Ocean Education, Sharks and Dolphins

For most people dolphins invoke feelings of amazement, respect, and a love for these animals that are considered one of the most intelligent animals on Earth. Throughout history there are stories of dolphins saving humans. In Ancient Greece dolphins were so highly regarded that harming one was punishable by death. Even today one would think this respect would still be present with mankind and it's evolution. Unfortunately there is a society who has regressed in their evolution with their complete disregard for the ocean and its animals. My first introduction to the Japanese culture and their complete lack of respect for the ocean that the entire world shares was in the documentary "Sharkwater". Produced by the young marine biologist and filmmaker Rob Stewart, Sharkwater unveils the cause to declining shark population around the world, the Japanese big money industry of shark fin soup. Fueled by a multimillion dollar industry, sharks are being slaughtered strictly for their fins, the remaining fin less, still alive carcass is discarded with no regard for the life being taken. It is a truly moving film that sheds a positive light on sharks and their role in the ocean environment, and ultimately on the quality of our existence. If you have any negative views about sharks whether from the fear provoked by films such as Jaws, or from the media's take on sharks as "man eaters", I urge you to educate yourself on the facts and see Sharkwater.
Hearing this you might think, "OK, so their killing millions of sharks for their fins, surely their not killing dolphins as well . . . . right?!" Wrong! The Japanese are raping the oceans which suggests a microcosm of a larger picture, man's disregard for life. This might be tough for some people to handle, but education is the tool for progressive positive evolution. So don't turn a blind eye, study the facts, research what is happening to our oceans, knowledge is POWER! A powerful team of dedicated scientist, marine biologist, filmmakers, and professional divers have created the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS). The Oceanic Preservation Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness and creating action to improve the condition of our oceans. Their first documentary film "The Cove" uncovers an annual dolphin massacre that takes place in a hidden cove in Taiji, Japan. The film examines the oceans and our hearts as the theme expands to explore the impact of coal-burning facilities and their connection to high levels of mercury in seafood, man's primary source of protein. The Cove is set to be released in the spring of 2009. Freediving enthusiast will enjoy OPS team members Kirk Krack and Mandy-Rea Cruickshank, two of the world best freedivers involvement with the film production. This is your chance to take an active part and all it takes is watching this, knowing what is happening, and spreading the energy that this must stop. As they say in the trailer, "If the world finds out what goes on here, we'll be shut down." Well we are the world, and each and everyone of us can make a difference. Educate yourself, educate others, spread the knowledge and spread the power. Energy flows where attention goes!

Visit the Oceanic Preservation Society at, http://www.opsociety.org/,
Watch The Cove movie trailer at the top of the page on the left or visit, http://thecovemovie.com/

Ocean Awareness

Coral Reef Adventure: An IMAX Flim

Today was my wife's birthday and one of her gift's was MacCillvray Freeman's film Coral Reef Adventures. This film was originally created for exhibition in IMAX theaters so anyone with a good home theater system will apperciate the wonderful quality of this film. It takes you on an amazing "dream job" of traveling through the South Pacific diving and exploring the most beautiful reef on the planet. Howard and Michele Hall lead the expedition not just to capture on film the dazzling underwater world of coral reefs, but to educate you on this fragile ecosystem that is being destroyed my mankind. Couple the most exhilarating videography with a soundtrack written and recorded exclusively by Crosby, Stills & Nash and it is sure to be a movie to change your world view. My personal view was to question what I could do to help protect this wonderful ecosystem. One reaccuring theme was to educate yourself with the facts. Knowledge is power, and that is why I felt compeled to share this information. Each individual CAN make a difference, put them all together and we can be proud of the Earth and Oceans we leave behind for future generations. A few sites I found to be full of helpfull information were: www.projectaware.org , www.coralfilm.com , and reefcheck.org. You can also contact you local PADI dive shop (they are an affiliate with Project Aware) and find out available courses and conservation programs available in your area, or visit www.padi.com/scuba. Educate yourself and others, become involved, it will make a difference.
Everyday Actions / What Can You Do to Save Coral Reefs?

1. Become a member of Reef Check or email rcinfo@reefcheck.org for details.

2. Support reef-friendly businesses. Ask what your dive shop, boating store, tour operators, hotel and other coastal businesses are doing to save the coral reefs. Let them know how you are an informed consumer and care about reefs.

3. Don’t use chemically enhanced pesticides and fertilizers. Although you may live thousands of miles from a coral reef ecosystem, these products end up in the watershed and may ultimately impact the waters that support coral.

