When I first arrived in the Dominican Republic, I was intrigued by two things that I thought were strange for a tropical island nation: the most popular fish eaten was "bacalao" (Bah-cah-LAH-oh) or dried codfish from the Northeast Atlantic and that most Dominicans don't know how to swim. I still don't know why Dominicans don't know how to swim, but after doing some internet research, I discovered why Dominicans savor the taste of codfish over fresh fish caught along their coasts. Thanks to Google Books, I was able to read the excerpt of a book called the Caribbean, the Codfish Story. When Europeans colonized the New World, they discovered that the waters off the coast of Newfoundland were teeming with cod. This fish supplanted the codfish industries in Europe because it was more plentiful and accessible and provided the base of the triangle trade between Europe, the Caribbean, and the Northeast colonies. High quality cod was exported to Europe, and salt cod was exported to the Caribbean, where it was the preferred food for slaves because it was high in protein, did not spoil, and did not take up a lot of space. The Caribbean traded sugar cane and other agricultural products for cod and slaves in Europe.
On my list of books to read is Mark Kurlansky's Cod: Biography of a Fish that Changed the World.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
TED Talk: Jeremy Jackson, How We Wrecked the Ocean
I just watched a TED talk entitled How We Wrecked the Ocean by Jeremy Jackson. It paints an even more depressing picture of the situation of the world's oceans than I want to believe but he speaks the truth if something is not changed soon.
He talked about the coral reefs in Jamaica that were the most studied reefs in the 1970s. These reefs did not have any fish due to overfishing. After a major hurricane, all of the corals died, and now there is nothing but seaweed growing. I don't believe that all of the world's fisheries and coral reefs are doomed. I think that in the Dominican Republic, reefs are relatively healthy. In the reefs that we surveyed in Miches, there were still fish and there were several beautiful large expanses of large coral reefs. However, the same problems that were present in Jamaica are there as well. Water quality in Miches has decreased because of the increased sedimentation of the water, preventing sunlight from reaching the corals for photosynthesis; there is rampant overfishing, which reduces the number of grazers that keep seaweed from overgrowing the corals; and toxic algal blooms makes the trade of top predators such as the barrucuda forbidden but does not prevent the locals from consuming them for lack of food.
Depressing stuff.
He talked about the coral reefs in Jamaica that were the most studied reefs in the 1970s. These reefs did not have any fish due to overfishing. After a major hurricane, all of the corals died, and now there is nothing but seaweed growing. I don't believe that all of the world's fisheries and coral reefs are doomed. I think that in the Dominican Republic, reefs are relatively healthy. In the reefs that we surveyed in Miches, there were still fish and there were several beautiful large expanses of large coral reefs. However, the same problems that were present in Jamaica are there as well. Water quality in Miches has decreased because of the increased sedimentation of the water, preventing sunlight from reaching the corals for photosynthesis; there is rampant overfishing, which reduces the number of grazers that keep seaweed from overgrowing the corals; and toxic algal blooms makes the trade of top predators such as the barrucuda forbidden but does not prevent the locals from consuming them for lack of food.
Depressing stuff.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Artificial Reefs Featured in National Geographic Article
I've gotten National Geographic since I was 13 years old and when I went home last weekend, I found 3 National Geographics waiting for me (I obviously hadn't been home in a while...). I was surprised to find that in the February issue was an article on artificial reefs! It featured a map that showed all of the artificial reefs off the eastern coast of the United States. I didn't realize how many of them there are. However, most of these were put into place before regulations were implemented requiring a certain procedure to be followed before the reefs are implemented to reduce environmental damage. I'm not going to post photos from National Geographic website because that would be copyright infringement, but if you want to check out the article, here's the link.
One of the artificial reefs mapped is the German submarine U-352, which is a popular recreational dive site due to its abundant marine life. While I was in the DR this winter, Paul let me borrow the book Shadow Divers, which was about a dive team off the coast of New Jersey that found another German submarine, the U-869, that over 200 feet deep in 1991. It is one of the best books I have every read and if you are into adventure books or diving, it is a must-read. A fisherman had sold the location to the divers because he had believed that a wreck on the ocean floor was attracting the abundant marine life that was found in the area. Three divers died while trying to discover the identity of the wreck because of its extreme depth and rudimentary diving technology at the time. One of the discoverers was John Chatterton, who is one of the most famous wreck divers in the world. He is currently working in Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic searching for wrecks, very close to Miches.
One of the artificial reefs mapped is the German submarine U-352, which is a popular recreational dive site due to its abundant marine life. While I was in the DR this winter, Paul let me borrow the book Shadow Divers, which was about a dive team off the coast of New Jersey that found another German submarine, the U-869, that over 200 feet deep in 1991. It is one of the best books I have every read and if you are into adventure books or diving, it is a must-read. A fisherman had sold the location to the divers because he had believed that a wreck on the ocean floor was attracting the abundant marine life that was found in the area. Three divers died while trying to discover the identity of the wreck because of its extreme depth and rudimentary diving technology at the time. One of the discoverers was John Chatterton, who is one of the most famous wreck divers in the world. He is currently working in Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic searching for wrecks, very close to Miches.
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