How Much Are Coral Reefs Worth To You?

October 2011, NOAA released its technical memorandum titled: “Total Economic Value for Protecting and Restoring Hawaiian Coral Reef Ecosystems”. As the title explicitly states, the study that was conducted tries to put a monetary value on the total expanse of the Hawaiian coral reefs in terms of protection and restoration, which the paper states  that the reefs cover almost 3,000 square kilometers of the ocean floor in the Pacific. 

The methodology of the study used internet surveys that were answered by citizens of the U.S. living in the 48 continental states, for some reason those living in Alaska and Hawaii were excluded. The surveys asked how much the participant would pay per year to expand and maintain fishing exclusion areas and more generally Marine Protected Areas. In addition, the surveys asked participants how much they would pay per year to repair the estimated 5 acres damaged per year by ship groundings on the Hawaiian reefs.

The findings state that the average household would be willing to pay $224.81 per year for protection of the reefs through expanding protected areas and $62.82 per year to restore damage done by grounded ships. The grand total established through the surveys is about $34 billion per year.

Is this market valuation of an invaluable/priceless/too valuable to be valued thing such as the Hawaiian reef system really necessary? Is this the level to which society has stooped such that we must put a monetary value on everything less it be deemed worthless? Someone cannot place value on something, like ecosystems, that have intrinsic value.

Truthfully, our ignorance of the function of ecosystems like coral reefs is simply too great to begin to make a value judgement like the dollar value placed on it. I am trying to fathom the whole purpose of the study in the first place and it seems to elude me. It bothers me to read it because it sends a message that society has reached a point that everything must have a dollar value associated with it be considered important. And hence it might be for sale to the highest bidder.

This report really comes as no surprise because in today’s political atmosphere money talks and everything else walks. I should be happy at the $34 billion per year figure because it is a rather large figure. It is worth noting that Hawaii’s GDP for 2010 was just under $67 billion. I hope that the study was purposefully designed to overestimate the value because I feel that erring on the side of caution, especially when it involves the environment, is a prudent thing to do.

References

United States. Department of Commerce. NOAA. Total Economic Value for Protecting and Restoring Hawaiian Coral Reef Ecosystems. NOAA, Oct. 2011. Web..

"Outlook for the Economy — Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism." State of Hawai'i. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. .

Do you know where you seafood came from?

I love seafood, that is a fact. But at times it is a constant inward struggle to justify my desire to consume marine fauna. This struggle has two important beginnings within my character. One: I love the ocean to the point that I have dedicated my life so far to understanding it. I love swimming and scuba diving and seeing all the cool animals and plants that call the ocean home. I have very often, especially as a kid, wished I was born with gills. I could even go as far as saying I envy marine life for living in the ocean and I consider myself a friend of the ocean and everything in it. So, eating seafood is tantamount to say eating your best friend. Kinda strange put into that context. Two: I have worked as a fisheries observer for four and a half years, which means I full well know how non-sustainable some fishing practices can be. One would conclude that I would not eat seafood at all with my experience and interests.

I am very judicious in my seafood decisions. I am a hound at the grocery store. In fact, I rarely buy seafood at the grocery store. I usually walk by the seafood counter just to see what is in stock. I take note of country of origin and whether it was wild or farmed. Like everything I eat, I would rather buy something that has traveled less distance even if I pay slightly more for it. For me this accomplishes two things: the seafood is more fresh and I support local business. Everyone has had to tighten their budgets in the Great Recession but for me an investment in quality food is one of the best things money can buy. Like the old saying, "you are what you eat". The better the quality of the food, the better the quality of my health.

 Some people are aware of CSAs, which are Community Supported Agriculture. There is a newer version of this concept labeled Community Supported Fishery (CSF). Individuals or groups can buy shares of catch from fisherpeople directly. Imagine the benefits! The consumer knows the fisherperson and the boat. They also are buying fresh seafood that they know has not been sitting in a freezer for months. And the fisherperson benefits by recieving a higher price for their catch. Definitely a win-win situation. Of course this is restricted to communities near the ocean but 50% of the population of Earth live close to or on a coast. If you are not near to a CSF, read the labels at the seafood counter and do the research.


