of plastic. The Plastic Patrol App works to crowdsource and map important data about the types of plastic found and collected to make sure the big brands responsible are held to account. So far, the app has recorded more than 50,000 pieces of plastic waste from 35 countries. The UK has seen progress in the last couple of years and the huge groundswell of public support for change has driven legislative amendments. Our collective voice has forced government and companies to re-think their approach to plastic use, but there’s still a long way to go. So pick up that paddle, and let’s do this.

Oceanographic Issue 05

Column

By Dr Easkey Britton

The social ecologist TRUSTING THE PROCESS: WHERE SOCIAL INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY MEET THE SEA

“ As a shared experience in a group setting, it’s a complete leveller. Everyone’s guard drops and egos are left on the shore. It’s a powerful way to connect and build trust.”

Photograph courtesy of Wavemaker Collective

Oceanographic Issue 05

@easkeysurf

urfing doesn’t just happen when you’re in the water. Lessons I’ve learned surfing are applicable to the way we move through our day. As a life metaphor, understanding and trusting in the power of the process is so important. Surfer and environmental activist Leah Dawson describes this process as “the ability for humans to feel and create anew, with incredible pleasure and a deep connection to something else other than ourselves”. But is it ok to not know where we are going in this competitive, outcome-oriented world? What happens when instead of focusing on the outcome we are guided by our purpose? What happens when we create a space that allows us to fully be who we are without an agenda (or at least leaving it to one side), able to let go of our assumptions and be open to the unexpected? There is a growing trend in experiential, naturebased learning and the power of nature as an embodied learning experience for leaders. The Wavemaker Collective, established by myself and two fellow ‘wavemakers’ Linzi Hawkin and Carolina Pereira, runs a social impact focused leadership retreat every May in Portugal, recognising the benefits of being immersed in nature, especially the sea, can have on our creative thinking. We love to explore how we might build a global community of exceptional, passionate wavemakers who inspire and empower each other to create a more beautiful world. We’re really curious about what it takes to make waves, what it means to be a good leader and how to do good better. One of the very first exercises we do is a ‘2 minute beach clean’, followed by what we call ‘wave play’. For me, the ocean is my playground. When I want to shift my perspective or when I’m struggling with a creative block, I jump into the sea. Bodysurfing or ‘wave play’ allows me to be without any agenda. I surrender myself to the power of the waves. It’s a bodily way of learning and knowing. I learn to embody the meaning of resistance, letting go and flow. As a shared experience in a group setting, it’s a complete leveller. Everyone’s guard drops and egos are left on the shore. It’s a powerful way to connect, build trust and immediately embody the concept of flow and the power of failing fast, as well as the value of play for out-of-the-box thinking. And, simply put, it’s FUN! In a world where we are expected to be always ‘on’, where growing stress and anxiety are linked to the fact that we’ve become disconnected, being immersed in nature and the sea can help us be fully present in an effortless way, and to be more in sync with our environment. ‘Wave play’ is not only a powerful life-metaphor, but an embodied learning experience that helps bring abstract leadership lessons to life. The sea is unpredictable, we have to leave our need to control behind and be open to the

@easkeysurf

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unexpected; it demands our total awareness and presence to the moment, along with a willingness to let go, flex and adapt. Engaging with an everchanging environment like the sea also helps us move from an analytical to intuitive mindset, feeling the water or the wave through all the senses. It’s dynamic so you’re always learning. Different coasts, winds, currents, tides, seasons mean you are constantly adapting, which has considerable health benefits for both body and mind. What if we could train ourselves to be more in sync? It’s not something that just happens. I believe if we apply greater conscious awareness, it’s something we can tap into at will. Wavemakers is an immersive experience that can bring profound shifts in the way we think, listen, feel and create. Small is the new big. The retreat is an intimate gathering of leaders, founders and wavemakers from around the world. Using the sea as an immersive and experiential journey, we explore how to make waves of change. There are no lectures, no pitching, no distractions. Instead, it’s a unique opportunity to explore, share, create, collaborate in a playful environment. Through peer-driven co-learning, creative open space sessions and inspiring conversations we share the positive impact of leaning into what we love in order to help others. We explore what happens when we think and act with open minds and what it takes to create a future where “social good” isn’t just an add-on. As with surfing, with a greater sense of selfawareness we are able to open our senses to our environment and our capacity to better connect with each other across so-called boundaries. This takes trust. By the transparency of our actions and what motivates them, we give ourselves permission to step out of the comfort zone. Initiating this process, like the act of catching a wave, is a point of no return. There is no going back and no knowing for certain how the ride will end. Like riding a wave, it is about having the ability to be detached from the outcome yet still single-mindedly focused on what needs to be done. What wave will you choose to ride? EB About Easkey Dr Easkey Britton, surfer and founder of Like Water, is a marine social scientist at the National University of Ireland Galway. Her work explores the relationship between people and the sea, using her passion for the ocean to create social change and connection across cultures. Currently resides in Donegal, Ireland. What wave will you choose to ride? www.wavemakercollective.com

Oceanographic Issue 05

CAPTURE

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Oceanographic Issue 05

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BEHIND THE LENS

Q&A JOHN WELLER Photographer, filmmaker and writer, PEW Fellow and member of the SeaLegacy Collective, as well as a key member of the Provinsi Konservasi campaign team (p.20). In this interview, Oceanographic talks to him about his Last Ocean campaign, a decade-long fight to have Antarctica’s Ross Sea declared a marine protected area.

OC EA NO G R A PH IC M AGAZ I N E (OM ): H OW D I D YOUR CONSERVATION P H OTOGRAP H Y JOURNEY BE G IN?

JOHN WELLER (JW): I started off as a landscape photographer. My first big mission was a three-year project on the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. I’d hike for a week in every month, just me and a 100-pound pack on my back. I spent more time on those dunes than anyone, even the rangers. I developed an incredibly intimate relationship with the landscape. I fell in love with it. What was really striking to me was that it wasn’t just a big pile of sand - it’s actually a grassland. The grassland is started by sunflowers that take root in the sand. These flowers can grow up to four inches a day if they need to prevent themselves being buried by a sand storm. They can also turn their roots back into stem if they are excavated by moving sand. They're extremely hardy and once they take root they basically anchor the entire ecosystem. With a 10 percent vegetation coverage, it’s estimated 50% of the sand movement is stopped, and with 50% vegetation sand movement is stopped almost entirely. When that happens, the grasses move in, which support the endemic beetles and kangaroo rats, the coyotes and the pronghorn antelope, and so on.

There are also elk out there on the dunes - big herds of them crossing this sandy moonscape. I was fascinated by this. One day, I was out on the sand sheet - the outer area of the dunes that’s vegetated and very stable. I looked down and realized the entire sheet - the entire region - was a carpet of old elk tracks. The tracks created these perfect little divots in the sand sheet, held firm by the vegetation. This was my epiphany. When the wind picked up I witnessed all of this riffraff blowing through the sand sheet - little pieces of sticks and twigs, but also the seeds of rabbit brush, Indian rice grass and skeleton weed. The twigs and seeds were getting caught in the elk tracks and forming nests of sorts. Then I realised the elk droppings - the perfect fertilizer - were rolling down into the divots and providing the seeds with what they needed to grow. It came to me all at once: the elk were essentially planting their own food as they walked the dune system. My whole understanding of the connectivity of an ecosystem changed. The boundary between elk and grass was blurred - they were so tightly tied. The whole ecosystem was like a singular creature that had crawled up onto the dunes. The profundity of that connectivity - and that I was connected to the same life force, the same system, and the beauty of it - was something that I needed to speak for. That has been the driving motivation throughout my life since and certainly forms the basepoint of my work as a conservation photographer.

