Passion serving Science!
The enthusiasm of this blossoming collaboration was shared as much by us divers as well as by men of science brought around a common passion : the world under the sea.
Deep in a cave inside the reef. Photo taken at more than 70 meters deep.
The exploration of these still unknown areas and the desire to share what we have discovered with the people competent enough to study and exploit these informations has naturally led us to get in touch with Professor Bernard A. THOMASSIN. Honorary Director of Research at the CNRS of the ocean studies center in Marseille (formerly COM) from the university Aix-Marseille (AMU), scientific attaché of the Natural History Museum of Nice and great expert of the lagoon and of the coral reefs of Mayotte – since the end of the 70s and the early 80s – he had already explored those deep slopes as far as 450m deep with the German mission of GEOMAR from Kiel since the end of 1991. No doubt he is “one of those less ignorant people” about the Mayotte's lagoon and its reefs, as he defines himself. Immediately, he put us in touch with other scientists specialist of these communities of the deep such as his long-time friend Professor Michel PICHON. After starting his career in the South-West of the Indian Ocean, he has successively been a Marine Biology teacher at the James COOK University, then Deputy Head of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville, Australia. After having studied the coral reef settlements which are much superficial in Madagascar, on the Australian Great Barrier Reef, in French Polynesia, in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Gulf, Mr. PICHON has for several years been leading a study of the reef corals (symbiotic) of the external deep slopes or area known as “mesophotic” i.e. 40 to 160 m on average, a topic which he's presently working on not only in the Great Barrier and the Coral Sea but also in Polynesia – the “Deephope” Programme in a partnership with the expeditions “Under the Pole” - in Eliat, Israel and Okinawa, Japan. And more recently in Mayotte.
The enthusiasm of this blossoming collaboration was shared as much by us divers as well as by men of science brought together around a common passion: the world under the sea. The data we'll give them through our photos of ambiances or macrophotographies of the organisms we meet as well as our targeted samplings are extremely precious as they're rare and reliable thanks to a state-of-the-art material. As far as we're concerned the scientific side of our dives and our discoveries reinforce our thirst for exploring and gives even more sense to what we're doing.
Very recently, in August of this year, we were contacted by Thierry MULOCHAU inviting us to join his programme “MesoMay”. Thierry is a marine biologist, the director of the BIORECIF Research Department in Reunion, co-founder of the Reunion Aquarium, a faunistic expert in echinoderms and reef fishes, participating in the discovery of several fish species during the 2007 volcanic eruption in Reunion and during the 2008 Abyssea expedition. Thierry MULOCHAU and Patrick DURVILLE, experts in deep-sea fishes have worked together on the MesoMay programme and have prospected the mesophotic areas of the South West of the Indian Ocean for several years. The programme MesoMay 's objective is to carry out a first but non exhaustive faunistic inventory of certains sites located in the mesophotic zone in Mayotte. The scientific circle with which we are collaborating is by and by widening.
Photo taken at 70 meters depth. I am at the start of the vault of the second fall. About ten meters below my fins is the foot of the second falling. To the right of the photo, we notice the cavity, digging thousands of years ago, by the waves when the level of the oceans was 80 meters lower. This type of training is typical of the second fall.
Is Citizen Science a necessity ?
So what do we need to focus on? What most interests these scientists? Which data can be the more useful for the Science and studies of these environments? That's one of the first questions we asked these people. The answer was direct and spontaneous:
We take everything!!! All the data you can provide we'll be useful to us.
Gentlemen, why resort to Citizen Science?
Trimix rebreather diver ascending from a dive to 120 meters.
Prof. B.A. Thomassin
Prof. M. Pichon
Th. Mulochau
In which way can our immersions represent any interest to your research?
Prof. B.A. Thomassin
The vaults of the cavities are lined with living organisms. Some have the form of lace ,. The sponges of different colors form a mosaic that has nothing to envy to that which can create the Man.
Prof. M. Pichon
Malgres the little light, some corals live in the twilight zone. This one was photographed 78 meters deep.
Th. Mulochau
A beautiful little shrimp on a soft coral of the mesophotic zone.
How do you analyse the data we give you?
Prof. B.A. Thomassin
Prof. M. Pichon
Th. Mulochau