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Bubbles from the Naturalist Jerry's tank - by Jerry Ligon January 2006: Another Surprise on Bari Reef It is not surprising for those of use who dive on Bari to know the reasons why it is such a special place, and that it is so special that it has held the title of “Fish Capitol” of the Atlantic for most of the ten years that REEF has been conducting fish identification classes and analyzing the survey data that comes into to its headquarters in Key Largo, Florida. But even I got quite a surprise lately when REEF asked me if I knew who Jennifer Lefler or Marsha Sorg are. Now that the fish survey project has recorded 90,000 surveys since 1993, it is amazing that Jennifer was the first surveyor to submit a survey, and it was on December 10, 1993, and the destination was “Somewhere on Bonaire.” The very first survey that was conducted and listed a specific dive site happens to have been conducted on Bari Reef, by Marsha Sorg, on April 30, 1994. Both of these fish eccentric divers are to be congratulated and perhaps even given a token of appreciation for their effort, if we knew who they are and where to locate them. I guess I could do a “Google Search” for these two, but I then would have to check each possibility out by e-mailing each contact with those two names and then await for the correct people who did such surveys to answer, and this might take time away from me doing fish surveys. I prefer fish surveys over people surveys, anytime.
Launching a New Project: Bay Balls (see photo above) It is nice to be sitting onsite on the best reef dive site, and again something new has just taken place on our site. Individuals with the enthusiasm and foresight to see that we humans can make a difference, have just completed the installation of artificial reef structures called “Bay Balls” that were constructed during January and installed on Bari, on 25 January, 2006. I was pleased to be involved in helping chose the specific sites where these fifteen structures would be placed. On the 25th, when the giant crane was lowering the 600lb concrete structures over the wall and placing them on the shallow bottom, I was conducting an Underwater Naturalist course and could not wait until the return part of our dive to visit the site. I guess I should have not expected the reef inhabitants to be going ballistic over these potential new homes within one hour after installation, but the expectations will be there after an unknown period of time that it will take for them to “season” and begin to get inhabitants. I will do dives in order to monitor this progression of inhabitants that is known as ecological succession, much like a decimated forest begins to show life within a short time after destruction. The destruction that decimated the shallow water elkhorn and staghorn corals was, of course, the swell that we received from Hurricane Lenny that hit in November, 1999. Surprisingly, the shoreline on Klein Bonaire that is aimed right at Bari is along the north shore line, when Lenny hit this shoreline, it picked up massive amounts of sand off of No Name Beach, carried this load over the channel between Bonaire and Klein, and deposited it on our doorstep. What was not destroyed by the force of the 25 foot waves that bashed Bari, was buried in 3 to 4 feet of fine sand from No Name Beach. Anything trying to make a comeback in this fine sand in the shallows, has an almost impossible task, so the addition of anything that rises above the sand bottom will kindly be taken over by the regrowth process which we who visit Bari will be able to witness. |
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