Stellwagen
Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Takes
Part in Great American Fish Count
7/7/00
Local Divers Organize
First New England Effort in the Great American Fish Count Program
contact:
Anne Smrcina, 781-545-8026, ext. 204
Throughout
the month of July, volunteer divers on both coasts will be seeking out
and counting fish as part of the Great American Fish Count. The volunteer
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary dive team will be making the
first dives in this region — previously all the counts had been
in tropical or west coast locations.
The Great
American Fish Count (GAFC) is a national dive event coordinated by the
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) which mobilizes and trains
volunteer divers and snorkelers in established methodologies to identify
and document fish diversity and population trends in marine sanctuaries
and other coastal areas. The GAFC has been helping resource mangers
assess local fish stocks by providing an annual snapshot of local fish
populations, much like the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
The newly
organized Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary dive team has participated in the
state’s biodiversity days with several dives to record regional
marine life and is helping to identify wrecks located throughout the
sanctuary. The Gerry E. Studds/Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
is an 842-square-mile area located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay
between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. Most of the region’s whalewatching
boats use Stellwagen Bank as a destination, and commercial as well as
recreational fishing boats have targeted a variety of species that visit
the bank.
The Sanctuary
dive team consists of four highly qualified divers who have over 60
years of dive experience and over 3,300 dives to their credit. Bob Michelson,
a
professional
videographer and photographer, and dive team leader, has trained the
team in use of underwater imaging technologies. Doug Costa, a registered
Emergency Medical Technician and Master Diver Instructor, has made over
1,200 dives to depths as great as 270 feet. Robert Murray, another master
scuba diver has made similar deep dives, as well as dives under ice,
to wrecks, and in caves. Stephen Neuger rounds out the team with close
to 500 dives to his credit under a variety of conditions. Diving at
the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is much different from
that experienced in other sanctuaries due to the cold water (usually
less than 50 degrees F. even in the summer), the distance from shore,
the prevailing bottom currents, and the active boat traffic. Due to
these conditions, diving in the sanctuary is not recommended for anyone
other than highly skilled, mixed gas divers.
The GAFC
is an annual event that takes place during the first two weeks of July
at sites around the country. In addition to the Great American Fish
Count, the sanctuary is supporting a number of research projects that
are focusing on fish ecology and fish habitats in the region, and the
National Marine Fisheries Service continues its long-term regional surveys
of fish populations. For more information on GAFC, please visit http://www.fishcount.org
or http://www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov.
Media
interested in covering the first Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
dives for the Great American Fish Count should contact the sanctuary
at 781-545-8026 or call Sanctuary Education Coordinator Anne Smrcina
at 508-243-1585. Limited space is available on the boat (sorry —
no one is allowed to dive off the sanctuary vessel without NOAA certification).
Video and still images will be available that day.
