Artisanal fisherman in Italy - 3

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Marceddi, Sardinia, Italy, February 2011)

Young bottlenose dolphin stranded

This juvenile bottlenose dolphin was found stranded after a storm on the beach of Galveston Island, Texas, in March 2012. It was a cold, windy and greyish morning – the only bright colour a blood spot on the tip of the dolphin's lower jaw. Seagulls had left a few beak marks around the exposed eye. I took this desolate photo and Silvia reported the position to the local stranding network. On the following day there was no trace of the animal.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

The Colour of Artisanal Fishing

Artisanal fishermen seem to enjoy bright contrasting colours and often have an exquisite taste when it comes to painting their boats.

This SLIDE SHOW features small boats from Greece and Italy (photos G. Bearzi).

Thought world - 2

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

-- Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha (563–circa 483 B.C.)

Thought world - 1

The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

-- Albert Einstein (1879–1955)

Our Friends the Dolphins

Our Friends the Dolphins is a FREE educational colouring booklet available in 10 languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Slovene, Spanish and Turkish.

You can view the booklet online (click HERE), download it as a pdf and print it out for your children. We hope they will like it!

Fluffy dolphin

Silvia socializing with a fluffy dolphin.

Mammals versus insects

Animal species identified/discovered (number in black) and their estimated total number (in blue; SOURCE).

Good news for jellyfish eaters?

The decrease of large fish benefits jellyfish. So jellyfish become more and more abundant. In a recent book by FAO, Ferdinando Boero argues that increased availability of jellyfish will favour medusivorous species (see art above from Boero 2013*, page 13). These would include inter alia the ocean sunfish and leatherback sea turtle, dominating the right side of the drawing.

While I do like the graphic representation, I suspect that looking at this image alone may mislead some to infer that the overall past and present abundance of marine megafauna are about the same, i.e. that only species composition or size have changed. I would rather think that the image was not designed to make a statement about relative densities.

In addition, it remains to be seen whether jellyfish-eaters that are currently exposed to multiple anthropogenic threats (such as the leatherback sea turtle Dermochelis coriacea, presently classified as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List) will be capable of rebounding based on prey abundance. Boero (2013) cites some evidence suggesting that they may.

In the long run, species that benefit from jellyfish abundance might include Homo sapiens... in case we develop a widespread appetite for jellyfish burgers!

As reported in the book, jellyfish already are commercially important in some markets.


* Boero F. 2013. Review of jellyfish blooms in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Studies and Reviews. General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. No. 92. FAO, Rome. 53 pp.

Mediterranean Jelly Dance

The Mediterranean jelly Cotylorhiza tuberculata regularly blooms in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. This jellyfish species is exceptionally beautiful.

The video below features their summer 2012 bloom. I used my guitar music as score.


Should you wish to watch the high resolution video, please click on the Vimeo icon and then on the "expand" icon (bottom right).


---
We are grateful to Bernd Würsig / Texas A&M University at Galveston for sponsoring our small video camera and the underwater casing, and to Nina Santostasi for her help in the field.

Artisanal fisherman in Italy - 2

MPA of Sinis Peninsula, Sardinia, Italy, February 2011 (photo S. Bonizzoni)

This fisherman proudly shows his catch, including a European lobster Homarus gammarus.

Any Case

It could have happened.

It had to happen.

It happened earlier. Later.

Closer. Farther away.

It happened, but not to you.

You survived because you were first.

You survived because you were last.

Because alone. Because the others.

Because on the left. Because on the right.

Because it was raining. Because it was sunny.

Because a shadow fell.

Luckily there was a forest.

Luckily there were no trees.

Luckily a rail, a hook, a beam, a brake,

A frame, a turn, an inch, a second.

Luckily a straw was floating on the water.

Thanks to, thus, in spite of, and yet.

What would have happened if a hand, a leg,

One step, a hair away?

So you are here? Straight from that moment still suspended?

The net’s mesh was tight, but you? through the mesh?

I can’t stop wondering at it, can’t be silent enough.

Listen,

How quickly your heart is beating in me.

-- Wislawa Szymborska
 (1923–2012)

(photo G. Bearzi)

Dolphins near Delphi

Our dolphin research project in the Gulf of Corinth is based in the quiet historical village of Galaxidi, only a few km from the archeological site of Delphi.

