DAY 26 Summary – MARCH FOCUS ON NORFOLK ISLAND’S REEF

More than three years ago, in January 2020, I began recording what I see when I am out on my swims. I talked about my motivation to begin this project in an article called Playing the long game: Norfolk Island’s coral reef and lagoons.

But I can sum it up in two words: my grandson.

What will he see when he is old enough to snorkel on Norfolk Island’s reef? Will there be anything left as I know it? Or will he think it is all great because of that hoary old phenomenon called ‘shifting baseline syndrome’?

Fortunately, I suppose, today we have the technology, and by leaving this record of all my photos and observations, he and his generation will have some idea of what we had in our bays in the 2020s. I wish there had been a resource like this for when I began, because no doubt I, too, am a victim of shifting baseline syndrome.

I say ‘I suppose’ advisedly, because how much better would it be if it was all still there for him to see?

Renowned coral reef researcher Professor Callum Roberts from the University of Exeter in the UK often talks about this phenomenon – the tendency for each new generation to be blind to past losses, and therefore ‘setting their personal baseline of normality by what they first find’. Reef Life, An Underwater Memoir

At the end of February 2023, with his words in mind and in a fit of pique and frustration, I thought I’d spend March featuring different aspects of Norfolk Island’s reef – some of it good and beautiful, some of it frighteningly sad – in order to highlight the amazing stuff that is here and also the detrimental effects that poor water quality is having on the coral reef ecosystem.

This is my last post for my March month-long focus – 26 posts in 26 days – because my grandson arrived on Norfolk Island for a rare visit yesterday, and I fully intend to spend this week enjoying paddling with him in Emily Bay as often as possible.

There is so much more I could have written and talked about, so rest assured I will certainly keep posting about all the interesting stuff I find.

For convenience, I have provided all the titles from the March focus here with links. They are all quick, easy reads.

Let’s not lose this wonderful habitat.

1. The camera doesn’t lie – looking back over three years of observations

2. Where have all the bait fish gone

3. The awesome, giant, black-mouthed tun snail

4. No coral? No butterflyfish!

5. Out on a swim – reflections on wild swimming

6. Draining the swamp

7. The curious case of the peacock damselfish

8. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

9. Phase shifts and biodiversity

10. Portrait of a slow death

11. A boring, brown reef?

12. A rare gem – Cemetery Bay, Norfolk Island

13. One small fish for one big job

14. Norfolk Island’s endemics on record

15. Ageing elegantly – the elegant wrasse’s lifecycle

16. By the hair of a goatfish’s chinny chin chin

17. Butterfly, flutterbyfish

18. We can’t say we weren’t warned

19. Tiptoeing through the government silos

20. Beneath the waves in Emily Bay, Norfolk Island

21. Bubble and fizz – a quick guide to coral reef chemistry

22. A tale of two corals

23. A pair and a spare – snubnose darts on Norfolk Island’s reef

24. Doris – just one turtle?

25. Black blenny – a new record for Norfolk Island

26. For the sake of our grandchildren