[Coral-List] impact of snorkelers feeding fish

[Dean Jacobson]

Brian's observations interest me, and makes me wonder how widespread this "unnatural" fish behavior has become.  I have witnessed fish feeding on Guam and Palau, but not on my home on Majuro, RMI (or other local atolls).  In Guam, snorkeling near Piti craters and in Tumon Bay, I simply had to wiggle my fingers to get Damsels to nibble on them (a good assay, I think, for fish behavior modification from tourist feedings).  Admittedly kind of fun, but troubling from an ecological perspective.

I would welcome reports from other reefs areas.

Cheers,
Dean Jacobson
College of the Marshall Islands

--- On Mon, 12/7/09, Brian Reckenbeil <breckenbeil at verizon.net> wrote:

> From: Brian Reckenbeil <breckenbeil at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] impact of snorkelers feeding fish
> To: "Robert Goldstein" <conservationmaven at gmail.com>, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Date: Monday, December 7, 2009, 1:28 PM
> Rob,
> 
> I know this is not direct research on your asked topic, but
> it is my 
> experience of how it has interrupted my behavioral and
> observational 
> research.
> 
> While a student at CIEE Research Station Bonaire in the
> spring of 2008, 
> http://www.cieebonaire.org/index.html , I
> conducted independent research on 
> the Cleaning Activity of Juvenile French Angelfish. 
> Juveniles of this 
> species are known to clean other fish when they are
> young.  I observed and 
> collected data for 20 minute integrals, which totaled
> almost 10 hours of 
> observations of useable data.
> 
> I say USEABLE because on at least 3 separate occasions, the
> same local 
> resident liked to snorkel with some sort of food in her
> hands.  She would 
> always see
> me laying nearly motionless in the shallow sandy bottom
> (6-12ft), with a 
> clipboard, datasheet and obvious meter stick for
> measurements.  I believe 
> she kept wondering what I was doing, since scuba divers are
> typically seen 
> swimming along the reef, and not laying still in one spot
> for a prolonged 
> period of time.
> 
> Every time she swam near, chaos ensued.  Fish
> immediately stopped their 
> typical behaviors, and formed like a ball around her. 
> It reminded me of 
> watching videos of a group of piranhas attacking
> prey.  I distinctly 
> remember a parrotfish, which was stopped at the cleaning
> station I was 
> currently observing, quickly leave to go take part in the
> food frenzy around 
> this lady.  I saw other fish dart towards her from at
> least 40-50 feet away.
> 
> It appeared that this lady who loved to feed the fish
> interrupted my studies 
> almost 10% of the time.  I had a little over 30
> sessions of data recordings, 
> 3 of which were not used for this reason, 27 surveys I did
> use for my 
> analysis.  It was quite frustrating to have her swim
> by with food...  I can 
> not imagine how reef interactions could change if every
> single snorkeler and 
> diver brought food out into the water and feed the
> fish.  I certainly would 
> not have been able to perform this research has this been
> the case, as 
> Bonaire is a major tourism hotspot for reef exploration,
> and divers were 
> frequently entering the waters nearby.
> 
> For anyone interested further in this, there is a short
> segment (2 seconds 
> at time 41sec) where fish are swimming around a girls hand,
> possibly 
> thinking they will be fed? in my 60 second video
> application for the 
> Australian "Best Job in the World" Island Reef Job Video
> Application. 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjL-CWkBUt4 (I ranked as
> high as 8th out of 
> 34,000 on most popular page on final day!!)
> 
> SWIMcerely,
> 
> Brian Reckenbeil
> www.linkedin.com/in/brianreckenbeil
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Robert Goldstein" <conservationmaven at gmail.com>
> To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 3:59 PM
> Subject: [Coral-List] impact of snorkelers feeding fish
> 
> 
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm curious if anyone on this list has done (or is
> doing) any research on
> > the impact of snorkelers/divers feeding fish on coral
> reef ecosystems - 
> > or
> > if you know who are leading researchers on the topic.
> I'm exploring 
> > writing
> > an article on the topic.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Rob Goldstein
> >
> > Conservation Maven
> > www.conservationmaven.com
> >
> > 130 Irving Street
> > San Francisco, CA 94122
> > (415) 308-4669
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> 
> 
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