Seaw rds The Marine Option Program Newsletter
September 2012
MOP Celebrates 40 Years A Northern Fur Seal Turns Up on a Foreign Beach Seawords Goes Online
September
2012
From June 29, 1985 Seawords
Page 3: Letter from the Editor Page 4: MOP Celebrates it’s 40th Birthday Page 6: Lost Fur Seal Page 7: Generation Blue Page 8: Recycled Beach Page 10: Ocean Art Page 12: Solar Powered Research Page 13: Events at Hanauma Bay
Cover Photo: A swimmer imitates a shark cruising by the camera. Photo taken in the 2011 MOP Underwater Photo Class.
Seawords
Volume XXVI, Number 9, September 2012 Editor: Naomi Lugo Assistant Editor: Jessi Schultz Dr. Cynthia Hunter (éminence grise) Seawords- Marine Option Program University of Hawai‘i, College of Natural Sciences 2450 Campus Road, Dean Hall 105A Honolulu, HI 96822-2219 Telephone: (808) 956-8433, Fax: (808) 956-2417 E-mail: <seawords@hawaii.edu> Website: <http://www.hawaii.edu/mop/> Seawords is a monthly newsletter of the Marine Option Program at the University of Hawai‘i. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Marine Option Program or of the University of Hawai‘i Suggestions and submissions are welcome. Submissions may include articles, photographs, art work, or anything that may be of interest to the marine community in Hawai‘i and around the world. All photos are taken by MOP unless otherwise credited.
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Letter From the Editor Seawords is undergoing some changes. In the new online version of Seawords you will see an updated format with color photos, multimedia, clickable links, and a user friendly reader. Seawords has long served as record keeper and a way to keep Marine Option Program people connected. MOP has just celebrated 40 years of people and memories, and Seawords will continue to update its readers on ocean news, MOP happenings and other ocean interests.
From 1986 Seawords
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As always we accept submissions on ocean related articles, photography, poetry, artwork, short stories, etc. We are now able to take multimedia videos, and sound bites, so get writing and producing and submit your creations to us at seawords@hawaii.edu Mahalo for reading and supporting MOP! ~~~Naomi Lugo, Editor
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MOP Celebrates 40 Years of Ocean Education
MOP would like to thank Terry White for the wonderful celebration cupcakes
Naomi Lugo, Editor
40
years of experiential ocean education was celebrated on Thursday, Aug. 16th. Alumni, affiliates, and friends of the program from all over gathered at the Waikīkī Aquarium to talk story and reminisce about the program that has contributed so much to their lives.
MOPs network spans throughout the marine community, and this celebration served to bring them back together. “We’re thriving,” said Master of Ceremonies and UH Mānoa MOP Coordinator Jeff Kuwabara, “We’ve become more than just a program, we’ve become a family.” After welcoming everyone to the celebration, Kuwabara then introduced James Gaines, vice president for research at the University of Hawai‘i who spoke in behalf of President Greenwood. Vice Chancellor for Research at UHM Gary Ostrander and Sea Grant College Program Director Gordon Grau then gave a few words about the importance and success of the Marine Option program. Former MOP director Sherwood Maynard was up next, to reflect on the last 40 years. “MOP has been a passion for students; it is a passion for me and still is,” he then continued, “I’m always surprised at how many paths I cross with MOP alumni.” Then after reading words from the first MOP directors Barry Hill, John Seawords, August 2012 Page 4
Craven, and John McMahon, Sherwood Maynard walked off the stage to a standing ovation from his alumni and friends. Current MOP Director Cindy Hunter wrapped up the opening remarks by talking about the future of MOP, including plans for expanding MOP across the Pacific, and strengthening support at the UHM campus. Afterwards food was enjoyed, ocean-related prizes were given out and old friends caught up.
All Photos: Ryan Tabata/Marine Option Program Alumnus
The Marine Option Program would like to say mahalo to our event sponsors and the MOP 40th planning crew. If you missed the celebration and would like to be added to the list to hear about future MOP events, send us an email at seawords@hawaii.edu.