OM : YO U R PR O F E S S I ON AL F OC U S I S ON C OMMUNICATING TH E VALUE OF P RISTINE P LACES, SU CH A S T H O S E S AN D D U N E S . C OU L D YOU H AVE EVER IMAGINED TH AT PATH WOULD LEAD YOU TO T H E O CE AN ? BOU L D E R, YOU R H OM E TOWN, IS A LONG WAY FROM TH E COAST.

JW: Boulder, incredibly, actually boasts the largest percentage of divers per capita in the US. We’re an outdoorsy bunch! But honestly, the only contact I had with the ocean until my 20s, aside from a few trips here and there, was standing on the shores of Point Reyes National Seashore outside of San Francisco, watching immense breakers roll in. I was ignorant about the big ocean issues, the threats it faced. When I stared out at it, it seemed infinite and all powerful. It didn't seem possible there could be any limits to this place. So, honestly, no, I don’t think I did expect my journey to take me to the ocean.

OM : W H EN D ID T H AT C H AN GE ?

JW: Soon after I published my book on the Great Sand Dunes. Having found this new path in life to speak for pristine places, a high school friend of mine got in touch. She was working in Antarctica on a penguin research team, traveling the world, and blew back through town every

Oceanographic Issue 05

BEHIND THE LENS

six months or so. She'd show up at my doorstep, unannounced, with a bottle of wine and we’d talk into the night catching-up. In 2004 she made one of these appearances, but instead of a bottle of wine and a big hug she handed me a scientific paper. When she thrust it into my hands, she told me I had to read it “right now”. She quite literally made me sit down and read it before we caught up in any other way.

The paper was by an Antarctic ecologist named David Ainley. He's one of the most respected Antarctic scientists in the world, having worked in the region for 30-plus years. The paper? ‘Acquiring a base datum of normality for a marine ecosystem’. It told this story of the Ross Sea, identifying it as the last large intact marine ecosystem left on Earth. It also identified its most imminent threat - an Antarctic toothfish fishery. The Antarctic toothfish is the top predatory fish in the Southern Ocean. The species lives down at 5,000ft and has a complex natural history. Until very recently nobody had found a larval fish or an egg, nobody knew when or where they spawned, only that they spawned in their late teens. It had all the markers of a deep-water fishery that could be easily overfished. It’s happened time and again with deep-water fisheries.

The paper blew my world apart. The idea that there could be one last intact large marine ecosystem left on Earth was almost impossible for me to understand because, as I’ve said, I had this perception of the ocean as this infinite place. Yet here was this story that totally contradicted that perception.

O M: A S A C ON S E RVAT I ON P H OTOGRAP H ER WITH A NEWFOUND FOCUS ON SP EAKING OUT FOR PR IS T IN E P L AC E S , YOU F E LT YOU H AD TO DO SOMETH ING… JW: That’s right. The paper kept me up at night - I literally couldn't sleep. So I called David Ainley. He invited me out to meet him and at that first meeting we made a commitment to each other that we would work together to promote a marine protected area (MPA) in the Ross Sea. This was a pristine place under attack. It was worth more alive than dead. It needed a voice.

David sent me home with an armful of papers and books to read - Antarctic and ocean science. I developed a vernacular expertise in ocean issues. I got to a certain point where I felt ready to write a project description for what we wanted to achieve, so that’s what I did. I sent the finished document to 17 top Antarctic scientists because I knew I needed it scientifically proofed - what I was putting out there had to be accurate. I knew I was onto something because I got a positive response from every single one of them within 24 hours - including one guy who connected from a remote station in the Arctic by satellite.

I started writing a strategic plan. The idea was to create a wave of media that would wash over the world. This was the last pristine place, we had to protect it. I started calling it the Last Ocean, which quickly became the title of the project. It was then a case of leveraging my community and telling the story to everybody I knew. I didn't know where the break was going to come from, but I knew it would.

O M: D ID I T F E E L AT AL L S T RAN GE TO BE ON A MISSION TO P ROTECT A P LACE YOU'D NEVER B EEN? IT ’ S QU I T E A C ON T RAS T TO TH E GREAT SAND DUNES, A P LACE YOU KNEW SO INT IMAT E LY.

JW: Not even a little. It felt completely right from the first moment - with both head and heart. From the moment I read David’s article, I knew this was going to be the place I made my stand.

O M: YO U K N E W A BRE AK W OU L D C O ME. WAS TH ERE A PARTICULAR MOMENT YOU FELT MO MENT U M C H AN GE ? JW: Definitely. It was when I met Lucy Spelman. She had been the director of the National Zoo in Washington and overseen huge fundraising drives. She enabled me to find the funding for travel and equipment to the Ross Sea. It was a game-changer. By this stage Quark Expeditions had offered me space and support on their icebreaker too. I was just a photographer at the time and I needed a filmmaker, so I contacted an incredible cinematographer named Peter Young from New Zealand. He dropped everything and we headed south. Free from other responsibilities while on the ships - which, incidentally, got us to places in the ice that we just wouldn't have been able to access any other way - we stayed up day and night, out on deck capturing compelling media. Being able to get down there, that was the first big step forward.

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Q&A Continued... OM: W ER E YO U ABL E TO GE T I N T H E WAT E R AT ALL, OR WAS TH E P H OTOGRAP H Y EX CLUS IVELY TO P S I D E AT T H I S S TAGE ? JW: Well, at this stage, I'd never done any diving. But it didn’t take me long to realise that I had to learn fast - half the story was underwater. Through a mutual contact, I enlisted the help of Bill Curtsinger, one of the world’s most prominent Antarctic photographers. He laid out an educational roadmap for me - all the steps I would need to take to get myself prepared to be successful under the ice. I completed the necessaries over a couple of years.

Knowledge and skills only have value if they come with access, though. We were able to get permissions to dive the Ross Sea directly from the Head of Polar Programmes at the National Science Foundation, who approved of our idea to create a media campaign to promote an MPA.

I got down to McMurdo and was able to log about 50 dives over the course of the season and obviously saw the most amazing stuff. Peter, meanwhile, had gone on a journey following the toothfish across the world, from catch to plate, for the Last Ocean film.

OM: B UILD ING B L OC K S F OR T H E BI G M E D I A DRIVE…

JW: Absolutely. After about five years we had all the imagery we needed to implement a global campaign. We started publishing articles. We formed an NGO in New Zealand – the Last Ocean Charitable Trust. We started doing public presentations there to drive political dialogue. It was pretty contentious because New Zealand was, at the time, the main actor in the toothfish fishery and was outwardly opposed to the idea of an MPA.

While we were driving public discourse, David Ainley was working on the science, along with the 17 scientists from whom we’d garnered initial support. Science would form the critical backdrop to the prospective proposal to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLAR), who would make the final decision on whether to form an MPA or not. Facts, figures and data would play a huge role. David and his team produced a mountain of science - ecosystem dynamics, the effects of climate change, effects of the fishery on the system - but no consolidated paper, which is what we needed. So I wrote a proposal to the International Marine Conservation Congress for a Ross Sea symposium. It was accepted. There we brought all the Ross Sea scientists into one room for the first time, and out of that meeting came a massive paper, basically the state of the Ross Sea.

That paper became the backdrop and the resource behind developing an MPA proposal. It allowed us to gather a petition signed by a thousand scientists worldwide who supported a Ross Sea MPA. We then got the US CCAMLAR delegation to take on the MPA issue - the first national delegation to do so. It was huge moment - and proof that our media and science campaign was working - but CCAMLAR works on consensus, so we now had to convince other delegations to support the proposal.

