Blue Pond, Hokkaido
Photograph by Kent Shiraishi, My Shot
The “blue pond” of the famous tourist resort in Biei, Hokkaido, Japan is a place where many tourists gather in spring, summer, and autumn. However, since this pond freezes in winter, nobody is there during that period. This photograph was taken during the first snow of the season as it fell over the blue pond.
An Ocean Miracle in the Gulf of California
For generations we have been taking fish out of the ocean at a rate faster than they can reproduce. The problem is that there are fewer and fewer fish to meet an ever-increasing demand. The solution is simply to take less so that we can continue eating fish for a longer time.
Opponents of conservation, however, argue that regulating fishing will destroy jobs and hurt the economy–but they are wrong, and there are real-world examples that prove this. A scientific study published today by the Public Library of Science shows that protecting an area brings the fish back, and creates jobs and increases economic revenue for the local communities. I have seen it with my own eyes and, believe me, it is like a miracle, only that it is not–it’s just common business sense.
Cabo Pulmo National Park in Baja California, Mexico, was protected in 1995 to safeguard the largest coral community in the Gulf of California. When I dove there for the first time in 1999, I thought the corals were very nice, but there were not so many fishes, and I didn’t think the place was extraordinary. Together with Octavio Aburto and other Mexican colleagues we dove at many sites in the gulf, in a region spanning over 1,000 km. Cabo Pulmo was just like most other places I’d seen in the Gulf of California.
But the Cabo Pulmo villagers wanted more. They decided that the waters in front of their settlement were going to be a no-take marine reserve – fishing was banned with the hopes of bringing the fish back. They had a vision, and they succeeded in a way that exceeded all expectations, including mine.
In 2009 we went back to Cabo Pulmo to monitor the fish populations. We jumped in the water, expecting fishes to be more abundant after 10 years of protection. But we could not believe what we saw–thousands upon thousands of large fishes such as snappers, groupers, trevally, and manta rays. They were so abundant that we could not see each other if we were fifteen meters apart. We saw more sharks in one dive at Cabo Pulmo than in 10 years of diving throughout the Gulf of California!
Our research indicated that the fish biomass increased by 460% at Cabo Pulmo–to a level similar to remote pristine coral reefs that have never been fished. In contrast, all other sites in the Gulf of California that we revisited in 2009 were as degraded as ten years earlier. This shows that it is possible to bring back the former richness of the ocean that man has obliterated, but that without our dedication, the degradation will continue.
Most importantly for the people of Cabo Pulmo, since their reef is now the only healthy reef left in the Gulf of California, it has attracted divers, which bring economic revenue. And fishermen around the marine reserve are catching more fish than before thanks to the spillover of fish from the no-take marine reserve. It seems like a win-win to me!
The question is: how can we have more of these?
Environmental sustainability is possible.
This is what I like to see!
Water texture by CubaGallery.
neeeeew look. with this photo. I love it, it calms me so.
my goodness! I can’t see the damn filter.
Craftsman Anatoly Konenko is responsible for the smallest aquarium in the world. A glass cube measuring 30 x 24 x 14 mm, filled with multicolor stones and sand, contains 10 ml of water for a tiny fish. It also has a little water purification filter to keep the water healthy for fish.
Konenko has been fiddling around with micro-miniatures for 30 years – he was the first such craftsman in Siberia. He worked out how to write on rice grains, poppy seeds even human hair, and created the necessary micro-instruments to do this.
wow.
(Source: lickystickypickyshe)
“1ℓimit faucet looks more like an elegant test tube inverted on top of a tap. The glass tube holds exactly one liter of water, sufficient for a quick handwash. The theory being that we waste almost six liters of water and use only one, while washing hands. Once the stored one-liter is used up, you have to turn-off the tap till the next one liter fills up the tube. A cumbersome rationing process that will hopefully drive home the point of conservation!” -One Liter Limited