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Local Bering Sea to reach the California Coast. The Northern fur seal is not found in Hawaiian waters; this is the first documented fur seal to visit the Hawaiian Islands. When the seal was found it was in an emaciated and weak condition. It was taken and quarantined temporarily at the Honolulu Zoo to prevent any possibility of disease transfer to the endemic and endangered Hawaiian monk seal population. The seal will be tested for morbillivirus, which can be transferred to other seals.
Cara Ballard
Northern Fur Seal Found on the North Shore of O‘ahu Naomi N. Lugo, Editor An unusual sighting at Rocky Point Oahu occurred on Tuesday, July 31. A local couple saw what they thought to be a baby monk seal out on the beach. The animal instead turned out to be a northern fur seal, normally found in the Aleutian Islands or California.
Now the fur seal, nicknamed Golden Missy after US Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin, resides at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California where she will be rehabilitated and hopefully released back into the wild. Veterinarians at the Marine Mammal Center say that Golden Missy is consuming a healthy 6 pounds of fish a day, and may be at the center for a couple of weeks if no medical issues are detected.
“I grabbed the camera, made some comparisons, and it definitely looked like a northern fur seal, really cute but not supposed to be here in Hawai‘i ,” Cara Ballard, who first sighted the seal, said to Hawaii News Now. The couple then called the NOAA Marine Mammal Response Program, and the identity of the seal was confirmed as a young adult female. It is speculated that the seal arrived on the island, far south from its habitat, as a stowaway, on debris, or that it was swept up on a current. According to NOAA, Northern fur seals can be in the open ocean for To see Golden Missy’s recovery process and or make a “extremely long” periods of time. The fur seal usually takes a path from Japan through the donation click the image above.
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GENERATION BLUE: Actions for the Ocean Naomi Lugo, Editor
The ocean spans over 70 percent of our world. It is responsible for regulating temperature, food production, sustaining numerous marine species, and is a source for inspiration among multiple other things. The ocean gives us so much and it is time for us to return
the favor and take actions to make the ocean ecosystem healthy again. Almost every action that we take affects the ocean in some way. Our everyday choices can be tailored to support a healthy ocean. Here are some examples of green acts that will keep the ocean blue!
1.Read Seawords online! With our new format on a new easily accessed reader it’s easy to go green and read about MOP online. If you are not subscribed to our mailing list, sign up on the MOP website-it’s free.
2. Clean Kailua Beach on International Coastal Cleanup Day. On September 15th Sustainable Coastlines Hawai‘i will be hosting a beach cleanup of all of Kailua Beach. For more information on where to meet and who is involved head to: sustainablecoastlineshawaii.org
3. Volunteer at a marine sanctuary. As an example, there are opportunities to volunteer at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary are available on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, and the island of Hawai‘i. If you are not in Hawai‘i, marine sanctuaries also exist worldwide. If you have a suggestion for a green act, email us at seawords@hawaii.edu with subject line Generation Blue to submit your idea.
Green
News
Measuring Ocean Health The Ocean Health Index has recently been developed to measure the overall health of the ocean. Each country has been ranked by their exclusive economic zones. Ranked first is Jarvis Island with a score of 86 out of 100. The scores are calculated with major factors like fisheries, biodiversity, tourism and carbon storage in mind. The graphic to the
right shows two of the factors. The global average was 60.