OM: H OW B IG A T U RN I N G P OI N T WAS I T, GE TTING TH E US DELEGATION TO BACK TH E P RO PO S A L? JW: Huge. It was at that point that it really started to snowball. PEW Charitable Trusts, of which I’m a Fellow, came on board. So too did Greenpeace, WWF and a number of other organisations. Scientific teams were working their magic, diplomatic teams working their magic. NGOs were falling in line like dominoes, and working their magic. On top of that, we estimate our media campaign reached more than 100 million people across the world. The most important development though, was connecting with John Kerry, who was at the time Secretary of State under President Barack Obama. Kerry took the campaign on, not just as a policy issue, but as a personal cause. He wanted the Ross Sea MPA to be part of his legacy. OM: T H AT ’ S S O M E S U P P ORT E R.

JW: Absolutely. But it wasn’t plain sailing from there on in. Fast-forward to 2012 and a consolidated US-New Zealand proposal is put to the CCAMLAR floor. Following negotiations the proposal is cut by 40 percent, and a number of other concessions are made to bring other nations on board. By the end of 2014 all but two nations were on board: China and Russia.

Then the most incredible thing happened. Kerry engaged President Obama, who in turn engaged the Chinese President in the White House. After the introduction of a few caveats, China committed to the proposal.

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In the lead up to the 2016 CCAMLR meeting, which was being held in Russia, Kerry worked hard behind the scenes to get the host nation on board. Anything that came out of that meeting would have Russia’s thumbprint on it - something we hoped would work in our favour. It was a huge opportunity to finally get all parties to agree to the MPA.

O M: AT T H I S S TAGE I T ’ S BE E N 1 2 Y E ARS SINCE YOU RECEIVED TH AT SCIENCE PAP ER ON YOU R DO O R S TE P. T H E I N T E RN AT I ON AL C O MMUNITY IS NOW DISCUSSING MPA RATIFICATION. H OW DID T H AT F E E L ?

JW: It was insane, and far from straightforward. When Russia announced they were on board, another country, who had remained in the shadows, raised their flag and said there was a problem. That set off a series of intense negotiations. In the 11th hour they came to agreement on terms. They went through the proposal line by line on the big screens, including the last lines of the proposal that had been contested. There were no responses, no interventions. The Russian chair of the convention dropped his gavel and said: “It's done”.

The room erupted. Bearing in mind this is a room full of stoic international diplomats, it was an incredible scene. People were laughing, cheering, crying. People had their cell phones out - a big no-no - and were filming the whole thing. It was history in the making. Delegates from different nations were hugging each other. In that moment we were witnessing not only a massive win for Antarctica, but a massive win for the world. This was not just an MPA, it was a peace treaty. What I witnessed in that building gives me faith and the belief that if enough of us speak up and tell this truth that we need to protect our planet, we can achieve great things.

O M: T H AT M OM E N T, F OR YOU P E RS O NALLY, H AVING TAKEN TH E ISSUE BY TH E SCRUFF OF THE NECK MA N Y Y E ARS P RE V I OU S LY, M UST H AVE ALMOST BEEN AN OUT-OF-BODY EXP ERIENCE. JW: It was. That was the expression I was going to use. It was out-of-body. I was weeping. My wife and I had to leave the room and just stand in a corner outside and hold each other. I was shaking. It was the most visceral moment of relief. The feeling of accomplishment was dwarfed by the feeling of relief that I wasn't crazy.

And speaking about things from the personal perspective, that’s possibly the coolest thing of all it was through this process of campaigning for a Ross Sea MPA that I met my wife. She was one of the very few people in the US who had done research on toothfish. I had seen one of her papers and knew who she was, so when I met her I said: “So, we need to go talk about toothfish.” The line wouldn’t have worked on any other woman in the world. She’s a science journalist who’d written for different papers and magazines across the country. She then completed her PhD at Stanford, studying the CCAMLAR MPA policymaking process. She was a critical part of what was achieved at CCAMLAR that day.

O M: T H E ROS S S E A M PA OF F I C I AL LY CAME INTO FORCE IN DECEMBER 2 0 1 7 , BUT TH ERE’S S T ILL MORE W ORK TO BE D ON E …

JW: The fight’s not over. People need to understand this was a huge step forward but there’s still plenty of work to be done. One of the big concessions means the MPA is only in place for 35 years, at which point it will need to be re-ratified. The key to getting the MPA re-ratified is demonstrating that it works. That requires a research and monitoring plan. We need nations to step up their financial and scientific commitments in the Ross Sea, to study the MPA, to study the toothfish fishery, which is still in full force right outside the MPA. In fact, one of the biggest concessions was the exclusion of an area called the Iselin Bank, which is a hugely important area biologically and the heart of the toothfish fishery. This is where the rubber hits the road. A research and monitoring plan, brought to the table in 2017 by the US and now with multiple national sponsors, has been blocked by China. Thirty-five years isn’t a long time to collate the data and information we need, so there’s plenty of work to be done.

O M: W H AT ’ S N E XT ? JW: In addition to working on getting the research and monitoring plan instituted in the Ross Sea we’re now pushing forward to support other proposals for a network of MPAs around Antarctica. The Ross Sea MPA has opened doors regarding other parts of Antarctica, and there are now several more proposals for big MPAs in the region that would help further protect the core environment there. They all need to be passed. I guess it’s a cliché, but the Ross Sea MPA really is just the start.

Oceanographic Issue 05

BEHIND THE LENS

Weddell seal pup The bottom of the sea-ice is like a cloud formation from an El Greco painting - tortured clouds and shafts of light. And there, playing in a seal hole, a Weddell seal pup. Perhaps the most ethereal natural scene I have ever witnessed.

Pack ice A jigsaw puzzle of floating ice extends as far as the eye can see in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. It is one of the harshest places on Earth, but supports the world’s most prolific ecosystem.

Adélie penguin Adélie penguins explode from the water like corks, crashing onto the floating ice. Adélies nest on Antarctica’s few patches of bare ground, and some colonies date back thousands of years.

BBC filming benthic communities Beneath a seal colony, the ocean floor is a mosaic. Lurid sea stars, urchins and metre-long nemertean worms eat anything a seal drops - a scrap of fish, or even the carcass of an unlucky seal pup.

Black-browed albatross An albatross will spend months at sea, relying entirely on the famous Southern Ocean winds. Of the 22 species of albatross, 17 are classified by the IUCN as vulnerable or endangered.

Adélie penguin on cracked ice Climate change. When the Earth has warmed 2°C, scientists estimate that ice habitat loss will displace nearly half of the emperor penguin colonies and 75% of the Adélie penguin colonies around Antarctica.

Snow petrel Pure white snow petrels glow against over-cast skies, flecks of paper suspended in the wind. They look impossibly fragile, but in fact they are the southern-most breeding animals in the world.

Adélie penguin detail The penguins had no fear as they approached, surrounded me, and settled down. Eventually they puffed out their feathers against the cold and fell asleep standing around me on the ice.

Diver under ice After years of preparation, when I finally popped out underneath the sea ice for the first time, I emerged as if a skydiver under a low-hanging blanket of luminous blue clouds. Visibility can be more than 500 metres. I might as well have been floating in air.

Tiananmen Square in the Southern Ocean - emperor penguin and icebreaker October 28th, 2016, CCAMLAR declared the world’s first largescale international MPA in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. But there is still much work to be done to protect the vulnerable ecosystems of the Southern Ocean.

