KEY LARGO CORAL REEF America's First i~jl Undersea Park
By CHARLES M. BROOKFIELD Photographs by JERRY GREENBERG ,I, ,.;;!' MOST within sight of the oceanside ~Ii palaces of Miami Beach, a pencil-thin il- Achain of islands begins its 221-mile sweep southwest to the Dry Tortugas. Just offshore, paralleling the scimitar plor%E 6 II curve of these Florida Keys, lies an under qy-q sea rampart of exquisite beauty-a living coral reef, the only one of its kind in United States continental waters. Brilliant tropical ~". fish dart about its multicolored coral gardens. Part of the magnificent reef, a segment rough ly 21 nautical miles long by 4 wide, off Key Largo, has been .dedicated as America's first undersea park. I know this reef intimately. For more than 30 years I have sailed its warm, clear waters and probed its shifting sands and bizarre for mations in quest of sunken ships and their treasure of artifacts. ',." Snorkel diver (opposite, right) glides above brain coral into a fantastic underseascape of elkhorn and staghom in the new preserve off Key Largo, Florida
1~¥~-4 - ce il\ln ·ii Here is a graveyard of countless brave sail uncover this interesting fact until two 'years 'ti: ing ships, Spanish galleons, English men-ot ago, when I learned that the Willche~lel"s ~j~ war, pirate vessels, and privateers foundered log had been saved. Writing to the Public h~l on the reefs hidden fangs. In the 19th century Record Office in London, I obtained photo alone, several hundred vessels met death static-copies of the last few pages. ,iI, here, and the wrecking masters of Key West On September 14, 1695, the unhappy cap gleaned close to ten million dollars from sal tain recorded that: ''. . we had not above i vage operations. men Well our Shipp increasing upon us by In today's salt-water preserve the bound the water She made in the holds & we Left aries are marked by buoys, and visitors even Distitute of all ability to pump it out our peo- tually will ride glass-bottomed boats above ple being all dead and Sick. " the lovely coral gardens. Even now the more Ten days later a vicious gale struck the active visitors fasten on mask and snorkel ship off the Florida Keys. With thecrew help and bob face-down in gentle swells for a clos less, only a few men able to stand. the 11-'111 er look at gaudy reef fish. The most adventur chester broke her back on the reef. ous strap on breathing units and descend to Key Largo, the nearest land, was inhabited the beautiful coral world that underwater only by fierce Calusa Indians. notorious for ~ photographer Jerry Greenberg describes viv practicing human sacrifice and keeping slaves. fil idly on pages iO to 89. There was no thought of seeking refuge there. An accompanying vessel rescued eight men Author Found \Vreck of the Winchester the only survivors. Heavy seas break directlyontheoutercoral For 244 years IFiJ1chcs[cl"S guns, some barrier, where the seaward edge of the reef weighing more than two tons. lay five fath comes up abruptly from the deeper waters oms deep, while shipworms made a sieve of of the Gulf Stream. Here, 23 years ago, I her rotten hull. By 1939, when we located found the scattered remains of H.M.S. Will the wreck and raised the cannon. the ship chester, which went down off Carysfort Reef, had disintegrated. five miles east of Key Largo, in 1695.* Eighteen months ago I paid a return visit A British ship of the line with 60 guns and to Winchestcr'e grave. With an air lift and a crew of 350, the square-rigged Winchester free-diving gear, I hoped to recover objects fought with the West India Squadron in the overlooked by previous expeditions. Fortune war with France, harrying ports of the French favored us. We raised coral-encrusted cannon- islands. Mission accomplished, she refreshed "For a description of lI"i'lrI'fsla's last voyage and at Jamaica, then set sail for England and the disccverv of its wreck. s,:e "Florida Cannon Solve home. But scurvy c-that age-old plague of Mystery of Sunkcn Ship:' by Charles ~L Brookfield. in the sea- began to lay her crew low. I did not the December. 1941, NATIO'-:AL GEOGR"PHIC.
Ciant sea whips, or gorgonians, reach for the sun like saguaros in acactus forest. Blue striped grunt (Haemulon sciurus) peers past the smaller branches below.
Cold watch raised from H.M.S. H'j/lClJesler, which went down off Carysfort Reef in 1695, shows the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic. Here a lump of rock bears the imprint of the dial's face in black iron oxide. For 264 years the watch lay on the bottom, sandwiched between an iron fitting and rock ballast. When he discovered the Winchester's grave in 1939, the author salvaged cannon, cannonballs, wrought-iron fittings, and a brass sundial, as recounted in the December, 1941, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, On a return visit 20 years later, this remarkable watch and a universal ring sundial were recovered. 61 ...
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64 National Geographic, January, 19l?2 America's First Undersea Park 65
balls, hinges, spikes, and fittings wrought by we raised Winchester's cannon, and the Baker Gulf Stream. Billions of their limestone of Marine Science, warned that the gorgeous 1rth-century craftsmen. sloop, Mata Hari, served as the mother ship skeletons form the foundations of the reef; Florida reef might soon become a water)' One day young Charles H. Baker III of the latest expedition. vast colonies of the Hying coral animals grow desert if steps were not taken to protect it. I' popped to the surface with an object wreathed A second treasure raised from Winchester's on the dead, fashioning a fantasyland of His statement raised many an eye brow. in lumps of the ship's ballast. A hammer blow remains was a universal ring sundial, used by strange forms. What could destroy a reef? he was asked. revealed a gold watch within the black mass. mariners in the lith century. Tourists who buy coral at roadside curio "Man," Dr. Voss replied. shops see only the bleached white skeletons til! The watch's crystal was broken and its works Museum Will Exhibit Relics Coral From Reef Sold to Motorists were filled with grit and sand. but, miracu of the once-living colony. But a visitor to the 'ii! lously, one of the brass wheels still turned on Both watch and sundial will be exhibited reef may feast his eye on living colors - the Curio vendors were tearing the reef apart. the pivots. in a museum which will be constructed in green, brown. and gold of stony corals; the using dynamite and crowbars. Bargeloads I,ll It seemed fitting that young Baker marie park headquarters on Largo Sound. blue, purple, and yellow of coral fans and of corals, sponges. and the imposing queen plumes that sway with the current; the pastel conch shell were piled along the roadsides ~i the discovery. His father was with me when Generous citizens haw donated i4 acres 'I ;, I for exhibit buildings. ducks, and launching tints of towering sea feathers and graceful for sale to motorists. Fish collectors raided I Ii f; ramp. and the Florida Legislature has ap coral whips (page 60). Altogether, they form the waters, and spearfishcrmen stabbed ev ,1 The Author: Florida representative of the Nation propriated $150.000 for the center's develop one of nature's grandest shows, a submerged erything that swam or crawled. 1'1 al Audubon Society. Charles }L Brookfield also ment. From the marina. glass-bottomed boats landscape of awesome beauty. Despoliation of the reef would haw other "1 il >, heads the State Park Board'." Advisory Council on A preserve to safeguard this unique under consequences, Dr. Voss predicted. The coral I ",\ ,> Florida Key Sites..:\ veteran explorer of Key Lar ,,-ill cruise out to the reef. I, go's reef. he found the remains of H.l\I.S. Willches Here soft-bodied coral polyps-tiny anem water world was discussed at a meeting of gardens served as a haven for small tropical n tcr there in 19.~9 {page 61\. During World War II he onclike creatures that build protective cups Florida conservationists in 19.5i. Dr. Gilbert fish and a nursery ground for game fish. With 1 "" 11 saw action in several th eaters as an LST skipper. of lime - flourish in the warm waters of the L. Voss, of the University of Miami's Institute out small fish to feed upon, the game fish '1 i" 1il'i:,, 1',, "I"\;;; I.uI,l
Water-laying Moravs, members of a Miami diving club, leap into the Atlantic's gentle swells above Molasses Reef to explore the sea floor with snorkels, masks, and fins.
