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Volunteer SCUBA divers help survey marine resources

Volunteer SCUBA diver discovers invasive tunicate in the San Juan Islands

Photo of Ciona savignyi by Janna Nichols
Photo of Nick Brown provided by Seadoc Society

posted 01/24/2008
PRESS RELEASE: While diving at one of his favorite sites in the San Juan Islands, Evergreen College student and recreational SCUBA diver Nick Brown became alarmed. It wasn't that he was experiencing difficulty with his equipment or had lost contact with his dive buddy; Brown's alarm was biological. "We were swimming along a beautiful wall counting fish when I saw what I thought looked exactly like Ciona savignyi," a non-native, jellylike animal he had learned to identify as a participant in the REEF volunteer fish and invertebrate monitoring program.

"I was fairly certain it was the real thing, even though it had never been reported in the San Juan Islands," said Brown, who took a picture and reported the sighting.

There are about 100 species of animals similar to Ciona savignyi that are native to Puget Sound. They are tunicates (called urochordates by scientists) and they normally filter water and feed on plankton. But invasive tunicates have the ability to completely cover over and smother native species. In November 2005 a small clump of Ciona savignyi was discovered at Sund Rock in Hood Canal; a year later there were thousands.

The REEF volunteer fish and invertebrate monitoring program was established in 1990. As they dive in the region, the volunteers gather information about marine fish and invertebrate populations, and keep an eye out for non-natives like Ciona savignyi. Their data are collected using a standardized method and can be viewed by the public on the REEF website at www.reef.org.

By offering free fish and invertebrate identification classes, the SeaDoc Society has trained almost 300 REEF participants in Bellingham, Olympia, Port Townsend, Seattle and the San Juan Islands.

Last week REEF instructor Janna Nichols, and SeaDoc Society Chief Scientist Joe Gaydos, went out to confirm Brown's sighting. "We didn't find anything on the first dive," reported Gaydos, "but on the second dive we saw the bad guys." Nichols, who has participated in numerous tunicate removal projects in addition to teaching identification to volunteer divers, confirmed the identification. Gaydos and Nichols destroyed the four tunicates they found last week and are planning to re-survey the site this spring.

"I know these critters like a bad migraine," said Nichols, "and I'm not happy about seeing them in the San Juans, but I couldn't be happier that our volunteer SCUBA diver monitoring network is working."

Pam Meacham, the aquatic invasive species coordinator at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, agreed. "Early detection is our best hope for controlling the spread and eradicating it if possible."

Divers finding a invasive tunicates are asked to take a picture and report the sighting to Meacham at 360-902-2741.

The SeaDoc Society ensures the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and education. A program of the Wildlife Health Center at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), the SeaDoc Society has a regional focus on improving the health of the Salish Sea.

Volunteer SCUBA divers help survey marine resources

posted 06/29/04
Every July SCUBA divers around the country take to the water to count fish. Like the annual Christmas bird count, this annual fish count acts an index of how fish and invertebrate populations are doing. It also introduces recreational divers to the idea that they can help monitor and steward our living marine resources. By recording the fish and invertebrates seen while diving and submitting a free survey sheet to REEF Environmental Education Foundation, local divers can be our eyes underwater. To date over 175 volunteer surveys have been completed in the San Juan Islands and over 1500 have been done in Washington state. Anybody can see where these surveys were conducted and find out which species were seen by visiting the REEF Web site .

As part of his senior project Travis Parker, a student at Orcas High School, adopted the Bell Island Bottomfish Recovery Zone and dove the sight once monthly to survey fish and invertebrates. " Travis had a lot of fun diving and getting to know the site, but he also began to feel responsible for the fish and invertebrates there, just as people do for the plants and animals they see in their yard every day," says Joe Gaydos, regional director of the SeaDoc Society who helped sponsor the project. " The more people we have out surveying and taking ownership of these resources, the better we'll be in the long run," added Gaydos.

The SeaDoc Society is sponsoring two REEF sanctioned events to boost local participation in the Great Annual Fish Count. On July 2, 2004 REEF Instructor Janna Nichols will teach a fun class on how to identify some of the more common fish and invertebrates found in the San Juan Islands, and will introduce divers to REEF surveying. On Sunday July 11, 2004 they will host a thank you cook out for all SCUBA divers that have performed fish count surveys on this day. Survey sheets will be available for all divers. To find how you can help monitor local fish and invertebrate populations while diving or register for either of these free events, please contact the SeaDoc Society at 376-3910.

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