22 March 2014
The Western Indian Ocean is home to an abundance of remote islands and underwater habitats. These are some of the last remaining pristine marine wildernesses on the planet. In the month of April, the Save Our Seas Foundation will be celebrating these incredible places, examining the threats that they face and exploring diverse efforts to protect them. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK
The Western Indian Ocean is home to an abundance of remote islands and underwater habitats. These are some of the last remaining pristine marine wildernesses on the planet. In the month of April, the Save Our Seas Foundation will be celebrating these incredible places, examining the threats that they face and exploring diverse efforts to protect them. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK
Save Our Seas Foundation’s (SOSF) director of conservation Thomas P. Peschak always dreamed of a perfect marine wilderness. After two decades as a marine biologist and photographer, he finally found himself in an aquatic Garden of Eden. As part of an SOSF expedition into a remote section of the Western Indian Ocean, he journeyed to two tiny French territories hundreds of kilometres from the nearest continent: Bassas da India and Europa Atoll. Thomas’s photographs of these incredible environments appear in this month’s issue of National Geographic Magazine.
For centuries Djibouti’s Afar people have told stories of a large creature living in the “Pit of Demons.” True marine monsters are unlikely to roam the seawater loch, but whale sharks occasionally venture up this fjord-like passage. [PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK]
Recalibrate your senses: your skin is submerged in 30-degree tropical water, your mouth and nostrils are tinged with salt and your ears are filled with the swoosh of highly energised surf and the screams of seabirds. Now push your face into the warm and infinite inky blue.
You are staring down into a silent, constantly fluctuating discotheque. The crisscrossing shafts of sunlight obscure your peripheral vision and propel you deeper. Finally, beyond the reach of the hallowed beams, you stop and turn in a slow circle. Your lines of vision are punctuated by leisurely gliding full stops: turtles swimming up sunbeams towards their next gulp of oxygen. Below you a torpedo-shaped tiger shark is flicking its tail slowly against the current. Breathe gently and let your heart rate slow. You have descended into a time warp where nature is barely aware of human existence.
Tiger sharks, once thought to be coastal predators, are revealing that they spend much of their time in the open ocean. [PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK]Lured by the sounds of feeding fish, a Galapagos shark traverses the shallow crest of a coral reef in the Mozambique Channel. [PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK] As the monsoon rages above, a manta ray glides below, lapping up the plankton-rich waters. [PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK]A Galapagos shark speeds across a coral reef looking for a meal in the Mozambique Channel. Juveniles prefer reef fish and graduate to a diet of rays and other sharks as adults. [PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK]A blacktip reef shark weaves through the tangled maze of a mangrove forest on Europa Atoll. [PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK]
The region known as the Western Indian Ocean extends northward from the KwaZulu-Natal coast in South Africa to the southern coast of Somalia and encompasses the islands of Madagascar, Comoros, Réunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. It is only in the past 40 years that scientists have been exploring the region’s abundant marine biodiversity. Studies suggest that the area is home to more than 10,000 species (of which 2,200 are fish) and many of these are found nowhere else in the world.
The region is also home to an immense human population. It is estimated that 60 million of these people live within 100 kilometres of the coast and are almost entirely dependent upon the ocean as a source of protein and income.
The significance of a pristine wilderness is about far more than satisfying a nature junkie’s fantasy. These optimally functioning ecosystems allow us to witness what the world might have looked like before the onslaught of the anthropogenic pressures that threaten our oceans today. By observing these areas, researchers can create a benchmark for conservation efforts in other places. What’s more, the relatively intact biodiversity of these wildernesses makes them ideal sites for the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs), the best example of which is Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles.
While some parts of the region are examples of the healthiest marine ecosystems on earth, others are under extreme pressure from the threats experienced by ocean environments all over the world: overfishing, climate change, habitat destruction and predator loss. Scientists have pointed out that we are not fully aware of the extent of the Western Indian Ocean’s biological wealth – or the rate at which it is disappearing.
During its first decade the Save Our Seas Foundation has supported a plethora of projects in the Western Indian Ocean, from acoustic tracking along South Africa’s north-eastern coastline to turtle conservation and environmental education in the Seychelles. Over the next few weeks, under the guidance of SOSF scientists, we will be exploring the region’s incredible natural abundance, the threats that it faces and the work that is being done to preserve it.
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Thomas P. Peschak
Thomas is director of conservation for Save Our Seas Foundation and a contributing photographer for National Geographic Magazine. His search for unspoiled marine environments has taken him to many corners of the Western Indian Ocean where he has witnessed some of the most prolific ocean wildernesses on the planet.
Dr Rainer Von Brandis
Rainer is the scientific director of Save Our Seas Foundation’s D’Arros Research Centre in the Seychelles. He has lived on some of the most remote islands in the Western Indian Ocean for more than 10 years. He shares some of these experiences, as well as some incredible insights into sea turtle conservation.
Dr Paul Cowley
Paul holds the position of principal scientist at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) and manages the SOSF-sponsored Acoustic Tracking Array Platform (ATAP), which monitors the movements and migrations of inshore marine animals along the South African and Mozambican coastlines. He has travelled extensively throughout the Western Indian Ocean and has conducted research at numerous MPAs in the region.
