Our World – Underwater Scholarship Society in Australasia

In June this year I was given a rare opportunity to work alongside some of the best of the underwater film industry. Jayne Jenkins (VP Australasia Rolex Scholarship) and Sue Crowe (Director – Tabata Australia) had very kindly offered me a filming internship with underwater cameraman Richard Fitzpatrick. Aware these experiences don’t come around too often, I soon found myself making the journey to Cairns to join Richard’s film crew just in time for his new project.

I had arrived for the beginning of a new BBC / Discovery / Digital Dimensions / Channel 9 co-production called ‘The Great Barrier Reef,’ a 3-part series premiering in 2012. The first episode will explain how the reef was formed, and how it flourishes today, using technology to get a close look at the reef. The second episode will focus on a giant lagoon located inside the reef, where the land meets the sea, and the third instalment will feature the remote outer reefs, which are rarely visited.

Richard Fitzpatrick, a marine biologist, is one of Australia’s leading underwater cinematographers. His award-winning company Digital Dimensions has worked with the likes of the BBC Natural History Unit, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. He also worked on the world’s most expensive cinema documentary ever made (US$40m) called ‘Oceans’ by Disney Nature.

The first part of the film schedule was to use Richard’s film studio in Cairns for macro and animal behaviour sequences. The studio contained a variety of tanks including one large enough to swim in, where he can re-create underwater environments such as coral reefs and mangrove flats – particularly useful for difficult animal behaviour sequences.

When I first stepped into Richard’s studio it reminded me of a marine-research laboratory but with film equipment thrown in. His background in aquariums and marine biology gives him a great advantage in understanding the marine environment with ability to recreate scenarios next to impossible to film in the wild. This makes Richard a highly sort after cameraman.

So my time with Richard consisted of extensive studio work where we were setting up underwater environments in aquariums to film. The highlights for me were filming macro time-lapse sequences of individual coral polyps and using fine motion control equipment to add movement to the sequence but also to achieve focus pulls between individual polyps on the same coral head. With normal observation of corals, they seem static, but with this technique the corals come alive with dramatic movements revealing incredible detail not possible with the human eye.

Another high point was the use of an electric arm called a ‘Jimmy Jib.’ The camera is attached to this device which is then suspended on a fine motion control matrix allowing for incredibly smooth 360° movement around a subject. The resulting footage reminded me of the dramatic smooth aerial images from the BBC series ‘Planet Earth’ but on a macro scale. This is truly innovative technology and the only one of its kind in Australia – which resulted in many “oooohhhhhs” and “ahhhhs” when we finally got it to work.

There is a reason why Richard is the only one in Australia with this set-up as we soon learned, with countless hours of fine-tuning – but Richard has a great team working hard to make it all happen. With such a skilled team and innovative filming techniques being used, this series will surely be one to watch out for and will continue the long-line of high quality documentaries we have seen from the BBC.

It has always been my dream to film underwater and I feel I am one giant step closer to achieving this goal. Being placed with the best in the industry I have learnt a great deal, especially studio filming which was a completely new experience to me. Richard has also offered me the opportunity to join the film crew later in the year when they set off to film some of the more remote areas of the Great Barrier Reef. I will then be taught the techniques of filming underwater. I look forward to posting another update of that experience later in the year.

Left to right: Chris, James, Richard and myself standing next to the ‘Jimmy Jib’ arm.

I would also like to thank James Brickell who is the BBC producer for ‘The Great Barrier Reef’, Yap and Chris who make up Richard’s team.

Cheyne Benjamin’s Showreel ….

So you know that I am out helping Steve with his PhD work looking at the effects of fishing pressure around Guam and Saipan. But what does the work were doing specifically involve?

Currently Steve is examining the potential depth refuge from fishing pressure. The theory is that deeper waters, inaccessible to certain fishing practices can form a refuge (like a marine protected area) where fish can grow and reproduce. The Marina Islands are a perfect case study for examining this theory, where freedive spearfishing is prevalent across all islands but remarkably SCUBA spearfishing is legal practice in Guam (while banned in the other islands). These SCUBA spearfisherman in Guam are pretty crazy and apparently pushing the limits to depths of over 80m in search of fish that were once prevalent in shallower waters. So he is sampling inside and outside of the marine protected areas of Guam and comparing to other islands including Saipan.