Head in Air, Body in the water, a Diver Prepares for an Inspection Tour of Coral Gardens Charles H_ Baker III clears face mask and breathing tube ncar Carysfort Light. Refraction of light by water magnifies his body about 2S percent. In this unusual photograph, the camera sees simultaneously in air and water, like the four eyed fish of Central America which has bifocal vision.
------Bold white grunt tHacmutow plumieri] inspects a slice of sea urchin held by Judy Meade above a huge brain coral. Tiny bluehead wrasses (Thalessoma bifcsciatum) hover near for left overs. Many reef fishshow little fear of humans.
Mountains and Valleys Corrugate Brain Coral
Neon gobv (Elecatlnus O(l'GI1 ()ps) darts oyer the maze, ap ;"t proximately three- quarters life-size, at center right. Using fused ventral fins shaped like a suction cup, this tiny fish perch es on coral heads. Neon gobies pluck parasites from the mouths lil'li"!! and bodies of groupers and other predatory fish. '!i,~ •"'<0,.."0~ .. or "." ••"""•• @ ""'0"" .'0...... " 'O"
Mixed Battalions of Porkfish and Grunts Maneuver in Close-order Drill Distinguished by its yellow stripes and black bars, the porkfish (Anisotremus ·l!il"gillicus) often travels with its relative, the white grunl Like many reef fish, both species feed by night. This school will disband when the members go foraging for food, H$ '''A1;H.O~' © "AlIOOAL .'0.,,'"'0 SOCIETY Florida's Coral City Beneath the Sea
"BUT THE SHARKS ... aren't you for pictures of fish and coral reefs off the i." unpredictable; no 011(' can :,ay \yhat it \\"ill afraid of the sharks?" This is a fa Florida Keys. I have spent rbousancls of do on ally aivcn encounter. "Don't provoke miliar question. :\ly answer is "No;' Article and photographs hours in the depths. and I have seen count the animals." The admonition 10 zoo vi-itor-, with some reservations. less sharks c-hammerhcarl. blarktip. lemon, also applies to an underwater reef. byJERRY GREENBERG When working under water, I regard sharks nurse. bull. tiger-but not one of thorn ha:, Recently I "pent I\YO months roaming be as the man in the jungle docs the tiger, or the ever attacked or ev-en threatened me. I ph» neath the waters nflhc new John Pcnnckamp Exploring the wonders of file ree], midtown pedestrian does the reckless driver. tozrapbcd the lemon shark below from a dis Coral Reef State Park (sec preceding artic-le). a diver finds olio/her world and J know they arc there; sometimes I see them. tance of only seven feet. Here some fifty thousand acrcs c-about 75 But I go out of my way to avoid them. photographs irs denizens in color ..\ -luu-k is cautious: usually it steers clear "quare mile:,- make up Amer-ic-a'< fir-t park For more than 10 years I have been diving of a clivcr if he doesn't bother it. But a shark totall;: under water. Thi:, unique p rcs e r vu 71 ill:11"" i; ~ Ob' Lemon shark, 10 feet of malevolence, seizes u snapper in razor teeth. Hitchhiking remoras loosen suctinn disks and Tush rOT scraps ""'0"' , ""'C' m! Florida's Coral City Beneath the Sea 73
Working off my "Ofoot runabout. I dived where a tank of air can last an experienced free to diye or soar with no other power but four or five days a week. :\Iany davs I staved diver about an hour and a half. your arms and ftippered feel. submerged six hours. ascending only to switch And c-hat wonders we saw! Ju,:.t beloiv the surface, jellyfish pump past air tanks and reload the cameras. Let me SllOW you this world beneath the a" you submcruc. Living parachutes. the~ Often \\"C made underwater photos at dusk. W,n"e" that 1 find so intriguing- and that claims range in size from a dime to a dinner plate. Sometimes we dived under a full moon, and so much of my life. Slip a mask over your At 20 feel you touch down on the reef. \\"hat the visibility was good enough to
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Silhouetted a;:::ain~t blazing sun. it diver glide." to the floor of (he coral reef prv-r'rvr
Scrawled Filefish With Puckered Mouth Seems Asking Iorn Kiss Actually, Alllifra wripla i~ making i1 crunt inl! sound a~ he swims. Other hrilliarn reef fish share John Penm-k amp Curul Reef ' welcomes the free diver. the rod-and-reel fish erman, and the fish watcher. But to the spear fisherman, it is forbidden territory. While exploring this magnificent marine realm, I encountered only three or four sharks. They did not molest me or any mcm ber of my diving party, and we interrupted their privacy only long enough to capture their portraits (pages 71 and 80). My crew mern bers, who doubled as models, included Judy Meade, a commercial artist; Carl Gage, Paul Dammann, and young Van Cadenhead. Van learned to usc an Aqua Lung three y-ears ago, when he was 10 years old. Now he swims and dives with the best. 72 Queen angelfish glides past elkhorn coral As a Diver Plants a Warning Flag, His Boat Appears to Float on Air "\\"akh out for In-c divers." the red-and-white banner tcll- boatmen "-llililll! the Wil tcr- around :\In! Spotted moray lurks in coral ambush ~ Hnwkfivh rests on pectoral fins 74 is Diver and dog snapper play follow-the-leader among stands of elkhorn coral Dog snapper (Lntjanns jOfl/i, a popular sport fish. attains 50 pounds Sea Fall and Butter Hamlet Blend Their Beauty as in a Japanese Print Members of the grouper family. butter hamlets (!!ypoplrdm.<) wear coats of various colors: blue. pink. yellow. and orange. 'This six-Inch specimen J10at, above a boulder like colony of star coral and branching fingers of pink coral rbottom left). Filigree sea fan at upper right contrasts with skeletal branches of gorgonians at left. exhaled air bubbling up from the regulator antlers, crown the crest of the reef. Boulder break the quiet. Later, when you have be shaped brain coral exhibits patterns of twist come more acclimated, you may hear the cd grooves that bear remarkable rese mhlaru-e snapping of shrimp, the crunching of the par to the surface of the human brain. Star coral. rotfish as he feeds, and the grunting noises cactus coral, and leaf coral sugzcs.t decora that many fish make. tions in a potentate's palace, At lea-I _,0 -pe cies of coral and 25 kinds of gonronians adorn Reef Fish Escort Divers on Tour the reef (pages 58, 60. and 82), You sense an air of subdued expectancy. Three queen angelfish in blue and gold The reef waits in hushed judgment until you lose their sense of caution. emerge from hid make clear your intentions, and it is certain ing, and swim toward you ..-\ silvcrv school that friends han come to call. of spadefish shimmers into view and float." Graceful gcrgonians raise arched branches lazily above, below. and beside you. as though like uplifted arms. These dense stands of prodding a path for your swimminu pleasure horny coral sometimes grow as tall as a man. (page 62), Pastel-hued sea fans spread their lace to the You accept the welcome anrl begin the tour eddying currents (opposite). of a c-oraI metropolis where c\'ery square inch Forests of staghcm coral. amazingly like teems with life, A red squirrelfish (page ~S), ;6 i1 many thin "branches" appears to fall off, is hiding. The vellcwhcad jawfi-h ha..; cxca slither away. and wriggle into a narrow open vated this retreat, then built up the entrance inz. The branch is a tru mpetfish c- an elongat by picking up coral fragments in its mouth ed .species that finds perfect camouflage for and pilirig one on another. The crater on top itself among the goreonians. whose branches of the mound serves as a door into whirh the it so deceptively resembles. fish backs, tail first. to escape pursuit. You wave your fins gently and glide along Surviv..l of the fittest is the rule of the UIl the bottom. Beneath you a small pale-blue dcrwatcr jungle; .size and might determine the fi.sh disappears into the sand. At the spot hierarchy. The Sl Hammerhead shark ttopj. a remora riding it" flank. travels with a corivnv of yello\\-t(lik Eye" and uo-t ri!s of this shark (Sphynw) lie al the tip" of the hammer. Popcvcd squid, common on the reef'. mOH'" by jet pro pulsion. As Scpir(('ulhis _ \\11ite grunts hold a meeting bern-arh a ledge: one club ,!I member seems to voice his opinion. "Grit", and grunts" fed the Conchs, pioneer settlers on the Keys. Ii: ,I of a coral canyon, and disappear in the distant gloaming. A pancake-thin sting ray flaps batlike wings, waves a