THE REALIZATION OF A DREAM
In the many articles I have written on this subject over the last 40 years it has taken 3 decades of my concerns falling on deaf ears to have at last reached a time in the history of the planet when I am able to announce that in the publication of this section of the Australian content of the Marine Life Inventory of Asia/Indo - Pacific Dive Sites I can at last lead by example, and display a fraction of what is possible.
AT LAST, WITH THE HELP OF THE
CHRISTMAS ISLAND TOURISM ASSOCIATION
WE HAVE MADE A BREAKTHROUGH!
Christmas Island map with a number of the local dive site areas marked. The nature of the island makes it possible to dive at different locations, depending on which way the wind is blowing.
(Artwork: Christmas Island Tourism Association)
Christmas Island Tourism Association and the Christmas Island Divers Association are joining forces to begin work on the first real Marine Life Inventory of Dive Sites ever attempted in the Indian Ocean.
The very fact that the first Project AWARE UNDERWATER NATURALIST COURSE to be run at Christmas Island was such a success is very encouraging, and to see the enthusiasm shared by all concerned was a tribute to the entire project.
This excellent image of an undescribed nudibranch Marshalls Bornella Bornella sp. is only the second of this species to be recorded and published. The first record was from the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific. It just goes to show what can be accomplished by keen divers, digital cameras and a little encouragement.
Lisa is to be congratulated on her ability and skill, as this is not only a new record for Christmas Island, but the entire Indian Ocean as well.
(photo: Lisa Preston)
It's fantastic that we can identify and record living animals without having to kill everything each time we need to identify them.
The reality is, that today it is possible to visually recognise over 7000 species of underwater flora and fauna, without having to kill, any!
"CONSERVATION by CAMERA"
Finally Arrived!
When taking photographs underwater it is not always possible to control the subject's aspect, or even get the camera close enough sometimes, due to the nature of the habitat. This very fact makes recording images with enough characteristics to recognise a species or genus is the most important thing.
Not every image has to a be prize - winning shot, as long as it is in focus there is every chance I can recognise enough features to identify it.
The MARINE LIFE INVENTORY of Christmas Island Dive Sites
Christmas Island (resident) divers and course participants Gary Mitchell, Linda Cash, Lynne Jenyns, and Pat Richardson on board Wet n Dry Adventures dive boat for one of the off shore dive site surveys. (photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)
This project will be set up by Neville Coleman's World of Water and managed and maintained by the Christmas Island Tourism Association in conjunction with the Christmas Island Divers Association.
Everything needs to be photographically recorded and the process is relatively easy and lots of fun, especially with out in the open subjects as shown here by
Lisa Preston. ( photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)
The support basis could be from a volunteer group of businesses and individual divers and underwater photographers who have come together as an organization dedicated to recording and establishing a visual photographic index containing each species of the marine life existing at each major dive site and advancing the base line knowledge of Christmas Islands unique coral reef system.
To get this close to a pod of Spinner Dolphins Stenella longirostris is not an easy ask. This exceptional image was captured by Linda Cash, right next to the boat. (photo: Linda Cash)
This information and imagery could eventually become a major contribution to the knowledge of Christmas Islands Marine Life, and compliment the information and imagery already compiled by National Parks North, the Western Australian Museum and the Christmas Island Natural History Society on land and in the sea over the many years.
We found two of these sea stars during our initial Photographic Marine Life Inventory of Christmas Island Dive Sites and both were similar in proportion, with an almost identical pattern of magenta spots. Although I have 4 species of this genus and many variations, none are similar to this species.
For the time being I will refer to it as the Christmas Island Sea Star Neoferdina sp. until its identity is confirmed. ( photo: Marjorie Gant)
The Dragon Moray Enchelycore pardalis is a well known member of the Christmas Island fish fauna and is regularly photographed at its resident hole at Flying Fish Cove. ( photo: Neil Chan)
In effect, every diver taking part becomes a real underwater explorer and by contributing to the Inventory they play a very real role in advancing knowledge and taking their participation in the greatest adventure activity on the planet, to another level.
Chris Boland photographing a Tiger Cowry Cyprea tigris which was located by JoeY. Chris has a very straight forward point and shoot digital camera that could be used for snorkelling and then put into a housing and taken down to 30 metres. (photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)
There is no doubt in my mind that even with our modest beginnings, once the MARINE LIFE INVENTORY of Christmas Island Dive Sites is established (now in the process) it will set an example for the Eco - Dive Tourism Industry across the entire Asia/Indo Pacific region and become a model for future projects across the planet.
Infinite Possibilities
From the biggest to the smallest, everything in the World of Water needs to be recorded. Hama of Christmas Island WET N DRY Adventures photographs Whale sharks, down to and including, 8 mm nudibranchs all on the same camera.
( photo: Teruki Hamanaka ( Hama)
I would like to thank Linda Cash of Christmas Island Tourism Association for having the foresight and understanding of the infinite possibilities that Eco Tour Marine Identification Courses will have on the future of the Dive Tourism Industry as a whole.
