We are beginning an exciting citizen science project with Murdoch University and Duke University developing a citizen science platform for science and conservation work in NW Australia.  Home to the Pilbara and the Kimberley, this remote place is home to 22,000 humpback whales, 6 of the 7 marine turtles in the world, the Ningaloo Reef, the Dampier Pennsula and a culture that dates back 40,000 years for humans there.  But there is more than wild creatures there.  Over 90% of the world’s pearl production has come form here.  1/3 of the world’s diamonds plus coal, iron ore and now oil and gas… lots of it.

You can see the # of wells drilled both inland and offshore. We will be working with Murdoch’s Cetacean Research Unit run by Dr. Lars Bejder along with fellow cetacean scientist and Duke professor David Johnston to document marine mammals along the NW OZ coast starting above Shark Bay and into the Kimberley.  We will also be documenting the research and community engagement  with cameras and hope to tell the story of the ecosystem and the challenges facing it from the oil/gas/mineral extractions.  A great background read is from the local effort called Save the Kimberley.   We leave the US on May 21 and land at Exmouth on the 25th to see the annual Whale Shark Festival and begin our work. Stay tuned.

Restoring a river like the Colorado River is something conservationists talk about.  The story goes like this… If we restore the river to its native flows then we get a healthy ecosystem once again with all its benefits – water, trees, birds, habitat, fish and a vibrant ecological base for now gone creatures- the jaguar, beaver, deer, totoaba.  We give the native people back their original ecosystem not the desert they have now.  This is a fantasy and we all know it.

When you take 15 million acre feet of natural flows and redirect them to provide for the 30 million people of Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California, nature and its inhabitants get the short end of the deal.  Consider the reduction of the clam population in the Colorado River Delta that went from a population of 5 billion to zero in 40 years.  Zero, none, gone, dead, eradicated….  We don’t take a little of the water and leave the rest, we take it all.  We irrigate, we build communities, we extract great wealth with the water of the Colorado – Las Vegas is the poster child for this – Vegas over the Delta.  Seems like a fair exchange for humans.

We are working with a talented and committed team of people try to retore the unrestorable Colorado River.  We are so far down the latter of money, influence, government bureaucrats, corporate farmers, politicians and a hell of a lot of hard working people than there is almost no hope of success here.  We are selling hope and fantasy –  hope for climate change to cause massive snowfalls in the rockies that will flood the Delta and fantasy that people will change their view that the earth is solely theirs to extract the last drop of goodness.  And maybe we will find someone rich enough and dumb enough to back us in our quest. I like our odds of success here.

Environmentalist are people who draw a line in the sand on what we can not do.  Conservationists cross that line and find ways to fix ecosystems in any way they can.   We do not care what it takes. It is part of being on the path.  Peace.

Harriman State Park, Island Park, Idaho June 2 & 3, 2011

There are few special interest fishing NGOs with the history, track record or pedigree of Trout Unlimited. From their home base in Arlington, VA, they have over 140,000 members scatter throughout the US and 130+ staff working on conservation, protection and restoration issues around the country.  Part fishing lobby, part environmentalist, part capitol hill lobbyst, TU covers the complete range of issues when it comes to cold water ecosystems.

I participated in a 2 day Western Water Project last week in Island Park, Idaho with some of the key players and funders.  After a very thoughtful set of presentations about their work, I came to several conclusions about this work.  My first take was this kind of work takes time measured in decades to move the needle.  My second take is  we do not have any other option but to invest long term to accomplish that goal. My third take was TU is one of the few organizations with the talent, mindset and funding to accomplish this.  And yes I have been a funder of coldwater conservation projects conducted by both TU and the Henrys Fork Foundation.  And for good reason.  I trust these people.