buggy-whip tail, and skims the sand. An evil-looking bar racuda bares razor teeth and swims past arrow-straight (page is). You han heard that barracudas seldom attack man, but you heave a sigh of relief when he is gone. A vicious moray eel keeps vigil in a rock cave. Any unwary fish that swims too close will find quick death in the mo ray's curved teeth (page is). He is no menace to you, how ever, unless you try to dislodge him from his lair. Now a bright green-and-yellow fish attracts your atten tion. Swimming closer, you watch a parrotfish hover-ing like a blimp above a brain coral. With parrotlike beak and small sharp teeth, it nibbles on the living coral. You approach a sea whip, or gorgonian, and one of the 80 Flash and Camera Capture Subtle Colors of Reef Life For undersea rluse-ups. the pho togra phcr uses a r-ing-shaped Ha-h reflector around the lens to eliminate harsh shadows. Here wrasses de vour bits of sea urchin above a huge brain coral. Lavender branches of a sea [lin rabovet divide in a golden network. Gorgonian polyps at left extend pet al-like tentarIes to feed. These arms retract 83 ===~==~=~-=-'"--~ ~ 88 National Geographic, January, 1962 the distant blue haze: A 12-foot tiger shark is more than two hours in water cooler than rocketing in. You stand motionless; frightened iSO, wear a rubber suit. After you've been and fascinated as the streamlined giant down for awhile, the water begins to feel sweeps through the water, caudal fin swish chilly at 30 feet. ing. On and on comes the monster. When Coral is sharp; watch your step. Be care only 10 feet separate you, he turns away. But ful, too, where you place your hand. Beware relief is short-lived as he shoots upward and of treading on long-spined sea urchins or traces two fast circles above your head. He brushing against stinging coraL leaves as abruptly as he arrived. First Dive an Incomparable Thrill Breathing becomes more difficult; your compressed air is running low. You pull the I remind the amateur photographer that air reserve rod on the breathing unit and earn he needs no special magic. If he can take rea a brief reprieve before you start a reluctant sonably decent surface photographs, he return to the surface. should be able to get good underwater shots, As you rise toward the roof of the liquid Obey the basic rules of surface photography, 'world, you try to recall the bewildering vari and you will see the quality improve as you ety of life on the reef. How jumbled the im practice and experiment under the sea. pressions are in your memory! Many more Underwater lighting conditions, of course, tours will be required before the mind's eye will vary with the water, the depth, and the sorts out all the reef's fleeting beauties, time of day, But if you can see your subject you can photograph it - provided your film Tips on Safety for Beginners gets the proper exposure. For visitors planning to explore the Key Despite my thousands of dives 00 the reef. Largo preserve, I offer a few simple but vital I envy the man who is going below for- the tips. First, and most important, the beginner first time. It is an incomparable thrill. who wants to use self-contained diving appa James Aldridge, an Australian writer and ratus should take lessons from a qualified veteran diver, has expressed it well: instructor. Before each dive he should make "You are in another world-absolutely a thorough check of his equipment. the moment you put your head under the wa Never dive alone or stray far from the boat ter. This thought will occur again and again, on a low tank of air. Always stay upcurrent and you will never become tired of saving of your boat; in case of emergency, the cur this trite thing to yourself. II's another world, rent will carry you toward it. If you spend it's another wovld" Author-photographer Jerry Green berg has -pcnt more tl1311 three thou sand hours roaming; the ocean floor off Florida's east coast. He hirri sc-lf designed the Scahawk hOU5ing~ for his cameras and flashes. His forrnula for u nde rwatcr pictures: paticrir c, practice, and proper equipment. Adjusting his electronic flash unit. 1\1r. Greenberg: stands on the ladder of his 20-foot, twin-engine runabout. Fal~e Eyes and Look-alike gnds Save Butterfly Fish From Hunters Deluded hy a stripe thill partly ob -cures the true eve , auackers often IUI1f.'"c for thr' big dot ncar the tnil With a burst of speed. the little but terfly (Clwei od 011cllpiSll illus) esr,lpes THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SpCIETY WASHINGTON. D. C. I I I OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY WASHINGTON, D.C. --~------BuckIsland Underwater Jewel ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JERRY AND IDAZ GREENBERG NA TURQUOISE WORLD of sunlight and shadow, we swim through a multihued garden: clusters of golden elkhorn coral with antlers tall as a man; towering sea fans and fcathers swaying in the current; and giant heads of con Ivoluted brain coral. We arc exploring a skin-diver's paradise, the fascinating under water trail of Buck Island Reef National Monument in the U. S. Virgin Islands. Following a series of submerged markers that point the way, we flipper through [ seas relaxingly warm and 50 clear that we can see 100 feet ahead. Everywhere we roam in this coral city, brilliant tropical fish keep us company: yellowtail snappers, blue tangs, French angels, Atlantic spadefish, striped porkfish, varicolored parrot ! fish, and foureye buttcrfl.yfish named for, markings that resemble extra eyes. Tiny II but pugna~jous damselfish nip ourftippcred feet ifwe come too ncar their territorial ',l nooks. Occasionally we spy an ill-tempered spotted moray eel lurking under a ledge I in wait for a spiny lobster. I've been .an underwater photographer for more than 20 years. My wife Idaz and Iii our children Susy, 14, Mike, 12, and Mimi, 10, have logged countless hours diving in Florida waters. Yet as we glide past outcroppings crowned with stinging coral and \ above twisting alleys carpeted with white sand, we are dazzled by this shimmering ! playground. We move with little or no fear of sharks or barracudas; Buck Island has never known an attack. With numerous shallow spots and deeper sections of 2S to 3S feet, the reef is a favorite training ground for novice snorkelers. Even after hours of plumbing the marvels of this Caribbean realm, the young sters plead to stay a few more minutes. Only one rallying cry_"Lunchl"-1ures them shoreward across sandy shallows (below). THIS PAGE FOLDS OUT '11, I, [!\\ II ---, 1/, I 'I 11['1II ill I Submarine showcase of Buck '1'I 600 j STATUTEMILESAT '5' NO"T~ '", Island Reef shelters an amazing variety of life, including- sea Of 1 ;:: ATLANTIC OCEAN anemones (enlarged ten timesj. ~ MEXICO • ',,:-) 8 HAMAISLAND5 Like their coral relatives. they are HD~iDA"" KHs..:.;o YES RIVET on junglelike brush dunking in each wave. Mimi likes when a sudden rustling stops the underwater trail. Aiming a ,I E to believe that our vessel was once our family as we climb to the 330 super-eight camera, Mike frames a pirate ship, and our skipper says foot crest of Buck Island. Then a a yellowtail snapperdriftingabove nothing to disenchant her. All of land crab scurries across our path. a trail marker. Susy and Mimi like us taste the thrill of lying back Bananaquits and warblers flit to feed the fish and try to pet them. against the canvas as we ride the They watch helmet shells and III overhead, and an emerald-throat trade winds. ed hummingbird probes brilliant starfish gliding across the reef and Adding to the fun, tour-boat blossoms. We follow a cactus see a parrotfish nibble a snack of ~·Ii captains engage in good-natured studded trail past acacia and coral. Then our hour of magic is races on the morning run to Buck I" poisonous manchineeltrees,whose spent, and we are back ashore, Island and on the evening return. milky sap can burn the skin like the girls in excited torrents of I Blowing conch horns when pass lye. Mike likens the tortured talk about what they saw. and ing one another, they exchange branches of turpentine trees to Xlike eager to identify an un tart advice, "Hey, man, put out yo "octopuses in knots." familiar fish he spotted. If only hat 'n catch mo wind for yo sail!" On our daily run to St. Croix he can swim Buck Island's under On the clearest days we strap aboard Sea Angel, Mike rides the water trail often enough, he's on tanks of compressed air for a boom (lower left), getting a cool sure he'll discover a new species leisurely hour of movie-making on someday. 