Marine Monument - Get Informed

Another day another letter to the editor in the local papers. I shouldn't really complain since for the last two or three days my own letters have taken up full pages in both the Tribune and the Variety. Click on the links to check them out here, here.

Just before I sat down to do a post today I thought I had better check the papers. I already knew I wanted to write something about the information sessions being conducted by Pew and to comment on some of the views (both positive and negative) expressed during the initial ones on Monday.
Above you can see Jay Nelson form the Pew Charitable Trust as he speaks at the fisherman's association forum held at American Memorial Park (AMP). Here he comments on the wide range of international exposure and positive press the people of Hawaii received when their monument was designated.
The crowd was not large but their was a clear mix of supporters and non-supporters. There was a mix of fisherman and non fisherman. I'm glad that everyone was able to listen to William Aila (below) and ask questions. I'm not sure everyone left completely happy but I think everyone other than the Wespac folks now have a better understanding as to the process involved and how the people of Hawaii embraced and even pushed for their own monument.
William is a long time harbormaster on the Waianae coast of Oahu and commercial fisherman. He is well-known as an advocate for indigenous Hawaiian rights and works closely with the group Na Imi Pono. In 2006 he ran for Governor of Hawai'i in the Democratic primary. William was intimately involved in advocating for the protection of the NW Hawaiian Islands for Native Hawaiian cultural and religious reasons from the late 1990's through today and remains active in the decision body empowered to manage the NW Hawaiian Islands. He brings to the table a varied and extensive background in fisheries management with ten years of service on various Wespac advisory panels.

He is here to give a true first had account as to the Hawaii experience and to answer questions. He is not hear to sell the proposal but rather let people make an informed decision based on what actually happened and not scare tactics.

It is obvious from the most recent letter to the editor by Richard Benevente Seman entitled Leave all conservation measures to the people of the NMI that some are very, very, very mis-informed. Please Mr. Seman come to the information session and open forum tonight. It is at AMP and will be hosted by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Harry Blalock. Mr. Seman, you owe it to your kids and in fact my kids to come out and hear the truth.

It would take me a very long time to completely dissect his letter today and point out all of the inaccurate statements but I'll focus on two.

1) He says that the people of the CNMI should be involved in the process in the beginning not before it starts, not when everything is already put together.

Mr. Seman this IS the beginning and this is the time that you and other local residents should be asking for a place at the table so you are ready when the process between the Federal government and the people of the CNMI actually starts. Right now Pew is here to assess the willingness of the people to look at the monument concept and to educate us as to what a monument designation means. It is then their job to report to the White House people at which time if things are favorable President Bush's people will contact ours and the process will officially begin. You can make the choice to kill this before it starts or you can reserve your seat at the table, it's up to you.

He goes on to state....
(Pew) Developed and drafted a proposed national monument for the CNMI without any collaboration with anyone;

Nothing is drafted, they are floating a concept. A concept that, if you open up your mind, you can develop into something you want.

I'll dissect this next entire paragraph from his letter with one picture and only a few words.

"For 30 years since we have become a U.S. commonwealth, the CNMI have been able to enact constitutional mandates, legislate laws and promulgate rules and regulations in the name of CONSERVATION without the aid and delegation of OUTSIDERS. Our people have led in the region in enacting conservation measures for the protection and sustainability of our natural resources. Our commonwealth has more designated marine sanctuary, wildlife conservation islands and more prohibited fishing gear than any other government in our region. Simply said, we are proactive when it comes to the protection of our natural resources. We can honestly say that we do what we need to do to ensure that our resources are used sustainably for the sake of our future generations".

Ok two pictures....
The top one shows the fishing line that divers pull form our Grotto dive site nearly every day. The second one a typical pile of batteries we find along the shore line during our Marianas Dive clean ups. It's worth mentioning that the Grotto is a marine sanctuary and to suggest that it is well managed as such is coming from someone with a bag over their head. Even the people at DFW know it is not well managed. They complain of not having enough money to do it properly. A Marine Monument designation for the Northern Islands would see money available to properly manage a vast area of the ocean that is NOT managed now. To suggest the people of the CNMI can do it on their own without federal money is a recipe for disaster, or I suppose, success if you're a foreign fishing vessel looking to pillage other peoples waters.