Emperor penguins Facing pairs of emperor penguins croon their ancient song. Unlike Adélies, the emperors breed on the sea-ice itself, laying eggs in the dead of winter, holding the precious packages on their feet to keep them from freezing.

Snow petrel and tabular iceberg Floating mountains of blue ice saw at the sky like jagged teeth, their 200-foot-tall spires and cleaved cliffs brought into perspective only in comparison to the size of the birds.

CAPTURE

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Behind the lens JOHN WELLER

Weddell seal rising to a hole The southern-most breeding mammals in the world, Weddell seals live in McMurdo Sound all year long. But to pull this off, they must, at times, dive half a mile deep, stay submerged for an hour and a half, eat their way through the ice to keep their dive holes open through the winter, and speak in voices as loud as a blast of dynamite.

PERSONAL SEALEGACY

Adélie penguin Throngs of Adélie penguins rocket past the edges of the ice just under the surface, trailing long bridal-veils of white bubbles in the cerulean blue. The power and focus of the birds as they hunt is a true spectacle.

John is an internationally acclaimed author, photographer and filmmaker. In 2004, he founded The Last Ocean Project, which became the face of Antarctic conservation efforts worldwide, and anchored what would become a global coalition that drove the adoption of the world’s largest MPA in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Weller has also helped conceive and deliver high-impact initiatives resulting in new sanctuaries in the Bahamas and Micronesia, and new MPAs in Indonesia.

www.johnbweller.com @sea_legacy

@Sea_Legacy

@sealegacy

www.sealegacy.org

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Photo by ©Cat Garcia taken on the Leica SL

Oceanographic Issue 05

LEICA NOCTIVID An exceptional viewing experience. Stylish and compact, the Leica Noctivid offer the perfect balance of attributes for crystal clear viewing experiences.

Leica Store Mayfair | 64 – 66 Duke Street | London W1K 6JD | www.leica-sportoptics.com

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BEHIND THE LENS

NOMAD The great seafaring Moken no longer call the ocean home - life now one of transition rather than transit. To document this great change, ethnographic photographer, Cat Vinton, who once lived with the nomadic Moken, returned to the Andaman Sea to once again focus her lens on the besieged sea people. This time though, the cameras were placed in the hands of the Moken children. How did they see their shifting world? Wo rd s b y H e l e n Tay l o r P h o t o g ra p h s b y C a t Vi n t o n B a D i n , K h i n Th a n & G yo Th a r

Oceanographic Issue 05

BEHIND THE LENS

Oceanographic Issue 05

BEHIND THE LENS

Catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photographs capture nomadic Moken life in its twilight hour. During those first three months immersed in the Moken way of life, aboard a kabang, Cat found herself living with the very last Moken family still clinging to its nomadic existence.

F E AT U R E

“A

ll good things are wild, and free,” said American naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. As we move into the Anthropocene epoch, where scientists say humans are having a more dominant impact on the environment than ever before, it is a way of life that is receding. To be wild, and free - roaming, wandering from place to place, and living in tune with nature’s rhythms - is a way of life honoured for thousands of years by nomadic people the world over, who like the natural world, are fast disappearing too. Forced development, climate change, unchecked tourism, and the destruction of nomadic ways of life in the name of ‘conservation’ are some of the challenges facing the world’s remaining nomadic people. “My ultimate goal is to create a book documenting the world’s last nomads - to create a legacy for the West, and the nomads themselves,” says Cat Vinton, an ethnographic and environmental photographer, who for the last ten years has been recording the lives of nomadic people around the globe: the Tibetan nomads of the Chang Tang and Dolpo-Pa, in the Himalayas; nomadic herdsmen of the South Gobi Desert, Mongolia; Sami reindeer herders of the Inner Finnmark, Norway; and the world’s last ‘sea gypsies’, the Moken of the Andaman Sea. “I've always had this pull towards the nomadic way of life, and the idea that their richness is not material. Nomads have the lightest touch on the land and move so everything can rejuvenate - they leave no trace.” Ten years ago, Cat made her first visit to the Mergui Archipelago, in the Andaman Sea, where she spent more than three months living with the nomadic Moken. A landless, stateless people, the Moken move from island to island, between Burma and Thailand. Cat has revisited the Surin Islands three times since 2008, and has witnessed the dismantling of the Moken’s ‘wild and free’ way of life. Interest in oil and gas exploration beneath the Andaman Sea has fuelled a tightening of border patrols, making movement between Thai and Burmese waters near impossible for the Moken. And, in 1981 the Surin Islands were declared a national park, preventing the Moken from felling trees to make a kabang boat - their shelter and home. The 2004 tsunami was the final straw for the Moken, who were prevented from repairing or rebuilding their wrecked boats due to the logging ban, forcing many of them ashore. Tourism too has permanently altered the Moken way of life, and in the Thai Surin Islands the Moken village is swamped with tourists for six months of the year outside monsoon season. “It’s pretty hard to see tourism on the island the Moken now call home,” says Cat. “There are boat loads of people wandering through the village with cameras in their (the Moken’s) faces. It’s like a zoo. Horrendous." In her book 'The Last Sea Nomads', journalist Susan Smillie writes: “For the shy Moken, it has been a painful PREVIOUS PAGE: Tat wielding his spear from the bow of his kabang. THIS PAGE: A kabang being punted through low tide at dusk, a full moon overhead.

F E AT U R E

TOP: Village life, as seen through the eyes of Khin Than. MIDDLE: Village life, as seen through the eyes of Ba Din. BOTTOM: Village life, as seen through the eyes of Gyo Thar.

Oceanographic Issue 05

F E AT U R E

journey from maritime nomads to living museum exhibits. The loss of tradition and way of life - in the case of the nomadic Moken, their mobility and freedom to live at sea - has created a deep sense of dislocation and profound social problems.” Cat’s photographs capture nomadic Moken life in its twilight hour. During those first three months immersed in the Moken way of life, aboard a kabang, Cat found herself living with the very last Moken family still clinging to its nomadic existence. Tat and his wife Sabai, and their three sons, were the last known Moken family to come ashore, forced to abandon life afloat due to their disintegrating boat, declining health, and the absence of a Moken community to sail with. There aren’t many Moken left now; just 1,000 in Thailand and 3,000 in Burma. It had taken Cat a month to locate the nomadic Moken - a difficult task given their shyness, and lack of fixed address. Her formula for locating and integrating with nomadic people remains the same wherever she is. Her first task is to befriend a local - preferably a female who

“I wanted the children to document their life from the inside, as their country is opening up to outsiders to create an extraordinary archive of images before the Moken way of life disappears.”

has some connection to the nomadic people she’s looking for - to point her in the direction of, and hopefully accompany her to, where the nomads live. On arrival, she doesn’t take any photographs for at least a week, instead taking time to earn the nomads’ trust. “I try to meet ‘her’ and that usually takes me a big chunk of time,” says Cat. “If the relationship feels right I pursue it, if not I keep looking elsewhere. She’s my gold.” Cat says intimacy and empathy are key to her work. Taking an ethnographic approach, and without relying on guides or translators, she fully immerses herself in the lives of those she’s photographing; eating what they eat, sleeping where they sleep, and lending a hand with daily chores where she can. “I let go and completely immerse myself at every level,” she says. “I don’t take my own food or sleeping bag, the only thing I take is my camera and charging kit.” Cat speaks with pace and enthusiasm. There’s no doubt she’s passionate about her nomad project, which she tells me has been self-funded. “I am what I do,” she confesses.

