⌛ Dumaguete Diving

I heard that over the news long time ago about surrounding sea water of Dumaguete is highly contaminated with coliforms . Because there's only little measures implemented to tackle the entire sewage problem of dumaguete,hence it is easy to rule out this state of contamination still goes on to this day , perhaps unto eternity .And that's it,never swim around dumaguete ...the thought made me cringe ,lol.

...who loves to dive and have a lil sip of diluted cocktail of sewage from Silliman medical center ,from the holy child ,from the Dumaguete market etc.
...with perhaps bit of umbilical cord tangled with your hair ? tsks!

 

Must Do dive's around Dumaguete coms always down to what the diver wants to see. If you like some of the best coral-gardens in the world it's Apo. some of our divers don't go there 'cause they are Marcro lovers and then you just go in the water along the coastline and your guide will find you incredible stuff...
At the moment there is a huge school of Jack's in the Masaplod north sanctuary, right in the middle on a depth of 15 - 20 meters.

As Earl don't like me I will put a little bit oil into the fire...
3000+ hours underwater is not so much when you have between 700 and 800 dives a year, but it is teaching more about interaction between aquatic life then staring at fish-tanks... hehe. I have to apologize that the creatures out there don't have a name-tag with the scientific name attached on them...
I don't think (but I might be wrong like always) that anybody who has this beautiful creatures in a naked glas cage has the right to complain about the small monkey cages in the Zambo-Zoo (like in another thread)... hehe

 

Just to correct you a little Rhoody , you can check out several forums in which I praise your knowlegde. Beside that I will explane to you that fish kept with me are in what we refer to laboratory facility. It is not build that way to tease the fish , but simply to understand better in order lateron to be able to do our work here in the Phils. You are aware of the fact that I am here with others send with grants from the Netherlands in order to restore and replant lost coralsites and bring back diversity in both fish and invertebrtaes , don,t you.
If you or other take interest you can read all about it at the officail site of the Ministery of Economy and / or Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands., by just pushing the letters EVD.com All projects that are taking place in the Phils in the past , present and near future concerning being here as highlighed there.

 

I promised Dane to behave, so no public comment ... Kawawa Rhoody...

 

I know Rhoody , that you mean nothing wrong by saying .. that I am doing wrong by putting beautifull fish like those as on the picture shown in small "cages " as you refer to.
I wish to explane the reason why ,so you and others here will better understand the meaning of it al and even like the whole idea a lot better.

With the new technique : INVIVO IMAGINE we need to put ( helas ) fish that need to be studied in yes , you are right , far to little what we call "cubes ". All glass that is : no sand on the bottom and so on.
We feed to the fish either what we know they trive on in nature that is for the majority like this Angels Fish all kind of sponges or in many other cases like small fish , plantkon either Zoo or Phyto Plankton that is all hatched and "grown " at our facility and laboratory .To avoid that the fish does not get in contact with what we feed , the tank is very small , but also as the plankton will not escape as there are small openings for circulation of the water , so it would be washed away , we limited the holding cube to a minimum size. Then a high speed shutter Camera that can make up to 700 pictures per Seconde , will film the process of what the fish takes in and... spits out again..
The human eye is not fit to see the difference , we believe to easy what we see and that is often not the reality The camera can be compared with an X ray apperatus and so all images are showing a completly transperant fish and its stomage and intestents., how the food travels and.. is leaving the body again , the natural way.

First of all it is need to know what the fish eats . As for both Sponges and types of plankton a lot of fishes specialize in only one or two types they realy consume and digest . After some time , that might be hours for fish like the Fox Face (Lo unimaculatus ) or even up to some days. we collect the droppings of the fish from the bottom of the glass tank and they are send for further examination about the why and in which quantity and how far the food is digest in the total of the process. The whole system is running on UV tubes to keep the water free , that is 99.8 % of parasites and no sand bottom , as then the parasites can settle in there and conterminate the dropping..
Having this said.. IF !! we are succesful in finding out WHAT specific needs , specific fish trive on we can :
1. Try to breed them and / or tankrise collected eggs / fry.
2. Make the natural food getting back in its place on those places that have been Dynamited or Sodium cyanided in the past..
In other words ,once the natural food , either plantkon or for instance Sponges can be replaced / replanted , the breeders , for instanvce of this beautifull Angel fish , will come back to what we scientist believe is still
( or should be again) the WIDEST DIVERSITY ON MARINELIFE IN THE TROPICAL OCEANS .
I am very much convinced you as a professional Dive Master and someone that thats such a pride in his profession indeed ,will see the logic and need for such for the coming years.

Just breeding " Nemos" will not be enough..
Picture attached is a simple set up for breeding a type of sponge . Breeding sponges is even more difficult them breeding fish.
But that my dear Dr. Watson is .. an other story ( after Sherlock Holmes )

Earl