Some strange things have come to my attention recently. One, the World Trade Organization has made a ruling on Dolphin Safe Tuna labels in the U.S. It was ruled overly restrictive and stifles free trade with tuna imported from Mexico. Mexico does not have the same restrictions on Tuna fishing as the U.S. has to protect dolphins. The importance of trade outweighing the importance of environmental stewardship is definitely a cause for concern. Two, while perusing the canned seafood isle, I noticed cans of salmon that stated: Product of Thailand. Ocean Beauty Seafoods, LLC's website claims the salmon are wild caught Alaskan salmon frozen and shipped to Thailand. Business decisions like this boggle my mind. Is it cheaper to can is Southern Asia? Maybe, but what about the environmental cost of shipping across the Pacific Ocean, twice, not to mention the monetary cost of the fuel. Both of these instances highlight the importance of knowing where your seafood come from.


References:

"Walking Fish: About Us." Walking Fish - A Community Supported Fisheries Project. 2009. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

"United States — Measures Concerning the Importation, Marketing and Sale of Tuna and Tuna Products." World Trade Organization. 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

"Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC - FAQs." Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

Diversion for some spicy sauce

10-12 green serrano peppers
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cumin powder

Blend together in food processor or blender. You can add more olive
oil or soy sauce to make it liquid like depending on your particular
tastes; I would not suggest more vinegar. The stuff you ate did not
have cilantro, but the first batch did and I thought it tasted better.
Good luck and enjoy.

Happy Earth Day

I was turned on to a simple act by my girlfriend, Kat. When she takes her dog for a walk, she would usually pick up one piece of litter from the sidewalk or gutter in her neighborhood. I was impressed and started to try it. I was even more impressed about how good it made me feel. I was noticeably making my environment less trashy instead of walking by and saying; "How sad that people have such disrespect for the neighborhood!" So, now it is a habit when I walk the dog and has even extended to the beach. Kat has said on occasions that she means to bring a plastic bag so she can pick up even more litter when we go for a walk on the beach. Sometimes we are in luck and the people who litter have been thoughtful enough to leave a bag for just such a purpose. It does make me feel good and not in a smug sense that I am better than those who left behind the litter in the first place, but we have been complimented by people on the beach by our actions of cleaning up a little. Just because I did not throw garbage on the ground does not mean I can't do anything about it. Of course, I don't pick everything up I see and I don't go picking up nasty, gross things. I guess I am above that.

Memories of Deepwater Horizon

Last year I spent 24 days offshore on a bottom longliner fishing for deepwater grouper and tilefish. We left out of Panama City, Florida originally planned to be a 9 to 10 day trip; I should have known better. We fished off Texas in over 1000 feet of water, gradually working our way back east. On April 20, I woke up and was told by crew whom where on wheel-watch early morning that they heard radio chatter about a fire on an oil rig that we passed. They said that they could not see the fire but there was a glow coming from the horizon. One of the guys who got up to pee said he thought the sun was rising because the fire was so bright but he knew it was too early. No one knew what the fire really meant; millions of gallons of oil released, countless animals killed, families ruined, ecosystems still covered in oil and the fate yet to be determined of the Gulf of Mexico near Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

On a recent trip to Panama City, I had a chance to talk to some fishermen. Initially after the spill they fished as hard as possible fearful of fishery closures that eventually came. Then, there was hope that they could acquire contracts to do clean up work or be spotters for oil. BP hired numerous vessels to simply patrol the waters in the Gulf to look for oil slicks and report their findings. It was a glimmer of hope to many fishermen out of a job due to closures; temporary work til they could fish again. The unfortunate reality is that much of the spotter work was scooped up by opportunists, those who were not directly affected by the spill, and excluded many fishermen. Many of these opportunists bought boats specifically to do spotter work and used the money from BP to pay off the boats.

After the well was capped and the media turned their attention to something else, BP sidestepped their promises to see the clean up and compensation payments through. As dead dolphins and turtles washed up on beaches in the Gulf this winter, the hope is that the federal and state governments will bring BP to justice in the coming year, but that is small consolation to the people on the Gulf coast who lost their businesses and continue to struggle. Undoubtedly, in a few years time there will be collapses of many fisheries as the year class of animals that were to be spawned last spring failed and have left a gap. The spill came at the worst time, spring is the spawning time for many animals in the Gulf. Hopefully, this prediction will prove false.

