Nature vs Man

[seainggreen]

This morning I was out at Cove 2 doing a dive... just for fun, shooting a bit of film.

I happened across a GPO den, which is always cool. This one happened to have a soon-to-be-mom and her clutch, which is always more than cool.

The scene was made less cool as a realization came to bear as I made my way around the den, filming it. I noticed that someone (I say someone, because I don't know of a marine animal that could do this) had removed several of the blocks and rocks that the GPO mommy had pulled to her for protection of her soon-to-be-hatched brood. They were stacked neatly on top of the den in 2 different little piles.

I'm not the scuba-police and I'm not a fan of shoot-the-flock. So you'll get no lectures from me. I would, however, just ask everyone to take a moment and consider the immense odds that GPO mothers have stacked against them already without a diver interfering with their only true means of protection. I am just asking for the person who did this to please not do it again. If enough folks are aware of what happened, maybe they'll help communicate that message to friends, or the person who did it will now know that people do notice this stuff, hence the reason I'm posting about it.

I did put the rocks back in their original position around the base of the den before leaving. Since I'd just seen the den last weekend, and it was sealed up like Ft Knox, the new big gaps in the rock piles made it was pretty obvious where they had been pulled from.

There are currently several active clutches of which I'm aware, most are at the 2+ month mark, with two of them being about 4 months along. Looks like come summer we will have many new GPOs (hopefully).

Happy diving,
laurynn

[Sounder]

I hope this was just someone not knowing any better.

Greg, please weigh in here - I only know what I've observed and *think* the reasons might be:

I believe the GPO mothers barricade themselves into their dens for protection themselves, and to keep fish from coming to snatch off eggs from their strands. Definitely please leave them in place... if you can't see in, please just be ok with that. If you can't get your "shot," please be at peace with that too.

We've had an AWESOME run with GPO mothers recently, and I'd love to keep that going. Cove 2 offers MANY great den-spots, so please educate people around you to leave them be. One other suggestion is to cover your light when looking into the dens to only allow a wee-bit of light from your HID through your fingers. You'll be amazed at how less shy they are when you do that.

[Greg Jensen]

Since mama octo can't thank you for rectifying the situation, I will.
At this point in her life she's not feeding or leaving the den; it's all about caring for the eggs.