[Coral-List] impact of snorkelers feeding fish

Fri Dec 25 14:01:04 EST 2009

Actually, I started the initial inquiry about the impacts of feeding on reef
communities because I wanted to find people who are currently doing work on
this topic (or or who have done recent work) because I wanted to interview
them for an article.

I have done some searching and there doesn't seem to be very many empirical
studies that have been done. The articles that were just sent to the list
address the issue but are not direct empirical studies on the impacts of
fish feeding.

Rob Goldstein

Conservation Maven
 www.conservationmaven.com

130 Irving Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
 (415) 308-4669

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 9:00 AM, <coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>wrote:

> Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to
>        coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>        http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>        coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
>        coral-list-owner at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Coral-List digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: impact of snorkelers feeding fish (Delbeek, Charles)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:06:40 -0800
> From: "Delbeek, Charles" <CDelbeek at calacademy.org>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] impact of snorkelers feeding fish
> To: itay cohen <2itaycohen at gmail.com>, coral list
>        <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID:
>        <
> 09DB2E532F2E564EAA2B49C495D7CDB12C9B065E5F at MAILBOXCLUSTER.calacademy.org>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Just a quick search on Google scholar unearthed these papers on the impacts
> of tourists feeding fish in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii.
>
>
> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9R-44B2BV8-2&_user=2267567&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000056812&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=2267567&md5=207f40b5d43be2da045cf77af81d5782
>
>
> http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/pacific_science/v058/58.2beukering.pdf
>
> http://www.jstor.org/stable/4314719
>
> As I mentioned, the work is out there, just do a search. :-)
>
>
> J. Charles Delbeek, M.Sc.
> Senior Aquatic Biologist, Steinhart Aquarium
> California Academy of Sciences
> 55 Music Concourse Dr.
> San Francisco CA 94118
>
> phone (415) 379-5303
> fax (415) 379-5304
> cdelbeek at calacademy.org
> www.calacademy.org
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:
> coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of itay cohen
> Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 5:31 PM
> To: coral list
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] impact of snorkelers feeding fish
>
> Dean, Rob and listers,
>
> The issue of anthropogenic fish feeding is pretty common as far as the
> locations i have experienced with. I will concentrate on two reefs which
> suffer from that same human behaviour, however the impacts are much
> different as far as my naked eye. The reef of Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba at
> the red sea, is receiving a close treatment from the nature and national
> parks protection authority. however not once I have witnessed tourists
> which
> may be aware of the fact that it is forbidden to throw food of any kind to
> the ocean or not, enjoying the sight of a big wrasse trying to climb to 0
> depth in order to catch some easy snack while almost misses his chance to
> drag himself back to the water. At several reefs close to Okinawa (Japan),
> on the other hand,  the habit of fish feeding is widely spread and even
> motivated by stores which supply special food for fish. in both cases the
> system is disturbed, but in a different aspects. In Eilat the unhealthy
> food, like bread and other snacks, may not get digested properly and
> therefore harm the individual. In Okinawa I witnessed tremendous amount of
> fish at the feeding locations, much more than the local reef can Carry (for
> my opinion)..it is pretty safe to say that the food chain had been
> affected..
> In any case that this habit will ceace, the system could return to its
> previous condition, or not..
>
>
>
> Itay Cohen, PhD candidate
>
> The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences
> POB 469; Eilat 88103; Israel
> and
> Earth science Department
> Faculty of Oceanography
> Hebrew University
>
> Phone +972-(50)-7450404
> Fax: +972-(8)-6374329
>
>
> 2009/12/8 Dean Jacobson <atolldino at yahoo.com>
>
> > 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
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Coral-List mailing list
> > > > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > > > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Coral-List mailing list
> > > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
>
>
> --
> --
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
> End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 16, Issue 25
> ******************************************
>