0 683 ,,,- ~_,~~;7;i!:fJ.~] 1<"1 1: , II I: 1 682 '1'1 :" I',, • OFFICIALJOUIINIlL 01' THE NATIONAL OEOGRAI'HIC SOCIETY WASHINGTON, D.C. ..L","'~""""""".~ ~~r-::--F):l ir ,I", I~ ~'&'~, FLO RID A'S I! I I'I::; J: 1 " ~ Coral Reefs :,, I.. Are Imperiled • '. 1 ~ By FRED WARD ~ BLACK STAR .1 ~ Photographs by -.-e JERRY GREENBERG and FRED WARD :'l HEN FLORIDA patient silentlyslips away. ~ - established John There is magic in coral. In Pennekamp Cor secret watery gardens, nature ,I al Reef State Park plays out her diverse drama for ~ W '7. off Key Largo in 1960, there was the snorkeling alien to behold: general rejoicing that this great birth and death, beauty and " American treasure would be beast, competition and coopera ;;. preserved for future generations .tion. What appears to be a large -, - , to enjoy. Less than a generation boulder that resembles a human -, later many of the state's reefs brain is actually a colony of mil are dying, not just in the park lions of creatures. Each tiny, ,':; but throughout the keys. Some seemingly independent polyp, ~'-I experts say the causes are part of taking in water and nutrients $ a natural cycle, and widespread and exuding calcium carbonate c- death is inevitable. Others say (limestone), participates in form the causes are unknown, but the ing a design specific to each result is still inevitable. And species of coral. others warn that we are actually Pennekamp is part of a reef "'-~ killing our reefs. ribbon, made possible by the Ifirst dived the Florida Keys warm flow of the passing Gulf while I was a University of Stream, that reaches from Florida student in the 1950s. In a troubled unde""aterworld southwestof Key West almost Through 35 subsequent years of offKey Largo, a school ofdiving to Miami. I~.v students swarms around the regular scuba trips and docu Although most refer to the "Christ ofthe Deep"statue. mentation (along with the amaz area along Key Largo as "Pen c-.. Fouledwaters and thoughtless ing photographic coverage of nekamp," little-noted juris visitors are destroying growths .. '. the reefs by my lifelong diving o/coral (above), some ofwhkh dictional changes in 1974-75 buddyJerry Greenberg), I have took centuries to form.. dramatically altered the reefs' (, watched their steady deteriora Designed to protectan exten future. At that time the federal ~." tion. Corals are living organisms sive reefsystern,]ohn government took control ofall that have created the very struc Pennekamp Coral ReefState U. S. underwater areas beyond ~. ture of the reefs over thousands Park and the adjacent Key three miles to a depth of 300 of years. Seeing them suffer is Largo NationalMarine feet. These actions diminished ~ like living with a terminally ill Sanctuary are being ruined PennekampPark(administered ~ ~ ,,--. family member whose doctors by too much pollution and by the Florida Department of -~ argue over symptoms while the too many people. Natural Resources) to the three 115 .L: --~ --_.•~._---- I ~ ~ " J ~.; z miles dosest to shore and trans is at the cool edge of reef wonderland. After Jacques Buoys can be lifesavers for coral ferred the major reefs to the Key growth, and its waters dip into Yves Cousteau co-invented the by discouraging anchoring Largo National Marine Sanctu the sixties in winter. And the Aqua-Lung, the young and the directly on the reefs, once the ary (operated by the U. S. water must have few nutrients daring suited up in relatively cause ofmassive destruction. Department of Commerce). and even fewer toxins-Penne untested scuba outfits and raced Some boats double up atMolas kamp has too many of both. In toward this underwater frontier. ses Ree/in thefederal sanctu " CK HARD in appear short, since the increase of No laws limited spearfishing or ary (above), where 15 new ance, coral reefs are development and tourism in the coral and shell collecting. Heed buoys a year are planned. In in truth exquisitely keys the odds are against Penne less divers speared tons of the 1984 the freighter Wellwood fragile, living within kamp's sensitive ecosystem. most desirable game fish. (left) plowed up several acres Ra very narrow range of condi In the derrtng-do days of Massive publicity, not the ofcoral andwentaground. Part ~ tions. Water temperature should 1950s sport diving we felt like least of which was a major o/the six-million-dollarfine remain above iO°F; Pennekamp pioneers, exploring a private (Continued on page 123) helped finance habitat restoration. 116 National Geographic, July 1990 lli '- 960 989 A wondrous realm 'l>\.fold!; in mdde by living organisms, carol a panol'allla taken by J(!~ TUft are the handiwork ofsmaU Greenbergat Carysfort Reef marine animals called polyps, in 1960 (top). Golden branches which reproduce asexually. ofelkhornroralstand beside .t\fU:ra polyp dies, it leaves brainco,.,,1,at lower right. In behind deposits ofcalcium ca .... the same region 29years later, bonate upon which live polyps coral was reduced to a llUUS of build. 'tVhen nutrient levels SOOr stumps. To cornparo:such areas, from such sources as human authorFred Ward (above) uses slnYoge andfertilizers washed laminated old photographs. fromformland, algae can over Earth's largestformations whelm and smother the polyps. 120 "\ I (Ctmtinuedfrom page 116) breaks off a pfece ofcoral that article in NA:I'lONAL G:Eo took a cenlut)· to grow, the GRAPHIC magazine in 1962, cumulative devastation is enoe promptedan almost instanta mous. Although spearing and neous influx of boats and divers, specimen collecting are prohib putting new pressures on the ited in the park. they continue, underwaterenvironment. A few illegally to this day. divers might have caused little noticeable disruption, but safer, EOPLE PlLEssmu; Il"lakec less expensive equipment and moneyfor Randy more leisure time helped popu Pegram, operator ofd:. larize scuba diving. privatepark concessicr Pennekamp, beautiful, acces Presponsible for getting halfof sible, and irresistible, became all the area's visitors onto the one of the most frequented div~ water. In his tiny dockside offk ing destinations in the world, he still worries abouttheir with nearly two million visitors impact. "The place is literally a year (halfof whom actually exploding," he says. "Over hair. make it onto or into the water). the growth in thelast 25 years The five mOstcrowded reefs at has occurred in the past.six, tract 3,000 people on an average We're 'maxed out' every other day and double that on warm weekend. Pennekamp has to weekends.. close the gates because there's I Their boats pollute the water no more room for cars." 1983 andeverything in it with petro Parking-lotsizeseems a leum products and sewage. strange way to determine how Incompetentoperators crash many people get.fn. Carl Niel 1989 into the reefs. They litter the sea sen, then Pennekamp's ener with plastic foam cups, alumi getic park manager (lie has sincr. num cans, glass, plastic bags, changed jobs), agreed: "I'm noc bottles, and miles of tangled sure we want to bring in more fishing line. This debris does not visitors. We keepan annual list: go away-iti$, for all practical of 'destruction to natural fea purposes, indestructible. tures,' which includes boat Thousands of swimmers rou groundings, mangrove damage, tinely bump, scrape, and step on coral breakage, and boat-prop coral. To a tired swimmer, dredging. There was an increase standingon coralmay seem as of nearly 300 percent of such harmless as resting on a rock. incidents between 1984 and But the slightest contact by a 1989. We may 500D be forced to foot, boatshoe, dive tank, or close off parts of the reefs on a swim fin can weaken a section regular basis, to give them some of living ree!. Algae then over breathing room to recover." come damaged polyps. H only Fishing and diviDg, two maim one penon in a bundred scars or watersports in the keys, have conflicting goals: One enthusiast: Death CWl btl shockingly swift In 'rants to catch what the other a coralru/tfulrtooll.",me 6,000 wants to see swim free. Killing yeaTll" to grow. 