As far as not needing outsiders. How about taking a look at the make up of people currently employed at DFW, CRM and DEQ. Although there are a number of good local people there are also, many, many non indigenous people who you actually depend upon for the services these agencies provide. The marine biologists from all these agencies are, according to your definition,"outsiders".

Perhaps if you used the monies appropriated for the marine monument by congress each year wisely the college could develop a marine biology program that would allow for the training of locals to do jobs currently held by the outsiders. Hmmmmmm what a concept.

Mr. Seman (and all those who buy into this crock) please come to the forum tonight at 6PM, American Memorial Park. You owe it to your kids.

Fishing at the Grotto Update

As reported in the Variety a few months ago two men where arrested for fishing at the Grotto marine sanctuary. This week the sentence (or plea bargin) was handed down and reported on here in the Tribune.
Superior Court Associate Judge Manglona sentenced Guo to six months in jail, all suspended except for the first nine days, with credit for the nine days he has already served. The judge placed the defendant on six months of unsupervised probation and ordered him to pay a $25 court assessment fee.

According to the paper in accepting the plea the judge said the accused "had pleaded guilty to "a rarely committed offense".
Are you kidding me?! Apparently the judge is not a diver or has not been diving the Grotto lately. A rarely committed offence - every single day concerned divers are pulling monofilament fishing line out of the Grotto.

At least in handing down this increadibly harsh sentence (insert sarcasm here) Judge Manglona said that the Legislature's purpose of creating a sanctuary to gradually and naturally repopulate depopulated areas of the lagoon must be enforced in order to protect the islands' limited and precious resources.

I couldn't agree more but, if this is what's supposed to deter the perpetrators I suspect we'll be pulling out line for many years to come!

An Unbelievable Grotto Dive

It's Saturday morning, my first real chance to hit the water since leaving for Canada nearly a month ago. I need to get in and breathe! I don't really care where and finally decide on the Grotto. It will be a camera free dive, I don't want to do anything except enjoy the tranquility of being down there.

Standing on the rock ready to stride in I notice the water is calm and the tide very high. Nice, an easy exit too! Time to step off the edge. - (Insert splash here) - Ahhhhhhh the cool refreshing feeling of being submerged, no one around, no worries just my breathing and the sounds of the underwater world.

The dive itself was pretty uneventful. I headed out hole 3 to the outside and ventured down deep enough to feel some narcosis and the effects of depth. Slow, exaggerated movements and breathing - meditation at it's best. As always there were some great photo ops, bristle stars sprawled out on large sea fans, cracks and crevices with light rays bouncing in and out catching my eye here and there. No, I won't let myself go down the road of "should have brought the camera" - back to enjoying the moment, the feeling is difficult to put into words but, I'm at peace, this is my special place and all is good in the world!

As I began to make my way back up towards hole three I stopped to untangle about 30 feet of fishing line from some pristine coral. It takes some time, I was deep so the deco clock starts to add up. No worries I have plenty of air and hanging out at 30 feet near the mooring line turns out to be the most unbelievable part of my dive.

Here the tranquility abruptly comes to an end and I am left to reflect, in complete disbelief, on what I've just witnessed!

It began as any other safety stop, a group of divers beginning their descent down the mooring line with the instructor the first one down. While hovering a little deeper than the oncoming bodies he used hand signals to ask those who followed if they where ok. He began to motion the divers over to a rocky ledge next to where I was hanging out so I moved off a ways not wanting to confuse the issue with an extra body. As I watched the group I couldn't help but notice a lot of loose hoses. Everyone, including the instructor, had their octopus and air gauges hanging free rather than clipped or tucked into their BCD. It also became apparent pretty quickly that this was a very large group with none of the divers seemingly all that skilled. There was plenty of hand flailing, erratic fin movements, wide eyes and even a few rapid descents followed by vigorous kicks toward the surface and renewed attempts to equalize ears. All the divers seemed to be very much over weighted.

