|
|
|
||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
||||
Rockfish
June 22, 2000
 |
|
|
|
 |
Today dawned gray-on-gray, silver fog touching the sea’s silvered surface, with not a whisper of wind. It is a morning to inspire poetry, but most thoughts of those aboard the NOAA ship McArthur are turned to one thing: these are perfect conditions for launching the DeepWorker submersible. First up as a pilot is Donna Schroeder, a slender, dark-haired marine biologist who has a special interest in rockfish. She plans to assess populations of fish in protected areas within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and compare them with the number, kind and size of rockfish in places that are heavily fished. Compelling evidence is being amassed from various parts of the world that demonstrates that places where no fishing is allowed serve as sources of renewal for areas where fish and other creatures have been depleted or eliminated by overfishing.
To some, the name “rockfish” is synonymous with striped bass, sea bass, or
certain kinds of sculpin. In California, sixty or so species of scorpionfish
are called rockfish, including many that are sought by sport and commercial
fishermen who supply fish for lovers of seafood throughout the country. Whether
known as yellowtail, yelloweye, black, black and yellow, blue, dusky, olive,
brown, grass, china, squarespot, kelp, canary, rosy, starry, honeycomb, tiger,
vermillion, widow, redstripe, gopher, green, quillback, copper, calico or any of
the other variations on the theme of scorpionfish-rockfish, all tend to live a
long time, mature and reproduce slowly, and are thus vulnerable to swift
collapse when too many are taken too quickly. The population of one kind,
“bocaccio,” is thought to now have only about 2% of the number present twenty
years ago. Their best hope for survival is likely to be for us to protect what
remains of their population and the critical habitats where adults can reproduce
and juveniles can grow up.
DeepWorker is Recovered
Photograph by Gale Mead
Donna Schroeder’ s research through direct observation of rockfish in their own realm is aimed at gaining new insight into how they live, how they behave, how many there really are and ultimately, how we can better take care of these once-abundant members of California’ s coastal ecosystems. The next question is whether or not people can be convinced that giving rockfish a break now will help them recover and yield more for the future.
Like many other DeepWorker’ s scientist-pilots, Donna has for years combined her scientific interests with mastery of technologies that have given her new access to the sea. A certified scuba diver and instructor, she has logged more than 2000 dives and has been an observer in submersibles more than fifty times. For her, DeepWorker is basically a new kind of diving suit, a “submersible that she wears” to venture deeper than scuba divers can go. Today, however, she used the little sub to gain great time rather than great depth—four hours at 100 feet [30 meters]. What did she see? “Lots of rockfish! But nearly all were really young.”
In the afternoon, marine biologist Sarah Fangman, SSE’ s Mission Coordinator for the Channel Islands, piloted DeepWorker for a long look at the nature of the ocean floor near Anacapa Island. More than 100 hours of DeepWorker training have prepared her for her turn to “fly” underwater as a scientist-pilot. Tomorrow, Dr. Guy Cochrane will get back into the driver’ s seat for more perspectives on the geology of the Channel Islands.
— Sylvia A. Earle
Project Director
Sustainable Seas Expeditions
[Note: nationalgeographic.com does not research or copyedit dispatches.]