Saving the Predators
by Ben Horton
Expedition Granted Competitor

Editor's Note: This blog was written by Ben from the Alacranes reef in Mexico, where he is currently on a research assignment.

We really don't know exactly what a healthy marine ecosystem is supposed to look like. We do know, though, that it is supposed to be thriving with sharks and other predators that are there to manage the quantities of other fish. Somehow, over the last century, we've managed to consume such vast amounts of these animals that they are all but lost.

When you think about it, we only eat the predator fish. When we bait our hooks, it's with smaller fish, not algae or coral, both of which have fish that survive on them. This is what is in my mind right now as I explore the reaches of the Alacranes reef in Mexico. The grazer fish are everywhere, and in such vast numbers that the reef seems to be thriving, yet there is something missing: the predators. This reef system is an example of a region that has been drastically over fished. It is an example of what places like Rio Sirena in Costa Rica will become if we don't start monitoring the commercial fishing that, as I write, is going on unimpeded. Right now Rio Sirena is on the verge of becoming what the Alacranes reef is, and what most of our ocean is.

I know most people are quite glad not to see any sharks when they go to the beach, snorkeling in Hawaii or diving in Mexico. They are glad because of the horrible reputation that sharks have been given by scared humans. If people really knew what it meant to lose all of the sharks on the planet and, of course, if they knew the real nature of these animals, I think most of us would be glad to see them return.

With their return comes a balanced, thriving ocean. An ocean that we can rely on for sustenance in the future. It's not possible for me to "Save the Ocean" all at once, but by doing this expedition to Rio Sirena it is possible for us to start a pattern of changes that could save a critically endangered ecosystem.