After the Acropolis of Athens, Delphi is the most popular archaeological site in Greece. Built on the slopes of Mount Parnassos amidst breathtaking scenery, the town and ancient site are as awe-inspiring now as they were three thousand years ago, overlooking the Gulf of Corinth and a valley filled with olive and cypress trees. In ancient times, Delphi was considered the centre of the known world, the place where heaven and earth would meet. This was the place where man was closest to god. Delphi is known as the centre of worship for the god Apollo, son of Zeus who embodied moral discipline and spiritual clarity. Even before the area was associated with Apollo, there were other deities worshipped there, including the earth goddess Gea and the god of the sea Poseidon.

Information about our study location can be found HERE. More about Delphi HERE.

(Photo S. Bonizzoni)

Dead Turtle Story

During a dolphin survey in the Gulf of Corinth we spotted a loggerhead sea turtle floating at the surface. From far away it looked like the turtle could be resting, but then we saw she was hooked on a fishing longline.

Because in previous years we had managed to rescue and release a few sea turtles entangled in fishing gear, we were positive this one could be saved, too. This time, however, it was too late.

Industrial dolphins - 3

A bottlenose dolphins jumps high near industrial machinery in the Galveston Ship Channel, Texas, October 2011 (photo G. Bearzi)

Industrial dolphins - 2

Four bottlenose dolphins on the move near a sulphur deposit in the Galveston Ship Channel, Texas, January 2012 (photo G. Bearzi)

Industrial dolphins - 1

Strange as it may seem, bottlenose dolphins are abundant in the Galveston Ship Channel, Texas, where suitable prey is promptly available in a landscape of heavy industries and oil rigs.

During the nine months we spent at the Galveston base of Texas A&M University, we could see dolphins on an almost daily basis from the windows of the Ocean and Coastal Studies Builing. Locals and students were accustomed to their presence and did not pay much attention. For us, however, it was exciting and unusual to see these animals feed on flounders near a sulphur deposit, or socialize close to a tanker.

(photo G. Bearzi)

Juvenile wreckfish

These juvenile wreckfish were found hiding below a small wooden log near the island of Hydra, Greece.

Wreckfish Polyprion americanus often congregate below floating objects when young, whereas adults live on the bottom and prefer to inhabit caves and shipwrecks. They can grow up to about 2 m and weigh 100 kg.

(photo G. Bearzi)

Doing something different

Eye of a dolphin

Happy Greek Easter 2013!

Dolphin Biology People: Kostas

Konstantinos (Kostas) Papalexis – here portrayed with Silvia in front of his Galaxidi shop – is a friend who helps us solve the logistical problems we face on an almost daily basis.

Recently, as our usual mooring place was taken by some other guy (with whom we did not want to argue), Kostas helped us find the perfect mooring spot for our inflatable, just besides his own boat. He even dove in still-cold waters to make sure the anchoring holds.

Kostas owns the bakery situated in the main square of Galaxidi, where he delivers bread, pastries and pitas. He also runs a well-equipped nautical shop offering services to divers and sailors. Additionally, Kostas co-manages with wife Chrisoula two of the best hotels in town: Hotel Ganimede and Hotel Miramare.

Over the years, Kostas has become a key collaborator and a friend we can trust whenever we are desperately looking for help – or when we simply feel like having ouzo mezedes in good company.

Imagination

Just let imagination lead... reality will follow through.

-- Michael Hedges (1953–1997)

(photo G. Bearzi)

On a golden sea

When possible we love staying out until late, as the Gulf of Corinth turns into copper and gold.

At dusk, striped dolphins stop socializing and show little aerial behaviour. Their groups become looser and the animals start performing longer dives, presumably in search of their prey – deepwater squid migrating vertically and getting closer to the surface as light dims.

Where Chinese vessels fish

Pew Charitable Trusts: China foreign fishing is largely unreported

Nature: Detective work uncovers under-reported overfishing

Original article:
Pauly D., et al. 2013. China's distant-water fisheries in the 21st century. Fish and Fisheries doi:10.1111/faf.1203


For those who are interested in the global and regional implications, there are a number of documentaries reporting the consequences of overfishing by foreign fleets along the coasts of Africa (and elsewhere). These include The End of the Line, The Damned of the Sea and the more recent Planet Ocean.

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

-- Derek Walcott (born 1930)


(Photo by G. Bearzi, Northern Evoikos Gulf, Greece, October 2010)