'Ibin;y ~ down major game animals is not in.Molasses ~ bouldeI"co...u .allowed in other state or (top, at Iql) and&ranches of national parks, butthe argu eUthorn, at ~ were I:1Iffering ment for prohibition falls on in 1983, butmuch o/the area ""_ deafears when theIssue is fish mainsd aJive.]ust8U:y~lah:.. ing; nearly every resident has a the boulder COTIl1 was serioul!ly boatand rod. Anything that eroded, and the eWtomhad affects recreational or commer -~...... cial fIShing pola.ri2:esthe keys, 122 ______J ...• " r \ .... , .,>/ 1~' , ...... -..-T \' ./'< _ .. _'um__ \ ...... ~ t; 1", /''-- ,:. ". y=: , " -,.-, .0 ~ v,,~=•.,. i .,d ~'CAY!"AN zas .,.",. , '~'" ,-_ISLt/:'1~ -~ t::' ..... ~".&!C~~~,~'? ._~!U,~· I:~o. i Coamc .. \ ..0 ~~t~'lSton ~ J R , Florida's '" vulnerable . ", t: unfenced sanctuary Created in 1960 to Pnli:ect some ofthe world's northernmost coral reefs, ~L Pennekamp (left) is the. nation'stirs! - undersea state park. Boundary changes; ~ .~ later placed most ofthe reefs within thei '. adjacent feder-al preserve, though the ·1 entire area is usually calledPennekamp·i - Threefreighter groundings in 1989 led : ..... to proposalsfor aFlorida Keys National : " Marine Sanctuary off~limits to.ships',/y' ..... • _. __.o;;...~ ..L.~_l~~ __ ._;_~.~.__~,--,,-_.,,.•....,. -"'''''''10'00;'<,'- .J;--~~·L""'f, and the economy probably could Divers'rest stop that appears to not survive a substantial loss of be bare rock (below) is actually fishing revenues. Yet in the ab an overturned stand ofcoraL sence of constraints, there may Boaters who ranaground (left) be no game fish in the future. werefinedaccording to a Hook-and-line saltwater fish fonnuIa thatconsiders coral ing is still allowed in the 120 density, damage, recovery square miles of Pennekamp potential, and degree ofnegli Park and the national marine gence.lgnoringrules against sanctuary. The fish that are touchingthe coral, divers paw taken are often the scarcest, the through a dying stand 0/ I biggest, and the best. elkhorninsearch o/lobsters. In 1989 three persons caughtwith I asked Mike White, manager 399 lobsters werefined more of the Key Largo National than $4,000 apiece{orvWlating Marine Sanctuary, how the size and baglimits. sanctuary and park justify let ting people catch the very fish that two million visitors hope to see. He answered, "Our pro gram is responsible for resource protection while encouraging multiple compatible uses. These ~ requirements often conflict. I have another year to make a i.... report on water use and to ~ advise whether all the keys should become part of the fed eral sanctuary system." Mike believes Florida would condone such an act but has watched the protest movement grow as trea sure salvors, commercial lob - stermen and fishermen, and tropical fish collectors organize to defeat any further attempt to federalize the reef tract. Events, however, have over has been roundly criticized for a rustic collection of trailer The rest of the keys use septic taken Mike's study. After three daily for six weeks and saw no A few days after the mini continuing to hand-feed barra parks and weekend fishing tanks, injection, and small, freighters ran aground within 17 more than half a dozen lobsters. season, JerryGreenbergreturned cuda and moray eels even after a shacks, has burgeoned into a local sewage plants operated by days last fall, Congressman "Any person with a license to finish photographing a partic number of people have been bit development of homes, condos, schools, apartment buildings, :k!. Dante Fascell introduced legis can take 6 lobsters a day or 24 ularlyattractive stand of coral ten while imitating him. Slate and shopping centers straddling and shopping centers. The 6 at Carysfort, near the sanc ~ lation to designate all the reefs per boat during the August has recently come down on the U. S. land crowding the land underlying limestone is as ~ from Biscayne National Park to through March 31 season," says tuary's northern border. Only side of a fishing prohibition, between ocean and bay. porous as a sieve. Anything ~ Dry Tortugas as the Florida Mike 'White. "So one man with a pile of paint-scarred coral saying, "Let's protect every Carl Nielsen says, "Onshore dumped on the ground soon fil Keys National Marine Sanctu a boat can take 24 lobsters a fragments remained, silent testi thing, lobsters and all. I want development is a continuing ters into the water table. ary. "It doesn't take a congress day. And that's not the worst of monytocareless boating. my guests to experience a living, problem. Monroe County has no "A coral reef is only as man to see that the reefs are it. Commercial lobster licenses beautiful reef." storm-water treatment facilities healthy as the Water around it," dying,"Fascell told me. Flori:' are cheap in Florida, and there's HE REEFS' chief But divers and fishermen and no tertiary (or fully pro explains Florida regional biolo da's Senator Bob Graham has no limit on the number of traps defenders are an alone do not threaten the reefs' cessed) sewage plants, which gist Renate Skinner,who keeps also introduced legislation. or lobsters taken." unusual coalition of survival. After 1960 Florida means that street runoff washes some of the scarce hard data Lobsters, tender to eat and During the summer two-day T environmentalists and Keys development even outdis right into the water and unpro on Pennekamp's water quality. difficult to protect, raise ten non-commercial "mini-season," a few of the businessmen whose tanced neigh boring mainland ceased sewage isdumped into A tiny woman who works in a sions to the breaking point. It is locals say so many amateur lives depend on having some counties, which themselves had the ground. Key West has the cramped trailer, she appears ',!" almost impossible to find a lobstermen show up you can thing alive on the reefs for peo even smaller among her crush cil some of the highest growth rates only city sewage-treatment plant ~ mature lobster at Pennekamp walk from boat to boat six miles ple to see. One such is Captain in the country. Key Largo, the in all the keys, and it opened of books and papers. onlya couple of weeks after the out to the reefs without get- Spencer Slate, gregarious owner nearest island to the reefs, once just last year." Poring over her computer season opens. I was on the reefs ting your feet wet. of Atlantis Dive Center, who Florida's Coral Reefs Aye bnpel'iled 127 126 National Geographic, July 1990 '-'. ----.J ,'__ . '4' .....·_U__'N _ ,. ,_,r -_.-._...... ~<,_ ,.--.,:..... printouts of the last decade, she ESTIClDES rain down We use Naled, a pesticide, explains, "There is a direct rela from low-flying mixed 4 gallons to 100 gallons tionship between pollution and mosquito-control of diesel fuel. It's safe, and we Air raids on mosquitoes send disease. Pollutants may lower planes based in the perform an invaluable service." /"f, fogs ofpetroleum~basedpesti the resistance of marine organ Pkeys. Lois Ryan, director of the Not everyone agrees that I ~.~ cides over Key Largo twice a isms. They irritate fish skin, cre Monroe County Mosquito Con this program is safe or that Mos week during the wetseason. The ating a condition that allows trol District, is emphatic that quito Control should have sole island's porous limestone sub bacteria to enter. people couldn't and wouldn't authority over when and where strate permits chemicals to filter "Onshore pollution eventu stay in the keys without her to spray. "Spraying kills larvae, into the watertable and eventu ally into the ocean. Adding to the ally reaches the park. Where operation: "\~le spray from not only of mosquitoes but also i pollution, seepage from septic , else can it go? Over one 26 planes, helicopters, and trucks of a great many other insects," tanks increased inthe 1970s , month period I found water twice a week during the wet sea Mike White of the Key Largo with the buildingo{the Port National Marine Sanctuary samples that exceeded the state son, whenever we get more than Largo subdivision (below). standards for pesticides 42 dif 20 mosquitoes landing on an says. "It's indiscriminate." ferent times and for plasticizers inspector's arm in one minute. A local official lamented, 65 times. I even found one PCB sample. Sediment samples col lected six miles offshore in 1986 contained DDT. The chemicals people use on Key Largo end up in surrounding waters-petro leum products, heavy metals, i:. pesticides, herbicides, and ;;; fertilizers." " ii~ A surprising occurrence in 1988 awakened officials to : another threat. Faced with heavy rains, south Florida's vegetable farmers petitioned to drain their fields by releasing water from Canal 11L According to Renate Skinner, "Barnes Sound began to die the discharge of such a large amountof fresh water killed fish, grasses, anything that could not tolerate the sudden change in salinity. Then another unexpected thing happened. We had always assumed that the flow from Barnes Sound went north, into Biscayne Bay. How ever, after two months the ~:; decaying organic matter had -.'1 flowed south through ]ewfish Creek, into Blackwater Sound, through Marvin Adams Water way, and into the park. Water samples from the organic slicks revealed high levels of several pesticides." And ifthat's not enough pollution, a countercurrent between the shoreline and the Gulf Stream delivers runoff onto $ the reefs from Biscayne Bay and Greater Miami. 