Crazy Busy

The blog has suffered a long stretch of silence recently, but things have been crazy busy here at CORAL central. I mean things are always busy, but the past two weeks have seen a pronounced uptick. We have two major grant proposals to the tune of half a million total dollars that are about to head out the door while still waiting to hear on another pending proposal that would allow us to expand our conservation work in Hawaii to the Big Island. All good stuff to be sure, but it's also a lot of focused, structured writing that has drained my more creative writing well.

But fear not, I've surfaced long enough to post some news of the sad yet weird. Seems as if an American kitsch icon in Florida, Weeki Watchee Springs, may have to close its doors for good. Since 1947, Weeki Wachee has been entertaining Floridians and visitors world-wide with live mermaid performances–yes,real mermaids! I have photos to prove it! Just an hour drive north from Tampa, I recall many a fond visit to Weeki Watchee during a year spent in South Florida. Sporting dazzlingly sequined tails, bikini tops, subtle nose clips and a hookah like air tube, generations of Miss Florida-wannabees have smiled and waved to tourists while swimming about the springs.

The current park's owners and the water-management agency have continued to butt heads over issues ranging from the wording and amount of the lease to the unauthorized dredging of the spring and whether the little city of Weeki Wachee is even allowed by law to own the attraction. Things don't look promising for the mermaids, so if you happen to be in Florida try to find time to witness this classic slice of Americana before it's replaced by a Winn-Dixie.

It Takes A Village Idiot

So what gives with the carpetbagger, er... I mean the Gentlewoman from New York? First Hillary Clinton earns props for adding a section to her Senate website that articulates a position on global climate change. Not only does she acknowledge the scientific consensus confirming climate change, but she goes on to offer several potential strategies for reversing further climate deterioration–from renewable energy alternatives to carbon sequestration schemes.

But then, less than two weeks after telling the gay and lesbian leadership of the Human Rights Campaign she was "proud" to stand by their side, she utterly beefs an opportunity to demonstrate some of that pride. Responding to a question from an ABC News reporter about whether she thinks homosexuality is immoral, Senator Clinton sidesteps with, "Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude." Excuse me? Where's all that rainbow love, girlfriend?

To be fair, it's been offered by some Clinton campaign insiders that the good Senator is not much of a "shoot from the hip" politician and is more comfortable with a scripted pitch. But for me this only fortifies the picture of an opportunistic, career politician. I'm thinking I just want a clean sweep of the Clinton era. Popular as her husband may have been, he's still the man who signed "don't ask, don't tell" into military policy. And if I can't expect consistency just weeks into what will be a 21 month campaign, what should I expect to be hearing by 2008?

Leonard Matlovich (1943-1988)

Introducing The Golden Ignoranus Award

In an effort to streamline my otherwise protracted aggravation over whatever asinine, narrow-minded, bigoted, conservative, insular, intolerant, parochial, petty, prejudiced, provincial, reactionary, short-sighted utterance happens to be making its way through the news cycle, I've decided to exorcise my angst by bestowing a very special recognition to some very deserving douchebags. Allow me to unveil the Golden Ignoranus Award. A portmanteau of ignorant and anus, I think it adequately captures the head up the ass qualities required of award recipients.

And the very first Golden Ignoranus Award goes to... US General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a newspaper interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace compared homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not support it by allowing gays to serve in U.S. Army.

When Pace was asked about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage in homosexual acts the general said:

I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts... I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.

Congratulations, General Pace. It takes a profoundly head-up-your-ass world-view to fire off those sentiments and then defiantly defend them with your alleged morals. And it's so satisfying to know that all my queer tax dollars have subsidized your rise to the top of the military pecking order.

Edwards Throws Down A Carbon Neutral Challenge

John Edwards today became the first early candidate to boast a carbon neutral campaign. That's right, first the Academy Awards went carbon neutral, now politics. Though former presidential candidate and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack beat Edwards to the punch in proposing a carbon neutral campaign, Edwards is able to make good on his proposal and pick up that torch to further set himself apart from the rest of the herd.

Edwards is quoted in his announcement, saying:

Global warming is an emergency. It requires international action to solve it, but we can't wait for the next president to get started. Everyone can take responsibility in big ways and small to reduce their impact on global warming.

While I'd like to see some specifics on carbon neutrality or carbon offsets beyond just the campaign or his White House, I suppose it's a promising start.

Get the full story from Edwards campaign headquarters.

Charismatic Megafauna Overload

Research doesn't get much sexier than this. A team of marine scientists from Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station reports the successful tagging of sperm whales and jumbo squid swimming together off Mexico's Pacific coast—the first time that electronic tracking devices have been applied simultaneously to deep-diving predators and prey in the same waters.
Read the full story.
Source: Stanford News

It's Not A Problem If You Don't Talk About It, Right?

