Blue mysteries

 "There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seems to speak of some hidden souls beneath" ~ Herman Melville
 


 
Super Slow motion Surfer! - South Pacific - BBC Two from Denny Torres on Vimeo.



 

The changing oceans

From pristine habitats to polluted sinks, our oceans has it all. While our knowledge about the oceans is evolving, there also seems to be a collective amnesia which makes humanity forget what is being done and what changes the oceans have encountered. This is what scientists call shifting environmental baselines. Commonly known as shifting baseline syndrome.

In his latest book "The Unnatural History of the Sea", Prof. Callum Roberts explains the phenomenon which is easy to understand. He states "The idea of shifting baselines is familiar to us all and does not just relate to the natural environment. It helps explain why people tolerate the slow crawl of urban sprawl and loss of green space, why they fail to notice increasing noise pollution, and why they put up with longer and longer commutes to work. Changes creep up on us, unnoticed by younger generations who have never known anything different. The young write off old people who rue the losses they have witnessed as either backward or dewy-eyed romantics. But what about the losses that none alive today have seen? In most parts of the world, human impacts on the sea extend back for hundreds of years, sometimes more than a thousand. Nobody alive today has seen the heyday of cod or herring. None has watched sporting groups of sperm whales five hundred strong, or seen alewife run so thick up rivers there seemed more fish than water. The greater part of the decline of many exploited populations happened before anybody alive today was born."



Oceans from Tom de Kok Teachings on Vimeo.

So when these baseline shifts happen, the environment that we live in becomes unpredictable and it takes every organism on the planet to adapt itself to sustain life.That apart, the quality of life degrades too. The present generation is already facing the brunt of our predecessors actions. The next generation, from ours.

These changes happen so subtly, that it is pretty hard to determine the impacts of even the minutest of shifts. If we take the city of Chennai, it is hard to imagine the fact that rich coral reefs and lush mangroves once existed in some of today's popular beaches in the city. When I heard from fishermen about how Chennai looked few decades ago, I literally had to ask them to come over again. What I heard was unbelievable, but true. Madras, as Chennai was formerly known, had rich marine biodiversity as it had been recorded by English scientists when India was under the rule of Britain. This raises the question how and why weren't the resources managed properly. At present, only the remnants of the rich past remains.

 According to the laws of nature, change is inevitable. Determining the changes for good or to its worse is in no one else's, but our hands.

Lets embrace changes and also make sure that the changes are for good.

For the souls from the sea

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more."
                                               ~Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

 

Technology in the deep blue

They were unknown, they were unexplored, territories uncharted but in the past. Welcome to the new era of technology which makes everything possible. Well, it can be used both for constructive as well as destructive purposes.

 Experiments and surveys in the deep blue oceans are considered a challenge, always. Reasons are many. Explorations in the past have resulted in dire consequences. In the present day world, technology plays a very important role. SONAR, ROV's , submersibles and what not, to carry out work with precision and perfection. A decade of study carried out by Census of Marine Life portrayed scenes beyond our wildest dreams, threw light on the exceptional environments and organisms in the oceans. And this was solely possible with the help of sophisticated technology.

Humans are certainly exploring the unknown and lets hope the rest is all for good.

Fishmarket scenes

These photos are the result of my feelings, that even a chaotic fish market can be beautiful, when one has the eyes to see it.

Location: Pulicat, India

All photos were shot using Nokia Express music mobile phone.

Photos © Rahul Muralidharan

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS - Follow your passion

Couldn't resist sharing this on my website. Sincere thanks to my friend Julia Whitty for posting this on her blog DEEP BLUE HOME. This beautiful video never fails to inspire me and pushes me to go beyond.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

¡viva Vaquita!

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is a rare species of porpoise endemic to the Gulf of California, Mexico. They are highly endangered due to fishing practices such as gill netting and incidental by catches. Scientists estimate that there are only 100 to 300 individuals left in the wild.


Vaquita - Last Chance for the Desert Porpoise - Introduction from Chris Johnson on Vimeo.


To learn more, please log on to this website http://vaquita.tv/.

The smallest of all cetaceans is under the brink of EXTINCTION. This is our last chance.

 A surfacing Vaquita . Photo courtesy: Chris Johnson

A native of the Gulf of California in the eighteenth century with what appears to be
a vaquita, today the most endangered species of porpoise in the world with only a
few hundred individuals left. Source: Shelvocke, G. (1726) A Voyage Round the
World. Cassell and Company Ltd, London, 1928.

Information source:

• http://vaquita.tv/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaquita
• The Unnatural History of the Sea by Dr. Callum Roberts

Lessons that you can learn from dolphins

These are the 7 lesson which one can learn from dolphins. Read, enjoy and share.

1. Make more time for play and joy. Have fun for the sake of it. Take yourself and life less seriously. Don't sweat the small stuff. Laugh lots.

2. Accept others as they are, with compassion. None of us are perfect. Everyone is doing their best. The dolphins have forgiven us for so much. It is time for us to have the courage to forgive and accept all those close to us and in our world. Hatred and anger are poisons that pollute Earth.

3. Look after the people in your family, and your local and global communities. We are all one, so be conscious of the ripple effects your individual actions have on the whole.

4. Communicate clearly, and with honesty and integrity. Your thoughts are powerful. Imagine everyone is telepathic like the dolphins. How would you change the stream of judgements in your head if you knew others could hear? Think and speak compassionately.

