Another life dream achieved!

Yes, that's right...I saw a humpback whale breach today!!! We were driving in the van to a place near the the North Shore of O'ahu where we were going to go for a hike to find Hawai'ian monk seals. When we pulled into the parking lot Justin shouted, "Whale!" I missed that first one, but another one breached a few minutes later. It happened quickly and was far off in the distance, so I didn't get a picture or a video, but later this week we are going to go to another place to watch for humpbacks. Hopefully, I'll get a closer look and a good video of a whale breaching then!

This morning we left at 5:00 am for the Honolulu Tuna Auction. This is where all the Hawaiian tuna longline vessels bring their catch to sell. They bring all the fish into the auction house and lay them in rows on pallets. Then, the auctioneer, along with all the buyers, walks up and down the rows auctioning off each fish one by one.

The auction is taking place in the background on the right side of the picture.


Ahi (bigeye tuna) is the big money maker in the Hawaii tuna longline fishery. This large fish sold for over $1200 this morning. It will probably be used for sashimi.

A mako shark. The longlines catch many species other than tunas. Sharks are usually thrown back because there is no market for them here, but there is a small market for mako sharks.

Although it was sad to see so many magnificent and rapidly disappearing animals on the auction floor, it was a fascinating experience to see how the tuna auction works and to get to talk to some of the people there. Sean Martin, who owns several of the Hawaiian tuna longline boats walked us through the auction process and talked to us about management issues in the fishery. The Hawaiian longline fishery is perhaps the most regulated fishery in the Pacific ocean. The US has strict laws to protect species, including sea turtles, sea birds, and marine mammals, that often are caught by or otherwise interact with longlines. Once the Hawaiian longline fleet has had a certain number of interactions with protected species, the fishery is shut down for the rest of the season. However, fishing boats from other countries do not have to abide the same rules, even though they may be fishing in the same area. While Hawaiian tuna fishermen have seen that the required conservation measures do not reduce their catches, they are frustrated that they must often end their season early while fishermen from other nations continue fishing, and do so without the conservation measures that the US fishermen use. The Hawaiian fishermen would like to encourage fishermen from other countries to implement the conservation measures used in the US, since they reduce catch of unwanted species without reducing the catch of target species. But, communication is difficult because fishermen are very independent and do not like other people telling them what to do.

After the tuna auction we drove to the north west side of the island to go for our hike to find monk seals. That is when we saw the whales breaching. After the whale's show, we hiked for about an hour along a very muddy path (it rained a lot yesterday, and some today, too) with the mountains rising sharply to our left and the largest ocean waves I have ever seen to our right. The waves were about 20 feet tall, and it was very windy. Near the end of the trail, laysan albatrosses were nesting among the dunes. These are large and impressive seabirds that have a very wide wingspan and make long migrations. Frigate birds also soared overhead. Beyond the albatross nests, we came the end of point. Two Hawaiian monk seals lay on the sand among the rocks below us. They don't do much on land - they expend a lot of energy hunting in the ocean and haul up on the beach to rest and be lazy where predators cannot reach them. These animals represent the third endangered species we've seen today (humpback whales, laysan albatrosses, and now Hawaiian monk seals). Truly a once-in-a-life time opportunity.

A Laysan Albatross on its nest.

Two Hawaiian monk seals resting on the beach.

Frigatebird

View from the point

I uploaded all of the pictures I've taken on to my flickr page. Click here to see them. Also check out our official class blog here.

Aloha!

Flying into Honolulu - the peaks in the back ground are the Big Island and the one in front might be Maui.


View of Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head Mountain. I was surprised at what a big city Honolulu is.