“My work life and personal life are seamless.” Akin to the nomads she documents with such sensitivity, Cat also leads a fascinating, contemporary ‘nomadic’ life. Whilst the majority of the Western world barricades itself within four walls, Cat has no fixed address, instead living from project to project, rarely thinking further ahead than the next commission, and only returning to London - her base of sorts - when she needs to. When we speak, she’s been in London for two weeks and is already “getting twitchy”. “Lots of people ask, ‘don’t you struggle with your lifestyle?’, but I’m genuinely really happy on the move. There’s something inside me that tells me I need to move, and wherever I am, it feels like home. That could be sitting at a fancy dinner table, or it could be in a tent at -40C. It’s natural for me, and I don’t miss home like a lot of people do. It’s strange, I’m very in the moment, and I go intimate. I live as they do.” Aside from her nomad project - which Cat describes as her life’s work, hopefully resulting in an exhibition and a book - Cat has also been working on a philanthropy project with Moken living on the Burmese islands of the Mergui Archipelago. Although still one people, Moken on either side of the border face entirely different challenges. Moken on the Thai side tackle the influence of tourism, but are otherwise autonomous, whereas Moken on the Burmese side have little contact with tourists yet, but are instead integrating with Burmese fisherman, and culture. Both circumstances pose a threat to Moken culture and tradition, but Cat says ‘preservation’ isn’t the solution. “I struggle with the word ‘preserve’. I don’t think the Moken need preserving. They are unbelievably resilient, and they aren’t against progression, it’s just when it’s forced progression. They’re a water people who have been forced on land in either Thailand or Burma.” Cat’s project on the Burmese islands centres around illustrating the gradual integration of Moken and Burmese ways of life. To do that, she distributed cameras amongst Burmese and Moken children, for them to document life through their eyes - a project reminiscent of the documentary Born into Brothels, where photographer Zana Briski provided the children of Calcutta’s red light district with basic cameras to record their daily lives. “Burma is opening up to tourists for the first time, and these people have been left alone far longer than people in other Southeast Asian countries. I wanted the children to document their life from the inside, as their country is opening up to outsiders, to create an extraordinary archive of images.” The final photos (three of which can be seen opposite) are presented in a book entitled ‘SEEN through the eyes of the children’, and on postcards, with all proceeds going back to the island. The islanders have been given full control of any funds raised. They have opted to build a retaining wall around the Burmese temple to protect it against sand erosion, and will work to clear their beaches of plastic pollution and rubbish.

Oceanographic Issue 05

F E AT U R E

Cat spent some time with the children - Moken and Burmese girls and boys of all ages - and worked with them on what their images should show: how the children view their identity; how their island is awash with plastic pollution; the flora and fauna that inhabit it; which angles make for compelling pictures; how their families catch and prepare their food. “It would take outside photographers so much time to gain the kind of intimacy required to take those photographs. This way, the children have control of the images, and they can make a book they’re proud of, to showcase their way of life before tourism arrives.” At the end of any stay with nomads, Cat makes a point of hosting a film night, where she shows everyone her photographs. “They love it,” she says. She also gifts them with practical items when she leaves, like a year’s supply of rice, a new knife, or waterproof bags for the children. She’s keen to point out there is no monetary exchange between herself and the nomads, and her time with them depends on goodwill. Ultimately, she’d like to return to each group she’s photographed, to present them with the final book. In 'The Last Sea Nomads', Susan Smillie writes: “Surin is special. It is beautiful beyond belief, this sanctuary for wildlife. Here in its rainforest, you’ll see the shy gliding lemur slowly ascending a tree. In the skies, a flash of metallic green reveals the presence of a rare Nicobar pigeon; turtles nest on Surin’s protected beaches and giant whale sharks roam its seas. When you arrive you’re struck by the oranges, blues, reds of the tropical fish, glimpsed over the gunnels of a boat as clearly as through the glass of aquarium. The water is crystal.” It seems the Moken have taken good care of the Surin Islands, and the Mergui Archipelago, since subsisting there. Nature abounds for all to enjoy. Why then, Cat wonders, aren’t they allowed to continue living as they always have? If she could do one thing for the Moken in return for the time they’ve given her, Cat says it would be to remove legislation banning them from harvesting trees to make their kabang. That would give them the freedom to return to the sea, albeit within the confines of either Burmese or Thai waters. The Western world could learn from these nomadic people, says Cat, especially with regards to ocean stewardship. “They freedive, taking only one fish, and they don’t use nets or baiting - it certainly could not be further away from overfishing. And, they have no waste. Traditionally, they weren’t adding anything to the pollution of the oceans. They’re good at finding things and recycling. They’re very resourceful.” Cat's next commission, an illustrated book with publisher Thames and Hudson, is fast approaching. She's heading out East, to China. Along the way she hopes to squeeze in a visit to the Moken. Her life’s work isn’t quite finished yet...

Tat underwater, wearing home-made goggles.

BEHIND THE LENS

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I've always had this pull towards the nomadic way of life, and the idea that their richness is not material. Nomads have the lightest touch on the land and move so everything can rejuvenate they leave no trace.â&#x20AC;?

Column

By Dr Simon Pierce

The marine biologist MARINE BIOFLUORESCENCE: SEEING THE REEF IN A NEW LIGHT

e live in a world of light and colour. A large chunk of our brain is assigned to process the inputs received from our eyes. We appreciate beautiful sunsets, rainbows, and fairy lights. Other mammals see a different world. Dogs don’t see the same range of colours as we do. However, their heightened sense of smell helps them to appreciate fox poo at a level that I just cannot reach. Like theirs, our senses are optimised for a certain way of life. Our eyes are among the sharpest in mammals, but only during daytime. We need to turn on a light to see at night. We’re great at finding ripe fruit, but our eyes can’t process the ultraviolet patterns that flowers use to attract bees. In the ocean, we’re hopeless. Our visual field is a big blurry mess, so we need a mask or goggles to correct it. Fish, of course, live in that alien environment. Sounds can travel hundreds of kilometres in water. The smell of land can help sharks orientate from far offshore. Even in the clearest water, though, horizontal visibility is measured in tens of metres. Sunlight only penetrates a narrow band at the top of the ocean. Colours are heavily filtered by water - more than half the visible light spectrum is absorbed within a metre of the surface. Everything becomes a uniform, monochromatic bluegreen as you descend. Forgive me, then, for assuming that fish vision would be boring. It turns out that some, at least, live in a neon explosion of vivid technicolour. I was recently introduced to this world myself. With a blue torch and a yellow filter over my mask, I dived into the black light disco world of a coral reef at night to view a phenomenon called “biofluorescence”. After that one dive, I bought all the various filters and lights needed to photograph this experience. It’s far too interesting not to share. Most people are familiar with bioluminescence. Glow worms, fireflies, and even some mushrooms can produce light through a chemical reaction. Biofluorescence is different. That's when an animal can absorb short wavelengths of blue-green light, so common underwater, then re-emit that light at longer wavelengths to produce neon greens, reds and oranges. It’s difficult for us to see this. The pervasive blue light overpowers our own visual system underwater. When we use a yellow filter to remove the blue, though… wow. Many biofluorescent fishes use the same trick: they have yellow filters in their own lenses and corneas. Their fluorescent emissions are invisible to us, and most predatory fishes, but strobe their presence to other fishes