4. Volunteer for a reef cleanup. You don’t live near a coral reef? Then do what many people do on their vacation: visit a coral reef. Spend an afternoon enjoying the beauty of one of the world’s treasures while helping to preserve it for future generations.

5. Learn more about coral reefs. How many different species live in reefs? What new medicines have been discovered in reef organisms? Participate in training or educational programs that focus on reef ecology. You can find out about these trainings at www.reefcheck.org. When you further your own education, you can help others understand the fragility and value of the world’s coral reefs.

6. Become a member of your local aquarium or zoo. Ask what they are doing and what your donation can do towards saving the world’s coral reefs. The answer may pleasantly surprise you.

7. When you visit a coral reef, help keep it healthy by respecting all local guidelines, recommendations, regulations, and customs. Ask local authorities or your dive shop how to protect the reef.

8. When you visit a coral reef, always wear waterproof sun block. This keeps it from coming off in the water and causing pollution.

9. When snorkeling, always wear a flotation device. This keeps you from getting tired and stepping on the reefs which could break or kill it.

10. Never take a piece of the reef not even a small bit.

11. Don’t buy food to feed the fish when visiting a reef. When the fish find their own food on the reef, it keeps it healthy.

12. Support conservation organizations. Many of them have coral reef programs, and your much-needed monetary support will make a big difference.

13. Spread the word. Remember your own excitement at learning how important the planet’s coral reefs are to us and the intricate global ecosystem. Sharing this excitement gets everyone you speak with involved.

14. Be an informed consumer. Consider carefully the coral objects that you buy for your coffee table. Ask the store owner or manager from what country the coral is taken and whether or not that country has a management plan to insure that the harvest was legal and sustainable over time.

15. Don’t pollute. Never put garbage or human waste in the water. Don’t leave trash on the beach.

16. Recycle. This is the first step each of us can take to make a change. Recycle anything and everything. If your community doesn’t have a program, do it anyway, and get one started.

17. Conserve water. The less water you use the less runoff and waste water that eventually finds its way back into our oceans.

18. Report dumping or other illegal activities. Environmental enforcement cannot be everywhere, and your involvement can make a big difference.

19. Keep it clean. You may be in the habit of picking up your own trash. You may even participate in an organized clean up. But have you considered carrying away the trash that others have left behind?

20. Only buy marine aquarium fish if you know they have been collected in an ecologically sound manner. In some areas, marine fish harvested for the pet trade are stunned with sodium cyanide so that capturing them is easier. That method harms the coral.

21. Surf the net. Many different addresses exist to link you to information about coral reefs and what you can do to become involved. A good starting point is here

22. Don’t start a live rock aquarium. Although this living rock is still harvested legally in some places, its collection is devastating to the reef organisms’ habitat.

23. Hire local guides when visiting a coral reef ecosystem. Not only do you learn about the local resources, but you will be protecting the future of the reef by supporting a non-consumptive economy around the reef.

24. Don’t anchor on the reef. If you go boating near a coral reef, use mooring buoy systems when they are available.

25. If you dive, don’t touch. Take only pictures and leave only bubbles. Keep your fins, gear, and hands away from the coral, as this contact can hurt you and will damage the delicate coral animals. Stay off the bottom because stirred-up sediment can settle on coral and smother it.

26. Volunteer. Volunteer and community coral reef monitoring programs (such as Reef Check) are very important. If you do not live near a coast, get involved in your local save the river (bay, lake, etc) program. Remember, all watersheds affect the oceans and eventually the coral reefs.

27. Support the creation and maintenance of marine parks and reserves. Encourage your friends to get involved with projects to protect special areas.

28. Be a wastewater crusader. Make sure that sewage from your boat, from other boats, and from land is correctly treated. The nutrients from sewage feed growing algae that can smother and kill corals.

29. Inform yourself. Find out about existing and proposed laws, programs, and projects that could affect the world’s reefs.

30. When eating seafood, make choices for healthy oceans. Your consumer choices make a difference. Use this guide to make informed choices when ordering seafood.

Excerpt from "Manual of Freediving Underwater On A Single Breath"

The Coconut, Coral and the Sea: Small Story, Almost Zen

Brisby, the old Maldivian fisherman: "I saw you in the sea today. My compliments", he says, in uncertain English. "I really like how you move underwater. I am only an old fisherman, but allow me to give you a piece of advice. Remember that you can go underwater in two ways".
So saying, he takes out a small piece of coral and throws it into the sea; then from a coconut he pours the sweet, white liquid: "Look", he continues, "coral and coconut milk are now together in the water. But the coral is still coral, while the coconut milk is now sea: when you move underwater you must not be like the coral, but like the coconut. When you dive you must not go against the sea; it should not be you, your body, your skin and the sea, but each part of your body must become at one with the water".