I arrived in Honolulu on Saturday evening. I'm here for a field trip as part of a course in marine conservation biology at the Duke marine lab. I'm just a few months away from earning a Master of Coastal Environmental Management from Duke. Yesterday was our first full day here. Our day began with a presentation from Dave Johnston, a marine mammal researcher at NOAA. One thing he talked about was interaction of tourists with spinner dolphins in shallow bays around the islands. Tourists like to swim with the dolphins, however they do not realize that they are disturbing the dolphins during the time when they are resting. Spinner dolphins spend a lot of energy hunting off shore at night and come into the bays during the day to rest where they can find safety from predators. Some tour companies say that they let the dolphins choose whether to swim with tourists and that they let the dolphins leave if they want to. Dave said that what people don't understand is that the dolphins may choose to leave the area, but they may be forced to relocate to an area that leaves them more vulnerable to predators, such as sharks. Also, the dolphins may not get the rest they need if they are constantly having their rest disturbed day after day, and they may not have the energy they need to hunt at night.
After talking to Dave we all hiked up Diamond Head Mountain. The congested trail gave us a taste of how many tourists visit the islands. From the top we saw an amazing view of the mountains covered in scrubby vegetation, shallow coral reefs, and the open ocean. We could also see first hand some of the impacts of humans on the environment. The skyscrapers of Honolulu rise up near the shore, neighborhoods spread up the mountainsides, and surfers, snorkelers, tour boats, and cruise ships dot the shallow reefs off shore. Dave hiked up with us and got a lot of us very excited when he pointed to a white spot in the water that he said was a whale getting ready to breach. I started taking video - one of my life goals was about to be realized. Then, up pops the 'whale', which turned out to be a submarine that takes tourists down to see the coral reefs. We were all very disappointed!
Our afternoon snorkeling trip made up for any disappointment from the botched whale sighting. We got to see sea turtles!!! I was just swimming around looking at all the brightly colored reef fish when I see a sea turtle glide by...followed by another very excited classmate!

Today we got to talk to native Hawaiians Leimana and Bob DaMate about their views on marine conservation in Hawaii and how they are working to integrate native Hawaiian values and practices into western-style ocean management. It was very interesting to talk to them and get their perspective. One thing that surprised us was that they were very upset that President Bush designated the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as a Marine National Monument last summer. Before I came to Hawaii everyone I talked to in the marine conservation community seemed to be very excited that such a huge area was going to be protected from fishing and other harmful uses. But, Hawaiians, both native and non-native, don't seem too happy about it. Leimana and Bob were upset that no one asked native Hawaiians how they thought the NWHI should be managed. They also expressed that many native Hawaiians who have been using the NWHI for cultural practices for hundreds of years do not want to be kept out and do not want to have to apply for a permit to use the resources there. From their perspective, they've been using and managing the marine resources sustainably for roughly 2000 years and they don't like westerners telling them they can't use the NWHI without even asking them how they think the area should be managed.
I can't imagine the native Hawaiians' frustration at watching their land and resources be taken over and be so poorly managed by westerners. Bob and Leimana told us how they grew up on Oahu, but then moved to the Big Island after seeing their home overrun with development and degraded by poor management practices. The native Hawaiians use a management unit called Ahuapa'a. Essentially, an Ahuapa'a is an entire watershed, from the mountains all the way the reefs and out to the deep sea. They understand that it is all connected - what happens in the mountains affects what happens in the deep sea and vice versa. Traditionally, they managed the entire watershed together. However, western management attempts to manage each thing separately, without recognizing the interconnectedness of all parts of the ecosystem. Whereas the western approach to management has failed over and over, at least in the US, the native Hawaiians managed their resources sustainably for nearly 2000 years using the Ahuapa'a system. Leimana and Bob told us within the last two years native Hawaiians have been successful at getting the current 'western-style' management to incorporate traditional Hawaiian practices. Hawaiians, who until recently were still very bitter about the western take-over of Hawaii, have finally begun to open up and share their knowledge with westerners, and westerners have also begun to ask the native Hawaiians about their cultural knowledge of ocean resources. Leimana and Bob hope that the two cultures can work together to protect Hawaii's valuable resources and unique ecosystems.

Melting ice sheets

This New York Times article reports that Greenland's glaciers are melting even faster than scientists had predicted. They used to think that sea level rise over the next 100 years would be negligible. But, they now say that sea level is likely to rise much faster than previously thought, and that it could rise dramatically even within the next few decades. Guess I better move inland.

But, don't despair! Sign this petition to tell your representatives to support the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act that will place mandatory reductions on greenhouse gas emissions. You can also tell your congressperson to support H.R. 6, the Clean Energy Bill of 2007. This bill would fund clean energy projects by rolling back billions of dollars worth of oil drilling incentives and raising billions more through federal royalties paid by oil and gas companies for offshore production from taxpayer-owned oil and gas fields. Act quickly on this one--they are scheduled to vote this Thursday!

Make the Switch!

You've been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather most of the country has been having, but in the back of your mind you're thinking, "I know this isn't right". You've heard the warnings about all the terrible things that global warming is going to cause and you feel helpless to do anything about it. Well, there's good news and good news! You can reduce your carbon emissions and save money at the same time. Replace 2, 3, or all of your light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. Don't be discouraged by their higher price - they will pay for themselves in the long run, and save you money on your electricity bills. They'll make you feel good about yourself, too! Check out Environmental Defense's guide to help you choose the right energy-saving bulb here.

Overfishing

Here's a funny video on a not so funny topic. From Shifting Baselines. View movie.