that share this adaptation. It’s like invisible ink - a secret way to communicate without detection. Biofluorescence occurs in over 250 fish species, as well as hard corals, jellyfish, mantis shrimps, sea turtles and other groups. It is particularly common in “cryptic” species. Many coral reef fish species have vivid colour patterns, like angelfishes. "Cryptics", such as lizardfishes and scorpionfishes, appear well-camouflaged. A recent survey found that 87% of these cryptic fishes are biofluorescent, compared to only 9% of other fishes. They’ve got the best of both worlds - hidden from predators, but gorgeous to each other. Cryptic fishes are living their best lives. Researchers are only starting to uncover the importance of biofluorescence in the ocean. Frogfish use fluorescent lures. Wrasses use biofluorescent displays during courtship. Triplefin use their red biofluorescent eyes to spotlight their copepod prey, whose eyes reflect the light, but cannot see it themselves. There's a reason why spawning events are often closely connected to moon phase. Moonlight provides the right wavelengths for spawning fish to produce green and red biofluorescence, ensuring they’re getting sexy with the correct species. Because biofluorescence requires light to enable the process, it is most common on shallow reef systems. Still, life will find a way. Some deepwater species, such as the "deep-sea loose-jaw dragonfish" - which gets a gold star for its name - produce blue light through bioluminescence, then re-emit that light as red biofluorescence to improve their hunting success. This knowledge is useful. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 went to a team that used a fluorescent protein from jellyfish to transform the imaging of everything from brain structure to the AIDS virus. Conservation, too, can benefit. Over half the fish species living on coral reefs are those small, difficult to find “cryptics”. Standard fish counts can grossly underestimate the true biodiversity. Most of those small species are biofluorescent, though, so they light up like a nineties raver for divers with the right equipment. That leads to faster and better surveys. Fish biofluorescence is incredibly variable. It can occur as neon green mucus, to simple eye rings, to complex patterns of colour in otherwise nondescript fish. That diversity, and its occurrence within unrelated groups from sharks to chameleons, and even parrots can have biofluorescent beaks - suggests it has evolved many times. It seems like we’re finally starting to see the light, too. SP

Oceanographic Issue 05

@simonjpierce

@simonpierce

www.simonjpierce.com

“Their fluorescent emissions are invisible to us, and most predatory fishes, but strobe their presence to other fishes that share this adaptation. It’s like invisible ink - a secret way to communicate without detection.”

A jewel anemone glows bright pink and purple, an underwater "invisible ink".

About Simon Dr Simon J Pierce is a marine conservation biologist and underwater photographer from New Zealand. He is a co-founder and Principal Scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation, where he leads the global whale shark research programme, and a regional Co-Chair for the IUCN Shark Specialist Group.

Oceanographic Issue 05

S AV I N G T H E

sandpiper An international team of conservationists is making progress in its bid to save the spoon-billed sandpiper, a small wetland wader, from extinction. Wo rd s b y K a n e B r i d e s P h o t o g ra p h s c o u r t e s y o f W W T

Oceanographic Issue 05

PREVIOUS PAGE: A pair of spoon-billed sandpipers wade through wetlands in China. THIS PAGE: Spoon-billed sandpipers are named for their uniquely-shaped beak.

Oceanographic Issue 02

F E AT U R E

he spoon-billed sandpiper is facing extinction. Numbers of the diminutive, nomadic wader were, in 2010, declining at such a rate that conservationists didn’t expect the species to survive to the end of the decade. Years of international scientific collaboration has seen to it that the species will certainly survive beyond 2020, but the long-term prognosis is unknown - the species remains one of the most threatened on the planet. The ‘spoonie’ - as it is commonly referred to - is a particularly enigmatic wetland wader. With its distinctive spoon-shaped beak, chicks the size of bumblebees and an astonishing ability to travel vast distances, it is a truly unique bird. And like so many of the great migrators, its evolution is evidence of the interconnectedness of our planet - the great landmasses and oceans above which it soars, and the varied and distant wetlands to which it descends. Spoonies live extreme lifestyles. They fly between tropical and arctic conditions, managing temperature changes of more than 30C. They breed on peninsulas in the Russian Far East, migrating through Russia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the Jiangsu coast of China to winter in southern China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand - 8,000km away. In 2014, it was estimated that just 250 pairs of spoonies remained in the wild. By contrast, in the 1970s, there were believed to be up to 2,800 breeding pairs. That equates to a population decline of more than 90%. Between 2000 and 2009 the rate of population decline stood at a staggering 26% a year. Habitat loss, particularly the reclamation of inter-tidal staging sites in the Yellow Sea, is believed to have been a significant contributor to the decline, while trapping on wintering grounds is believed to be a leading cause for the acceleration in the rate of their decline. Since 2009, action has been undertaken throughout the flyway (the species’ typical migratory routes) by conservation organisation WWT in partnership with a wide range of people and organisations working to halt the decline, including Leica Camera which continues to provide photography and monitoring equipment for survey work in China. The maintenance and protection of key site habitats is the programme’s primary objective, ensuring critical flyway stopovers remain intact and healthy. A number of stopover locations in the Yellow Sea remain unidentified however, making their long-term protection a challenge. This list of unknown stopover sites includes one particularly crucial site. The site where spoonies are typically first observed in the autumn, the Jiangsu coast of China, is too far from the breeding grounds to be the first stopover site, meaning there must be a site in Russia that remains unfound. Furthermore, the disappearance of a portion of the spoonie population each year indicates additional breeding and wintering sites yet to be discovered. Saving the species will involve solving this series of puzzles.

250 in the wild in 2014

pairs of spoonies remained

2,800

breeding pairs in 1970s

90 population decline percent,

in 40 years

Ambitious targets have been set. Conservationists want to not only halt spoonie population decline by 2025, but increase the population by 50%. A handrearing - otherwise known as headstarting - programme began in Meinypil’gyno, Russia, in 2012. Specialists have been collecting eggs from incubating birds in the wild, hatching and hand-rearing the chicks in captivity to fledging age. They then release the birds back into the wild. Skipping the particularly risky wild incubation and rearing phases significantly increases the chicks’ chances of survival. This technique has boosted the number of young spoon-billed sandpipers bred each year in the wild by 25%. The international scope of the project has seen impactful gains made in a relatively short period of time. Illegal trapping and hunting has been stopped at several hotspots along the species’ flyway. The authorities in China and Myanmar have cooperated with WWT and moved to protect the remaining wetlands along their coastline. WWT now regularly surveys shorebirds on the Jiangsu coast of China, a key site on the East Asian Australasian Flyway. During WWT fieldwork in late 2018, a spoon-billed sandpiper that had been raised by conservationists in Russia just one month earlier was identified. The bird, known as ‘White 4H’ after the colour and code on its leg tag, had travelled 3,000 miles. It was akin to finding a message-in-a-bottle. A total of 15 spoon-billed sandpipers were caught, with a further 100 sighted in a large flock of waders. On one occasion, the international team of conservationists - comprising experts from the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China - saw six spoonies together. While that might seem an insignificant number, those six birds equated to approximately 1% of the total population. Very little is known about the spoonie: their diet and what they use their spoon-billed beak for, for example. These are questions to be answered down the line, with the short-term focus one of survival. As those in-the-field conservationists released spoonies into the wild, listened to them whir off into the dark humid night air, as they saw them scuttling around on the mudflats - probing

Oceanographic Issue 05

Better protected sites on sandpiper flyways, such as this one in China, is good news for the species, but their long-term future remains uncertain.