5. Live in balance with nature. Be a guardian of the earth, caring and creating, not consuming and destroying. The dolphins are accused of depleting fish stocks in Japan. Yet they have fished sustainably for centuries. We must take responsibility for our own consumption.

6. Babies need touching or they die. Yet how often do we go without loving touch as adults? Reach out to others and hug more, be more tactile. The dolphins are incredibly sensual and make love without guilt. We must heal our individual and collective shame and guilt about sex that we have been programmed with and learn more about sacred, heart-centred sex (tantra). Bliss and pleasure are natural.

7. The dolphins understand energy - they are highly sensitive beings who are affected by our thoughts, feelings and intentions. I was shown an image of the dolphins in Taiji being trapped in energetic nets of anger, pain and hatred that caring people were creating when hearing about the situation. We have to master our energy on every level and understand how powerful we are in affecting the world around us. Commit to clearing your emotional pains so you can more easily live in joy, love and peace.

Source: Unknown

Pulicat lake - The million year old legacy

When I hear the word Pulicat, there are certain flashes of serene memories that come to my mind. The beautiful sunsets, calm surroundings, distant sounds of fishing boats and the spinning lighthouse during nights.

Isolated beaches at Pulicat

India’s second largest lake, Pulicat is home to a wide variety of marine and avian fauna. Some call it brackish water lagoon; some call it an estuary and some as backwaters. For the one who is stunned by the clarity of this place, all these terms are mere sounds.

Well, I got introduced to Pulicat through my college field visits. Every month we spend 3 days at our college’s wet lab station which is located adjacent to the lake. I spend my time performing various experiments, eating lip smacking food and not to mention of the pure sensation of just being there. Surely, it’s a paradise for a marine biologist. The most fun filled part of my trips, are the boat rides and island visits which are often isolated, devoid of human touch.

Fresh catch of Mullets

The main occupation of people living in Pulicat, is fishing. There are many fishing hamlets and around 50 thousand traditional fisherfolk live in about 65 villages all around the lake. There are certain areas that are extremely affected due to pollution and there are certain areas still virgin. One of the highlights of Pulicat is the arrival of migratory birds during the nesting season and the most awaited winged visitor is none but the 6 foot tall, pink bodied Flamingos. Pulicat is fast evolving tourist location, where tourists pay a visit to see these birds every season. There are about 500 species of macrofauna (Sanjeeva Raj, 2006), which naturally signifies the rich value of Pulicat’s biodiversity. There are also 80 species of birds, mostly migrants feeding at the Pulicat bird sanctury.


A peculiar way of  fishing  is practiced at Pulicat known as Paddu system. This system is said to be caste based and it been claimed as an eco-friendly way of fishing. Irulas, who are scheduled tribe living at Pulicat, are prohibitted to use any fishing gears and hence they use methods like hand picking of shrimps.

A dead Olive Ridley at Pulicat

According to my proffessor Dr. Deepak Samuel, Pulicat has changed a lot. He’s been visiting the lake since 1993, when he was a college student. “Siltation in the lake has increased drastically and the sea grass beds have declined massively. When I was a student, people used to fish in the estuary for shrimps and other fishes, but now they venture into the sea for fishing. The catches in the estuary have gone down and only crab fishery happens here” he says. The average depth of the lake was 3.8 metres and now it is not more than 1 metre. This is due to the severe degradation of the watershed area of the river outlets and monsoon floods discharge massive amount of silt in the lake. During the Dutch era, their ships were anchored inside the lake right against the town of Pulicat, but now it seems like a dream.

Fishes at Pulicat market

The greatest threat to Pulicat lake is the thermal and slurry pollution from North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) from Ennore in the south (Sanjeeva Raj 2000). Overfishing to meet export demands is also another major problem. Using destructive fishing gears, restlessly fishing day and night have increased the fishing pressure in this region.

A temple built by King Krishnadevaraya

Pulicat has a lot of historical value too. The Cholas built temples here and in the 13th century muslims from Mecca arrived. It was followed by Portugese in 16th, the Dutch in the 17th and by the British from 18th century onwards. Pulicat still boasts the glorious and the ancient past through its temples, churches and cemeteries.

According to me, Pulicat lake is mixture of past and the present. One feels like walking through the history in this town. The future of Pulicat looks very bleak until and unless radical measure are undertaken to conserve this enigmatic lake.

Photos © Rahul Muralidharan


Some glimpses

References 

• Pulicat lake status and future conservation strategies (P.J.Sanjeeva Raj, J. Logamanya Tilak, V.Deepak Samuel)

What will you do?

The Starfish poem

An old man was walking down the beach just before dawn.  In the distance he saw a young man picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.  As the old man approached the young man, he asked; "Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?"  The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.  "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish, exclaimed the old man.  "How can your efforts make any difference?"  The young man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea, he said;        
         
 "It makes a difference to this one!"

Excerpt from -  www.starfishhealing.com

Exposures from Gulf of Mannar

Mandapam landing center, Gulf of Mannar

Seeniappadarha, Mandapam

A cockle shell, Mandapam

Barnacles waiting for the tide

Pamban bridge, Rameshwaram

From rope to the boat, Pamban bridge

A naked tree, Pamban bridge

Man is the Dream of the Dolphin

In every colour there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
"Man is the dream of the dolphin".

                                                                               -Enigma