But even with these glowing accolades about TU’s people and projects, I do worry.  There are a couple of things that really increase the rate of ecosystem protection on this planet namely leverage and scale.  And on these two things, TU has neither.   Their people are smart, well educated, skilled negotiators, disciplined.   The problem I saw last week was for the entire Western US there were 7-8 people in the room with the mission to protect the Colorado, Snake/Columbia, Yellowstone and Klamath.  Not enough… Not enough people, not enough money, not enough leverage to force people to think in terms of short term versus long term economics.  Nor is there the scale to put 7-8 people on one project let alone all the projects in 7 western states.  Every rancher, ever town council, every state agency, BLM office, BOR office, governor’s mansion… all need to be educated, prodded and forced to balance out land use in the West away from the pure non-sustainable wealth extraction industries.  That takes two critical ingredients: scale and leverage.   I don’t have a solution today for this.  And I know Chris, Liz, Scott, Steve, Laura and yes Beany too are also trying to solve this growing problem.  I am going to work on it this summer.  More later. Peace.

And what we have found is an even deeper commitment to the environment and its protection.  Our goal on this website is just the first step of informing people of their power to protect these places.  More coming later…

Aerial Photos – Images by Tom McMurray

The water of the Colorado River Delta is completely diverted by the time the river crosses the US border into Mexico just South of Yuma, AZ.  The water – 17.5 million acre-feet – is used to irrigate some 2,000,000 of US agricultural fields  Of the 17.5, Mexico gets 1.5M acre feet each year and that gets diverted at the Morelos Dam into the Mexicali basin.  Any water that makes it back into the ecosystem is from seepage from unlined canals, runoff from the planted fields or from the residential water treatment plant – Las Arenitas.

Las Arenitas is one of the success stories in the restoration of the Colorado River Delta. Located 20 miles south of Mexicali, a city of 900,000 inhabitants, the treated water of the plant flows into a large multistage lake before around 3,000 acre feet are released into the Rio Hardy that flows into the Colorado some 50 miles from the US-Mexico border.

Free water? No – just no one is fighting over this stuff right now.  The local farmers feel that any drop of freshwater that gets to the ocean is water wasted.  The simple wealth extraction engine in agriculture is a formidable foe of restoration. Their math is simple – more water, more crops, more cash…

But from the ecosystem services perspective this is short sighted, more of a special interest (their personal fortune) than good river/ecosystem management.  A lot of 900,000 Mexicali inhabitants do not farm nor make a living from agricultural work. Their best interest is having a function river ecosystem for recreation, education and simple pleasure.  I know that it is the same way in the US. California for example uses the water subsidies to support a massive agriculture business in the central valley.  Agicultural use of California’s water allotment is 80% – just 20% for cities, towns, human consumption.  California has plenty of water, more than they need to flourish.  The issue is that of allocation.  Cut out 10% of ag water use and the cities of LA, San Diego and Bakersfield have 50% more water.  No need for desal plants, no need for starving the endangered salmon or smelts in the Sacramento Delta, simple solution.

Oh yea you ask why do farmers have to give up their water for the schoolkids in LA?  You answer that one for yourself and if you are from California you get to answer it personally with your state tax bill, property tax, auto tax, sales tax and fee to park your car at the beach.

In the end we all pay for this lifestyle with our own quality of life.  I am not sure I am a true tea party, America is going down the tubes kind of guy but the math is pretty simple here.  If you want to restore a Delta then you got to make some trade offs that will affect almost everyone.  For the NGOs working to restore the Colorado River Delta, there are some monster issues that need to be addressed and involve the entire Northern Baja community. I doubt anything can be done of real meaning without a full engagement of all parties in the Colorado River Ecosystem.

The Delta water users operate under the simple economic model was “more water, more crops, more cash” model.  If we are to take away some of their water then there has to be “more” of something else of equal value to the community. Ecosystems services is a start to measure “more” and “less”.  But I am not sure Mexico is ready for the discussion until something breaks like in the other great North American Delta – the Mississippi Delta.  Katrina and the BP Oil Spill showed us the fragility of the Delta. No one there has any idea how to stop the decay of a human way of life that is slipping away.  The Colorado is on the same path… slow death as the ag wealth engine extracts the last drop of cash from the land.

