[Coral-List] Fwd: Jack Randall memories

Tue May 19 16:16:10 UTC 2020

The link I sent earlier was broken.

attached is the correct link to the volume

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https%3A%2F%2Frepository.si.edu%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10088%2F33938%2FAtoll_GoldenIssue.pdf&hl=en&sa=T&oi=gga&ct=gga&cd=0&d=9172546195820423133&ei=lf_DXt6UA_iLy9YP8KehmAo&scisig=AAGBfm2emmo8uZKPdJ2ulw0A1pi5Cz78VA&nossl=1&ws=1161x716&at=Atoll%20Research%20Bulletin%20Golden%20Issue%20(1951-2001)&bn=1

On Tue, May 19, 2020 at 12:11 PM William Precht <william.precht at gmail.com>
wrote:

> As you have all read, in the last few weeks we have lost two of the great
> pioneers in our field - Jack Randall and Ian Macintyre.
>
> I have enclosed a link to the Golden Anniversary issue of the Atoll
> Research Bulletin.
>
> https%3A%2F%2Frepository.si.edu
> %2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10088%2F33938%2FAtoll_GoldenIssue.pdf&hl=en&sa=T&oi=ggp&ct=res&cd=0&d=9172546195820423133&ei=lf_DXt6UA_iLy9YP8KehmAo&scisig=AAGBfm2emmo8uZKPdJ2ulw0A1pi5Cz78VA&nossl=1&ws=1161x716&at=Atoll%20Research%20Bulletin%20Golden%20Issue%20(1951-2001)
>
> Both Jack and Ian have chapters in that volume which are essentially
> autobiographical accounts of their careers.  These are really wonderful
> accounts and worth the read.  There are equally great chapters by other
> renowned coral scientists contained within that special issue. Please take
> a look.  As Dennis Hubbard noted yesterday - we are standing on the
> shoulders of these scientific giants. Accordingly, we should never forget
> their personal contributions to coral reef science.
>
> Please enjoy,
>
> Bill
>
> On Tue, May 19, 2020 at 8:19 AM Michael J. Gawel via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>>  Coral List Manager,
>>  Will you please post my belated recognition of Jack Randall, copied
>> below.
>>  Thank you,
>>
>>  Mike Gawel, coral reef biologist and environmental planner in Guam, one
>> of many mentored by Jack Randall and his long time friend.
>> mgawel at guam.net
>>
>>
>> JACK RANDALL MEMORIES
>> Our family and many friends express our condolences to wife Helen,
>> daughter Lori, son Rodney and Jack Randall’s family over his passing.
>>
>> Just as so many who have benefited from Jack’s work and influence I must
>> join in, to honor him and share some personal memories. I was extremely
>> fortunate to have many fish collection dives and learning experiences with
>> Jack in Fiji and the Philippines from 1971 to 1981. I was impressed that
>> he was so brilliant, scientifically productive, inspirational and
>> supportive.
>>
>> For those who have inter-acted with Jack, often in widespread, remote and
>> exotic sites, you may wonder what he described to me as his best dive. If
>> you can read this lengthy note, I’d like to maintain your attention to
>> read to the end where I will identify what Jack told me was his best dive.
>>
>> When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer at the University of the South Pacific
>> (USP) researching, writing fish identification materials, teaching and
>> collecting fishes for the University’s depository, Jack had me support him
>> in his collecting efforts including rotenone stations (this was an
>> accepted method 50 years ago).
>>
>> At one Fiji rotenone station a few meters deep we found a large moray eel
>> showing effects but still active. Jack signed me to go back to our nearby
>> boat and quickly bring him a large 3-pronged pole spear to use to safely
>> collect the eel. When I returned with the spear I saw no sign of the eel.
>> Later after completing collection of every fish we could find and not
>> leaving any, Jack explained that while I was getting the spear a large
>> shark had shown up and eaten the eel!
>>
>> At another Fiji site (Makaluva) on the slopes of a barrier reef channel we
>> were seeking specimens to spear. I believe we were about 10 meters deep
>> when a scary bull shark came to investigate us. For defense Jack responded
>> by unscrewing the point and barb from his spear which was loaded in his
>> spear gun and replacing it screwing on a powerhead with explosive shell
>> that he carried up his wetsuit sleeve. But just then we saw an Epinephelus
>> coeruleopunctatus, which Jack needed to collect and photograph. So Jack
>> traded his powerhead back for the spear point and quickly speared the
>> grouper while the shark was still circling. I was shocked and sped to the
>> surface and to our boat and fortunately Jack followed unharmed and with
>> his prized specimen.
>>
>> Later Jack told me how his friend Rhett McNair had perfected development