Ocean Fundraising The 23rd annual WaOcean Health Index terman’s Ball was held in August. The event is held by the surf industry and also honors environmentalists. This year the event raised over $400 thousand to support environmental organizations. Seawords, August 2012 Page 7
Recycled Beach Naomi N. Lugo, Editor
O
n the shores of a beach located in Fort Bragg, California, beach-goers will find where the ocean has reclaimed its coastline. Glass Beach is a place where the ocean has turned human waste into a recycled environment. The multicolored shards of smoothed down glass are a testament to the power of the ocean, and to human waste. The area was used as a dumping ground in the forties and in 1967 the North Coast Water Quality Board started cleaning up the area. What the board was not able to clean up, the ocean took care of leaving a glass covered beach. The area that used to be known as The Dumps by residents in the area now is an off-the-path tourist attraction owned by the California State Park System and a part of MacKerricher State Park. There are three glass beach sites at Fort Bragg, with two accessible by foot and one by kayak or boat. Other glass beaches exist, including one in Hanapepe, Kauaâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;i. However it has been said that tourists have harvested the sea glass on the Kauaâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;i so that only brown and clear shades
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remain. The Fort Bragg Glass Beach has its sea glass protected by state laws, and it is a misdemeanor to take glass from the state park. As glass breaks in the ocean or on the shore it is worked by the ocean and smoothed down to become sea glass. It can take from 10 to 30 years for sea glass to form according to one of the founders of the North American Sea Glass Association. Sea glass is found around the world, but its rarity is determined by its color. Green and brown sea glass is more common and formed from beer and soda bottles. Other colors like lavender and pinks are considered more rare and were originally from clear glass containers. Blues come from specific bottles, but the rarest are called fire glass. Fire glass comes from glass that has gone through fire, like what was able to happen at Fort Bragg. Fire glass can also have things sealed inside of it. Sea glass quality is measured by terms like clarity and color or inclusions in terms of what is found in fire glass. Some sea glass also is found in a frosted state.
The uniqueness of the Glass Beach is in part due to the increasing value of the sea glass for crafts, jewelry, or even just as collectibles. The North American Sea Glass Association holds an annual festival to celebrate sea glass. Two contests are held at the festival to find the collector and shard of the year.
...Continued from page 6
Sea glass may become even more collectible with the continued replacement of glass with plastic packaging. The ocean breaks down plastic into smaller pieces like it does to glass, however plastic never breaks down completely. There are even parts of the ocean where the degrading plastic may be changing the oceans chemistry, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Glass Beach at Fort Bragg has a sea glass museum just outside of the city limits to inform visitors about the beaches unique feature. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sea glass goes back in history for as long as man has had glass,â&#x20AC;? the museums website informs. Pollution may have helped create the glass beaches, but continued pollution with plastics and other marine debris threatens the oceans and the marine plants and animals that inhabit it.
LeVar Thomas
Fragments of glass smoothed by the ocean over the years create glass beaches.
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Ocean Poetry, Jessi Schultz, Assistant Editor Mysticeti
The moonlight waning still swam in his eyes She could see them now, all of them like dragonflies In the dreary balm of the beach in the middle of the night Its long fingers still casting pearl visions onto the sand where they lied Laying in wake in hopes of the coming tide Sitting there dreaming of the angelfish brushing through salt hair Earlier in the caves of another world Caught in the snares of a long drip of rain chasing one after the other, forever In the balmy dream of the fallout night Nestling together in pools shining back at the sky Floating flying and awake, the shore’s music cut the tangles of her mind Whirling red hair rising above the world Awake, walk yourself back to the sea The idea was brand new in the everlasting green moment Always had been, lying there in the sand Washed up in the morning of eternity Let’s dive far as the Mysticeti and follow her down The sun can’t reach us, the morning won’t come He told her to take his hand walking down toward the swell Of foamy hymn and the gull’s sound He promised it wouldn’t take long To get as far down as the beast’s song Where the stones are older than the Earth and The seaweed trees reach their bows like vines around the current There will be turquoise eves of fresh coral fields, he said Near the bottom of everything His hand reached to hers, their feet marched to meet the water’s edge Seawords, August 2012 Page 10
Hibiscus petals floated in the soapy whiteness of tide Like a kind of beckoning howl and then receding somewhere safe Like the breath shared between lovers The water was cool and bright in the damp night retreat When it touched their toes and rose to ankles, cool like liquid autumn air Soft as a growing rose in the long blue night They watched smoke rise from the city on fire in the distance Hazy smog rested on the mountains beyond that until their eyes fell away And unto the horizon which drifted back and forth from sea and sky They were the remnants They were the sand They were the puddles full of reflections And as their bodies gave in to the subterranean darkness The full moon cast out far off incantations of aurora light bellows And lullabies that could make the leaves cry Mothers by their windows could sense the downpour He promised the ocean would cradle them to whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ahead Not a light to follow, but the Mysticeti song drifting in rivulets of muse and love A sharkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spirit moved beside the arguing eels and brooding tortoise fins And conch shells sunrising in the undertow The way of the rising wave above them, the way through to the moon Awake, shake dreams out of your long hair, My wind and rain, see the sun and choose the stories you say Let your sign float into the constellations rising in time Immensity of midnight in the dark Choose now under the ancient orb beside the insane lake What do you see? A last glimpse of the lunar smile Resting sweet above a dream. And the booming shadow of creatures flying in a world encased in glass. Seawords, August 2012 Page 11
Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology
Solar Power at Coconut Island Jessi Schultz, Assistant Editor
H
awai‘is sun is being put to good use with the help of renewable solar energy panels being added to the roof of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology at Coconut Island. The project began with the University of Hawai‘i signing a 20 year power purchasing agreement with SolarCity, an American business which installs solar energy resources. It will inevitably save money on electricity costs by using the sun instead of burning fossil fuel for energy. The Center for a Sustainable Future provided financial aid for the project’s startup costs. Funded by the Edwin W. Pauley Foundation and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, the Center gave a grant to the University of Hawai‘i Foundation to handle power purchasing agreements like this, which is a first in the state.