Freediving & Spearfishing

One of my favorite ocean activities is freedive spearfishing. It all started due to a need for food while sailing away from civilization where you cannot just stop by the local grocery store for fresh food. Living off canned food gets old real quick, and we couldn't afford refrigeration and definitely didn't have a freezer. This meant our only source of fresh food would come from the sea. Fishing was my first avenue for collecting our protein, but that was always just blind luck and left us hungry too many nights. Getting in the water and being able to select your catch provided much better results. Not only was I able to select my catch, but I also avoided the unnecessary kills by gut hooking fish that were not desired. Selective hunting also resulted in bigger and better fish since in most environments I could take a toll of the fish in an area and come back to the ones that I wanted. No more random luck when you can see and chose your fish.
Freediving also gave me a chance to be active and stay in shape. Fishing is never a very active sport, especially compared to freedive spearfishing. It gave me something to look forward to by exploring the reefs and seeing things that are unlike the terra-firma world we inhabit. It made me push myself to go deeper and stay down longer to spend more time in such a beautiful environment. It also brought about an awareness to look inside and push my personal limits by listening closely to my body and controlling my mind to stay relaxed. Freediving noways is more closely related to yoga than it ever has been, and the zen-like state that one goes into when you enter the silent underworld is amazing and addictive. It has changed my life not only in the water, but how I approach everything. Your more conscious of your breathing, of your every movement and thought. You tend to be in a more relaxed state of mind out of the water since that is your main focus in the water. Umberto Pelizzari, who broke 17 world records in all disciplines of freediving sums it up best, "The scuba diver dives to look around. The freediver dives to look inside."
As you can see spearfishing and providing food on the table has developed into a deep desire to improve my freediving capabilities. Since in order to improve your spearfishing you must improve your breath holding abilities, changing my focus from spearfishing to "apnea" (breath holding) was a natural transition for me. In the beginning this process occurred simply through striving to reach new limits both in depth and duration. Along this journey of trial and error learning I was fortunate enough to meet an exceptional individual, William Trubridge (www.Verticalblue.net) who has broke many world records and continues to do so in the constant weight no fins division of apnea. William opened my eyes to the scientific view of freediving and showed me some simple techniques that when practiced correctly quickly improved my freediving. He also shared with me an extremely valuable book for improving my freediving, "Manual of Freediving, Underwater on a Single Breath" which he translated into English from the original Italian authors Umberto Pelizzari and Stefano Tovaglieri. (In another blog I will give a complete review of this invaluable book.) With this book at my side I continue to learn and push myself while participating in one of the most beautiful sports on the planet.
As my skills in apnea progress I have found once again that my enjoyment with the sport has taken on a new perspective. In the beginning it was as a means to provide food, as I became a more proficient hunter the focus of enjoyment came from learning about myself and pushing my physical and mental boundaries. This aspect will remain with me as long as I die since there will always be things I can learn about myself and a meter deeper to dive. The new perspective that I look forward to learning is underwater photography. I recently got my first digital underwater camera, an Olympus 1030 SW, and am extremely excited to hunt for the best images underwater to share. It was a purchase that I researched extensively in order to feel like I was getting the most value for my money without having to get a mortgage. The camera itself is waterproof to 35', shockproof, has a wide angle lens standard, able to take video clips, and has 10.1 megapixel's. With the optional underwater housing the maximum depth is 40 meter (131 feet) with all the cameras functions available. As my experience with this camera continues I will update this blog with photos and comments on the pros and cons of this setup.
I hope you enjoyed this post and get out there and start living your dreams

Ocean Prowler

Welcome to Ocean Prowler, a site devoted to discovering ocean adventures. My life has always revolved around the ocean and my enthusiasm for the sea has not only shaped the life I live but has given the direction and stoke I feel for creating this blog. It will take many different twists and turns with the blogs I post just like life but with one underlying genera always constant, the amazing ocean. Living on a sailboat for nine years with my wife and traveling the East Coast of the US and the Caribbean has introduced me to many lifestyles and cultures surrounding the ocean. It has also allowed me to persue activities that I am passionate about such as sailing, surfing, fishing, diving (both freediving and scuba diving), and spearfishing. Everyday is a wonderful journey that I am grateful to experience and would like to share with others as a motivator to get you out there and experience this beautiful planet or at the least to entertain and educate.