Local, Sustainable Botox

I have noticed the past few times walking along Hobie Beach that there are skeletons of dead birds long the tide line. It is disturbing because I wonder about the causes. My first thought is pollution because Miami River, which is nearby, spews outs and is notorious for pollution. If this were true it would not be new but worrisome because the levels are the point of killing birds. However, looking up and down the beach, there are not other signs of this possibility. My line of logic would flow that if the pollution was so great, why am I not seeing fish or other animals dead or dying? So, it must be something else. What about a disease that is spreading, either a bacteria or virus? Such a possibility gives me more reason to worry. Given that birds are warm blooded animals, I feel like I could be susceptible to such an outbreak, right? Just possibly? I surfed the internet and got onto Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resource Management. They say that occasionally outbreaks of Botulism pop up in non-native duck populations in the county. Great the same ducks that live on the island are spreading Botulism, also known as Lock Jaw. Luckily the website claims it is not communicable to humans because it is a specialize strain. Thanks, I feel better about walking barefoot and letting my dog run around in the water on that beach. I guess I should have know better when I see people letting their dogs crap on the beach and not cleaning it up. But hey, look at the bright side, all those Botox clinics have a local supply of the poison they rely upon to give people the face lift or lips they have been wanting.

Timeout for an Economics Lesson

Inflation and the national deficit can be blamed on the Federal Reserve, which doesn't have to answer to anyone but private banks; in fact the Federal Reserve was founded to be a council of the biggest banks. The policy of the Federal Reserve is to create money out of thin air, which is the sole creator of inflation. Inflation is not rising prices, but rising prices are a symptom of the increase in the money supply due to the Federal Reserve's creation of money out of debt.

The process of Fractional Reserve Banking is the basis of our monetary system instead of the gold standard. It starts with the Treasury Department issuing Bonds to the Federal Reserve, which is a debt, and in return the Federal Reserve prints money to pay for the bonds thereby funding the government. That newly printed money is deposited into a bank, which is required to hold on to 10% of the deposit. The other 90% of the money can be loaned out to anyone wanting money, which can be deposited and reloaned and so on. A initial deposit of $1000 can create an additional $10,000 in deposits, out of debit. So in reality all money created now-days is based upon debt. A reductionist view can be applied to an individual; you want money you don't have to pay for a house, what do you do? You take out a loan; that money was created out of debt.

So when the government wants to pay for something they don't have the money for, they print money. The very process of printing more money CAUSES inflation and debt. The hidden side is that the process robs all citizens of the value of their money and is a hidden TAX, which hurts the poor and middle class the most.

Most of Congress don't understand the true face of the monetary system and they don't even have control over the process unless they pass a law restricting the Federal Reserve or abolish it. Their ignorance is illuminated by the swinging of the economy ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

The sad and unfortunate truth is that the biggest banks, the ones that created the housing bubble and paid themselves handsomely for it with TARP, are really the ones in control. Unlike most of Congress, they KNOW exactly what they are doing.

If you are curious to fact check this: learn about Fractional Reserve Banking and the Federal Reserve.

Field guides out in the field need not be illustrated

My experience offshore has enlightened me about field guides. Drawn pictures are no substitute to actual photographs. I use several guides in my work offshore when something comes up that I am not familiar with. And many times, I have been misled by drawings that are simply not accurate. While I applaud the artistic eye of the illustrators, the drawings simply are not detailed enough to be used in a scientific field.

Drawn field guides are good for an average recreational fisherman or diver but when accuracy in identification counts, nothing beats a photographic field guide.

Japan: My mind, body and soul weeps with you

Such a tragedy! The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor in the process of meltdown. Despite all this, the reports I am getting tell me that Japan as a nation is still acting supremely civilized. Keep your head up, as I know you will.

Aquaponics, not gonna feed the world

Aquaponics is an old idea that has been creeping its way into the food system all over the world. It is a blending of aquaculture, the raising of aquatic animals, and hydroponics, the growth of terrestrial plants in a liquid. The elegance of the system is the symbiosis of the animals, plants and bacteria to maximize the utilization of resources. The idea is that one feeds the other and so on to minimize inputs.

A summery of the process goes as follows: the fish in the system are feed by the farmer. In response, the fish poop, which is full of under utilized nutrients. Natural and ubiquitous bacteria grow and feed on the waste to produce other byproducts. Plants uptake this waste via their roots, which is really liquid fertilizer, utilizing the byproducts from the fish and the bacteria to grow and produce food for the farmer. The filtered water is then return to the fish cleaner and relatively free of waste produces.

Anyone familiar with recirculating aquarium system, i.e. any home aquarium, know that a biofilter is used to filter out wastes produced by the fish. These filters have to be cleaned and replaced periodically. In an aquaponics system, the hydroponic bed containing the plants act as the biofilter that produces a useful byproduct. Taken to the extreme that byproduct could ideally turn a profit.

