Enjoyed BC Pocket Article

Hi Dale,

Good article about BC emergency gear. I thought I would need such gear awhile back. Surfaced from a boat dive off Point Loma. Knew I was very near the boat as I had seen the anchor rope while heading up the kelp to safety stop. On surfacing, I saw what I thought was the boat a few hundred yards away. After studying the boat carefully, I knew that dive boats don't carry lobster trap haul gear and after searching in all directions realized the dive boat was about 30 feet away. I'd simply looked the wrong way on surfacing. Had this been a real lost-boat situation, however, the signal gear would have been invaluable. As for the fun stuff, the garibaldi would fall for the mirror or orange glove trick.

Gary Stewart
via e-mail

Diver Kelp Damage Comments

Happy New Year to Dale and staff:

Just wanted to add my two cents on the item entitled "Sanctuary Considering Action on 'Diver Damage'". I first became alarmed by this development when I saw a newsclip on CNN March 12,1998 dealing with the same subject. The assessment of damage was originally made by a staff member of Moss Landing Marine Laboratory. To CNN's credit, they pointed out that kelp harvesters, "take out tons of kelp each day" from Sanctuary waters, and that the destruction caused by 20-foot seas of winter storms makes any damage caused by divers insignificant by comparison. I alerted the Cen Cal council in March, and published articles in the Sea Divers and Cal Wreck Divers newsletters urging divers to take action.

Since MLRL derives funding from the Cal State system, I suggested individuals write the Governor's office to ask why tax dollars are being squandered on such ridiculous studies. The objective is obvious. The Sanctuary bureaucracy needs an excuse to extract user fees from divers. The sole purpose of the parks' existence is to restrict and regulate activities inside their boundaries. Status of a marine sanctuary does nothing to enhance the area - - marine mammals will not be bred, coral reefs will not be created. Rather, public access will be restricted and additional fees will be pinched out of taxpayers already paying for the maintenance of public lands. Don't accept this! Better yet, next time NOAA comes looking to make your local beach into a marine sanctuary, just say 'No!'.

Phil Bergeron
via e-mail

Editor:

On page 23 of the January issue of California Diving News, you carried an article on a study done for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

First: Your article contains a couple of factual errors:

- The study was on what they termed "Diver Disturbance," not "Diver Damage." Even the term "disturbance" may be too strong. You make it even worse by calling it "damage."

- The divers were not randomly selected. The study states: "Randomly choosing divers to follow was logistically difficult, so divers were selected primarily by convenience."

- The study was done for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary itself, not for its advisory committee.

Second: The study has a number of flaws. As divers, this should have you hopping mad. This study was done on the beginner beaches and therefore is not a representative sample of Monterey divers. The more advanced, and presumably less "disturbing," divers either dive from boats, or beach dive Carmel Bay or the area west of Lover's Point. I'm an advanced diver. I've done 95 dives in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary so far in calendar year 1998. Only one, in support of a club event, was from the beaches on which the study was done.

The divers monitored were not randomly chosen.

The study assumes that a contact means a disturbance. No proof is offered. The abstract of the study says the average diver detached two kelp fronds. Based on the numbers on Page 9, the actual number is 1.56. This rounding increased the kelp detached by 28 percent.

The study makes a big deal out of the amount of kelp detached by divers. Let's assume that the average algal frond detached weighs one pound, which I think is generous, given the species that are most commonly broken. I don't snag kelp too often, but I know it's usually the little stuff, not macrocystis. At 65,000 divers-days per year, 1.56 fronds per diver, that would be 65000*1.56 = 101,400 pounds or 51 tons. 51 tons is a fraction of the 500 tons the kelp harvesters state that they harvest.

In fact, no mention is made of the disturbance made by non-divers, such as kelp harvesters and fishermen, who deliberately remove organisms from the bay.

The study is full of references to other studies done in a warm water, nutrient poor, coral environment. Ten of twenty-five citations in the bibliography are, from their titles, clearly related to tropical areas. Only six are, from their titles, probably Monterey-like, and two of those six MAY not be; northern New Zealand has some subtropical areas. Monterey is home to macrocystis, arguably the fastest growing organism on the planet. Comparing a tropical environment to Monterey is like comparing fine crystal to stoneware: Even though I'm a lot more careful of my late wife's crystal than I am of the everyday stoneware, I'm still more likely to do real damage to the crystal.

The study's authors make reference to "trails" and attribute them to diver traffic. On land, trails appear because they are easiest path between two points and their path is generally determined by topography. Divers have complete freedom of movement in all three dimensions so the topography does not affect ease of movement. Divers on the study sites, with one exception, are not moving between any two particular points. (The one exception is navigational exercises, and their location varies from week to week and instructor to instructor.) So why would divers make "trails"? Furthermore, I've never seen such "trails."

Some contact is inevitable. But how many contacts does the average diver make compared to a hiker at Point Lobos who is ALWAYS in contact? This is not to say that divers should not attempt to minimize their disturbance. We should. I do. Most do.

Chuck Tribolet
Morgan Hill, CA
triblet@garlic.com

 

Help Requested on Tracking Stolen Dive Gear

CDN,

I recently had all my scuba gear stolen from my apartment storage area. I was hoping you would help me track down the thief. The following is a description of my gear. Please notify the WLA Police Department 310-575-8401 or myself 310-474-6386 ASAP, if you see anyone with the following items:

Black, aluminum, tank with black net and Sports-Chalet logo at the bottom

Scuba Pro BCD (Black, small, classic) S #:

Scuba Pro regulator (MK15 first stage & G200B second stage S#:17295323)

Scuba Pro air 2 system (S#: 02795148)

Oceanic depth gauge (S#: 260042)+Compass

Wenoka Dive knife (pink/black)

O'Neil Wet suit (7mm. Pink/black)

Black Titanium hood (7mm)

Weight belts (X2) with beaded weights

Pink mask with black snorkel

Black fins

Thanks for your help.
Landan Mohajerani
via e-mail

We'd like to hear from you! Send your comments to EMAIL: mail@saintbrendan.com or P.O. Box 11231, Torrance, CA 90510; Fax (310) 792-2336 (please include include name , city and a way to contact you.)