The main survey technique Steve is employing is the non-destructive sampling method of Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS). These video stations are effective for sampling across a broad range of depths and habitats. Steve is using stereo-video systems on his BRUVS, designed by Dr. Euan Harvey (Steve’s supervisor) from the University of Western Australia. Stereo-video allows accurate measurements of fish length and the size of the sampling area. The video stations are relatively simplistic in design, consisting of two forward facing video cameras mounted to a steel frame attached to a rope and buoy.  Each unit is baited with 1kg of oily fish, which is placed in a plastic mesh basket suspended in front of the two cameras. We have been fortunate enough to have fantastic weather while surveying, but when a swell picks up baiting the cameras can make for a stomach churning experience.

The simplistic nature of the video units allows for rapid deployment and easy retrieval. Just to give you an idea of how efficient the sampling method can be, Steve are I are using five stereo-BRUVS units whilst in Saipan, we can drop and pick up each unit at least 3 times throughout a day giving Steve over 15 hours footage to analyse. Compare that to diver surveys of fish populations and you would be lucky to get a quarter of that data (not to mention the depth limitations). The stations are dropped down onto the seafloor at pre-determined GPS locations and left to ‘soak’ for at least 1hr, we then come along and winch them back and repeat the process. Quite simply, rinse and repeat.

The principle behind stereo-video is that the two cameras are positioned in a slightly converged angle and their frame rate can be synced using a LED diode that is attached to the bait pole. Once the cameras are calibrated by spinning a large cube in front of the cameras it works in a very similar way to 3D television, allowing for a depth of field to be measured. This allows for distances of fish from the cameras, fish length, total fish area, fish abundance and diversity all to be measured. Stereo video is the most accurate way to size fish without catching them, giving some of the most useful data in terms of assessing fishing pressure on fish populations.

Steve also has access to habitat maps showing the bathymetry of the ocean floor, he uses this to select his sampling locations targeting deepwater coral reefs. Here is a video of some of his earlier sampling aboard the NOAA ship Oscar Elton Sette on an offshore bank south of Guam.

We have been dropping these BRUVS all along the Northern and Southern coasts of Guam and Saipan. Unfortunately our research vessel is not as spacious as the NOAA ship in the previous video…… Nestled into our overly packed 6m boat, it can be a cramped ride out to the field sites. But once the initial cameras are dropped and we have some room to breath the operation goes very smoothly.

It’s not all work and no play out on the boat dropping cameras we often make time for some freediving. Sampling in some of the most remote and inaccessible locations around Guam and Saipan, swimming amongst the shallow coral reefs, deepwater drop-offs and exploring sea caves makes for the best working break I can think of!

I have learned so much about the techniques used to assess fish populations since my time with Steve. Calibrating the BRUVS cameras, learning the software and data analysis, and of course getting my hands dirty out in the field have made me appreciate fieldwork in the marine sciences even more than before, fuelling my love for marine ecology.

Images from left to right: 1. Steve and I with our BRUVS boat in Saipan 2-3. Steve with his winch and installing it (I’m so thankful for this winch!) 4. The BRUVS 5.  Docked and ready to go 6. Pulling up a BRUVS off the coast of Saipan 7,10. BRUVS stacked and ready in Guam 8.All of Steve’s 16 video cameras! 9. Preparing the video cameras 11-13 Some screen shots of BRUVS footage (the tigershark was taken on Steve’s NOAA trip in Saipan) 14. Calibrating the cameras in the pool.

4:30 on a Sunday morning had me touching down in Guam after a 42 hr journey from Indonesia! Where is Guam, some people ask…. It is an island located in the Western Pacific in Micronesia. The largest and southernmost island in the Mariana Island chain it is bordered by the deepest part of the ocean – the famous Mariana trench! Guam is an unincorporated territory of the USA, with a rich and often violent history of indigenous culture and European colonisation. The island was a key area in the battle of the Pacific in WWII, and is currently a major military base for US soldiers and also a tourist hub for the Japanese. Which I think is kind of ironic as they were only fighting each other here about 50 years ago!