The solar panels may generate up to 260 kilowatts which will provide nearly 25% of the energy needs for the entirety of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. UH is expected to save $2.3 million in energy costs over the course of the contract. UH Mānoa Chancellor Tom Apple explained that this opportunity will help expand renewable resources on campus, as well as throughout the state. Having 25% of renewable resources campus-wide is the goal by 2020.
Constant sunny days, the swift breeze and waves make Hawai‘i a great place for renewable energy resources to expand. Not only affordable, this project is logical for sustaining energy needs on the Coconut Island campus. Solar energy is a clean alternative to carbon dioxide emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere and increase the The photovoltaic systems will add solar-generated electricity at the Institute. The panels convert the sun’s radia- acidity of the ocean.This is only one step closer to finding tion into direct current electricity which will work well at a solution for climate change and the state of the enviCoconut Island in Kāne‘ohe. This will ease energy budgets, ronment in this century. With the help of this project, especially because the University of Mānoa will not pay there may be more support for marine scientists to work anything up front. SolarCity has already begun to install toward a cleaner future with more renewable energy and maintain the system. advances. More info on the project can be found at http://www.uhm.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=5220
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Calendar of Events at UH Sea Grant’s Hanauma Bay Education Program
hbep.seagrant.soest.hawaii.edu/
Marine Science in East O`ahu ***Presentations take place in the theater of the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, beginning at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday evening***
September Events Everything Fishy September 6, 2012 Managing coral reef fisheries under catch limits: Approach and challenges Marlowe Sabater, Fishery Analyst, Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council September 13, 2012 Fish spillover from Pūpūkea-Waimea MLCD: Can a marine reserve benefit fishing? Kosta Stamoulis, MS Graduate, UHM Geography Department September 20, 2012 Demographic trends in an introduced Hawaiian reef fish (Cephalopholis argus) Mary Donovan, UHM, Graduate Assistant, JIMAR September 27, 2012 Red fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish: How old fish get and why you should care? Allen Andrews, Research Fish Biologist, NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC
For more information or questions please contact: Hanauma Bay Education Program 100 Hanauma Bay Rd. Honolulu, HI 96825 Phone: (808) 397-5840 Email: hanauma@hawaii.edu http://hbep.seagrant.soest.hawaii.edu/
From June 30, 1987 Seawords
Seawords, August 2012 Page 13
Seaw rds Septemer 22012 012
University of Hawai`i at Mﾄ］oa Seawords, Marine Option Program College of Natural Sciences 2450 Campus Road, Dean Hall 105A Honolulu, HI 96822-2219 Address Service Requested
Upcoming MOP Events September Monday, Wednesday 10th & 12th: QUEST Fish IDs Saturday 15th: International Coastal Cleanup Day Sunday 16th: Underwater Photography Class Monday, Wednesday 17th & 19th: QUEST Invert IDS Sunday 30th: Tsunami Warning Center
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From January 6, 1983 issue of Seawords