NOW HERE'S A FISH STORY YOU CAN COUNT ON; LOCAL DIVERS HELP WITH ANNUAL TALLY OF UNDERSEA POPULATIONS.Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer Before she piloted her 55-foot, steel-hulled boat to Anacapa Island Anacapa Island is a small volcanic island located about 14 miles (23 km) off the coast of Ventura, California, in Ventura County. Anacapa is part of the Channel Islands archipelago (island chain), and is part of the Channel Islands National Park. on Friday, Kathy de Wet-Oleson prepped her crew of amateur divers on the art of counting fish. First, you have to know what fish you're looking at. The yellowfin fringehead, for instance, can be easily identified by the two bunchy growths over its eyes, which look much like eyebrows. The garibaldi - California's state fish - is also unmistakable because of its bright-orange coloration col·or·a·tion n. 1. Arrangement of colors. 2. The sum of the beliefs or principles of a person, group, or institution. . Divers take a laminated slate and grease pencil grease pencil n. A pencil of hard grease mixed with colorings, used especially for marking on glossy or glazed surfaces. with them into the ocean. Each time a fish is identified, they write down the name of the fish and the time it was seen. The idea is to track fish common to particular diving sites. Fish are ``scored'' on the basis of the time a diver identifies them, with fish seen earlier in a dive receiving higher marks than those seen later on. The only rules of fish counting are that divers only count fish they can positively identify and that they stay within a 100-meter radius of their diving point. ``This is one of the only ways recreational divers can participate in a fun activity that is good for the environment,'' said de Wet-Oleson, a 37-year-old certified diver and underwater photographer from Ventura. ``What is most exciting for me is that divers are getting together to look and learn from the ocean, rather than to take from it.'' Wrapping up a two-week national program to track trends in fish diversity and populations, local divers like de Wet-Oleson are heading for the kelp forests Occurring worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans, kelp forests are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth. [1] (In 2007, kelp forests were also discovered in tropical waters near Equador. and sandy bottoms of the ocean to take part in the Great American Fish Count. Nationwide, hundreds of amateur divers and snorkelers are learning to identify and count local fish to provide ongoing documentation of the underwater world Underwater World may refer to:
Divers transfer the data onto a standardized, four-page form that will be processed by the University of Miami's Marine Conservation Science Center. Results from the fish count will be available to the public through the Reef Environmental Education Foundation's Web site at http://www.reef.org. Already, local divers are reporting a rather sudden surge in the population of the giant sea bass The giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas), also known as the black sea bass, is a fish native to the northern Pacific Ocean.[1] With its conspicuous size and a curious nature, it is surprising that relatively little is known about its behavior and biology. , one of the largest local fish, with some individuals weighing in at more than 500 pounds. Caught for food and sport for decades, the population was depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d . It was unusual for divers to see even individual sea bass, de Wet-Oleson said. Since a 1982 state law banned catching the giant sea bass, however, divers are reporting groups of five and more, she said. Begun in California in 1992 as a grass-roots effort with 50 divers from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is a reserve area off the Pacific coast of the United States, near California. Established in 1980, the 1,252 square nautical mile (4,294 km²) portion of the Santa Barbara Channel is an area of national significance because of , the Great American Fish Count has since expanded to include five sanctuary areas with hundreds of divers from around the world. ``This is a big year for the fish count,'' said Laura Gorodezky, educational coordinator for the Channel Islands sanctuary. This year, the program will include fish counts from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is a Federally protected marine area offshore of California's central coast. Stretching from Rocky Point in Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, to the town of Cambria in San Luis Obispo County, the MBNMS , the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
The Flower Garden Banks (often simply the "Flower Gardens") is a U.S. off the coast of Texas and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys. It includes the third-largest coral barrier reef in the world. It also has extensive mangrove forest and seagrass fields. . ``I've speared them and I've eaten them, but I've never counted them before,'' said Jason Lazar, who with his wife owns the Pacific Scuba Center, a dive shop in Oxnard. A certified diver since 1983, Lazar said the Great American Fish Count seemed like a good thing to get involved in. ``I take pictures of the fish now,'' said Lazar, who was among the divers on de Wet-Oleson's boat Friday. ``It's neat for me to just see them.'' Although the fish count got much attention this year in the media, divers in fact keep track of fish and gauge trends in their diversity and populations throughout the year. Diving clubs, including the Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by Divers and other local groups, go out and count through most of the year. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--Color) Kelp swim by as a bat ray stirs up the bottom off Anacapa Island. (2--Color) Jim Oleson and Kathy de Wet-Oleson are ready to sail Friday from Port Hueneme Harbor aboard their boat, Sea Ventures, to help in the fish count. (3--Color) Sea Ventures heads out of the harbor carrying divers for the Great American Fish Count. Bob Halvorsen/Daily News |
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