We have spent 10 years trying to fund groups or do our own work to help restore of the great river systems in North and South America.  I can not say that we have much to show for 10 years beyond some great friends, a sense of pride in our work and some incredible experiences.  But we continue to innovate in our work and you can look to us to fundamentally change how do conservation work.  Stay tuned.

There is a new piece of billfish conservation legislation that has been introduced into the US Congress that if passed, will prohibit the commercial harvest, sale and inportation of billfish throughout the US. Currently you can catch and sell marlin, sailfish and spearfish caught in the Pacific. The picture above was taken in January 2010 at the Honolulu Fish Market showing billfish (sans bills) for sale. The day I visited the auction, billfish were going for about $1.00/lb.  in contrast mahi mahi were going for $5/lb and tuna for around $9/lb.  Evidently marlin serve better as cat food than for human consumption – at least in Hawaii

What is interesting about this bill is that it is less about conservation but more about shifting the economic benefit from the commercial fishermen to the recreational fishermen.  There is no mention about not fishing for  these fish in the legislation, just who gets the economic benefit from them.   More billfish means more fishermen, bigger tournaments, larger calcutta (brown paper bag-based side bets), more boats sold and more fishing gear sold. And you can bet that The Billfish Foundation, IGFA and American Sportfish Association (trade group for fish gear companies) will benefit. More fish means more anglers, more memberships, dues and donations to these special interest groups.  Good business for America – we know how to optimize the wealth extraction business from the sea almost as good as the Japanese.

There will be a significant foreign trade issue here with a successful bill passage will eliminate the importing of billfish from Central and South America.  Again a good thing for us but bad for local central america fishermen who will turn to other (probably Brazil) to sell their catch.  Setting up trade barriers to protect wild game is a good thing and maybe the only real way to achieve what some would call “conservation”.  While this legislation will have an indirect benefit if 3 million lbs of marlin are not killed and sold each year, the real benefit is to anglers. I am one of them.  So I look forward to catching (and releasing) more marlin if this bill is not defeated by the Pacific Longline Association.  Those guys are smart, tough and politically well organized.

It is a struggle to find a true conservation cause when it comes to oceans. Short of setting up marine protected areas, we seem to think that we have the right to extract what we want from the sea without limits.  If cod or bluefin tuna are any indication of our ability to manage a fish stock, we are in deep trouble with billfish.  Hopefully this legislation will pass and we will slow the wealth engine or at least redirect it.

Cuba is a remarkable place in so many different ways.  It is a Caribbean paradise with some of the most pristine reefs in the sea, it’s history is rich with culture, food and music, it’s sophisticated people and it still lives under the vestiges of the Soviet style government.  My time there has been part of a larger effort led by veteran Cuban expert David Guggenheim who along with Fernando Bretos, run the Cuba Marine Research and Conservation project.  MVF has been funding David and Fernando for several years and we currently hold a US Department of Treasury permit to travel and work in Cuba as part of a joint cponservation project with the University of Havana.  Cuba holds over 24% of the coral reefs in the Caribbean and we are working hard to help them protect them and its coast ecosystems from the impact of tourism development, oil and gas extraction off the northwest coast and the potential stampede of development if the US ends its boycott of the country.

From my two trips to Cuba, I learned that people there are wonderfully warm and open, throttled by the current government and economically stuck in the communist system. Professors at the University are paid $40/month, get a free car and live in government housing (well all of Cuba is government-owned housing).  A hooker at the Hotel Nacional gets $100/night and frequent the patio there after dark(we talked to them on our last trip) so there are small signs of capitalism alive and functioning there.   And the Tropicana Nightclub has been in continuous operation since the 1930s (never missing a show during the Castro years) and thriving.  Havana Club is still a major brand of rum throughout the free world with the exception of the USA. Cuba is stuck in the 60s and pretty wonderful for a tourist but the regime has killed off several generations of artistic and scientific creativity.    If you can get to Cuba, go now.  It is worth the effort.