I guess some people have also been asking, where is Steve Lindfield, the 2008 Australasian Scholar? Well that is the reason I am here, to assist with some research for his PhD. After Steve completed his scholarship in 2009 and continued to travel he decided to go back to what he loves, studying fish! This had him enrol with the University of Western Australia, where he received some substantial scholarships and only 3 weeks after enrolling he was out here in the Mariana’s working from the University of Guam Marine Lab. Steve is currently looking at the effects of fishing pressure around Guam and the rest of the Mariana Islands. For this he is focussing on deeper water fish and examining if depth can provide a refuge from fishing pressure.  A very interesting topic!

So I will be living with Steve for the next 4 weeks and helping with some of his research. Guam is a perfect base for him as the reefs have suffered from high levels of unregulated fishing and with nearby islands applying different management strategies, this can provide a reference area to test theories for fishery management. It also has consistently warm clean water and his office located 100m from the water, he can take a break whenever he feels like getting wet!

As well as playing research assistant with Steve I get the chance to experience the local culture. The local “Chamorro” people are very friendly and Steve has had me going to festivals and trying the local cuisine such as chicken and fish ‘kelaguen’, a dish cooked with no heat but instead the acidity of lemon juice.

My time in Guam is primarily focused on helping Steve with his survey work, learning the field survey techniques, the software and processing. We will also be getting out and diving as much as possible, freediving, filming and photographing. Shortly we are heading off on a research trip to Saipan with Steve’s co-supervisor Jenny McIlwain and some of the other UOG fish ecology scientists. It’s a trip I’m sure will not disappoint. Till then we will be out on the water and exploring all that Guam has to offer!

I am going to change my approach to the scholarship blog. Of late I have been posting more journal style entries here few and far between. I am going to save that for the monthly journals that you can find on the official scholarship website HERE and go for a more casual informal updates here. Maybe just a picture every couple of days, and then every week or so do a little write up about what I have been doing, I will also start posting some little video clips up too. I feel that I haven’t been letting people really know what I have been up to and I want to try and get the real feeling of what it is like to be out on the Rolex OWU scholarship. I also really want to encourage people to post comments and feedback on here for me, feel free to put forward constructive criticism, tell me my blog sucks if you think thats the case, or that I am doing a good job, it all helps me improve and lets me know what is wanted. Ask questions about places that I have been or am going, and if you are a prospective scholar feel free to shoot me some questions of what life on the road it really like.

W.N.S.A

I arrived in Guam after a grueling 42 hours in airports and planes, coming a long route from Pulau Weh, Indonesia. As I booked flights in two sections due to projects coming through after I booked my initial flights. I flew from Indonesia, to Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, then finally Guam. Five countries in two days. Seeing airports is nothing to brag about but I feel I am becoming somewhat of an expert on them now. I spent the night in Bangkok airport, I got more sleep than I expected and I think I will put it down as an experience, but not one I would readily jump at again. My scholarship flag provided little warmth but was all I had to keep my leg warm during the night. By the time I could go through customs 3 hours before my flight I was wishing for carpet. There is nothing pretty about transit!

My luxury bed for the night. Bangkok airport.

Indonesia to Guam

A laptop is a traveler best friend

View from the top

Oh my god! Indonesia is incredible! Well certainly the small area that I have seen is. With the end of the 2^nd Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium I flew from Phuket down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia then over to Banda Aceh, Indonesia. From there it was a short ferry ride over to the island of Pulau Weh where I was to be spending the next week diving with the remote diving operation, the Lumba Lumba dive center, sitting on the doorstep of the idyllic Gapang Beach. The owners of Lumba Lumba are the husband and wife team Ton Egbers and Marjan van der Burg who have been so kind in hosting me during my stay. I arrived to a very warm welcome from the team, meeting all the individuals I was soon to be out diving with. The dive center is very well set up, with a huge dive store that has all that you need while out diving the remote Indonesian reefs. The diving there is deep with strong currents. They don’t offer Nitrox dives as a lot of the diving undertaken is outside the limits of most recreational Nitrox diving. It’s deep air dives all the way! Out the back of the dive store there are a number of bungalows, and a larger building with individuals rooms with verandas. I stayed in one of the individual rooms, they are really well set up, with a double bed that can be pulled apart if desired, you have a fan, a little table and cheers and can spend the evening relaxing overlooking the beach.

