Great Annual Fish Count (Or 'I Love Rockfish')

I joined John Wolfe and his group for their Annual Fish Count dive at Coral Street Beach. I considered this dive day to be a treat. I had heard that John Wolfe was one of the main players involved with zoning the California Marine Protected Areas (he was formerly a stakeholder on the Central Coast Regional Stake Holder Group), so I was looking forward to diving with him. Doubly a treat was the fish ID seminar that was being held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium later that afternoon, followed by an impromptu fish ID dive through the aquarium.

Meeting John Wolfe was great. He is an enthusiastic, trim, 50-something man who looks like he could be in his early 40s. He has bright blue eyes that open wide when he talks about something that he is excited about. I have not met anyone more animated about fish.

The Annual Fish Count is an event sponsored by REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation). It enlists recreational divers to identify and count fish (no more than 1.5 hours of training was necessary to start counting). The data is used by scientists and divers to support the setting aside of marine protected areas. California is the first American state to vigorously set aside marine protected areas as fish nurseries for revitalizing the fish population (here is an excellent broadcast from NPR on the unique California program).


At first, I thought the REEF fish count was a gimmick to sell Paul Humann's fish ID books. The fish identification methodology used by REEF follows Paul Humann's loosey-goosey categorization of fish in terms of body shape instead of genus or family. But as I learned that the data was being used to justify the setting aside of Marine Protected Areas, and when I experienced how FUN it was to count fish in such a simple, laymen's manner, my mind changed.

After the dives themselves, we were treated to a seminar held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and taught by Gil Falcone, the chief diving safety officer at the museum. We were then allowed to wander the Monterey Bay Aquarium for free, with an impromptu guided tour by Gil Falcone and John Wolfe.

As the group mingled in front of the kelp forest exhibit (see below), I exclaimed to noone in particular: "I love rockfish". Among less enthusiastic people, I would have been a bit embarrassed to exclaim such a statement. But given that John goes around quoting the life spans of rockfish species to other divers (counting in the hundreds of years for a couple of species), I didn't feel so bad.

The Glorious Kelp Forest Exhibit
(courtesy of Monterey Bay Aquarium)

My favorite rockfish species to date is the kelp rockfish (see first pic above), otherwise known as the "dumb bass" by divers and scientists. They seem pretty stupid, which is why I like them so much. They are unperturbed by divers (you can get within inches of them), and they like to hang out vertically in the water column (also see above pic) for some inexplicable reason. On Dive #1 of the day, when I nudged a cluster of eggs with my finger, a kelp rockfish came within a couple of feet of me to investigate what I was looking at. I love it when fish do that. They are not just these automatons in the water, but exhibit what I think of as personality.

Meeting Gil Falcone (the chief diving safety officer) was pretty cool, too. I asked what the Aquarium dive volunteer requirements were, and when we found out that I wasn't qualified (I live too far away), he suggested that I volunteer at the newly opening Steinhard Aquarium in SF. I also found out some insider aquarium information from Gil. For instance, did you know that:

1. Resident Great White Shark #1 was released because it had nose injuries and because it was too difficult to repeatedly swab the area for infection (shark didn't like this too much).
2. Resident Great White Shark #2 was released because it was hunting other sharks.
3. Resident Great White Shark #3 was released because it was jumping full body lengths out of the water!

Anyways, my dives in detail from the day follow. Allen, who has been counting fish for REEF for the past 8 years, was my dive buddy, and helped me to identify the various fish species:

A Face Only A Mother Could Love

Monkeyface Prickleback Eel (photo courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Dive #1: Coral Street (Cumulative Dive #159)
Max Depth: 30? feet
Time: 1:00 hour
Buddy: Allen
Temperature: Oceanic Computer 47 deg. F (53 deg. F)
Visibility: 20+ feet
Weight worn: 24 lbs (20 on weight belt, 4 in BCD)

Observations:
Coral Street Beach was an awesome shore dive where I saw perhaps my most unique fish sighting of the year, a Monkeyface Prickleback Eel (see above). Unfortunately, a predator (a cormorant?) had gouged its eye out, so the fish did not seem at all healthy. This explains why it was all the way out in the open during daytime. Other sightings:

• black and blue rockfish
• black seaperch
• pile perch
• painted greenlings

Dive #2: Coral Street Beach (Cumulative Dive #160)
Max Depth: 39 feet
Time: 1:07 minutes
Buddies: Allen
Temperature: Oceanic Computer 47 deg. F (53 deg. F)
Visibility: 20-40 feet
Weight worn: 24 lbs (14 on weight belt with two 5ers in foremost pockets, 10 lbs in BCD).

Observations:
Awesome dive, and longest dive in Monterey to date (courtesy of my drysuit). We went way past the shallow reef to the deeper reef. Vis varied from 40+ feet at the sandbed between the two reefs, to 20 feet. We saw clouds of juvenile rock fish in the hundreds! Hopefully this bodes well for the rockfish population in years to come. Also, we saw a fat harbor seal that rubber necked us as it continued on its way.