Gildas Andriamalala
Gildas grew up on the south-eastern coast of Madagascar. He completed his MSc in communication for conservation. For the past eight years he has been a member of the Blue Ventures team in Madagascar. Together with Malagasy fishing communities on the island’s south-western coast, he is working to conserve marine resources in the region. He shares his views on the importance of the relationship between ecosystems and their human inhabitants. The SOSF provides funding for Blue Ventures’ Mobile Sharks project, which is a community monitoring project for the artisanal shark fishery.
The Western Indian Ocean is a vast water mass that runs along the entire length of the east coast of Africa. Paul Cowley describes what makes this region such a unique and valuable part of our oceans. [Video: Dan Beecham, Music: Music ‘Unfoldment, Revealment, Evolution, Exposition, Integration, Arson’ by Chris Zabriskie]
The green turtle is the second biggest of the sea turtle species. Thousands of them congregate at Europa Atoll in the Western Indian Ocean. Turtle biologist Rainer von Brandis describes the life cycle of these aquatic dinosaurs. [Video: Dan Beecham, Music: ‘Illuminations’ by Lee Rosevere]
Bassas da India is an almost pristine ocean wilderness situated in a remote stretch of the Western Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique. SOSF project leader Rainer von Brandis shares his memories of this incredible place. [Video: Dan Beecham, Music ‘Out of the Skies, Under the Earth’ by Chris Zabriskie]
For turtles, sex is a slow, highly competitive and potentially undignified affair. Copulating couples are often rudely interrupted by the determined intrusion of another male. [Video: Dan Beecham, Music: ‘Reveal the Magic’ by The Kyoto Connection]
The potato cod’s scientific name is Epinephelus tukula. ‘Epinephelus’ means ‘clouded over’ in Latin, and ‘tukula’ means ‘man-eater’. While these bold and inquisitive reef fish may grow to a length of two metres, they are really quite friendly creatures. They are also protogynous hermaphrodites, which means they start out as females but later undergo a sex change and become males. [Video: Dan Beecham, Music: ‘Oceanus’ by High Places]
Since the time of the ancient Romans, the Indian Ocean has played an important role in the trade between Java in the east and Zanzibar and Mombasa in the west. Despite this long human history, the region has remained relatively undeveloped. Paul Cowley describes the environmental implications of this. Music “Je ne sais plus” by Lessazo.
Having a safe place in which to be is as important for animals as it is for people. All over the world, marine habitats are being destroyed by anthropogenic pressures. Nursery areas provide a critical environment for sea creatures during the earliest phase of their life cycle. Paul Cowley describes why mangrove forests are an invaluable part of ocean ecosystems and need to be protected. Music “Out of the Skies, Under the Earth” by Chris Zabriskie.
Sharks are as mysterious as they are beautiful, and they are also a fundamental part of healthy marine environments. A large diversity of shark species can be found in the Western Indian Ocean, but because these animals grow slowly, become sexually mature late and only have a few young at a time, they are vulnerable to overfishing.
There may be controversial aspects to the subject of climate change, but it is impossible to deny that alterations in our weather patterns are affecting the environment, especially our oceans. Coral reefs provide important homes for sea animals and are usually rich in biodiversity. They are also extremely vulnerable to global warming. We interviewed Dr Rainer von Brandis about the effects of global warming on corals in the Western Indian Ocean.
In this personal profile, Paul describes where his love for the seas started and what motivates him to continue finding ways to protect biodiversity off the coast of Africa.
Turtles are some of the oldest creatures on the planet. They have paddled through our oceans for at least 100 million years and during that time they have been slowly evolving along with the rest of the planet. In the last few centuries however, change has been happening a lot faster and these aquatic dinosaurs are struggling to keep up. Rainer von Brandis describes the seminal moment for his career as a turtle biologist. Video: Rainer von Brandis/Save Our Seas Foundation. Music: “Undercover Vampire Policeman” by Chris Zabriskie.
Frances works for Blue Ventures and is project leader of the SOSF funded Mobile Sharks project. Blue Ventures runs conservation projects along the West Coast of Madagascar that aim to find the balance between what is sustainable for nature and what is sustainable for people. Mobile Sharks focuses on training communities to collect valuable shark fishery data using mobile phones.
For the Vezo people, a relationship with the sea is as natural as our connection with the air that we breathe. As marine ecosystems become more exploited, the people that depend on them become increasingly vulnerable. Gildas Andriamalala of Blue Ventures describes the community for which he has great respect, and the some of the projects that are being implemented to ensure a mutual future for the Vezo and the ocean that supports them. Photographs by Garth Cripps/Blue Ventures. Music: “Live Improv” by Brahim Fribgane.
Aldabra Attol is a remote speck of land halfway between Madagascar and the Seychelles. It is also one of the world’s oldest marine protected areas (MPAs). Paul Cowley guides us on an incredible dive into one of the most abundant marine environments on earth and illustrates the significance of MPAs. Video: Dan Beecham. Music: “I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit” by Chris Zabriskie.
The Save our Seas Foundation is funded and driven by people who are in awe of our oceans. Many of them have spent years searching for mythical sites of unimaginable marine abundance. In an effort to respect and protect such places, The Foundation has become the steward of one such site in the Western Indian Ocean: D'Arros Island and St Joseph Attol in the Seychelles.
