A wakeup call on ocean degradation

For Deb Castellana, a dive on a reef offshore from Palm Beach Florida in August
2009 was a wakeup call to the degradation of our oceans.
She had returned to re-explore the waters where she learned to scuba dive in the
1980s and went on to become a dive master, teaching the sport there. It is wher
e the Gulf Stream comes closer to land than anywhere else in the United States,
keeping the water warm and the underwater life such as coral washed. The reefs w
ere healthier there than most places.
It would not be a happy homecoming.
“The difference in my reef was astounding. I saw bleached coral. When you are doin
g your ascent and the water is clear it looks like PVC plastic,” says Deb. “When you
look closer it is dead coral – coral bleaching.”
There was not only less coral, but fewer desirable fish and a lot more of a trou
blesome species known as lionfish. Lionfish are native to the Red Sea and the Pa
cific. “They are very pretty and people had them in aquariums. But some people in
Florida released them on the reef and they spread like wildfire. They eat everyt
hing on the reef. The pretty tropicals are gone. They (lionfish) have spread as
far north as North Carolina. They’re all over the Bahamas and the Caribbean.”
On the positive side, says Deb, the goliath groupers have returned in great numb
ers. “I worked as a dive master there every day seven days a week for 10 years and
I saw one goliath grouper in 2,000 dives. They protected them because they were
so rare. The one I saw was in cave and was the size of a Volkswagen. It was ama
zing. I saw one and never saw another until 2009, when they were all over the pl
ace – on all the wrecks and in schools.”
But overall, what she saw on that dive alarmed her. Shortly afterward, she quit
her job and devoted herself full-time to promoting environmental awareness.
There was no shortage of causes to address, but probably none more urgent than t
he Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. She found a role
with Sylvia Earle, the first female chief scientist for the National Oceanograp
hic and Atmosphere Administration and also an explorer in residence at National
Geographic.
“When the Deepwater Horizon blew up they called Sylvia. They call her ‘Her Deepness.’
She is ocean royalty. Sylvia has been my idol for 30 years,” says Deb.
Sylvia had worked with many ocean conservancy groups and was looking for someone
to write a blog. Authorities were trying to keep the media away from the spill
area but the story needed to be told. Deb observed from planes and boats the hor
rific impact of the spill on the environment and wrote about it on both her blog
and Sylvia’s.
“We really don’t know how many sharks or whales were killed in that disaster,” Deb say
s. “There was one pod of resident Orcas in Gulf and it looks like they survived.”
Sylvia’s work also emphasizes the positive. For example, she identifies “hope spots” i
n the oceans that are still pristine enough to save and reconstruct the healthy
ocean environment of 200 years ago. Google Earth records these “hope spots” on its s
ite.
“Sylvia went to Google and said most of the planet is ocean. Since then it is unbe
lievable what Google has done. You can zoom down and it takes you underwater.”
Deb, who lives in California, has also contributed in determining the status of
sea lions, whale sharks and herring in the Gulf of California. “I found that the h
erring population had collapsed from over-fishing. The Chinese were coming in th
ere and wiped them out. But the herring have come back and the sea lions, too.”
Outside San Francisco’s Golden Gate is the Farallones Marine Sanctuary designated
in 1981 to protect the rich biological diversity of the area off the rocky Faral
lon islands 20 miles offshore from the mainland. Among the 25 endangered species
in that area are blue and humpback whales. The sanctuary is run as a non-profit
organization and has been a success.
“You would not believe the whales,” says Deb, adding that they see at least three bl
ue whales in those waters, the largest creatures on Earth. “We’re not sure if they’re
coming back or not.”
Deb says Oakland is one of the busiest shipping ports in North America and this
can be a problem in October when “the water is boiling with sea life.” Last year, a
ship came in with a whale wrapped around its bow. At Boston, a similar problem w
as avoided by changing three traffic routes so ships can stay clear of whales.
Another group protecting sea life is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whic
h patrols in the Antarctica south of New Zealand where there is a southern ocean
whale sanctuary. The group’s ships provide a presence to deter poachers in an are
a where there is otherwise no enforcement.
A world traveller, Deb once lived in Sweden and was impressed with the Swedes’ ded
ication to environmental conservation. So clean is the water now “they go salmon f
ishing on their lunch breaks in middle of Stockholm. When they had the very firs
t Earth Day the people in Sweden took it very seriously.”
Deb’s passion for the ocean began with her love of sailing when she lived in New Y
ork. “But for half the year my boat was on blocks and I couldn’t sail.” So she moved t
o Florida, sold her sailboat and bought dive gear. “I immediately became addicted
to it. I couldn’t believe if you are underwater you could swim right up to a sea t
urtle.”
That discovery, in turn, led to her growing awareness of the importance of conse
rving oceans and the sea life they support.
To that end, she is now working with the Coast Guard in San Francisco to ensure
people get hazardous material training and instruction on how to capture and han
dle birds covered with oil from a spill in the ocean.
“When we had the last spill, well meaning people would start chasing them and they’d
fly away and die. We need all hands on deck because an oil spill could happen f
ive minutes from now.
Kathy Dowsett
www.kirkscubagear.com