Conservation
The Data: Fiji
During the 2017 Fiji Expedition on board the m/y Ad-Vantage, Project Baseline volunteers conducted a series of dives to collect data that will be used for scientists to study the health of the area compared to other reefs in the South Pacific and other parts of the globe.
Click the image to view a gallery of several different corals/reefs around Fiji.
“Passions provide purpose but data drives decisions.”- Andy Dunn
During the 2017 Fiji Expedition on board the m/y Ad-Vantage, Project Baseline volunteers conducted a series of dives to collect data that will be used for scientists to study the health of the area compared to other reefs in the South Pacific and other parts of the globe. Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, video transects, detailed documentation of specific coral colonies, along with sample collection and preservation were conducted by a team of technical divers, open circuit science divers, and a submersible. The data collected is being analyzed by a graduate student from the University of the South Pacific. To view, the data visit our database and our YouTube channel.
To read more about the project, see our article on Establishing a Baseline for Fiji’s Coral Reefs, or view our story map.
This is the dive profile for the mission at Alacrity Passage. The temperature is recorded on their dive computers as well as on a data sonde that is carried by one of the dive team members.
Both the rebreather team and the submersible were equipped with data sondes that continuously measured the salinity, temperature, and depth of the water at one-second intervals. The rebreather team’s data sonde was also equipped with pH and dissolved oxygen sensors.
The data was downloaded and plotted to depict how those parameters varied from site to site and with respect to depth at every site. These data will provide other important baselines for coral reef conditions in Fiji from which change through time can be identified, quantified, and hopefully acted on.
Top Image Photo Credit: Rob Wilson, Frontline Photography.
The Project Baseline initiative is driven by data collection. With an online spatial database that hosts the collection efforts of over 100 teams in over 30 countries, anyone can access the temperature, visibility, and images from these aquatic locations.
Art
Rock & Water
Sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor evokes the sacred, populating underwater seascapes with corporeal objets d’art, meant to be assimilated by the sea.
Text, photography and art courtesy of Jason deCaires Taylor.
“Museums are places of conservation, education, and about protecting something sacred. We need to assign those same values to our oceans.”
“As soon as we sink them, they belong to the sea.“
“The Rising Tide was located within sight of the Houses of Parliament. The politician on a petroleum horse was an obvious metaphor for how fossil fuel companies are embedded into our politician system. I think we really have to start holding people accountable for what they are doing. And that needs to be documented in stone rather than in a few words in a newspaper column that disappears. There are a lot of people whose actions need to be immortalised.”
“It is named a museum for a simple reason. Every day we dredge, pollute and overfish our oceans, while museums are places of preservation, of conservation, and of education. They are places where we keep objects that have great value to us. Our oceans are sacred.”
Check out www.underwatersculpture.com for a lot more amazing work!
Jason deCaires Taylor MRSS is an award winning sculptor, environmentalist and professional underwater photographer. For the past 16 years, Taylor has been creating underwater museums and sculpture parks beneath the waves, submerging over 1,100 living artworks throughout the world’s oceans and seas. Themes explored by these artistic installations include, among others, the climate emergency, environmental activism, and the regenerative attributes of nature. The sculptures create a habitat for marine life whilst illustrating humanity’s fragility and its relationship with the marine world. Taylor’s subjects mainly feature members of the local community, focussing on their connections with their own coastal environments.
Low Cost DIY Rebreather Testing: Why and How
An Ice Water Museum Named SS Ohio
Finessing the Grande Dame of the Abyss
Why It’s Okay To Make Mistakes
GORG GROK
Is Oxygen Narcosis A Thing?
