Ever heard of an Anchialine (‘near the sea’) Pond ? Well neither had I until I stumbled upon a series of these pools adorning the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. While following the convex nature of the coastline from Waiulua Bay to Anaehoomalu Bay, my eyes managed to wander from the crashing waves just in time to catch a placard telling passersby to refrain from disturbing sensitive habitat. Of course I was curious and so I left the coral beach, stepped onto the tree-shaded dirt path and peered across lava beds that were cupping crystal clear waters. But that is an understatement as far as a description goes because the waters bristled with life, colorful algae coated the water covered rocks and birds waded in the waters and disappeared behind once molten rock.
I was really anxious to get a closer look and for a split second even contemplated a quick inspection, but that sign flickered in my head and I knew I had to keep a responsible distance; practice what I preach whether I liked it or not. But it did not take long to discern a path made for human travelers had been installed and provided ample space for observation. This was virgin territory, for me anyways, and I quickly managed to forget all the signs that indicated people had come and gone before…my expedition was underway. I traversed the well groomed path and wondered whether they were fresh or salt or brackish water ponds. I had hypotheses for each scenario, which was extended to include a reason for the presence of an incredible amount of small fish schooling in the variety of pools ranging from the scientific units of very small to quite large. But I began to realize their salty nature after spotting the presence of a small surgeonfish swimming amongst the other gilled residents. Besides fish, the ponds are home for algae, plants, shrimp, snails, insects and provide foraging sites for birds.
Alas, a sign describing yet another Hawaiian treasure identified the name of my latest discovery. And before I provide additional verbiage and photos, I should mention that I was brought back to reality as the path ultimately ended amongst the streets of civilization. An adventure none the less.
“Anchialine ponds are one of Hawaii’s most threatened ecosystems. There are about 700 known anchialine ponds in Hawai’i. Most Hawaiian anchialine ponds are in the youngest lava areas of the Big Island of Hawai’i and Maui. They exist in inland lava depressions near the shore and contain brackish (a mixture of freshwater and saltwater) water. Freshwater is fed to the ponds from ground water that moves down slope and from rainwater. Ocean water seeps into the ponds through underground crevices in the surrounding lava rock.” University of Hawaii at Hilo
According to the signs on site, “Tiny red shrimp, collectively called ‘Opae’ula, are one of the unique features of these anchialine pools and are found only in Hawaii. The shrimp are omnivorous and can live for long periods of time underground in the interstitial groundwater without appearing in the pools. The shrimp have been found in wells located a mile inland. The smaller and more numerous shrimp (Halocaridina rubra) is preyed upon by a larger red shrimp (Matabetaeus lohena).”
It’s probably not much of a limb to go out on, but I’m pretty sure there is a clear majority and mandate by Americans to halt whaling, let alone lend official support and endorse such actions by other nations. And I think I may enter the frigid waters and tackle our own policies regarding indigenous harvesting in another setting. For now, I like to imagine that the approval rating for whaling is somewhere in the single digit range, but after reality sets in I doubt we have yet to reach the incredible homogeneity that the populace of Australia has been demonstrating. As reported by Time, ” A national poll conducted in January [2010], 94% of Australians said they were against whaling.”
Addressing problems is always a good thing, right? Well, after waving away the smoke we find that the proposal not only recommends whaling for members of the IWC who are currently killing whales to legally do so for the next 10 years, but that the Obama Administration is backing the plan (Which by the way was announced in a press release on Earth Day 2010). Additionally, the key is an “acceptable package,” which can be argued as strictly no whaling, and is currently tied to the fact “that whaling catch limits are largely still to be determined.” It is because of this ambiguity in the draft proposal that the International Fund for the Welfare of Animals (IFAW) is looking for support and involvement. 
Bycatch. It’s a word that sounds rather innocuous as it rolls off the tongue, but clearly does not do justice to the staggering amount of life that is instantly converted to simple biological waste. It’s a problem that amounts to tonnes, in the neighborhood of several million per year. And again I say thank God because the widely popular sea turtle may be able to help shine the light on an ever growing problem responsible for population declines in multiple species. Well, at least I hope so.
And after looking at the data I am left wondering how many sea turtles are actually killed or die as a result of wounds incurred by coming into contact with gillnets, longlines and trawls. I can imagine it is only palatable when wearing a pair of rose colored glasses. But as far as the research goes, there was insufficient data to incorporate mortality rates.
“Targeted action to reduce turtle-gear interactions is essential for population persistence, and is already underway for some fleets…our study revealed that reports of longline bycatch are two-fold more common than reports of bycatch in either trawls or gillnets.”
I’ll be perfectly honest…I’ve been sitting on this essay from Conservation Biology for the last week or so as I mulled over my approach on breaching this topic. At one point I envisioned the title as Torn Between Ocean Science and Ocean Conservation; clearly a manifestation of the dilemma with which I was trying to come to terms. The direction we go just seems so obvious, right? Well I guess that depends on which side of the fence you fall on as the authors, Heupel and Simpendorfer, do a fairly good job at covering all aspects of the issue, from allowing scientific collection of only healthy species to limited collections of endangered species to the use of non-lethal methods to use of collections only in an attempt to perfect non-lethal sampling methods. So what SHOULD we choose? 
And let’s not forget that we apply such a social standard when it comes to research on whales. Non-lethal sampling is a worthy endeavor and out of scientific necessity ingenuity will drive new and innovative data gathering methods.
Lucy
poor little turtle.
Angela
anika001
Dan
april14344
