Today was the day of the wreck dives. Both morning dives were centered around two wreck sites, both offering different examples of what a wreck dive was. On dive number one, we explored the kittiwake wreck, an old rescue ship used for reconnaissance. The surrounding sand was coated with little garden eels peering out from their holes, while the wreck itself hosted groups of fish both large and small. Specifically, I recognized an enormous queen parrot fish by its massive size and vibrant blues, purples, and pinks. I spotted it in the distance nipping at corals on the wreck. This made me think about the idea of human impact on an environment. Though majority of the times we view this as a bad thing, in some cases, it can be good. The artificial reef for example created by the wreck, serves as a great home for many reef dwelling creatures. It also gives a place for a reef itself to be born. Rather than trying to make something out of blank ever changing sand, the reefs have a more stable and concealed environment to begin new life. The second dive took place at the Doc Paulson wreck placed slightly closer to shore. It had been there significantly longer, thus it had a higher amount of life present. This wreck was home to a drastically higher amount of coral and fish alike. It was interesting to see how much more could develop over just a span of a couple decades. This form of human impact provides a harmless sanctuary which only benefits the surrounding ecosystem. On the other hand, this afternoon, we got to have a look at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. While doing the beach clean up, we walked the beach and picked up a seemingly endless amount of trash. Though the amount of large pieces was small, the small shards of plastics and micro plastics was astounding. This raised some concern within me. Due to the deadlines of small plastics, paired with the clear amount on the beach, It dawned on me that fixing this problem would be no easy task. This form of human impact is the complete opposite of beneficial, and sadly isn’t slowing down at the rate it should be. Plastics are still being dumped into the ocean by the boatloads every day, leading to more and more micro plastics. These minuscule particles find their way into just about every marine creature. Ultimately leading to even us, all the way at the top of the food chain. This issue effects every level of the aquatic and terrestrial food web. The land creature which rely on those of the ocean, like sea birds, and humans, end up consuming these micro plastics as well. But the problem of micro plastics is only getting worse as more and more plastic gets broken down by nature. This seems relevant to all the practices we did in class, discussing how if one aspect of the food chain is effected, many other organisms can suffer as well. But in our modern situation, nearly every possible living thing is being effected by this problem. This wide spread issue could be catastrophic for the future of our ecosystems.