I just came back from an aquaponics course at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Croix. Dr. James Rakocy had been perfecting this system to the point of commercial viability for the past 30 years. He partially came out retirement to help teach the class. The university has patronized this course the past couple of years and will continue to do so in the coming years if anyone is interested.

I am no stranger to aquaculture or aquaponics. I used to work at the University of Miami's Experimental Hatchery and have been running a small aquaponic system at my house for a little over a year now. However, the things I learned help to fill in the gaps. Small systems practically run themselves, if you know anything about fish and/or plants. But, the finer details concerning water quality, design of larger systems and the business aspects have alluded me, until now.

Some people claim that aquaponics is new and it will feed the world. Both claims are false. For thousands of years, people in Asia have been doing this as they grew fish in their flooded rice patties. The fish would feed on insects and algae in the water while fertilizing the rice. The Aztecs built rafts out of lashed together wood and floated plants over lakes to produce food. No doubt that if one were to go back through history, other examples could be found; humans can be creative devils. Aquaponics has great potential, but it will be limited to supplementing the food supply for now. The world runs on carbohydrates and all the present models of aquaponics is used to grow fruits and vegetables in addition to protein from the fish. Unless the rice patty model or a large system to grow wheat or other grains can be used, not too many carbs come out of the system.

In the U.S., don't expect a large scale system to pop up next to you in the near future either. The up front costs to a commercial scale production system is prohibitive. It simply cannot compete with cheaper soil based production. The use of aquaponics will remain in niche markets for now. Small systems will be used in schools to teach and in homes to supplement food supply. The developing nations are where potential really exists for the millionaire/billionaire investors to actually built a large system.

My home system in the beginning

My home system used things I could recycle when possible. The bottom tank holding the fish is an old sink from my landlord's remodeling episode. And the upper tank for the plants is a five gallon water bottle cut in half. I cheated and bought a fountain pump and tubing from Home Depot to circulate the water.

Lettuce, bamboo and mangroves are now growing

My system was not optimized for any type of growth as prescribed by UVI. When I first built it, I knew little to nothing about the factors involved, but now I could step up to a garage or greenhouse size. My little system taught me about water quality and nutrients needed for success.

Reading list to get you in the mood

During the course of a deployment on a fishing vessel, particularly on longer voyages, I can find plenty of time to read. My natural inclination is to read about the ocean; whether it be fact or fiction. Here is some of the book I suggest:

• "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick. This is the true story of a Nantucket whaleship rammed and sunk by a whale 3,000 miles off the coast of Chile and the subsequent survival at sea by the crew. The story was the inspiration for Moby Dick. Gritty story of at sea survival in the 1800's complete with cannibalism.
• "Moby Dick" by Herman Meville. A classic every person who appreciates literature and/or the ocean should read.
• "Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea" by Steven Callahan. Another survival story about a man traveling solo across the Atlantic and his boat is struck by a whale. He had to abandon ship and float across the ocean in a rubber raft ending up in the Caribbean. Steven shows how resourceful he is by using everything at his disposal to survive.
• "South: The Story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 Expedition" by Sir Ernest Shackleton. The amazing story of survival in the Antarctic by a failed expedition to reach the south pole. The most amazing part is that no one died.
• "The Empty Ocean" by Richard Ellis. Bare bones facts about the depletion of marine species by man's unquenchable thirst for resources. A superbly researched book with lots of great facts but the writing was a little dry.
• "The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean" by Trevor Corson. This is an entertaining non-fiction book that delves into the world of lobster fishing in the Northeastern U.S. And the sex life of the lobster is examined with detail and humor.
• "Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food" by Paul Greenburg. This book examines the events that lead to the current state of wild and farmed fish. He leans more towards a farmed future. The take away message is that suitable species need to be found to farm instead of popular ones on the market.
• "South Seas Tales" by Jack London. A series of short stories set in the South Pacific. A entertaining mix full of colorful characters from every walk of life.
• "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. A fictional at sea survival story where a young boy shares his boat and food with a tiger whom he has a deep connection with.
• "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain. One of Clemens' less well known books. It is a somewhat true story of his time on the Mississippi as a riverboat pilot and travels later in life. These experiences served as a basis for The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin.
• "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck. Great short story about Doc, a marine biology, set in Monterrey, CA during the 1930's. Funny things happen when a group of homeless guys try to throw a party in honor of Doc.

