"Postive News" on Bottom Trawling

TASMAN SEA: The NZ dep sea trawler West Bay does a fast turn after hauling its catch from international waters in the Tasman Sea. Greenpeace along with more than a thousand scientists are supporting the call for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, because of the vast amount of marine life that is destroyed by this fishing method.  © 2004-Greenpeace/Roger Grace

Mountain View, California.  As one of the most destructive forms of fishing, any proactive efforts to limit or eliminate bottom trawling are good news.  This fishing practice systematically scrapes along the seafloor with heavy gear, causing widespread ecological damage.  The long term impact on fishing itself is the reduction of fishery populations and loss of fisheries habitat.  This, however, pales in comparison to the damage it does to greater environment, including to millennia old cold water corals - the fiscal value of which are incalculable.

In this quarter’s Positive News,  a U.K.-based international newspaper with affiliates in New York, Hong Kong, Madrid and Argentina, I was interviewed on the international effort to ban deep sea bottom trawling on the high seas.  This auxillary article compliments the month’s feature story, which covers an announcement from the nation of Belize to ban bottom trawling in their national waters. Joining the ranks of Venezuela and Palau, both countries of which have taken similar measures, Belize put this legislation into effect on December 31, 2010.

My contribution covers some of numerous achievements made through an international campaign to promote a U.N. moratorium on high seas bottom trawling that was spearheaded by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.  I also touch on the momentum to build a network of marine protected areas on the high seas, which in concept would offer permanent protection to the seamounts and coldwater coral reefs currently threatened by trawling and other destructive fishing practices.

Read the full Positive News article: Towards and International Ban on Trawling by Sarah Wilkinson.

For more information on bottom trawling and high seas marine protected areas, check out the following sites:

• Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
• IUCN-WCPA High Seas Task Force
• Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI)
• Pew Environment Group: Protecting the Deep Sea
• Greenpeace: The Pacific Commons

Sunsets of Big Sur

Sunset over the Pacific. Big Sur, California.

Big Sur, California.  For those who know me, you may be aware that the past few months have been a difficult time for me, amongst the hardest points on my life.  But before the recent drama began to unfold in force, the wilds of Big Sur were my frequent refuge of the soul.  This magnificent stretch of coastline, and its adjacent Ventana Wilderness, represents some of the most beautiful and untainted landscape in the continental United States.

Rabbit crosses a fallen redwood
in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Due to its close proximity to Monterey - with some hiking trails as short as a 15 minute car ride from downtown - this natural treasure has been my regular go to spot over the past two years for hiking, river swimming, natural history film and photography, writing, relaxation and reflection.  Luckily, fortune has also provided me with a good number of friends who find equal appreciation and fascination with this special place.  Most recently, I had visits from Rabbit Schaffer and Boca this past October and we took the opportunity to hit some trails, scramble up some river gorges and enjoy fantastic sunsets.

Here's a few photos from October.  I wish I was in Big Sur now.

McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Rabbit crosses the fallen redwood, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Big Sur Sunset

Rabbit, Big Sur. October 2010

Arlo Hemphill, Big Sur. October 2010.

Shark Sucker

Beqa Lagoon, Fiji.  This past July I had the wonderful opportunity of traveling to Fiji and diving with the shark feeders of Beqa Lagoon.  To the people of Beqa, sharks are sacred spirits with whom they share a special relationship.  Divers visiting Fiji may accompany the islanders on a shark feeding for an up close and personal look at bull, silvertip, tawny nurse, blacktip reef, whitetip reef and tiger sharks.

The above picture is one of my favorite from the experience.  This is one of the Fijian divers ascending to the surface following the shark feeding.  The fish swarming around him are primarily remoras and rainbow runners, attracted to the remaining food in his feed bucket.   Ocean conditions were extremely excellent this day, offering top to bottom visibility at 100ft of water.  This is the kind of scene I can lurk in forever.  I never want to leave the blue on warm, clear days like this.

Big Sur Rattlesnake

Western Rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus

Andrew Molera State Park, California. This past weekend I was out hiking near Big Sur with a group of friends from Monterey, and came across this western rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus.  The poor guy was really upset to see us and not very cooperative in moving aside so we could pass. We were ascending the East Molera Trail in Andrew Molera State Park.  I encountered a second rattlesnake that afternoon on the Molera Ridge Trail.

Big Asilomar

Monterey, California.  Terrific storm systems have been moving through Monterey Country for the past couple of days, generating tons of rains, hail, lightening strikes and a really big swell.  The storm system, which is expected to persist for awhile, is believed to be a result of the strong El Niño event rocking our world this year.  Below is a little video footage from one our local surf breaks, Asilomar, maxing out at 35ft this morning.

Wild Climate

Merida, Mexico and Copenhagen, Denmark. In recent months I've been neglecting this blog, but am now jump-starting a new look and direction. In upcoming posts, you'll see an increased emphasis on a wilderness ethic and less of a day to day account of my activities. Instead, I'd like to present you with written and video dispatches from the field, some current and some from stock-piled footage that I've been sitting on for months. The important thing is to live wild - make this a celebration of the natural world around us. I hope you'll join me in this adventure.