The federal agency responsible for protecting Arctic polar bears has barred two Alaska scientists from speaking about polar bears, climate change or sea ice at international meetings in the next few weeks, a move that environmentalists say is censorship.

Tina Kreisher, communications director of the Interior Department, which oversees the wildlife agency, said in an interview Thursday that the government isn't trying to silence scientists from talking about their findings -- but they don't want them to make policy statements.

Read the full story.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

NSF Urged to Think More Boldly, Take Risks

A new draft report from its oversight body calls on the U.S. National Science Foundation to be more receptive to funding wild-eyed ideas that, just maybe, could revolutionize science.

NSF's peer-review system is widely seen as the gold standard for selecting high-quality research proposals. But board members say they are worried that some scientists don't even bother to apply for grants for ideas that cut across the scientific grain because of what the draft report calls "the external perception that NSF is not as welcoming as it should be to such research."

To erase that perception, the report suggests "a new, distinct, and separate foundation-wide program designed to solicit and support transformational and paradigm-challenging proposals." The mechanism would serve scientists with brilliant but not-ready-for-prime-time ideas, the kind that "might be at odds with the current thinking in the field," says board member Douglas Randall, a plant physiologist at the University of Missouri, Columbia. "And if it goes into that merit-review meat grinder, it'll just get spit out."

Several board members say they would like the proposal review process to place more emphasis on the investigator's ideas and track record and less on preliminary data showing that the project is feasible. "Business as usual is what people are comfortable with. We need something different," says board chair Steven Beering. The report asks NSF to come up with a management plan by August.
Source: Science News

Papa-hānau-moku-ākea

Last year, President Bush surprised the marine conservation community by designating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a Marine National Monument. He promised that federal officials would work with Native Hawaiian leaders to give the monument a Hawaiian name. That promise officially became reality this past weekend when First Lady Laura Bush announced the new name–Papahānaumokuākea.

In the above photo, from left to right are: Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dr. David A. Sampson, and Pualani Kanahele, a revered Hawaiian elder who was instrumental in giving the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a Hawaiian name. Apparently there was much concern that the new name be pronounced correctly. But as this was the First Lady, not The Decider, the pronunciation was flawless.

The name Papahānaumokuākea comes from an ancient Hawaiian tradition concerning the genealogy and formation of the Hawaiian Islands. The union of Papahānaumoku (who is personified in the earth) and Wākea (who is personified in the sky) resulted in the "birthing" of the entire archipelago. The monument is enormous and spans nearly 140,000 square miles. It's more than 100 times larger than Yosemite National Park and bigger than the land mass of 46 states combined.

Culling The Herd... Redux

It's time to check back in on the ridiculously long run-up to the 2008 Presidential election. Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack was breaking news twice in the last few weeks. First he formally withdrew his name for consideration as a Presidential candidate. This announcement was of course overshadowed by the bigger story: that Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack was actually running for President. Tough break, Tom. My guess is that Brownback or Biden will be the next to bail out.

You may recall I sent a query to all the early Presidential hopefuls asking for each candidate's position and record on ocean policy, ocean science-research-education, US fisheries, and climate change. Well, you can probably guess that the response has been underwhelming.

Not surprisingly, Dennis Kucinich's team has been, thus far, the only one to provide a personal, non-automated response. A campaign volunteer by the name of Gail Heyn wrote that my question had been forwarded to staff but in the mean time I should check out the issues pages on the Kucinich website. I did and under Key Issue # 9, Environmental Renewal and Clean Energy, Kucinich at least acknowledges that oceans are part of the environment:

The United States should lead the way in protecting our oceans, rivers and rural environments -- and I have been speaking out on these issues across America. I will also continue to lead in fighting for clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water -- which is an emerging global concern.

While not going into detail, Kucinich also throws a bone to readers looking for a climate change position,

We must reverse course on most Bush Administration policies and support the Kyoto Treaty that Bush rejected.

Thin on the details, for sure, but he gets points for effort.

By far, John Edwards has had the most aggressive and persistent automated response. I've received no less than six emails on topics ranging from health care and poverty to national security, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo. Each and every one urging me to donate now (including the last email from campaign manager David Bonior seeking some alliterative Coulter Cash). A search on Edwards' website for "ocean" or "climate change" related postings turned up very little.

Does Mitt Romney's website offer insight into his environmental position? Not so much. Considering his flip-flop on a women's right to choose and gay marriage, I'm not so sure a position statement from Romney would mean anything. I suspect it's all just focus groups and teleprompters.