Part of the view from Gapang Beach

Gapang beach is nestled in a secluded bay surrounded by thick jungle, you feel very remote, hidden away from the rest of the world. I awoke the next day, excitedly setting up my gear and loading it onto our vessel for the day. With strong currents and deep long dives, it’s a thrill every time you don your tank and roll of the boat. The chosen dive site on my first morning was called The Canyon and is one of the top dive sites on the island. Splashing into the water and descending down to 35m I was taken aback by what I was seeing. Huge gorgonians, seafans, and seawhips covered the wall that we fell down beside. The visibility was a crystalline 50m, and schools of snapper and the occasional giant trevaly would zoom past as we dropped down into the deep. Upon reaching the bottom I barely had time to take it all in as my divemaster was excitedly pointing right below me. I looked down to see a blue ribbon eel poking it’s head out of it’s hole. The first I had ever seen and a great start to the dive. As the dive continued we saw the biggest napoleon wrasse I had ever seen, turtles, and huge schools of convict tangs in the shallows. I came to the surface so excited to be where I was, during my stay I did 10 dives, all of them were fantastic. A huge school of jacks, easily over 2000 strong circled just beyond our reach during on deep wall dive, black tip reef sharks would often come in for a closer look as we floated along. The diving at Pulau Weh has been some of the best and most exciting that I have ever done.

Coming up from the deep, swimming with the fishes.

A whip coral deep down at The Canyon

One of the many nudibranch species that can be found around Pulau Weh if you look close enough. Steve L called it a slug but I still like it.

During my stay I found out about a German cargo shipwreck called the Sophie Rickmers wreck that had been sunk during WWII only minutes by boat from Gapang beach. I enquired about diving it and found out Lumba Lumba does a decompression dive to the site with the right divers. The wrecks lies with the decks at around 45 m and the straight bow resting on the bottom at over 55 m deep. Aris the dive instructor that runs the dive has dived the site over 600 times and has explored every inch of the wreck. Darius another diver staying with Lumba Lumba was keen to come along, along with Trish a Lumba Lumba instructor.  With Aris and myself included we had our team of four ready to dive the wreck. On the day of the dive we met at 11:30am and had a dive briefing before heading out to the site. As we descended into the deep my mouth dropped as the wreck appeared before us. The visibility was fantastic for a deep wreck at around 20m, schools of trevaly looked alarmed at our presence as they swam by. I was dwarfed by the sheer size of the wreck; at a massive 134m we had no chance to see it all. The dive went by all to quick and before I new it we were ascending together back up to the surface. I took my video down with me and have made a sort clip of the dive for you to have a look at. After the dive I was elated to have done it, I was full of energy for the rest of the day.

Aris, he has dived the Sophie Rickmers wreck over 600 times and was our guide for the dive.

To view the Spohie Rickmers wreck dive click HERE

When I wasn’t diving I was editing photos or video or wandering down the beach to one of the many restaurants that lined it. A few places would do a BBQ of fish or chicken. It was only a few dollars and you would be served with rice, vege curry, more veges, some other dish that I can’t remember what it’s called, and half a chicken! It was insane. I would do my best to eat my way through it all but was often hard pressed to finish.

Tiny coral heads coving the floor on the deeper side of the Lumba Lumba house reef. One just has to walk off out the door and onto the beach and can be diving with ornate ghost pipefish, frog fish, seawasps, many species of lionfish, and dozens of others fish and coral species. It’s truly fantastic.

My stay at Pulau Weh flew past far too quickly. I was very sad to leave all the friendly people and the amazing diving. It was the perfect look into what Indonesia has to offer and I will always remember it. I want to say thank you so much to Ton Egbers for your generosity in hosting me during my stay. Thanks to everyone at Lumba Lumba for showing me such a good time diving with you all, I really hope to return someday!

Blue spotted ray