After a lecture from a member of the Department of Agriculture about Marine Protected Areas and Guam’s fisheries, we set out on a boat to northwest Guam. We did our first tropical science dives today on Twin Reefs and off Gun Beach. We laid 100m transects and did substrate counts and invertebrate counts of sea cucumbers, urchins, spider conks, and giant clams
To be honest, I was disappointed. And as much as I felt disappointed for myself, I was even more concerned for the reef system. There was absolutely no size diversity. We saw a handful of fish that were six inches long, but most were only two to four inches long. On the first dive, there were almost no fish besides small juveniles hiding in the coral. The second dive had a modestly larger number of fish, but still lacked the diversity and vibrancy I expected to see. We were told that these were the healthiest reefs on Guam – I can’t even imagine how barren Apra Harbor look when we dive it tomorrow.
Coincidentally, there was a policy that was debated and voted on today in the Guam legislature creating penalties for breaking coral. Currently, penalties for breaking coral only apply to fishermen; these would also apply to other recreational and commercial uses of marine space. I think that this is a good plan.
Whether it is the nitrogen loading or the time difference, I’m exhausted tonight. We ate dinner at the hotel because we were all too tired to walk to any nearby restaurants. A Micronesian dance show started halfway through. Addy and I went on stage and ended up winning the dance competition by a vote of the fans.
Sorry I didn’t write more. Yesterday, the President of DAN gave us a lecture on diving safety after one of our professors met him by chance in the lobby of our hotel. This is a picture of he and I together.
I promise there will be more tomorrow!
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