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LET'S TALK DIRTY Let's talk about a dirty word. No, not that one! This one: CONSERVATION. Not everyone who dives the Kona Coast is concerned with conservation because what seems to be such a bountiful harvest looks like it could last fo'evah. Actually, the underwater environment is a very fragile one indeed. Most of us are staunch conservationists until we see something we want, then the conservationists are those 'other folks out there'. Frankly, if you saw my shell collection you'd wonder why I even mention this subject. Maybe, just maybe, I too am being swayed by what is so obvious. We can't keep stripping our coastline critters and hope to see this beautiful marine world survive. Each time we dive the shore we marvel at the sights available to us now. The question is, "Will this be here for our kids and their kids to enjoy?" Perhaps not. Wouldn't that be sad? Have you ever noticed most quality underwater photographers were once non-conservationists? They became aware of the fragility of our reefs, corals, fishes, and invertebrates and decided to capture their qualities on film - rather than on the end of a spear or in a net. Now, to be an excellent underwater photo-journalist takes the utmost patience, and not all of us have that trait. Those who do can really appreciate the delicate balance that over-harvesting can impart. Break off one piece of coral and you've done irreparable damage to countless organisms. Take one female lobster and you've eliminiated the possibility of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of offspring. Destroy one octopus den and break a food chain that could have gone on for years. It seems trivial to take one live Humpback Cowry - but imagine what that one shell could have produced had it been left alone? "There's more where that came from" might have held water a few years ago, but today, that cry is heard less and less often. And no wonder. We (and with that I mean YOU and I) are squandering a very precious marinelife environment. Some, perhaps many, feel it is already too late. I don't buy that philosophy for a minute. We, now, can still show the concern necessary to save that environment we enter every week to enjoy. Be a little more selective in what we take, or don't take anything but pictures. Reduce your harvest to legal sizes, or harvest nothing. Share your conquests with others by showing them the color tones and lighting backgrounds on film or digitally. To take a perfect picture takes more skill than grabbing a Tiger Cowry off a rock as he speeds along at zero mph! Since I've been diving off Kona, taking in our favorite 'special' dive sites, I've enjoyed a bigger thrill from discovering interesting marine inhabitants and showing them to 'buddies' than I have ever felt from "bagging" a monster lobster. Wouldn't it be awful to take someone out to show them what a great dive spot looks like and find a barren seascape with a marine population of absolutely nothing? Let's not let that happen! That, my friends, has happened in many parts of the world! It could happen here!
The Mediterranean has areas that are completely devoid of marine life. The coast of Belize was once teeming with huge Spiny Lobsters (10 pounders were abundant) but today, due to over-harvesting - only little dinky ones are available. They thought the lobsters would last forever, right? The northern Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, Australia has been devastated by the over-population of the dreaded Crown of Thorns sea star. Why such an over-population? Simple, because Man (in all his wisdom) has seen fit to over-harvest the Triton Trumpet, which happens to be the only known natural predator of the Crown of Thorns. And so it goes. Let's all get back together in about ten or fifteen years and talk it over. As a matter of fact, in the year 2020, LET'S GO SHORE DIVE'N' together and see who was right. Okay? It's a date! |