F E AT U R E

spoonies were seen together on one occasion, by the international team of conservationists - comprising experts from the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China While that might seem insignificant, those six birds equated to approximately...

percent of the total population.

and pecking in shallow pools for whatever food they could find - they saw and heard the sights and sounds of progress. Headstarted birds appeared to be surviving as well as their wild counterparts. The programme seemed to be working. The programme was buying the species some much-needed time. The protection of the spoon-billed sandpiper will help better conserve other at-risk species, particularly other waders that share the East Asian Australasian Flyway. Data capture from spoonies fitted with rings offers critical insight into things such as migratory movements and survival rates - spoon-billed sandpipers are famed for the distances they cover to breed and moult, so by establishing where they go during these mammoth migrations, we can work out their greatest threats. This data feeds into a wider pool of information from other tagged waders, helping build a picture of the flyway that could help shape conservation initiatives in the future. It was recently discovered, for example, that one spoon-billed sandpiper made land in Indonesia. This spoonie, small enough to fit into the palm of a hand, flew 9,000km from Arctic Russia to tropical Sumatra, stopping off in North Korea and China on the way. On one particular leg, the individual - or 'Lime 07' - flew non-stop for 51 hours, covering 2,400km. WWT and its partners have headstarted 163 spoonbilled sandpipers at Meinypil’gyno. This has resulted in more than 800 sightings in nine countries along the flyway. 'Lime 07' is one of 12 individuals fitted with a satellite tag since WWT joined the project. The tag is carefully secured to the lower back, designed to fall off when the bird moults its back feathers. Satellite monitoring the birds has yielded some of the most significant results so far. An overland migration route to Myanmar has been confirmed and a number of previously unknown staging and wintering sites have been discovered. On the ground, conservationists were able to take swift action at some sites in southern China, resulting in the prompt removal of illegally set mist nets. In addition to the work being done in the wild, the world’s only captive flock of spoonies was, in 2011, established at WWT Slimbridge in South Gloucestershire - a failsafe if the wild population in Asia could not be saved. That the species has never before been kept in captivity, combined with their punishing regime in the wild, has posed a huge challenge for the aviculturists there. The species’ taste for hugely differing habitats, temperatures and daylight times across the globe has forced the WWT Slimbridge team to experiment with special lightbulbs and timer switches, and conduct diet analysis to recreate ‘wild’ experiences in the aviaries. They are edging ever closer to successfully rearing a spoonie in captivity and ensuring that this bird will never be lost for good. With progress being made out in the field however, and headstarted birds integrating well with their wild counterparts, the WWT Slimbridge failsafe may never need to be used. Here’s hoping that’s the case.

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U N R AV E L L I N G O N E O F T H E

greatest mysteries of the ocean Surprisingly little is known about the reproductive cycle of whale sharks. A team of marine scientists convened in Galapagos - along with an underwater ultrasound - to see if they could unravel the mystery at all.

Wo rd s b y M e l i s s a H o b s o n P h o t o g ra p h s b y D r S i m o n P i e rc e a n d J o n a t h a n G re e n

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hale sharks: the largest fish on the planet. And, arguably, one of the most enigmatic. While there are many things we don’t know about whale sharks, one of the greatest mysteries surrounding the species is their reproductive cycle. How and where do they mate? How long is their gestation period? How and where - and to how many pups - do they give birth? How do those pups survive in the vast ocean? It’s been more than 20 years since the only pregnant whale shark to be physically examined was found in Taiwan in 1995, carrying 304 eggs and pups inside her - more than any other shark species. All of them were less than 60m in length and all of them - despite being at different stages of development - had the same father. Since then, researchers have been unable to learn more about their reproduction - until a recent expedition promised a research breakthrough. In late 2018, a team of whale shark experts visited Darwin Island in the Galapagos as part of a Galapagos Whale Shark Project (GWSP) initiative. The research they undertook was a world first: successfully completing ultrasounds on, and taking blood samples from, free-swimming adult whale sharks. An incredible feat which had never before been done in the wild. The ultrasounds identified reproductive organs, such as the ovaries, as well as developing follicles. However, none of the scans captured embryos or egg capsules inside the uteri. So what do these results teach us? And what does this mean for whale shark conservation? Alongside expedition leader and founder of the GWSP, Jonathan R Green, the team comprised global experts Dr Rui Matsumoto and Kiyomi Murakumo (Okinawa Churashima Foundation, Japan), Professor Alex Hearn (University of San Francisco/Galapagos Science Center, Ecuador), Dr Simon J Pierce and Dr Chris Rohner (Marine Megafauna Foundation) and Dr Alistair Dove (Georgia Aquarium). According to Green, their main aim was to assess the sharks’ reproductive state because “almost nothing is known about the reproduction of these giant sharks”. The team chose this remote area in the far north of the Galapagos to undertake their research because it is one of the few places where adult female whale sharks, reaching up to 14 metres in length, can be seen each year. With a high number of females to scan, they hoped some of them would be pregnant. On each occasion the team got into the water, it was a waiting game. “You just don’t know where the shark will come from,” says Dr Pierce. “It could be ascending from 30m, appear right at the surface or even come from behind you on the coral plateau.” Because of this, he explains, the team often spent time “hanging in mid-water doing 360s.” Once a shark did appear, it was all systems go. “When a whale shark appears out of the blue water, we usually only have a minute to do everything we need before it disappears again,” says Dr Rohner, “either because it is faster than us or because it swims too deep.” In that minute, they attempted to capture an ID photo, collect blood and tissue samples, record ultrasound images and attach satellite tags. PREVIOUS: The team moves in on a whale shark, each diver with a different task to complete. THIS PAGE: Dr Rui Matsumoto scans the belly of a whale shark.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is the first time researchers have been able to successfully take blood samples from, and conduct ultrasounds on, wild and freeswimming adult whale sharks: a scientific milestone.â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;In order to keep up with the shark while carefully scanning her whole belly, Matsumoto used a propulsion system mounted on his dive cylinder, much like a jet-pack.â&#x20AC;?

MAIN IMAGE: Dr Matsumoto used a cylinder-mounted dive propulsion device to keep up with the whale sharks. TOP, MIDDLE and BOTTOM: The team entered the water with a range of tools and equipment to collect the varied data they required.

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TOP: Keeping pace with the sharks was one of the team's biggest challenges. BOTTOM: Kiyomi Murakumo undertaking sampling work on a shark.

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“That’s why we work in teams,” adds Dr Pierce. “It gives us the best chance of spotting a shark fast so we can record all the data we need before it swims off again.” Conducting the ultrasounds and collecting blood samples was perhaps the most challenging of all the tasks - the waterproofed ultrasound system used by Dr Matsumoto weighed a staggering 17kg. In order to keep up with the shark while carefully scanning her whole belly, Matsumoto used a propulsion system mounted on his dive cylinder, much like a jet-pack. “We use some interesting technology, but working with the Okinawa team was something else,” says Dr Pierce. “We saw dive groups a couple of times at the site, and I can only imagine what they were thinking: why is that guy diving with a briefcase and a jetpack?” According to Professor Hearn, whose in-water role was to attach fin-mounted tags to transmit shark positions, the person with the most challenging task was Kiyomi Murakumo, who had to “take blood from a 14-metre shark swimming in a two knot current at 25m depth!” Murakumo successfully collected blood samples from six adult sharks. These were then analysed to measure the levels of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone. Murakumo explains that they were looking for these hormones because “estradiol could be associated with follicular development, and progesterone could be involved in ovulation and pregnancy”. The ultrasounds and blood sampling worked. It is the first time researchers have successfully taken blood samples from, and conduct ultrasounds on, wild and freeswimming adult whale sharks: a scientific milestone. However, there’s a long way to go before the mysteries of whale shark reproduction can be unlocked. It had long been presumed - without evidence - that the huge females in the Galapagos were pregnant, but this couldn’t be confirmed from the results. Green explains that the ultrasounds “were the first successful ultrasounds in as much as we were able to identify the reproductive organs”. They could see egg follicles in the uterus but there was no evidence of what they were hoping to see: embryos. When the first ultrasounds revealed that none of the sharks were pregnant, Dr Rohner says, the team decided to persevere. But those initial shock results soon became a pattern. “We continued to see the same lack of pregnancy. It started to sink in that we have to rethink what we thought we knew about these large females.” In science though, every finding is useful, whether it confirms what you’re looking for or counters it, says Dr Rohner: “We now need to scan more females, collect more blood samples to build our understanding of their hormone levels and perhaps take samples at other times of the year. We might also be able to use improved tools next time - a more powerful ultrasound machine to get images from deeper inside the shark's body, for example.” Green also believes stronger ultrasound equipment is needed: “The equipment we're using simply does not

