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Getting Inspired, Inc. is one of many regional nature conservation organizations that keep a low profile but get the job done. The organization focuses on bringing both land and sea ecology to schools through special outdoor classes or camps. And Getting Inspired benefits California's local marine environment by spearheading a kelp restoration project that has been responsible for the re-planting of kelp forests in areas that have been, in some cases, barren for decades.
The organization is headed up by marine biologist and sea captain, Nancy Lightowler Caruso. I knew Nancy when I was a dive team leader at the Aquarium of the Pacific and Nancy was just getting her kelp reforestation project off the ground. It has grown into a project that includes 7,000 schoolchildren and 400 volunteer divers who assist in the aquatic greenhouse growing of young kelp and the eventually planting of the kelp along California's Orange County coastline.
Kelp is the basis for much of California's marine ecosystem. It is the forest that provides food and shelter for a variety of different aquatic animals. Kelp can be impacted by storms, which dislodges the kelp from the bottom, in addition to cyclical events like El Nino warm water currents, which heats the waters beyond the ideal growth range for kelp to flourish. But these are natural events that constitute the normal ebb and flow of the kelp forest, just like brush and forest fires can be beneficial to terrestrial forests.
However, kelp has suffered from a variety of other threats. In some areas, sea urchins, which feed on kelp, have exploded in numbers due to overfishing of the urchins' natural predators. Then there's coastal pollution along with the effects of climate change which produces extended periods of warm water - all have taken a toll on the kelp forests.
Besides the concrete accomplishments achieved by the ongoing kelp restoration project, Getting Inspired also works with schools to enlighten and inspire kids to understand and appreciate the natural ecosystems that make California unique in many ways. This includes getting schoolchildren involved in kelp, abalone, and white sea bass aquaculture and even an annual trip to Yosemite where they get to learn about the importance of land-based ecosystems as well.
Getting Inspired focuses its efforts on quantifiable results. It does not engage in a lot of promotional hype or marketing as that would draw resources away from its core mission. That's an admirable position that many other groups could follow. (Although I think Getting Inspired could use a good facelift to their website. But that's a minor criticism.)
What's important here is that, as I have said many times in the past, we all should support worthwhile conservation organizations. All have passion, many are dedicated and hard-working, but I prefer to focus my support on groups which can demonstrate action that equates into solid results. Getting Inspired is one such group here in California. Check them out. And use that yardstick of quantifiable accomplishments to evaluate organizations in your area.
As a fundraiser, Getting Inspired is offering a Batik button-front shirt with a colorful kelp and garibaldi pattern. It's a great gift item (I've ordered 6) that will also help support Captain Caruso's efforts. You can learn more on Nancy's Facebook page (click here).
Source: Getting Inspired
In case you just happen to be in the area, would you like to cruise through the towering kelp beds of California's Monterey Bay? Perhaps you'll come across a darting sea otter or a school of calico bass seeking shelter, partly camouflaged by the waving fronds of giant kelp.
And maybe along the way, you'd like to pick up a few ideas and tips on composing an underwater video that packs a message and a punch, better than last year's family vacation video to Wally World?
If so, then check out the Underwater Video Boot Camp workshop and 2 dives that I will be conducting next week as part of the festivities at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit. Not only will I be covering what many of those buttons and switches do, but we'll also look at preparing a meaningful storyline, what style of editing might be best for your video, and what types of distribution formats you might consider.
Two dives in some of the most acclaimed kelp forests in the world plus a full introduction to underwater video - a full day and a great start to a fabulous week at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival. Only $125 to registered festival attendees - that's a deal! And arrangements can be made for rental dive gear and even a basic video camera, if you're traveling.
You can learn more at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit website and from Facebook.
A dive buddy who I have not seen in many years was vacationing with his family on the west coast and we hooked up this past Thursday to do a day of diving at Anacapa Island, the southernmost island in the northern Channel Islands group. He had not been diving the Channel Islands since he moved back east some 14 years ago, so it was going to be interesting to see and hear his reaction to being back in the ol' stomping grounds where we had logged many a dive.
Conditions were typical for this time of year: a little overcast and the water was it's usual summer green tinge with about 20 feet of visibility. Not bad since we were going to be spending most of our time cruising through the kelp.
Giant kelp forms one of the foundations of California marine ecosystems, providing food and shelter for a variety of animals from its root-like holdfast structure right up to the canopy that is formed when the stalks reach the surface and continue to grow. At its healthiest, a field of giant kelp is like a dark mountain forest; gliding between the stalks is like flying past aged timbers.
California's kelp forests have suffered over the years and the fields are not quite as robust as they were, say, 20 years ago. With kelp being very sensitive to warmer temperatures (actually dying off when the water exceeds 70 degrees for any sustained period of time), the forests have felt the impact of seasonal El Nino warm water currents, warmer summers and milder winters, and pollution. Also, in some areas, with the reduction of certain gamefish that feed on urchins (which in turn feed on kelp), the increase in the population of these spiny echinoderms has wiped out entire kelp beds. There are several organizations and ongoing projects involved in replanting kelp and, since kelp can grow amazingly fast given the right conditions, these replanting efforts hold great promise in bringing back kelp forests to their former glory as an oasis that attracts sealife of all kinds. But it all hinges on those "right conditions" of clean water and cooler temperatures.
There may not be much that we can do about seasonal temperature changes like El Nino currents (although some scientists believe that the duration or severity of these weather patterns are effected by the overall climate change issue), but we can certainly do something about the impacts of pollution, CO2 emissions, and over-fishing that contribute to less than ideal conditions for the kelp forests.
My dive buddy and his daughter had a great time diving; he fell right back into his old ways of peeking under every rock outcropping or crevice with his light, to see what might be making a home there. We had one large and curious male sheephead follow us around, and on another dive we were playfully bombarded by sea lions from a local rookery. But he did notice a lack of fish and other sea critters he remembered from past dives. And I couldn't argue with him: things have changed.
Let's hope that we - the consumers, the businessmen, and the decision-makers - take ocean conservation seriously and act swiftly and responsively. Otherwise, we will be left with only memories and maybe what we find on display in aquariums and museums.