Since you last heard from me, I've been in the city of Merida (Yucatan, Mexico), participating in Wild9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress. Shortly after, I traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark to participate in COP15 - the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - representing the Center for Ocean Solutions as a part of the Stanford University delegation to the Conference. While there, I was blogging via the Center's climate blog, which you can check out at the:

Copenhagen Blog

One of the exciting outreach activities of Copenhagen was to launch a new multimedia short entitled Oceans +2C. This video, on which I served as Executive Producer, was a collaboration between the Center for Ocean Solutions and the iLCP (International League of Conservation Photographers). It was also a wonderful opportunity to re-engage my good friend, Cristina Mittermeier, as well as work with a wide range of new friends and colleagues. Enjoy the video here:

Merry Christmas California

Monterey, California.

Elk Rut

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of camping and filming within Rocky Mountain National Park during the elk rut. Here is a small teaser of the footage - more to come!

Beautiful Central California

Monterey, California. So, I've been a bit lazy in updating the ole' blog lately, but things have been good. My buddy Rob 'Rabbit' Schaffer visited a few weeks back and we had some great adventures hiking in the Ventana Wilderness, biking in wine country, surfing and kayaking. Here are a few ridiculous little video clips we threw together during the visit.

The story behind the first video "A Message to Boca" is pretty simple. Our buddy, Boca, was going to come along on the trip, but bailed at the last minute. The references for signs are due to the fact that, well, he makes signs for a living. The second video is pretty self explanatory. It's Death Rabbit. Unleashed.

An After Work Hike

Soberanes Canyon Trail, Garrapata State Park, California. Location of trailhead: Latitude 36.4387, Longitude -121.9203.

The signs at the trailheads in this region warn of mountain lions, rattlesnakes and poison oak. I seem to be impervious to the latter and am only exhilarated by the possibility of seeing the first two. I consider these types of signs to be more about the “best stuff to see” as opposed to any message of caution I should heed. A few years back, while hiking at Kenai Glacier in Alaska, I was amazed and amused by the bear warning signs posted by the National Park Service. Apparently, if at any times a bear “begins to feed on you”, you should “fight back”. Brilliant! To be fair though, the rest of the sign did give some pretty good advice as well as helpful information on the behavioral differences between black and brown bears.

Now, on the trails here in Central California, I did end up seeing one of those rattlesnakes. It was this past Easter, while on a hike through Garland Ranch Regional Park, in Carmel Valley. It was a small guy, for sure, but my very first rattler, so I was thrilled. Today, on the other hand, I had no such luck, but nonetheless was not left disappointed.

After leaving work at 5pm in Monterey, I headed down the PCH past Carmel Heights to a beautiful ocean overlook where the trailhead for Soberanes Canyon Trail begins. You enter Garrapata State Park as soon as you walk off the road, but this is evident only from a single sign post – there are no facilities or elaborate trail markers here. The trail winds up the canyon, following a stream along the way and , at this time of day, the air was buzzing with damselflies and stellar jays. After briefly passing through oak chaparral, the canyon winds through a valley of prickly pear cactus, through some riparian vegetation and then empties into a magnificent redwood forest a la the moon of Endor (minus any signs of Ewoks).

After spending some time among the redwoods, billows of fog began to roll in and the sky darkened with the approaching dusk. I had a mind to turn around, but noted that a few couples that passed me by while I stopped for photos had not come back this way. So, I guessed a loop trail and moved onward. I was greatly rewarded, as the best was yet to come. The trail eventually rises up from the redwood forest and onto the grassy slopes above tree line. From this vantage point, one can see how the redwood groves line the interiors of narrow canyons, and then quickly fade off as the slopes open up. The trail here rises high into the Santa Lucia Mountains, the slopes of which are alive with wildflowers at this time of the year. California poppies, composites and lupines were a few I recognized, but my recollection does not do them justice. It is a orgy of color up there and, as one climbs higher, a spectacular vista of the sea opens behind you, making the Pacific look like nothing more than a great, glassy pond.

Continuing upward, I feared that I had chosen wrongly as dusk settled deep on the backside of the mountain. But as I neared the summit, a still late afternoon sun greeted me, illuminating the rocky outcrops and flowered slopes in bright gold, scattered almost mystically through patches of fog. Although far above the sea now, the bellows of sea lions could yet be heard, their raucous barking radiating from an offshore pair of islets. I encountered a rabbit, a black-tailed deer and numerous western fence lizards.

The descent is on the front side of the mountain, exposed to the sun and ocean, so barren of trees. In one obscure spot, a carved bench sits on an outcropping. Through a friend I heard that on one night of every week, hikers meet here with bottles of wine to watch the sun go down. I had no wine, but the sun did set for me as I descended back down to the road. Funny, I kind of regret not having been caught up there past dark - I’d love to still be roaming those hills.