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Our Goal Researchers are all volunteers who dedicate their time to better our environment, expand scientific knowledge and to improve all of our lives by protecting the natural beauty which surrounds us.
The sharks and rays along our coastal waters comprise the apex predators, meaning they rank at the top of the marine food chain. Sharks and rays rely on the whole food web to survive, much the same as a building relies on all its columns being intact. Any one small break down in the food chain probably will not effect shark and ray populations, but many breakdowns in the food chain will certainly effect the populations. Choosing to study a lesser organism from the food chain which relies on a smaller base of pray can result in wild fluctuations of population data. These smaller organisms do not always give a clear picture of overall marine health; They usually only tell us about a small part of the environment. Because sharks and ray populations remain more stable due to their larger food chain base, changes in their populations are an excellent indicator of larger problems in the environment. We study sharks and rays because they are large, easy to track and their populations make an excellent indicator of the overall marine environment health. All the sharks and rays illustrated in the Shark and Ray Image Field Guide page frequent our near shore zone.
Other sharks enter the near shore zone such as Shortfin Mako and Great White but these come in less frequently. Caution should always be taken when bathing in the ocean but the chances of being attached by a shark are less than the chances of being struck by lightning. The ocean current in the N. Pacific rotates in a huge circle. Starting at the equator the ocean is warm, as it moves north along Japan and Russia it begins to cool. The ocean current then passes through the Arctic where it can cool to temperatures below 32 F (salt water has a lower freezing temperature than fresh water). The ocean current then begins its migration south along the coast of N. America and it slowly warms again. When the current reaches Southern California the average temperature is about 59 F and the water has become very rich in nutrients and oxygen. The cold, nutrient rich water of the Channel Islands provide a home to uncountable creatures and it is one of the most complex marine ecosystems on the planet. The Giant Kelp forests here are a home and a breeding ground to many hundreds of fish and shark species. The Giant Kelp forests in our waters are considered one of the top ten most beautiful and awe inspiring places on the entire planet to scuba dive. Our marine environment is under extremely serious decline. Huge fishing vessels use nets (many miles long) to literally strip the sea of every living creature. Most of the creatures that come up in the nets are not commercially very valuable so they get dumped back into the sea dead, devastating marine ecosystems. There are no easy answers to this problem because people do need to eat and fishermen do need to earn money. As long as companies that use sound environmental practices have to compete with foreign companies that do not and therefore can offer cheaper products, our oceans and all our earths living creatures and resources will continue to go down hill to the final point of complete environmental breakdown; It really is only a matter of time now, but you could help turn things around by getting involved in the community and staying actively on top of important issues such as free trade, logging, pollution, saving the rain forest or any of these types of causes. Remember, our earth depends on people like you getting involved. |
