Well we finally got the first net down - the weather changed for the
better three weeks ago, and should continue until November, but it has
still been a bit rough until this week. Six foot waves look very big
indeed from a small boat.
 
So far we've put one of them down eight times, without a great deal of
luck yet. It's very difficult from 300 feet up to judge what's on the
bottom - so far we've hit mostly coral rubble and areas of glass
sponge and shell debris.
 
Eric has put his net down just twice - the first time he messed up the
ropes and weights, and it drifted a mile away. The second time he
couldn't find it again, because someone else picked it up first for
the reward (I gave a bottle of Tanduay rum to the finder of the first
one). Eric's losing enthusiasm a bit.
 
So far, our log is:
(All from about four miles out, ranging along the edge of the drop-off
slope which goes from 70m to 550m quite quickly (within a half-mile)).
 
1     - @ 60m  - just one Cymatium testitudinarium 62mm live & perfect
except 1st whorl of protoconch missing - Substrate coralline weed -
rocky
2     - @ 90m  - a bunch of coral rubble and rocks, but one small
orange brachiopod - Substrate rocky - single polyp orange corals,
small sponges, etc
3     - @ 60m  - just one Cymatium cf moniliferum dead and crabbed,
but otherwise quite clean & good - Substrate w plenty of glass sponges
4     - @ 90m - more coral rubble, nothing else - watch fell off into
the deep blue, and got hands skinned on pulling up net
5     - @ 40m  - 1 Fusinus nicobaricus, 1 Strombus sinuatus - Ali Mang
(my boatman) was just trying to please, but I had to tell him that
100m is minimum depth. I can dive for most of the other stuff
6     - @ 120m  - nothing, just coral rubble, with flat sponges,
horrible stuff, made my hands sting and itch for days after
7     - @ 105m  - 1 Angillaria sphaerula small at 27mm dia, but very
long and perfect spines - nice clean one. 1 pecten ht 37, w 40, looks
most like Annachlamys macassarensis, but v pale.
8     - @110m - nothing except glass sponges, 2 chewed up fish, 1
crab, 1 dead Cymatium comptum enveloped by sponge.
 
We took an echo-sounder and global position finder together on Easter
Sunday, and have identified a couple of spots where there are fish
near the bottom at 100m or so, and a firm substrate. We can find these
again, and try them out. I think the glass sponge area shows up as a
rough profile on the echo-sounder. The sounder only goes down to 120m
or so, so it's no good for the very deep slopes.
 
Also, I've got to find an easier way of pulling the net up. Hauling it
up by hand at 5:30am is not my idea of fun, especially when it's
empty. My upper arm development is in the Olive Oyle league,
definitely not Popeye!
 
Any ideas from anyone? Economy needed - can't afford and expensive
winch, but if anyone has idea how to make one which would fit into a
twenty-foot outrigger canoe, any help would be most welcome.
 
We're going to try a different kind of net over the next few weeks,
with smaller eyes and woven mesh, not the nylon filament they
recommended me in Balut Island. I'm convinced half the damn things
fall out while we're raising the net. It's frustrating to think of all
those leucodons, velentias and pleurotomaria just curling up and
rolling off.
 
Will let you know more results in about a fortnight or so, on my next
trip to mainland Mindanao and the Internet Cafe.
 
Best regards
Richard Parker
 
 
 
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