I am currently reading: "Thousand-Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound" by David Rothenberg. So far, it is a good book written by a musician/ philosopher as he tries to understand whale vocalizations from a purely musical stand point. He attempts jam sessions with various kinds of whales. The book comes with an audio CD of his sessions.

Commerical Fishing is not a job, it is a lifestyle

Working so closely with commercial fishermen, I have developed something of an understanding of them. It is a look into the depths of the human psyche, because not only does it define a lifestyle but one of the oldest lifestyles of our civilization. Fishing dates back to, well, most likely before humans really organized into large collective units like towns and cities. The need to fill our bellies and the desire to gaze into the unfathomable drew a following and has kept some coming back for more since who-knows when.

A slight disclaimer, I am most familiar to fishermen of the Gulf of Mexico which is not a complete slice of fishing as a whole applied to the world. Nonetheless, I do believe some of it is universal to the industry based upon talking to fishermen who have traveled and my own reading of experiences world-wide.

Fishing is very primal; it is a vestigial hunter-gather instinct to find sustenance to survive. Only it is changed from finding food for yourself, family or community to trying to feed the growing population of the world.

A small irony of fishing is that in developing countries fishing is used by the less fortunate who don't have other occupations and little money to buy food. So, it is subsistence fishing with maybe a small profit made selling a really good days catch. In more wealthy nations, commercial fishing is huge business operated for profit. Large vessels, now days owned by a corporation, go out, spend tremendous amounts of money on consumables, to catch highly valued marine life. Workers that operate some of the boats don't get paid enough to buy what they are catching in the open market.

I digress from the original intent of this post. Due to the nature of commercial fishing; hard, dangerous, long times at sea; it has a tendency to attract certain types of people. Ex-convicts, drug abusers, loners and thrill seekers are the mos common. Usually the fishermen are a mix of a few or all. As a result, it is hard for these people to find other jobs. They either don't like society or can't get another job making the same amount of money. To add to this, many have been fishermen since they were young, may have even dropped out of school to go fishing and are so involved and specialized that they would have a hard time finding another occupation.

While, I hate the devastating effects that commercial fishing has had on the marine environment. And the guys who plunder and disrespect the ocean deserve to go out of business, I have come to understand some of the motivation behind it. I understand it down to my bones because I have experienced it firsthand with my own eyes and hands.

Difficulties with IFQs

Individual Fishing Quotas (IFQs) are now being implemented in all fisheries under the management of National Marine Fisheries Service in the United States. IFQs are a system where fishery managers set a total allowable catch (TAC) for a specific marine species and then allocates catch shares of the TAC to individual permit holders. The quota in which permit holders receive are a percentage of the TAC set for a year. The percentage is based upon the landings made under the permit for a given number of years before the IFQs were established. Under this system quotas can be sold and leased by the permit holders.


IFQs are seen as a sustainable alternative to the traditional fishery management plans. The idea is that a quota would give the permit holder a stake in fishery itself so they had some interest in maintaining the stocks and keeping them productive from year to year. Provided the TAC is not set too high a fishery would never be overfished because the quotas would not allow it.


However, the reality of the matter is much different. Such a system in which the quotas can be bought or sold is beneficial to big corporations and puts smaller owner operators at a disadvantage. IFQs open up a market where the quotas can be sold or leased allowing anyone with enough money to control part of a fishery.


I was talking to a boat captain about IFQs, and he told me he knew a bookie that saw an opportunity to buy a bunch of quotas and lease them out to make a profit without having to do much. Buying the quotas at market value and leasing them out for a large fraction of the price allowed the guy to make back his money in a few months without ever leaving dry land.


I went out on a fishing boat with said captain for 23 days on a bottom longline trip. We fished for Golden Tilefish and Yellowedge Grouper in 1300 to 800 feet of water off Texas and Louisiana, because of the deadly effects of bringing a fish up to the surface from such depths there is no size limit. The captain had a quota of Tilefish to fill and I do not pretend to understand him, but he caught a considerable amount of Tilefish early on the trip. Mid trip he dumped a few hundred pounds of the Tilefish because he found a better size class, which he thought were more marketable. Therein lies a huge problem with the quota system. The captain wasted all those fish because the fish he caught more recently were larger and would look better for his reputation.


This type of culling is common in fisheries and existed before IFQs, however, because now captains can only land so much they have incentive to throw over some fish in favor of more marketable fish.