As I watched I began to count. Sixteen divers in total not counting the instructor. I also notice that all have gloves on and 10 of the 16 have cameras, many frantically trying to snap pictures as they descend to the meeting area. Here the instructor, now also with a camera, is arranging the group on the bottom with hole three in the background - the perfect photo op!

Imagine a pyramid of divers, those on the bottom destroying whatever may be there while the others attempt to hover above without whacking their tanks, fins or gauges on the heads below. At this point a final diver comes in from the top just in time to take up a horizontal position along the bottom row. Perhaps this could be a second instructor or divemaster but I can't tell for sure. The instructor with the camera begins to snap away. The photographer in me recognized the problem immediately - bubbles, bubbles everywhere especially directly in front of those not on the bottom of the pyramid. Apparently the instructor also recognized the issue as he scribbled on a slate and swam to the group showing it to them all. Soon the bubbles stopped, everyone was now holding their breath. The instructor quickly returned to his position and managed to snap a few shots before the inevitable exhalations began.

At this point the instructor seemed to signal to the group to swim in the area around the mooring line and so they began to disperse. The one I thought could be another instructor took up a position next to another diver and did not leave her side. Perhaps they were only a buddy team after all.

For a moment I thought - OK, it's just one big photo op and now they'll get to do a "dive" in the shallows before returning to the surface. No major harm done right, a big group just wanting to get a photo inside the grotto before heading back to Japan - wrong!

Just as I was giving the instructor the benefit of the doubt he turned and headed towards hole number two, the deepest of the three it bottoms out at over 80 feet. All sixteen customers followed. As they moved away form where I was the expanse of hole two filled up with divers. For a moment a couple of them obviously had problems as they headed up towards the ceiling of the cave before slowly returning to the bottom all the while the instructor continued out towards the open ocean never really looking back at his group.

Now I wished more than ever that I had my camera. I could not believe what I was seeing. Even if there was a second instructor in the group that's still an instructor to customer ratio of 8:1. And these were definitely not seasoned divers with plenty of experience. These were novice divers at best. I'd even hazard to guess that a few of them were on their second or third open water dive EVER. Gauges everywhere, nearly vertical swimming techniques caused by too much weight, an overhead environment and a maximum depth of well over 60 feet, not to mention holding their breath for the photo op.......

WTF. I mean seriously, peoples lives are at stake! Then of course there's the fact that another death at the Grotto is not something our tourism industry needs to deal with. By now if you're like me you're probably asking what dive shop? Who was this guy working for and how did he become an instructor? The answer, Blue Horizon Diving an NMDOA affiliated dive shop and I don't know.

I waited in the parking lot long enough to determine the shop and to see that everyone made it back ok, - this time. Next time everyone may not be so lucky. I would have loved to have pulled the instructor aside and started the conversation by saying WTF but, I thought better of it only because in the eyes of his customers he had done nothing but show them a good time.

Tomorrow I'll be headed down for a chat with the VP of NMDOA as they tout themselves as an organization with tough standards for all their members. I'm interested to hear what steps will be taken to ensure this spectacle does not happen again.

Grotto Memorial for Ben Concepcion

Tomorrow at 3PM there will be an official unveiling of a memorial for Saipan's number one diving pioneer, the late Ben Concepcion. It will take place at the Grotto and the Governor himself will be there to address the crowd. There is some question as to if the Grotto itself is being renamed as reported in the variety here or whether it is only the memorial. We will find out for sure tomorrow.

I was not privileged to meet Ben myself but, from everyone I've talked to he was a real genuine good guy who had a passion for diving and teaching others. He is seen in these parts as the man who started the industry here and with his passing I think it is appropriate that he have a monument of some sort as a lasting legacy.

