A start for a Underwater Cave Conservation Booklet

[tj]

Cindy Butler gave me this idea... Let's start to make an underwater cave conservation booklet by posting your ideas, comments here.

For example, cave divers can help with conservation by:
- removing trash from caves
- not touching or damaging formations in caves
- perform the best buoyancy possible while diving

[FW]

- not touching or damaging formations in caves
- perform the best buoyancy possible while diving

Yes, and learning what can/can't be easily damaged, like Goethite. I have found a lot of cave divers that don't even know what it looks like.

[Cindy]

Not to mention proper management of our water sources..No prozac in the toilet, proper modern septic systems, preserving caves by not buying bottled spring water, Best management practices for homes, like how to landscape with native plants that don't require nitrate fertilizers...darn cave divers keep moving here.
Building steps to prevent soil wash that are made out of materials that do not damage the cave or critters.
Port potties at dive sites..hint hint...that keep the area cleaner. Alachua needs one.
Information booths at dive sites that inform about the caves and the environment. See the one at Cathedral..it needs to be at the rest of our caves. That's just a few.

[Cindy]

Yes, and learning what can/can't be easily damaged, like Goethite. I have found a lot of cave divers that don't even know what it looks like.

I have personally thought about some measures to preserve cave underwater using some dry caving techniques..
Why can't we put eye bolts in the ceiling at Cow or any other cave to keep the rope over in larger areas of the cave. Divers can use the pull rope off the floor that way.
everybody also needs to quit swimming over to look at the repairs..for crying out loud there are move finger and fin marks than ever!

[Kelly Jessop]

I have worked hard in this area in my tenure in the CDS by seeing some teaching standards ammended,and initiating the conservation phamplet,so I agree 100%. There are two areas that one would want to address,cave conservation and cave preservation. Conservation would be protecting the areas around the cave ie water quality etc. Preservation is reducing diver impact such as poor bouyancy,not identifying fragile structures etc. One thing that plagues me is I've read some of the teaching materials of some other agencies,and I see very little devoted to this subject. If the agency doesn't give it a strong emphasis,then what does that tell the student diver.

[FW]

...Why can't we put eye bolts in the ceiling at Cow or any other cave to keep the rope over in larger areas of the cave. Divers can use the pull rope off the floor that way....

We put bolts in Peacock, back in the '80s, to do just that. Some group decided that bolts were vandalism, so the practice was stopped.

...everybody also needs to quit swimming over to look at the repairs..for crying out loud there are move finger and fin marks than ever!..

I agree with that!

[Slüdge]

No prozac in the toilet

Somebody is going to have to explain this one to me...

[skip]

the fish get too lazy to eat or swim.



http://discovermagazine.com/2003/dec/fish-on-prozac1127

-skip

[Cindy]

Another good one is the hormones that are given to cows seeps into the cave systems from spray fields. I think Kelly told me this one. I read an article not long ago that stated it not only affected fish by causing deformities in their genitals. They think the milk we give our children is also making them mature sexually faster. It didn't say anything about Cave divers drinking the stuff.

[Cindy]

We put bolts in Peacock, back in the '80s, to do just that. Some group decided that bolts were vandalism, so the practice was stopped.

Like putting a big cement block in a clay floor isn't? Oh, not to mention the tie off on the goethite?
At least on the ceiling it will keep divers off the more delicate part of the floor in cow. There is a difference between surgery and mutilation. One way you heal the sick cave, the other you just allow it to die a slow death by diver.

Kelly and Gene Melton have both been outspoken, proactive and involved in what we have been talking about. They were able to help stop a huge new spray field over the Cathedral system. I'm just saying that 1/3 of the boards efforts needs to be in this area. If not more. I know they have spent more than that helping. I don't know about the rest of any of the BOD members. But as an organization it needs to be more in my opinion. I get to have one in this country,,,,,yeah for women's rights!!!