John McCain's eerily dark and oppressive website calls upon voters to join him as Stewards of Our Nation's Rich Natural Heritage. Apparently John McCain has been a leader on the issue of global warming with the courage to call the nation to action on an issue we can no longer afford to ignore. Though not so important an issue as to have McCain go on the record to criticize the Administration's failure to take climate change seriously. The rest of the herd, Republican or Democrat, doesn't offer any greater depth on environmental issues than I've already outlined.

Right now, the early front runners seem to be focused more on solidifying their base and building campaign coffers rather than dabbling in "swing" issues like environment. And as far as climate change, the general consensus appears to be let sleeping dogs lie. Besides, I'm certain there will be plenty of bloviating on that issue once we whittle the pack down to a couple of candidates per party.

Ocean Blogroll

Cool and current blogs devoted to ocean science or ocean conservation. I've consciously avoided industrial strength blogs produced by the big NGOs (BINGOs) or universities since I'm interested in more personal voices out there in the blogosphere.

MNS Marine Group

blogfish

Deep-Sea News

Coral Bones

Tourism Operators Praised, Pushed To Do More For Marine Conservation

Green Hotelier magazine devoted part of its January 2007 issue to encouraging the tourism industry to do more to help protect the coastal ecosystems on which it depends. According to the authors, the economic benefits of early protective action are much greater than future costs of coastal restoration. The magazine’s press release states,

Governments, developers, hotels, cruise lines and other tourism industry operators need to work together with community members and adopt integrated coastal zone management strategies. One way to do this is by setting up more marine protected areas in destinations where ecosystems are threatened and taking an active role in their management – for example helping with education, setting constraints on numbers, leveraging visitor fees and ensuring the proceeds are used for effective species protection schemes.

The magazine also highlights the following regional resorts and programs for their positive contributions to conservation: (1) Le Meridien, Bora Bora and JW Marriott, Phuket for their sea turtle protection and education programs; (2) the Wakatobi Dive Resort, Sulawesi, Indonesia, for its Community-based Reef Conservation Program; and (3) Regent Seven Seas Cruises for their investment in waste management technology on their ships.
Source: SeaWeb Asia Pacific News

Coultergeist (kōl'tərgīst): (n.) A rabidly right-wing ghost that manifests itself by noises, rappings, and the creation of disorder.

Dear Abby:
We have a daughter with a problem. At home and in public, we experience the following: strange outbursts; failure to acknowledge wrongdoing; verbal hurtfulness to others; defiance and inability to take corrective criticism. We've even uncovered some very disturbing writing of hers that just drips with hateful venom towards anyone outside of her narrow, clannish world-view. When focused on doing something she wants to do, right or wrong, she continues to do so in the midst of being corrected. The list goes on. Any suggestions?
Sincerely,
Concerned Mom Considering Exorcism

Dear Concerned (And Rightly So):
You've painted a picture of Jerry Falwell with better legs! But seriously, the characteristics you're describing sound as if she has a fairly severe problem. It may help you to determine how serious your daughter's problem is by thinking back to her earlier childhood. If she was much more positive and had significantly fewer problems in her early years, there's a good chance she has an extreme case of sibling rivalry or inferiority complex. I typically describe that as dethronement. Dethronement usually occurs when a child has been the center of attention, seemingly bright and verbal, and has been overempowered by adults. When a child has been attention addicted, and then feels attention deprived, she often appears to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or is simply very attention-seeking.

Obviously I can't diagnose your daughter from a letter, so I'll make a few suggestions that may improve her behavior. Simply ignore her hateful outbursts. Manipulative tantrums are tricky as she tries to get what she wants by hook or crook. Do not indulge her when she throws tantrums or explodes in hateful outbursts. Stand a few feet away from her and make it clear that you will listen to her, only when she calms down and expresses herself appropriately. You need to help her learn that bad or undesirable behaviors will not get things done for her. A spanking may not be out of the question. If you don't see much improvement, I'd suggest you go to a psychologist for help.

Field Guy(d)

I’d have to say that my fondness for fieldwork is inversely proportional to my aversion for, say… NASCAR. I don’t get, probably will never get, the appeal of watching, either on TV or in the grandstands, the vehicular equivalent of Big Petroleum or Big Tobacco ads whip around in circles for what seems like days on end all to bestow still another corporate-footed multi-million dollar check to individuals (mostly over-testosteroned men) stuck in some perpetual midlife crisis. Okay, perhaps that’s harsh. But I really detest NASCAR. Which is to say, by comparison, I really love fieldwork.

The same sort of slack-jawed, numb incredulity I feel welling up when I enter a bar to witness patrons affixed to a TV tuned to stock car racing (believe it or not NASCAR is the second most popular professional sport in terms of television ratings inside the U.S., ranking behind only the National Football League) has often been redirected back at me when I begin regaling non-fieldwork oriented types with bewildering accounts of why I can’t wait to get back to malaria-infested, internet deprived, 100% humidity drenched, ant-ridden-bed laden Papua New Guinea. I’m not going to try to explain it. It’s a NASCAR sorta thing.

