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Spring 1998 |
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Page 2 |
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Inside |
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Great American Fish Count |
pg. 2 |
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The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), established in 1992, is one of twelve marine sanctuaries nation-wide managed by the Sanctuaries and Reserves Division (SRD) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Encompassing over 5,300 square miles of water, MBNMS stretches along the Central California coast from Marin County near San Francisco southward to Cambria in San Luis Obispo County. The Sanctuary protects many habitats, ranging from sandy beaches and kelp forests to one of the largest underwater canyons on the west coast. Nutrient-rich currents nourish the area, supporting a productive and diverse marine ecosystem where countless species, many of them threatened or endangered, make their homes. The mission of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program is to manage marine areas of national significance to protect their ecological and cultural integrity for the benefit of current and future generations. For more information on the Sanctuary, contact the Sanctuary
office: Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, 299 Foam Street,
Suite D, Monterey, CA 93940 |
One Fish, Two Fish, Three
Fish, Four.
During
the first two weeks in July hundreds of individuals around
the country will participate in the annual "Great American
Fish Count," a fish census conducted by trained volunteer
divers and snorkelers. Modeled after the annual Audubon
Christmas Bird Count, this event is a growing effort to
provide ongoing documen- tation of fish diversity and
population trends.
The Great American Fish Count (GAFC) is a partnership between American Oceans Campaign, Reef Environmental Education Foundation, and NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program. Additional funding comes from the Munson Foundation, PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Aware, the National Fish and Wildlife Service, and others.
Divers and snorkelers will concentrate their fish-sighting efforts in NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary communities, which include the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
"One of our stated tasks as a Sanctuary is to monitor marine species in order to understand humans' impact on these resources," points out MBNMS Superintendent Bill Douros. "We are very interested in the GAFC and similar programs because of their usefulness in helping with long-term resource management."
Scientists and amateur naturalists have studied birds, reptiles, insects, and other terrestrial forms of life and their ecosystems for hundreds of years. Yet our oceans and their marine life have to date received significantly less attention. While that is rapidly changing, today the world's oceans remain one of the last natural mysteries to be extensively explored and studied. We know more about some parts of the moon, for example, than we do about the deep oceans of our own planet.
Indications are strong that the training and identification methods used in the GAFC are effective. Data from the Channel Islands National Park's Kelp Forest Monitoring Project show that approximately six trained divers in the water at one time will document at least ninety percent of the species present (those that can be identified during visual, diurnal surveys).
This census began in 1992 in southern California by Channel Islands National Park biologists and a group of volunteers. It quickly grew into an annual event with ever-increasing participation around the country. In 1997 twenty-seven information/training seminars took place and 439 participants submitted 372 surveys from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts. This year, which has been designated as the International Year of the Ocean by the United Nations, organizers are hoping to increase those numbers significantly.
Participating divers and snorkelers are trained in a standardized visual census method, in order to obtain both useful and valid information. The volunteers record all species they encounter that can be identified; the relative abundance of species is also recorded during and after the survey. At the conclusion of the dive, all participants record their sightings on a pre-printed scantron form that is returned to the GAFC office for entry into a database.
Divers are needed during the first two weeks in July. "They don't need to be experts in fish identification, but they do need to know the basics," says MBNMS Marine Education Specialist Kip Evans, who is helping coordinate the national event. He emphasizes that the training sessions offered before the census give all volunteers the opportunity to learn fish identification skills and the census method used in the GAFC. "It's also a wonderful family activity," he adds.
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1999