128 The ruddy glow o/its branches reflects the health o/a seafan (right). which grows bestin warm, cleanwater with a low nutrient leveL A dying coralof thesamespecies haunts the deep like a specter (facing page). perhaps the victim of parasites orpolluted water. Lifeless white limestone dis colors a branch 0/ elkhorn coral afterthe spread o/white band disease (bottom left). whose cause remains a mystery. Pro duced by bacteria, blackband disease, here infecting a star coral (center right). can kill a 200-year--oldformation in two months. Experiments to stop the disease and treat infected coral so far have failed. Known as gal/ball coral" Faviufragum (bottom right) is smothered by algae. which then use the remains as a base for further growth. Life ona ree/is typically bal anced, with a variety ofcorals coexistingwith coral-eating parrotfish, algae. sea urchins, and damselfish. Normally cor als have the ability to cleanse and heal themselves 0/disease and impa~wounds.At Pennekamp the reefs may no longer be able to withstand the stresses a/their environment. JE~RY 6R!;ENal:RG (10~ CEn): ""'ED WARD ;. ~ "There are almost no butterflies stresses of people, boats, storms, Agricultural runoff, garbage, reefs beyond their ability to was unfortunate. The keys lost Restaurants, hotels, boat char ~ left where the county sprays. silt, chemicals. Anything can sewage, and thousands of prod survive. They may not recover." an estimated 98 percent of their ters, and dive shops all depend ~ The number of birds has push them over the edge. ucts that humans discard have Algae, which flourish in high reef-grooming sea urchins, just on that money. Logically, the declined because their food is That fatal "anything" can seriously raised the level of nutrient water, are the key when they were needed most. owners of those businesses ~ killed in the process of killing come from almost anywhere. nutrients in the water around problem. Relentless competi should be largely responsible for mosquitoes." Richard Curry, resource man the keys. tors, they can blanket an entire s DEATH INEVITABLE? preserving the reefs. Instead, all Carl Nielsen notes the county agement coordinator for Bis "Nutrient loading could make reef and smother living polyps. Maybe not, but we need too often, they bury their heads. is supposed to cut off the spray cayne National Park, reports, the Florida Keys reef tract the Lapointe has studied Carib immediate and drastic Rather than taking action, as planes fly over the park or "We pick up paper plants' resi first in the world to be killed by bean reefs that turned algal I. actions. Man-made threats many plead that nothing nega over water, but, he says, "We dues from the Midwest brought humans," says Brian Lapointe, in only weeks, the way a swim may well be the end of the reefs tive be said to deter tourists, pick up those pesticides in our down by the country's sewer, water-quality expert with ming pool greens overnight with unless we change our ways. The who continue coming in record - water samples. Anything that the Mississippi River, mixed in the Florida Keys Land & Sea algal "bloom." area needs a master plan for numbers to enjoy the remaining lands on Key Largo ends up the Gulf of Mexico, and carried Trust. Calling the keys an "eco Algae-eating sea urchins, dealing with water quality, fish beauty of live areas. Ultimately, . ,- in the park." here by the Gulf Stream. Every system dysfunction," he notes, which might have helped save ing, boating, and visitors. healthy reefs and healthy tour '." Once water quality deterio product that people make is "Coral reefs thrive only in the reefs, suffered a Caribbean The reefs are credited with ism are interdependent. ~ rates, corals may not have the found around our reefs-includ a low-nutrient environment. wide die-off in 1983, possibly bringing in more than 50 million Saving the reefs means stop strength to recover from the ing far too many nutrients." Pollution is pushing Florida's from a viral disease. The timing dollars a year to the upper keys. ping the pollution. Lapointe 130 National Geographic, July 1990 Florida's Coral Reefs A"e Imperiled 131 I ! "~_._--~~-_. J __.m_._ -'-".-"._~~--'-"---.- .. """"'-'~.~: ..._.,....,...:..._..,,--:_~ ! ,! ~ ~. Small butfeisty, a damselfish I,. guards its turf(below). By. picking atpolyps, the fish kill ~ patches to create algal lawns (left). In defense, a "chimney'" t ofnew growth appears (above). 1 Ifhabitat is destroyed, the fish swann to nearby reefs, where "~ ~JmW& coral destruction is intensified. ~ 'REO w.~o 1.'~O"); JEU, ~."N","6 c: ~ i ~. ~ v~ , ,~ ..... ;; WILDLIFE AS CANON SEES IT :'~ t: r"", YElLOW FOOlED ROCK A yellow-footed rock wallaby pauses from foraging in its rocky ~ WAU..A8YRANGE ,- habitat. European settlements in the mid-1800s brought relent less hunting of these gentle marsupials for their beautiful pelts. By «, the turn of the century, populations had diminished significantly, In 1912 the yellow-footed rock wallaby was given a protected ~ status, which continues today. To save endangered species, it is ~ :\!- essential to protect their habitats and Yellow-footed Rock says, "Cleaning up Key Largo As I photographed one morn place will recover, if it even can, Wallaby understand the vital role of each spe ~- , and the other Florida Keys and ing from the top of a park is to treat it like a real park. Genus: PetrogaJe -":'-~ -- -- , putting them all onto sewage restrict activity in the fragile Species: xamhopus cies within the earth's ecosystems. .rt$!? _ concession snorkel boat, its systems would be a major step areas, and let it try to heal." Adultsize: Head and body young captain, Kevin Puch, length, 6O-70cm; tail, Colorimages, with their unique ability '. in the right direction." Agricul glanced below at nearly a hun Kevin is probably right that 60-70cm tural, boating, and industrial dred snorkelers leaping onto some parts should be closed. Adult weight: 6-8kg to reach people, can help promote a .\, Habitat: Rock outcrops E pollutalits should be kept away one small patch of reef. We But cleaning up the water is the and cliffsin semi-arid greater awareness and understand :~:.. from the reefs. Finally, fishing exchanged concerned looks. first priority. We will kill the country, Australia .!-. and lobstering should be banned "I make my living driving coral reefs if we're not careful, Surviving number: ing of the yellow-footedrock wallaby ~ Estimated at 12,000 COlORLASERCOPI;;;-I ... in Pennekamp Park and the this boat, and I love it," said by ignoring their silent plight ~ Photographed by and our entire wildlife heritage. sanctuary. Kevin. "But the only way this and loving them to death. 