Lin, Chris Boland, Marjorie Gant, Lisa Preston and Linda Cash were so keen that during the course ( and after their boat dives) they lined up for a shore dive and found a wealth of different species on the reefs closer to shore. ( photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)
Christmas Island Tourism Association has already been running successful land orientated projects (such as BIRD WEEK) for many years, so they are well aware of just how important eco tourism and its related natural assets can be.
By providing the opportunity for local and visiting divers to participate in extending their knowledge of the Marine Life of Christmas Island and in turn setting up the Marine Life Inventory of Christmas Island Dive Sites it gives every diver the chance of being part of a serious semi - scientific project, that not only records images and information but contributes to knowledge of our World of Water.
Project AWARE UNDERWATER NATURALIST
Marine Life Identification Course
Participants at Christmas Island Tourism Association Headquarters. (Jan.2009)
Once divers have the opportunity to learn more and so understand the structure of which science views the classification of marine life, the entire process of observations, photography and discovery become so much simpler. The easiest way to do this is to is have someone who is a proven enthusiast, to learn from.
( photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)
In order to set up the entire project it was necessary to run an introductory
Marine Life Identification Course. This first course was for divers living on Christmas Island.
The presence of this flatworm Thysanozoon sp. (which I had first recorded from Lizard Island in 1976 and since found several times in Papua New Guinea) was surprising, as there were quite a few of them.
( photo: Pat Richardson)
I would like to thank all the Christmas Island Marine Life Identification course participants and congratulate everybody on a job well done and I must say that I enjoyed every minute and the fact that everybody was so enthusiastic and stuck together during the dives, assisted each other through the more tricky questions of the course and did so well with their practical and theory assessments.
Together we found samples of every major marine phyla except Braciopods.
Another species I saw for the first time was the Flagellate Sea Jelly Thystanostoma flagellatum. This an oceanic species, only coming close to the coast on rare occasions. ( photo: Linda Cash)
With the assistance of Linda Cash of Christmas Island Tourism Association, Jorina van der Westhuizen ( JoeY) of Digital Illusions, Hama, Lyn and Lynne of Wet n Dry Adventures and eight really keen scuba divers, we completed a very successful Project AWARE UNDERWATER NATURALIST Marine Life Identification Course for Christmas Island.
A first for Christmas Island and indeed, the entire Indian Ocean.
I am being shown a beautiful little undescribed species of nudibranch Flabellina sp. ( only 8 mm in size) It was found and photographed by Christmas Island Wet n Dry Adventures
owner/operator Teruki Hamanaka.
In only 2 dives the 8 course participants were able to find and recognise the majority of Marine Life Phyla as outlined in my textbook UNDERWATER NATURALIST. They are also well on the way to being able to recognise most of the species in their own World of Water Wildlife Guide to Christmas Island book that I had written and produced several years before for the exact reason of training divers to carry on the Underwater Explorer traditions of Scuba Diving's educational pioneers.
When I found this strange creature ( only 15 mm in size) I was absolutely stoked. Although I had found the Magicians Sponge Cranellia abracadabra in the Maldives many years ago,
I had never seen one this small.
However, upon scanning it there was another surprise in store. Living in the sponges tissues were microscopic animals called Entoprocts.
We had discovered an entirely new Phylum of marine life not recorded from Christmas Island before. ( photo: Neil Chan))
Not only did Christmas Island exceed my expectations in the diversity of its coral reefs but in the process we added at least one new record to the fish lists (Moyer's Dragonet), discovered 4 species of nudibranchs I didn't recognise and photographed several undescribed species of marine invertebrates which I had never seen before.
The skill of the on - course photographers was exceptional and I was able to identify every image, with the exception of the rolled up dead leaf.
Eco Dive Tourism -
The REALITY of RESOURCES
Not only does this project provide a basis for learning more about the oceans and their inhabitants it lays the groundwork for divers to become more conservation minded.
It gives divers the opportunity to become local experts in their chosen field of study. We know so little about some life forms that just by recording even the most basic knowledge and images there is every chance to improve on our understanding of nature.
The concept also ensures an excellent basis for shootouts and photographic competitions.
The Diving Industry would benefit enormously by showing the world that WE are prepared to put our resources on the line to provide the means to survey the oceans.
WE could invite the world to join in and become part of the
Greatest Adventure Activity on the Planet
Scuba Diving!
WE are all explorers, and given half the chance,
many people would love to be
Underwater Explorers!
They just need encouragement
and a good enough reason.
Helping to Save our Seas by taking part in
Marine Life Inventories of Dive Sites
might just "Fit the Bill."
Marine Life Inventory - Introduction
Marine Life Inventory - History
Marine Life Inventory - The Belief
Neville Coleman's expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys marine life ID courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in living taxonomy and marine life ID extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Mangroves, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks, Marine Reptiles, and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around Australia.