So many places in the world are well behind the curve of marine conservation efforts. Bermuda is well ahead of it. Extremely strict commercial fishing policies and regulations since the early 90's, and ongoing conservation efforts reflect the respect the islands residents have towards the ocean. While visiting I met two people who stand out amongst the crowd though. Both are well known and come up regularly in conversation around the island. One is Andrew Stevenson.
Andrew has been studying and documenting whales on the Challanger Bank, a shoal about 20 miles from the island. What makes his work so interesting and different from other whale research is the location. While visiting Bermuda, Humpback whales are in the middle of their journey across the Atlantic. Their behavior socially is relatively unstudied, and their purpose for stopping over for extended periods shows little sign of having the usual reasoning such as food supply. Andrew has accumulated a rich bank of footage from his experiences and displays it freely for educational purposes through his website. WHALES BERMUDA
The second person well worth mentioning is Chris Flook. Chris works at the Bermuda Aquarium. To understand his job one must realize the importance that Bermuda has played in marine research throughout the 'ages'. Men like William Beebe the legendary ocean explorer used Bermuda as a staging point for years, and helped establish a long history of marine study and exploration. It seems that Chris is continuing that. For the moment though he is concentrating on a smaller specimen than Andrews Humpbacks, the lion fish.
Lion fish are not native to Bermuda, or the Atlantic for that matter. They are an invasive species recently introduced it seems by non other than the petshop industry in the Americas. Voracious hunters with inextinguishable appetites for small reef fish, they have wrecked havoc throughout the Caribbean already. Some estimates place the depopulation of some reef fish populations as high as 79%. That is devastational, and Chris is determined to not let it happen in Bermuda. He is helping to establish culling programs for the lion fish in an effort to protect the reef fish around Bermuda. The near future should provide evidence whether his efforts are successful, or not.
So much of the news we hear about our marine environments is negative. Often the experiences I come away from a place with are highlighted by these. Seeing how Bermuda has taken care of itself, is a nice change. It is an example of how conservation efforts can be successful. It seems to have managed to maintain a balance between the commercial, recreational, and tourism intrests, without selling out the environment.
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