However, the question of renaming the Grotto needs a second look. As it stands now I'm quite sure that at least in Japan if you were to ask people if they knew where the Grotto was they very well may refer to Saipan quickly. It is a famous dive site in these parts and we should work to keep it that way, maximizing its exposure and the recognition factor both with images and in writings. Unfortunately, Capt. Vicente Manglona Concepcion Park will not only be difficult to remember and say, but it will be difficult to put on tourist maps and other collateral's that MVA and others will use to sell our destination. At a time when we need a focused message like never before this has the potential to confuse the issue especially if it is expected to be used in place of the already well known and photographed name.

On another note, it also sounds from the discussions with many including one of Ben's daughters that he would not necessarily be too happy with the state of the Grotto as it is now in comparison to when he first began to explore its marvelous caverns. I can only imagine and dream what it must have been like to jump in there so many years ago. Almost any long term diver here will recount how it's not what it used to be. Now, less fish, sea fans and hard corals, more beer cans and fishing line!

Lets hope the governor reminds people how important it is to protect this very special place for years to come. Lets also hope that DFW continues to take illegal fishing at the Grotto sanctuary seriously with all the perpetrators and continue to make arrests like the one this week. Even though I never met him I'm sure Ben would want it that way.

Fishing Line Clean Up at the Grotto

This scene occurs repeatedly on a daily basis at the Grotto.
First a look from above!
How does it look down there?
Then, lets go!

But wait, first we need a picture to take home!

Hundreds of divers a day come from around the world to repeat this pre-dive ritual and experience one of the most unique cavern dives anywhere on the globe.

It's easily accessible by car - that's of course followed by a 100 plus stair decent into the depths of what used to be a huge limestone cave. Today the one time roof acts as an entry and exit point for divers, swimmers and snorkelers. In a single day it is not uncommon for more than a thousand visitors to enjoy this incredible place, one way or another.

Thankfully, some years ago people recognized the importance of this site and made it a marine sanctuary.From DFW website.
"Designated as a marine sanctuary for the conservation of wildlife and marine life. The site will serve as a natural laboratory for continued propagation of wildlife and marine species, which gradually and naturally can re-populate depopulated areas. The sanctuary will also provide a laboratory for students, teachers and research groups to study wildlife and marine species".

Unfortunately, despite the fact the Grotto, including the cliff line above, is protected by law another activity is also carried out here all too frequently.

Illegal fishing.

Thankfully, Saipan is lucky enough to have a few divers concerned about the negative impacts of fishing and harvesting the reefs, including damage to the corals lining the walls that tourists pay good money to see. Harry Blalock and Mr. Lee from Dive Saipan (below) frequently take time out from their dives to pull mono filament fishing line , hooks and primitive sinkers from the area - otherwise, along with dead coral, this may be all divers would see.
On Monday many members of Marianas Dive opted out of our monthly clean up for various reasons including the conditions at the Grotto. It was a rough day and the high waves brought strong surge especially in the first 30 feet outside the cavern where most of the fishing line is found. After these two guys had scoured the wall between hole one and hole three my dive added little to the pile they amassed but, with a few lingering scrapes, I will attest first hand to the strength of the waves pounding the coast line!

Now that we've managed to "clean" the area we are hopeful that a repeat clean up in 2 or 3 months will yield little, if any, evidence of continued fishing. However, I suspect this will not be the case and efforts will need to continue. Not only to educate but, to also push for increased enforcement and consistent sentencing for those caught breaking the law and in fact the back of our economy. If there is to be a future dive and tourism industry on this island people need to get serious about protecting the resource that everyone depends on - AND QUICK.

For more on the Grotto visit here and buy this DVD to see first hand the unique underwater world deserving of our protection.

Nudi's

Ok I've figured out why Harry gets so much traffic over at saipandiver.blogspot.com. It's because he keeps making reference to nude sex. The best kind of sex actually! Wow, hold on don't go there! Maybe it's actually bald naked sex everyone's looking for , I don't know but here's a couple of those NUDIBRANCHS he's been talking about.