And to get an inside view of what is happening in Cuba today you need to go to David’s 1planet1ocean website and read about everything that is Cuba today.  You have probably already seen David on TV reporting on the impact of the Gulf Oil Spill on Cuba. If not then check out his website.  He is quite a remarkable man with a gift of conservation diplomacy.

Fishing for big game fish like blue marlin is a sport made famous by Ernest Hemmingway and Zane Grey in exotic places like Cuba, Cabo Blanco and Tahati. Their stories like The Old Man and the Sea are classic man versus sea creature sagas that have captivated fishermen with tales of great physical pain, danger and domination over some of the largest fish in the sea. Today that primal essence has been captured by the great fishing tournaments in the US and around the world as a money making venture full of big bet calcuttas and payouts sometimes reaching over $1M for the biggest gamefish. Big game fishing tournaments run year round in all the oceans with the Bisbee Black and Blue tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico having the biggest payout.   In 2008, ten teams took home over $3.2M between them.  With potential winnings like that, owners, captains and mates of the best fishing boats flock to these events for both fame and money.   For captain’s and crews, winning a major tournament is like winning the super bowl complete with Rolex watches in many cases.  No matter what, it seems all fisherman like to hunt big game in the sea for profit.

Ocean City Maryland became the White Marlin Capital of the world way back in 1939 when on July 29th, 171 white marlin were boated at the Jack Spot, a fishing location some 30 miles offshore.  And for 37 years the Ocean City, MD White Marlin Open has been in operation.  But several years ago there was a petition to NOAA to place the white marlin on the endangered species list, a move that would have outlawed any fishing for white marlin and any tournaments fishing in their summer habitat off Ocean City.  But that petition was denied and the big business of tournament fishing has been strong ever since.  Where else can you fish for 3 days and make $800,000.   And seriously, the 2009 winner went to a boat with a disabled engine trying to get back to the marina. They trolled baits, caught a monster white marlin and won $903,442.00.

I fished this tournament on my boat the Makara with Captain Bill Gerlach and mate Daniel “Backlash” Davis.  While we did finish a respectable 43 out of 254 boats (we got skunked the last day of the tournament when the weather turned bad), we learned that tournaments can be a positive part of conservation of the oceans.  From afar it may look like just guys drinking beer and killing majestic fish but the tournament serves a a meeting ground to set new standards for catch and release fishing, renewing friendships and supporting the local economy.

Traditional wisdom (based on the last several decades) is that NOAA is all about commercial extraction of the fish stocks for profit and that recreational angler or even pure fish conservation is not even on the agency’s agenda.  Well despite the constant fumbling and poor PR, NOAA did do something right when they instituted circle hooks in all billfish tournaments in the US.  it does make a difference to all fishermen or at least to those tournament boats who catch 80% of the fish.  They/we all fish circle hooks all the time now.  Smart move.

We stumble along in so many ways to protect what we have in the oceans.  It is imperfect at best and has actually been worse recently (look at the plight of the Bluefin Tuna).  But there are glimmers of hope for the big pelagic fish in the ocean and I am glad that the Makara fished this tournament.  Sure it as expensive and tiring and painful at times fishing in 6-8 foot seas.  But in the end we all bonded. We know what we each have to do to protect the marlin stocks.  And each boat, captain and crew will do the right thing with circle hooks, careful releases and constant communication to share the joy of billfishing and the techniques to sustain it.  There is not much more we can do.   But that gives me a sense of peace.

But is this the last great billfish tournament?  Will events like the gulf oil spill or overfishing slowly kill off the marlin to where the tournament dies out?  At one time I thought this was possible but for now the stocks seem ok, the fishermen more careful in their releases and the commercial fleet fishing practices better managed.  But the thing in the back of my mind are these creeping baselines that will catch up to us down the road.  It is not possible to catch – release or boat – 171 white marlin in a day at the Jack Spot or further out in the canyons.  There are not that many left.  Enough left I guess to keep the tournaments going.  If the combined 250 tournament boats only caught 1 white marlin then the winner would still get their $900,000 cash first prize.