10/28/09

That Sweet Dolphin Smile


When we see a dolphin, we love its beguiling smile.  It lures us in and makes us smile back.  Yet, this smile is deceptive.  It compels us to think that the sweet dolphins are happy when in fact, dolphins are in trouble. 

I live and work by the sea.  Seeing dolphins is a common sight that I never tire of.  Most of us have a soft spot in our heart for this endearing mammal that we’ve seen perform on TV, movies, or at Aquariums.  Who hasn’t seen Flipper?

Thanks to an invitation by Pat Fair at Charleston’s National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), I’ve had the pleasure of joining a photo identification survey of our resident dolphins for an ongoing dolphin study. NOAA conducts a survey of our rivers, harbor, and coast each month.  I joined Todd, Eric and Pat on board NOAA’s fabulous Zodiac boat.  In September we patrolled the local Ashley, Wando and Cooper rivers (which feed into the Atlantic Ocean).  It was sunny and the water was like glass.

Yesterday, we surveyed the Stono River to the mouth where the river empties out into the ocean.  Boy was it cold out there!  The sun refused to cut through the gloomy clouds and the water was gray and stormy.  Once we were off the rivers and on the ocean, the waves got choppy.  It felt like our big zodiac surfed in!  I swear, after seven hours shivering on the water, it took me that many hours to get warm again.  But it was well worth it because we spotted more than sixty dolphins.  I have a whole new respect for the team that will venture out in the waters throughout the winter months.

Each time out, Eric amazes me by his ability to ID a dolphin in the time I manage to spot it.  He identifies the notches on the dorsal fin as the dolphin glides up in a graceful arch for air.  How sweet it is to see a young calf emerge alongside the mother!  These experts have been doing this study for over fifteen years and know the population well.  Photos of each dolphin were snapped for the formal identification process.  This is an important, ongoing study to determine the health of our resident dolphin population.

Here’s the disturbing news: Pat Fair informed me that their studies reveal that nearly half of our Charleston area resident dolphin population has been deemed unhealthy or with disease.

Why is this important?  Dolphins (marine mammals) are one of the best sentinel species.  What is a sentinel species?  This is a species that can provide advanced warning of environmental degradation, harmful trends, and disease.  Threats to marine mammals ultimately are threats to humans.  Dolphins are also excellent sentinel species because that sweet smile elicits our sympathy and our desire to protect them, and in turn, the oceans.

If you want to help protect dolphins you can:
    1. Admire dolphins from a distance.

    2. Purchase an EarthEcho Dolphin license plate (participating states).

    3. Be an activist against dolphin slaughters worldwide.

10/19/09

Another Turtle Season


“For Toy the most beautiful time on Isle of Palms was October, when the evening air cooled and the wildflowers bloom purple and gold, bringing color again after months of sizzling heat… Toy linked arms with Cara. They stood together in the middle of the room, each lost in her thoughts as the ocean’s salty air whisked in through the open windows. Outside, the palm fronds bent in the wind, scraping the frame. Beyond, the sea oats clicked. Toy thought how another turtle season was over and the loggerheads were swimming off for a winter of foraging.”  (pgs. 455, 457-458; Swimming Lessons)

This cooler weather that rushed into the Lowcountry several days ago has also ushered in a reflective time for me. October marks the end of the six-month loggerhead sea turtle nesting season. My fellow Isle of Palms turtle team members and I have witnessed both breathtaking celebrations and heartbreaking disappointments.

One disappointing moment happened near the end of this season. A few of us gathered before the day’s first light to watch the loggerhead hatchlings emerge from one of the last two remaining nests on the island. That morning, only a few hatched from their sand dune nest. Oftentimes, there are more than 100 eggs in a nest. Those few hatchlings were noticeably weak as they struggled toward their ocean home. I quietly grieved as I watched the reality of nature. Some make it. These would not and my heart can handle that.


Most tragic though, is when I witness or read about hatchlings that don’t make it to the ocean because they got disoriented by artificial light. Beachfront homes, street lamps and even flashlights can outshine the moonbeams reflected off the ocean. Hatchlings look for that celestial light but the artificial lights lead them astray.

It happens all too often. This year, the SC Department of Natural Resources Marine Turtle Conservation Program received 34 reports of loggerhead hatchlings getting disoriented. There were 23 the previous year. In other words, that adds up to the preventable deaths of thousands of sea turtles.

What can you do to help? Whether you’re a visitor or resident of South Carolina’s beaches, next time you’re on the shore think of the simple ways you can help the threatened species. Minimize beachfront lighting and avoid using flashlights, lanterns and cameras on the beach. Leave only your footprints at the beach. The sea turtles can mistake trash for food. Fill in any holes you dig to help prevent turtles and hatchlings from getting stranded in them.