>> of power heads and practiced their use bull-fighter style. Jack also
>> talked about using black and white banded wetsuits to possibly discourage
>> sharks.
>>
>> We also discussed ciguatera, which led me a decade later to work on
>> ciguatera bioassay tests with mice (at USP) and mosquitos (in Tahiti) and
>> finally helping the poke-stick test development at the University of
>> Hawaii. Jack had suggested that he had tried his own instant in-the-field
>> bioassay by taking slime off the back of a fish suspected to have
>> ciguatera and rubbing it on his gums above his front teeth. If he felt a
>> tingling the fish was probably very toxic.
>>
>> In another story Jack explained how he discovered that the soapfish gives
>> off an irritating toxin from its skin. He had speared one soapfish and
>> lacked a stringer or collection bag, so he stuffed it inside his swim
>> trunks. That’s learning the hard way.
>>
>> When I was with Jack in those days he had the main goal of authoring a
>> book with color photos of all the reef fishes of South Pacific Islands. He
>> said he couldn’t get it printed without the support of two millionaires
>> (one alone wouldn’t be able to handle the costs). He finally did get that
>> excellent volume published in 2005.
>> Although Jack was interested in having me do a thesis on fish taxonomy at
>> the University of Hawaii and had me check specimens by visiting the
>> Smithsonian, the Field Museum, the California Academy, and his Bishop
>> Museum, he noted that spending years as a student at the University of
>> Hawaii (UH) might neglect the knowledge and experience I had developed
>> with the high diversity of fishes in Fiji (e.g., I was able to discover,
>> describe {with Dave Woodland} and name Siganus uspi and compiled a
>> teaching tool of a dichotomous key to Fiji’s 140 fish families). Jack
>> suggested that I check the new graduate program at the University of Guam
>> which would place me in an area of high species diversity and
>> opportunities of learning coral and marine plant species from experts and
>> finding new species. In retrospect, Jack was the major influence for my
>> move to Guam for graduate studies and my career based in Micronesia
>> dealing with coral reefs.
>>
>> However, I did later study at UH in the 1980’s but for a planning degree
>> with a thesis on Marine Resources Planning for Pacific Islands. During
>> that academic period I managed to dive in the Philippines with Jack and
>> collected fish at Dumaguete and with John McCosker at Mactan (where we
>> almost lost Kent E. Carpenter deep in a cave searching for flashlight
>> fish).
>>
>> I have kept in touch since and my last email from Jack was late in 2019
>> confirming our belief that Siganus uspi is endemic to Fiji. But I have not
>> dived with Jack for almost 40 years now. Some of our remote interactions
>> since then included identifying a Cirrhilabrus species I had caught and
>> kept in my home aquarium in Pohnpei while I was Chief of Marine Resources
>> for the Federated States of Micronesia. In those days before computers and
>> email I described it in a letter to Jack and he asked for a photo. That
>> involved taking the photo, having film sent to the US for development,
>> getting photos back to Pohnpei then mailing them to Jack in Hawaii. Ever
>> helpful, Jack replied that no wonder I couldn’t identify the species
>> because it was undescribed and he had also seen it from Kwajalein.
>>
>> Finally I’ll mention that we were culturing a species of local rabbit fish
>> at the Guam Aquaculture Center, thinking it was Siganus vermiculatus. But
>> on closer inspection we saw differences and this led to its being named a
>> new species Siganus randalli after Jack.
>>
>> Back in the 1970’s when we were relaxing between fish collecting efforts
>> (probably over Fiji Bitters) and while Jack told stories of his years of
>> unique and amazing experiences, I asked him what his best dive had been.
>> He thought a few seconds and then described how he did a full twisting one
>> and one half dive off the 3 meter spring-board when he competed on the
>> swimming and diving team at UCLA!
>>
>> I have dreamt that Heaven would be a place offering endless discoveries of
>> new species. I pray that Jack is realizing and enjoying that.
>> Mike Gawel
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> William F. Precht
>
>  “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
> you have”
>
> Bob Marley
>
>
>

-- 
William F. Precht

 “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
you have”

Bob Marley

-- 
William F. Precht

 “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
you have”

Bob Marley