0 John Cancalosi 132 National Geographic, July 1990 Canon -, ":'" ''-, OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY WASHINOTON, n.c. The Middle East's -~ From the plains of Anatolla to the eastern By Sahara, rivers are lifeblood to this arid region, PRIIT J. VESILIND ~~~g~~R~i~~RAPHlC where growing nations compete for a shrinking Photographs by water supply. Workers Inspect giantpipes that ED KASHI will channel waters of the Euphrates to genera- tors in the Atatiirk Dam, keystone of a plan to transform southeastern Turkey. North of Egypt's Aswan High Dam, a tour boat eases past a boy 38 and his horse in the shallows of the Nile. fOR WATER, life Itself, has never come easyinthe Middle East. Eversince the OldTesta ment God punished man with 40 days and 40 nights of rain, water supplies here have been dwindling. The rainfall only comes in winter, lnshallah-God willing-and drains quickly through the semiarid land, leaving the soil to bake and to thirst for nextNovember. • • JORDAN: Farmers The region's accelerating population, expand pumping brackish Jor· ing agriculture, industrialization, and higher liv dan River water say ingstandardsdemand more fresh water. Drought that drought-resistant and pollution limit its availability. War and mis olive trees barely grow management squanderit. Says Joyce Starr of the where citrus once Global \\7ater Summit Initiative, based in Wash thri'led. The river, usu ington, D. C., "Nations like Israel and Jordan ally a stream salty from are swiftly sliding into that zone where they are diversion of feeder using all the water resources available to them. streams and leachIng They have only 15 to 20 years left before their of minerals from irri· agriculture, and ultimately their food security, gated fields, runs swol is threatened." • Ian after a wet winter. I came here to examine this crisis in the mak ing, to investigate fears that "water wars" are • iRAQ: War has lInde ... imminent, that water has replaced oil as the mined agrlcuhure east region's most contentious commodity. For more of Baghdad, where a dry than two months I traveled through three river c:anai borders a patchy valleys and seven nations-from southern Tur wheatfield. key down the EuphratesRiverto Syria, Iraq, and on to Kuwait; to Israel and Jordan, neighbors across the valley of the (Conti'lUed on page 48) 43 L d • SYRIA: Bedouin who northern steppe. Re emptying water holes [arming and sheep sheep, they drill wells. crops and animals or used to roam in search peated drilling lowers where animals and herding, a vicious cycle But as water levels too costly to pump of Water now drill for it the water table by as humans once drank. is triggered. To nourish drop, supplies may forcing the Bedouin to east of Aleppo in the much as six feet a year, As Bedouin take up wheat, cotton, and 44 become too salty for sink more new wells. 45 plants in the Tigris. and Iraq watch anx power in 1990, when • TURKEY: A giant expected to hold more Turkey's Southeastern Euphrates basin. iously for reduced flow. Turkey held back the plug, Ataturk Dam con than ten times the vol Anatolia Project, a plan Heavily dependent on Both complained of river to begin filling the tains the Euphrates ume of the Sea of aan that centers on 22 the Euphrates, Syria shortages of water and Atatiirk reservoir. River, filling a reservoir lee. Ataturk anchors dams and 19 power 47 46 l ~ I! (Continuedjrom page 43) Jordan; to the time- 1'\.I' less Egyptian Nile (maps, pages 52-3). Ii I, Even amid the scarcity there are haves and !i have-nots. Compared with the United States, • IRAQ: Frosted by ;' which in 1990 had a freshwater potential of salt, a field that once u 10,000 cubic meters (2.6 million gallons) a year grew barley lies barren "jl, for each citizen, Iraq had 5,SOO, Turkey had I' 4,000, and even Syria had more than 2,800. near the confluence of the Tigris and Egypt's potential was only 1,100. Israel had 460, Euphrates Rivers. Jordan a meager 260. But these are not firm fig Southern Iraq'S soils ures, because upstream use of river water can are badly damaged dramatically alter the potential downstream. by saline waters, as Scarcityis only one elementof thecrisis. Ineffi the Euphrates carries ciency is another, as is the reluctance of some runoff from fields water-poornations to changepriorities from agri upstream into the area. culture to less water-intensive enterprises. Some experts suggest that if nations would share both Over-Irrigation and poor water technology and resources, they could sat drainage compound the isfy the region's population, currently 159 mil problem: As the stag lion. Butinthis patchworkof ethnic and religious nant water evaporates, It leaves behind a crust rivalries, waterseldom stands alone as an issue. It is entangled in the politics that keep people from of salt. Consumed by trusting and seeking help from one another. wars since the early Here, where water, like truth, is precious, each 19805, the government nation tends to find its own water and supply its has had little time or money to spare for own truth. As Israeli hydrology professor Uri Shamir told soil improvement me: "Ifthere is political will for peace, water will programs. not be a hindrance. Ifyou want reasons to fight, water will give you ample opportunities." y JOURNEY STARTS in spring time, high in the Anti-Taurus Mountainsof southernTurkey, where I shiver among the drip with a kind of virile, elastic power that seems In the haze I can see the Euphrates swelling "We don't have enough land, and people are ping snow beds. In the distance closer to electricity than water. with backup from the great Atatiirk Dam, dedi hungry," he says. As for the dam: "It just bene MI can trace the silvery strand of the Euphrates, fits the Harran Plain, and land there has been I ask dam official Necmettin Sasaoglu ifheand cated lastyear. Soon its waters will rush through gathering force for its step-down south into Syria, his colleagues feared sabotage during the gulf the world's two largest irrigation tunnels-25 bought by the rich." then into Iraq, where it joins the Tigris to empty war, when Turkey assisted coalition forces feet in diameter-to revitalize the Harran Plain On the Hanan, now lush with spring grass, the against Iraq. "It's impossible to destroy this into the Persian Gulf. 40 miles away. The Atatiirk will also generate mood is optimistic. At a government experimen Itwas in the landbetweenthese rivers-Meso dam," he answers. "Besides, the floods would nine billion kilowatt-hours of electricitya year. tal farm at Koruklu, agronomists test patches of ruin Iraqi lands and cities downstream. It would potamia-that agriculture arose in the Middle Eventually22damswill impoundthe watersof peaches, pecans, nectarines, pomegranates, and East. Turkish tradition says Abraham himself the Euphrates and the Tigris, which also rises in grapes as candidate crops for the coming waters. have been self-destruction." first tilled the soil on the Harren Plain, just When nations share the same river; the eastern Turkey, all part of an ambitious and Local farmers, many of them Arabs, attend irri upstream nation is under no legally bindingobli beyond the horizon. diverse development scheme called -the South gation classes with anticipation. gation to provide water downstream. But the The generous snows of the Turkish mountains eastern Anatolia Project. Arab neighbors joke The massive Atattirk sits 40 miles north of the have brought little wealth to the semiarid plains regional capital of Urfa. It is essentially an downstream nation can claim historical rights of uneasily abouta new Ottoman Empire. use and press for fair treatment. In 1989President of the southeast. Without irrigation they have From the mountaintop I inch down twisted immense pile of rocks guarded by men with yielded only one crop a year. Butnow Turkey has TurgutOzal alarmed Syria and Iraq by announc dirt roads, dwarfed between boulders, crossing machine guns. With officials I drive along its ing that Turkey would hold back the flow ofthe finally begun to harness its waters. earth slides and streams milky with limestone, mile-long top. What looked like pebbles from a Euphratesfor a month to startfilling the Atatiirk, ED KASHl's photographs illustrated"Struggleof the where Kurdish farmers spread manure on tobac distance grow into car-size boulders of basalt, despite an earlier guarantee to provide an aver Kurds" in the August1992 GEOGRAPHIC. Before that co fields. A patriarch with a bristly white mus each placed according to size,like a mosaic, by a age flow of 500 cubic meters a second at the Syr he spenttwo years coveringNorthernIreland for the tache comes to wave his arms and complain, machine with a monstrous but artistic claw. The ian border. To offset the loss, Turkey increased documentary work, No Surrender: The Protestants. thinking I am a government agent. blue,green Euphrates thunders below the dam Helivesin SanFrancisco. 