I've got some video of them too, not doing the nasty yet as it seems the lights made these two a little shy. They were making a bee line for each other until I showed up to shed some light on the experience. What's up with that, can't have sex with the light on! Anyway video takes a little longer than stills do so I'll get the sex video up soon. Oh ya they didn't actually do it while I was there I guess they save that for the bald voyeur.

Grotto Memorial

To continue with a train of thought from an earlier post......

I’d been discussing the "2007" rock formation I witnessed on the sand flats about 40 feet below the surface while swimming at Obyan the other day. It got me thinking about the “diver code of ethics”, where we draw the line, mother nature’s destruction versus regeneration and the opportunities for free publicity all at the same time.

I imagined a group of divers (all making the peace sign) hovering over the formation while another with a camera snapped away. It got me thinking about the many dive sites around the world marked with a man made touch. Wreck dives often have small metal plates affixed to their hulls complete with descriptions of the vessel, the date of sinking and other notable facts. Other sites pay tribute to those who’ve lost their lives while diving with monuments or head stone like structures. In some small way these memorials and inscriptions help provide families the closure needed for often unexplainable, horribly tragic events. They also help serve as reminders, to those who pass, of the vulnerability we all face when entering this often-unforgiving world.

A diver examines one in a series of plaques marking wreck dives in Florida

A newly erected monument in Puckett pays tribute to those who perished during the Tsunami.

One thing I've noticed over my years of diving is anytime a diver with a camera comes across such a landmark their shutter button is put into action almost immediately. Unlike marine life, a man made structure of this type is unique only to the spot on which it rests. Snap, snap, snap – the photographer captures a unique, perhaps once in a live time moment at a very specific place underwater.

This got me thinking about the Grotto. First, just how many times a simple underwater plaque situated at the base of the mooring line might be photographed during a safety stop. Of course I had just come off a dive with Harry where I witnessed him take over 400 shots of a nudibranch at 20 feet on the rock anchoring the line. But seriously on a slow day it’s estimated a minimum of 150 divers do a giant stride off the big rock. On a busy day it can be upwards of four to five hundred (this according to the stats kept by the security guards). Now days it is almost becoming unusual to see a group of divers enter the water without at least one having a digital camera attached. Now imagine if nearly all of those divers exited the water with a photograph of themselves beside a plaque that read - The Grotto, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, (complete with GPS coordinates). Now that’s effective free publicity and word of mouth advertising at it’s best.

It also got me thinking about the Grotto in terms of those who’ve lost their lives. I do not know exactly how many have met their fate here but at present no monument of any kind, above or below the water, exists to pay respect to these individuals and their families. It seems to me it would be money well spent, especially if those passing by the inscriptions paused to consider and respect the power of Mother Nature and the need to follow safe diving practices especially in a place like the Grotto.

Check out this story

What a difference a day makes!

After reviewing my footage of the nudibranchs from Saturday and reading that Harry, Bev and Greg had gotten another day of diving in with these little fellas I decided to head back to the Grotto today. Not that my footage was bad it was just not what I would call National Geographic caliber. Soooooo I crossed my fingers and hoped I'd find one or two late bloomers still trying to get a little action. Could this matting thing be more like a week long get together at the Playboy mansion - after all they probably only get it once a year or less!

During the whole time I was there no one else was diving. A few tourists checked out the top view but none made the decent. Being the only one on the rock it's days like this when the true beauty of the Grotto comes through. Even the water was quiet and still. No monorail running up and down, nothing just plain and simple tranquility. I could have sat there on the rock, taking it all in, but just the walk down had left me sweating and in need of the cool rush that follows the initial leap. (Insert big splash here)

Ahhhhh that's better and weightless too!

Ok you reproducing creepy crawlies here I come.....