To learn more, visit the SC Department of Natural Resources Marine Turtle Conservation Program website.

10/12/09

“The REAL Last Light over Carolina”




I can’t say I was shocked when I heard the news, but my heart was still saddened by the truth. The real-life vessel that sparked the name of the shrimp boat in my latest book “Last Light over Carolina” is no longer trawling the waters for shrimp off the Carolina coast.

Captain Wayne Magwood, a lifelong Shem Creek shrimper, who graces the pages of the story, told a Charleston news station that his nephew Rocky Magwood is quitting the family business and selling his shrimp boat, the Carolina, because he can’t make a living off of his catch.

Wayne Magwood told the reporter, “With him not having a boat, it hurts him and hurts me too.” He went on to say, “I know how much he loves it and he wants to be in this business. It is in his blood.”

This story playing out in the local media is nothing unique in any coastal community. The forces have been building against our shrimpers for quite some time—the glut of cheaper, imported shrimp, the high cost of diesel fuel, and the disappearing docks.
Back then they felt like kings of their world. And for a shining moment, they were. Today they were paupers. No matter how hard he worked, no matter how many hours, he couldn’t make it. He was sick of the boat, sick of the shrimp, and sick of scraping by.” (pg. 52, “Last Light over Carolina”)
In my novel, shrimp boat captain Bud Morrison was a fourth generation shrimper, like Rocky Magwood. His tale, and that of his family, reflects the challenges, struggles and commitments of shrimping families past and present.
For three generations, the pull of the tides drew Morrison men to the sea. Attuned to the moon, they rose before first light to board wooden shrimp boats and head slowly out across black water, the heavy green nets poised like folded wings. Tales of the sea were whispered to them in their mothers’ laps, they earned their sea legs as they learned to walk, and they labored on the boats soon after. Shrimping was all they knew or ever wanted to know. It was in their blood.” (pg. 1, "Last Light over Carolina")
I hope people not only fall in love with the story of Bud Morrison and his wife, Carolina, but also gain an understanding of the shrimping communities all along the southeastern coast.

What can you do to prevent the last light of day from permanently falling upon other shrimps boats like the Carolina? If you live on the coast, like I do, buy your fresh, local catch straight from the fishermen’s docks. It’s cheaper! And, no matter where you live, ask your restaurants and grocery stores for Wild American shrimp. If you do, I’m guessing Rocky will be back on the water with Wayne Magwood and the other captains along our coast.

Learn more from the Wild American Shrimp organization. http://www.wildamericanshrimp.com/.

Also, thanks to Barbara Bergwerf, a talented photographer and dear friend who provided this photo. 







10/5/09

Life at the End of a Fishing Line



The original plan for Time is a River was to write a novel about women friends who share the love of fly-fishing. Then fate intervened in the form of an invitation from Brookside Guides in Asheville to volunteer my time helping at the North Carolina/South Carolina Casting for Recovery retreat. The program is designed to help breast cancer survivors find their soul-stirring connection to life once again.

So I journeyed to the mountains of our sister state, where I served as assistant, pack mule and anything else required of me for fourteen cancer survivors. Some of the women had only recently completed their treatments, while others had been cancer free for many years.

Standing in that river with these survivors, I watched them learn to catch then release their trout to swim away and live another day. From their expressions of surprise and delight when they caught their first fish on a fly rod I found the heart of my story— connecting to life at the other end of a fishing line.


"Stand a moment longer and listen to the music of the water. Breathe deep and soon you will catch its rhythm and your blood will pump its heady beat. As your body hums, your mind releases the nagging worries you carried with you to the river-- thoughts of business and family and work and future slowly drain from you to be picked up in the current and dragged away. You now feel lighter, freer. You see with fresh eyes. You hear the secrets of the river. You are the river. Now you are ready to connect with the fish." (pg. 146, Time is a River)

My main character Mia, which loosely translates to mean ‘me,’ would embody the hopes every person has of discovering personal strengths and finding the joy in living. Mia would be a breast cancer survivor, but needed to learn what it means to not merely survive, but to live again through the healing powers of nature.

My grandmother and mother both died of breast cancer. In their memory, I continue to support Casting for Recovery as a means to bring survivors to the river, where they can let go of their troubles, breathe in that heady freedom from cancer worries and cancer treatments, then boldy go out to find their bliss.
"This was her body. She knew she should let go of her old self-image and make peace with the way her body was now... Mia closed her eyes and said a small prayer for strength. She had to let this fear of cancer go down the drain with the dirty water. To live fully, she had to believe she would live." (pg. 49, Time is a River)
What can you do in honor of breast cancer survivors or in memory of those claimed by the cancer? You can support the national non-profit Casting for Recovery in your region. For more information, visit http://www.castingforrecovery.org/.