With one Program Manager in Mexico and another in PNG this week, I've been thinking a lot about the field. I don't think my family quite got the concept of fieldwork. I recall once explaining to Grandma (on Dad's side) that I wasn't literally working in a field. I'm still convinced she pictured me standing in some corn field. I’ve used this space on previous travels to go on at length about the amazing sights, sounds, and smells of the field, but I’d be remiss in not pointing out the reason why our site-based work, well… works. And that’s truly because of our dedicated Field Representatives. Field Reps are CORAL’s eyes and ears, hands, brains, and muscle for advancing our conservation objectives. And best of all, as local residents, they represent a commitment to the belief that local conservation problems require local solutions and community support. So, meet the field staff:

Kenneth Johnson Diaz (to the left of Caribbean Program Manager and String Cheese Incident fan Rich Wilson in the photo) is CORAL’s Field Rep for Mexico and has been absolutely indispensable to our conservation success along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Kenneth also introduced me to the wonder that is queso fundido. A marine biologist, Kenneth and his family live in Cancun (centro) and he is owner and general manager of EcoColors, an Ecotourism adventure company in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. EcoColors runs eco-educational biking, kayaking, snorkeling, trekking, bird watching and archaeological tours showcasing the wonders of the Mayan world. If you want the ultimate ecotourism experience throughout the Riviera Maya, land or sea, then give Kenneth a call.

Shifting to the Pacific, the island of Maui is home to Liz Foote, our Hawaii Field Manager (that’s Liz representing CORAL at Earth Day 2006 in Kona.) Liz is a one-woman dynamo. In addition to driving our Maui project forward, she’s also Executive Director of Project S.E.A.Link, a Hawaii-based non-profit dedicated to promoting marine science, education, and awareness by providing a link between students, teachers, scientists, the local community, the general public, other nonprofits, and governmental agencies. If you ever visit Honolua Bay on Maui for a day of snorkeling and are greeted by a smiling volunteer who provides free environmental awareness briefings, then you are witnessing Liz’ efforts in action. I absolutely love Liz and her boundless energy and commitment to conservation. And thanks, Liz, for introducing me to Spam Musubi.

In Fiji, I’m lucky enough to have two Field Reps. Sirilo “Didi” Dulunaqio and Johnny Singh. Didi (aboard the boat in photo) is from the village of Nadivakarua in the Kubulau District, Fiji. He has played an integral role in helping CORAL and our partners set up the Namena Marine Protected Area, in particular by working closely with District Chiefs and communities. CORAL and Didi have a long history together. In 2001, CORAL funded Didi to visit the Bonaire Marine Park in the Dutch Caribbean to learn about marine protected areas and sustainable financing. Didi is our direct link to the local Fijiian communities who are benefiting from reef conservation and I am very lucky to have him on the Program Team.

Johnny Singh (bottom right in a picture from a CORAL sponsored student conservation project on Taveuni, Fiji) is the marine biologist for the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort and is primarily involved in managing the Namena tourism fee (dive tag) accounts, and providing logistical support for SF-based staff during site visits. While the Cousteau Resort is a good distance beyond this non-profit employees expense account, I have to admit that it’s a paradise of luxury. Johnny has a great gig there. If you visit be sure to catch his reef critter presentation in the evenings.

In other parts of Melanesia, readers of this blog have all heard of my travels with PNG Field Rep Cam Hollows (known affectionately to the CORAL staff as our Jack Black look-alike.) Cam is nearing the end of his tenure with CORAL and the plucky volunteer (and significant other Jane) will be returning to Australia in April. PNG is no easy place in which to conduct fieldwork, and I admire Cam’s interest and wherewithal to give it his best. I hope I get the chance to spend time with Cam and Jane again, either in the field, or preferably a somewhat more comfy settling like a Sydney pub. And Cam, I’m dying to discuss Dawkins’ The God Delusion with you!

Finally, in Indonesia, CORAL is fortunate to have secured the services of Helen Newman who is our Raja Ampat Field Rep. Helen has perhaps the sweetest gig possible with residences in both Bali and Singapore. Again, a woman of seemingly boundless energy and commitment to conservation, she has almost single handedly installed the majority of boat moorings around Bali and throughout the Komodo National Park. While in Bali, Helen introduced me to the amazing Balinese countryside, Balinese Bintang beer, and some of the hottest curries to ever singe my palate (resulting in more Bintang quaffing.) Can’t wait for my back to recover enough to work with Helen again. Let’s find some of those walking sharks in Raja Ampat, Helen.