Nada, nothing more, not a single one and believe me I covered nearly every inch of the cavern, slowly and surely. I started where they had been the few days before. Nothing! Sure – Larry, Curly and Mo (the white tips) were there but I told myself, no matter how tempting they made it, I was not going to spend precious time and air on them today. I wanted the little white fellas.

I kept searching back and forth but to no avail. What was it about the last few days? Did I just pick the wrong hour to be there today? Was 12 noon the equivalent of a Mexican siesta for these exhausted nudies? I don't know but what a difference a day makes. How do these guys know when to get together, how to find one another and why of all whys did they choose the mooring line of the busiest dive spot on Saipan to do their dirty work!

Answers that may come in time, (or not) but it's safe to say that, in our own small way, those of us diving and recording the events at the Grotto this weekend can say we've played a small role in helping unravel the mystery. Who knows maybe in a few years this event will become a given and attract world-renowned photographers from all over the world! Now that would be marketing based on our single most impressive resource - Nature.

Alas I gave in to the three stooges. It just seemed that the closer I got the more comfortable they became. Maybe they were just lonely. In between little rests it looked like they were practicing take off's and landings. I certainly enjoyed capturing some National Geographic quality footage of them and I hope they appreciated the company cause it sure seemed like a pretty lonely day down there all round.

Nudibranch sex, Sharks, Octopi.......

A Stranded Russian damsel, frisky nudibranchs, munching turtles, sleeping sharks, curious octopi. Saturdays dive had it all including a sexy blogger named Harry. If you have not already done so you need to check out Harry’s thoughts on our day of diving.

Perfect conditions and an early morning start. The water in the Grotto does not get much calmer than it was on this day. What’s the plan? First hole, go right, look for turtles and eels! Ok sounds good…… Hey wait a second I didn’t see any eels Harry!

First check off the turtle, then the hovering barracuda (with two 4 inch cleaner wrasse doing their job), then the leaf scorpionfish, followed by a curious but cautious octopus…. and that was just the first half of the dive! By the time we had moved back into the cave it had already been one of the more interesting ones I’ve had at the Grotto – ever.

Once back in the darkness it got that much better. Moving in through hole two and up towards the mooring line we turned on our lights and began looking for anything that might help kill some time on the safety stop. Almost immediately I saw one, I knew what kind it was and I knew it was special because Harry and I had talked about it. This was the one that helped him get published. I had seen one a few days before at Lau Lau bay and had tried to describe it before our dive. When I saw it I got his attention as soon as possible – and so it began!

Two Halgerda guahan getting close!
Halgerda malesso
Halgerda guahan

If these guys were looking for a little privacy during their courtship then they had come to the wrong place. I’m not sure how many photos were taken of these little guys but Jenna Jamison probably would get a run for her money as titleholder for most photographed sex scene.

Lack of battery power and air left me little time with the stars of the show on the first dive. Fortunately I didn’t find any resistance for a second from Harry, who, only moments after arriving at the top of the stairs, declared this was probably his best dive of the year!

New batteries, new tank, new mission another dive buddy. If it’s true there are very few photos of these nudibranchs then I have to guess there is also very little video as well. I entered the water and after a brief encounter with another octopi I had no problem finding the small, slow moving, well camouflaged critters of choice. I just had to move towards the flash, and the flash and the flash. Greg and Harry were already snapping away. They had found an area with 5 or 6 Halgerda guahan so once they had moved on in search of additional subjects I settled in with the video camera. For the most part nudibranchs don’t make for the most exciting video so it didn’t take long before I was looking around thinking - Ok, what other angle can I get, are there others around here that might make a better subject. Then I spotted them for the first time. They had probably been hovering around for a while but I didn’t notice till I took my eyes off the little nudies. What else could we add to the list for today……..

How about SHARKS!

Russian Underwater Wedding at the Grotto

A number of people have asked I post the full underwater wedding of a Russian couple at the Grotto. A portion of the video plays on Flame Tree TV but this is the whole version with no narration. It's been over six months since they were married, hope they're still together b/c over 2500 people have watched them tie the knot on Youtube! Enjoy.