have the power to see through the thicker parts of the skin of the abdomen. Where we were looking we had approximately 12 centimetres of skin. Where we hope to look, higher up in the abdomen where you might get fertilised eggs or embryos, is about 27 to 30 centimetres.” The expedition leader wants to be able to “develop a piece of equipment that will allow [them] to look into the upper areas of the abdomen”. This is because “with the reproduction of sharks that are ovoviviparous, the more developed eggs and embryos tend to be in the upper areas of the abdomen”. He believes until the team can clearly see into those areas, “we don't know what's there”. For Professor Hearn, the expedition has thrown up “more questions” and the whole team agrees that whale sharks do not seem quite ready to give up their secrets yet, and that there is a lot of work still to do to understand the reproductive processes of this endangered species. That is perhaps not a surprise. It is, after all, according to Green, “a very complex question”. The fact the techniques and technologies have worked in the field, however, proves it is possible to research the species’ breeding in the wild and gives scientists hope that they might soon be able to unlock, according to Green, “one of the greatest mysteries of the ocean”. He says the team plans to “continue to hone our techniques and build upon this knowledge, as we need to understand these enigmatic sharks and protect them through their life cycle”. Dr Pierce explains why understanding whale shark reproduction is so important when it comes to protecting the species: “One of the key things we’re trying to do now is work out how the reproductive cycle fits into their ability to recover from overfishing. So if we know approximately how often they give birth and approximately how many babies are likely to survive, we can work out their rebound potential.” If we’re unable to answer questions about reproduction and the key threats to each life stage, says Professor Hearn, not only will it “be hard to judge how the population can respond to conservation efforts, [but also make it difficult] to set targets for conservation”. Sharon Johnson, Chief Executive of the Galapagos Conservation Trust - a charity that supported the expedition - reveals it won’t be long before the team is back in the water: “In February 2019, the GWSP team will undertake an exploratory research trip to the southern Galapagos islands. Little is known about the whale sharks that visit this area so the team plans to satellite tag individual sharks to learn more about their behaviour. “In autumn 2019, the team will return to Darwin and Wolf islands in the north of the archipelago. Here they will continue to research whether the females visiting the area are indeed pregnant. They plan to carry out further ultrasounds and blood tests which will hopefully take them another step closer to answering the question: where do whale sharks give birth?”

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W H Y A C T N OW F O R T H E O C E A N ? Make your ocean adventures count for marine conservation

It’s easy to say we love the ocean, but for many of us, our everyday actions tell a different story. Different human activities are putting our ocean under threat. Every day our trash is entering the sea at an alarming rate. More than 250 million tons of plastic are estimated to make its way into our ocean by 2025. Fishing continues largely unregulated in most of the world’s ocean. Of the 1,000plus known shark and ray species globally, nearly 25% are classified as Threatened with Extinction. Ocean warming and ocean acidification negatively impact on all marine life. Yet, the ocean gives countless benefits to all of us. We need a clean and healthy ocean to support our own health and survival, even if we don’t live anywhere near the sea. Each and every one of us can make a difference and it’s time to take action! Here are just five of many reasons why we need to act now to protect the ocean: 1. We are connected to the sea with every breath The ocean produces more than 50% of the Earth’s oxygen through the plants that live in it. Phytoplankton, algal plankton and kelp produce this oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. So for every second breath you take, you can thank the ocean.

“ W i t h eve r y d ro p o f w a t e r yo u d r i n k , eve r y b re a t h yo u t a ke , yo u ' re c o n n e c t e d t o t h e s e a . N o m a t t e r w h e re o n E a r t h yo u l i ve . M o s t o f t h e o x y g e n i n t h e a t m o s p h e re i s g e n e ra t e d b y t h e s e a . ” SYLVIA EARLE

2. The ocean acts as a global climate control system The ocean covers three-quarters of the earth’s surface and moves heat from the equator to the poles, regulating our weather. It acts as a crucial buffer from the impacts of

climate change including absorbing more than 90% of the heat that's coming from the change in our climate. If it didn’t do this, the heat would already be intolerable for most life on earth. Global warming and ocean acidification are putting your favourite animals and the whole ocean planet at risk.

“ H o w i n a p p ro p r i a t e t o c a l l this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” ARTHUR C. CLARKE

3. The ocean is home According to Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO), more than 40 percent of the world's population lives within 100 kilometres of the coast. Coastal and marine resources are very important for people living in coastal communities. The ocean is not just home to us ocean lovers, but also the greatest abundance of life on our planet - 200,000 identified species, and that’s just the ones we know about! Around 95% of the ocean is still unexplored and has never been

Why protect the ccean - the facts*: • About 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed. • Human population is projected to increase to more than nine billion people by 2050, bringing increasing pressure on marine and coastal resources. • An estimated 20% of global mangroves have been lost since 1980. • 80% of all pollution in the ocean comes from landbased activities. • Marine debris is harming more than 800 species.

*(Source: oceanconference.un.org)

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I F Y O U ’ R E L E A R N I N G TO D I V E O R L O O K I N G TO M A K E Y O U R D I V E S C O U N T F O R O C E A N C O N S E R VAT I O N , C H O O S E D I V E C E N T R E S A N D I N S T R U C TO R S W H O TA K E O C E A N P R OT E C T I O N TO H E A RT – D I V E I N W I T H 1 0 0 % AWA R E PA RT N E R S www.projectaware.org/100AWARE

“ Th e s e a , t h e g re a t u n i f i e r, i s m a n ’s o n l y h o p e . N o w, a s n eve r b e f o re , t h e o l d p h ra s e h a s a l i t e ra l m e a n i n g : w e a re a l l i n t h e s a m e b o a t . ” JACQUES YVES COUSTEAU

4. The ocean can make us healthier and happier Whether it's walking along a coastal path, a family day on the beach, surfing the waves or diving under the surface, the ocean is a place of happiness and recreation for so many of us. There is a growing number of research projects looking into the positive impact the ocean can have on our mental health. It’s known the magnesium in salt water has a calming effect and exposure to the sea strengthens the immune system and helps normalise blood pressure. 5. The ocean is life Life itself arose from the ocean more than 3.5 million years ago and without it, there would be no life on Earth. The ocean hosts 80 percent of the planet’s biodiversity, and is the largest ecosystem on Earth. It is the primary force behind our weather and our climate, the main source of food for millions of people all over the world, and the lifeblood of our blue planet. As adventurers, the ocean brings so much fulfilment to our lives. We have the responsibility to care for it as it cares for us. Taking action, big or small, for the ocean is a great way to give something back. The choices we make now determine our future, and our children’s future. From opportunities to secure international trade controls for mako sharks and act for the Sustainable Development Goals to engaging our global community in citizen science projects and promoting responsible shark and ray tourism, 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Project AWARE and ocean conservation. Kick off 2019 by making sure that your adventures count for ocean conservation! If you love the ocean, protect it! instagram.com/projectaware twitter.com/projectaware facebook.com/ProjectAWAREFoundation

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