49 National Geographic, May 1993 Water-The Middle East's Critical Resource 48 I • IRAQ: Ankle-deep in pounding during the pools of sewage, resi Iran-Iraq and gul~ wars dents of a Basra neigh· crippled the city'S borhood suffer war's sewer and water·supply ravages long after the systems, flooding bGmbs have stopped. neighborhoods with ''We can't endure this pools of liquid waste. any more," a woman Though some sections i shouted as she passed of the system work the author on the fetid periodIcally, they often I streets of this once break down: United Na prosperous port city, tions sanctions against 300 miles downstream Iraq have led to a short I Ii from Baghdad. Years of age of spare parts. to be pushed into cultivation, and thatcannotbe done without more river water. "There is no other choice," says Syria's direc tor of international waters, Majed Daoud, "We will have 25 million people by 2010, and these people will need food." In Aleppo I spend several days at the Interna tional Center for Agricultural Research in the DryAreas (ICARDA), where researchers are devis ing strategies for coping with a drier future. "Water harvesting" is one way. Research agron omist Theib Oweis explains: "Ifone acre gets 150 millimeters (six inches) of rain a year, that is not enough. But, if you can get the water from one halfof this acre to the other, you have land with 300 millimeters. Then you can grow a crop. "For example, you plow the land in alternat ing strips. Water will run off the area you don't plow, so it will flow to the other strip. I don'tsee how any dry country can afford not to use such techniques." Whenwateris short, disease can spread, partly the flow for two months before the cutback, but waterto millions in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, cities power is routinely shut off several hours because untreated sewage water is used to irri even this did not prevent an outburstof criticism. and other Arab gulf states. Few nations were each day. Kerosene lamps glow orange through gate vegetables. In 1989 Aleppo suffered a chol apartment windows. Full development of the Anatolia project could receptive, and the concept sits in limbo. era outbreak blamed on contaminated parsley. reduce the Euphrates' flow by as much as 60 per "In this region," Turkish Foreign Ministry "Only two of the dam's eight turbines are "I always soak my vegetables in chlorine," an cent. This could severely jeopardize Syrian and official Burhan Ant told me in Ankara, "interde working," says Ministry of Irrigation official Aleppo housewife tells me. "When I go to the Iraqi agriculture. A technical committee of the pendence is understood as the opposite of inde Hamdan Odeh in Damascus. "There has never market, the maid says, 'Don'tgetthe onions with three Euphrates riparians-Turkey, Syria, and pendence. Every country here seeks a kind of beenenough water for them all." the black dirt on them; get the ones with the red Iraq- has met intermittently to share hydrologi self-sufficiency in every field, because they don't Predictably, Syria's big dam has kindled fear dirt.' They were grown farther from the river." cal information but has made no real headway. trust the others." of scarcity downstream in Iraq. The Iraqis dis Later I approach a merchant in the outdoor If seen as a commodity, water can be pack patched troops to rattle sabers at the Syrian bor market by Aleppo's medieval city walls, one aged, bought, and sold, and may soon move J ARRAN'S GOOD FORTUNE is seen der in 1975, when the reservoir was filling. whose radishes bear the telltale black earth. "1 -- But Syria sees the great project as vital to its between nations like so much wheat. But politi darkly in Syria, a nation that eat these," he tells me, "and I don't wash any cal mistrust hampers many promising schemes. . --- needs the Euphratesto keep pace future security. The nation's rain-fed western thing. The only people who get sick are already In 1987 Turkey proposed a "peace pipeline" of .:.;~( with its population growth of 3.E farmland is already heavily used. The govern slightly affected in the head. Dust and mud don't water from two Turkish rivers-the Ceyhan and J J,_percent a year. Less water in the mentlooks now to its arid eastern steppes, where make you sick. It all comes from God." the Seyhan-that flow south into the Mediterra river has meantlow power output at Syria's own the Euphrates Dam irrigates 500,000 acres. Islam forbids alcohol, and water is the table nean. The dual pipelines would deliver potable large-scale Euphrates Dam at Tabqa. In Syrian Authoritiesestimate thata million more will have drink, along with tea and coffee. Those Syrians Water-The Middle East's Critical Resource 50 National Geographic, May 1993 51 who can afford it buy plastic bottles of Boukein BiookSca -- ~'--~.- mineral water, whose label assures all drinkers, HIGH STAKES FOR THIRSTYNATIONS in English: "The best to prepare baby's food and to conserve his teeth healthy." "The next war in the localized water con went to war after Syria groundwater supply in From Damascus, I drive with government Middle East will be flicts have raised ten. and Turkeyfilled reser the West Bank. escorts to the GolanHeights. The western slopes, foughtoverwater, not slons in the region for voirs behind two new Almost wholly depen where streams flow down to nourish the Sea of politics," UNSecretary decades. In 1967 dams, causing a sharp dent on the flow of the Galilee, were capturedby Israel during the warof General Soutros Israelis shelled a dam drop In the Euphrates Nile, egyptians now 1967. The humiliation still stings. BoutroSoGhali warned site shared by Jordan River, More recently worry that countries At the border there is a no-man's-land. The in 1985, while he was and Syria on the Palestinians and Israe upstream will demand Israeli flag flutters on the other side. "See that Egypt's minister of Yarmuk Rfver. In 1975 lis have wrangled.over a greater share of the flag?" says border official Mohammed Ali. state for foreign affairs. Syria and Iraq nearfy access to a failing river's waters. "Those blue stripes represent the Nile and the Euphrates. The Israelis think this is where their land should extend, all the way from Egypt to Turkey. And they are working to get this area." Actually, their blue-striped flag is patterned after the Jewish prayer shawl, but the misinfor mation suits the Syrian government, which has n made a martyr city out of Al Qunaytirah. The regional Golan capital was destroyed. Nothing bas been rebuilt. Busloads of Syrian and Iranian tourists trundle through the wreckage to see the "work of the Zionists." And the city itself is qui etly returning to nature. I hear only sparrow song Divided on the surface and the gurgle of pure water. by political borders, most Middle East countries HE ONLY ROAD TO IRAQ for an Ameri are Joined by common can begins in Amman, the capital aquifers-underground of Jordan, then shoots northeast layers of porous rock through500 miles of desert, through that contain water. the cannon-shaped end of Jordan. I Shallow aquifers can Tride in a hired Chevroletthrough a grit-filled haze be refilled by rain, but called khamsin-"50 days" -for the duration of deep aquifers cannot the winds that blow from the deserts. Curiously, quickly be replen a circle of blue sky shines overhead, like a skull Ished. Above ground, cap on an immense bald head of ocher dust. pipelines carry The landscape turns fertile when we reach the water within valley of the two rivers-ancient Mesopotamia. countries; no The Euphratesflows flat andstrong, andin a few transnational miles Baghdad arises on the Tigris, modern and pipeline Is now bombastic. It shows few outward signs of the In operation. punishment it absorbed during the gulf war. Bridges are repaired, tap water runs, and toilets flush. Portraits of President Saddam Hus sein-depicted as a war hero, a son of Islam, a friend of the poor, a workingman with a wrench - hang heavy over the streets. ButBaghdad, like the rest of Iraq, merely sur vives. Its standard of life has collapsed since the gulf war and under the United Nations embargo. Duct tape and cannibalized parts hold city plumbing together, says Adnan jabro, director general of water supply and sewage treatment. "Can you imagine," (Continued on page56) 52 '-'<-"'"~ '1 ;- ) '~- -. <, :_~:", . "-'" • SYRIA: "0 believers, the elbows, and wipe gathered for midday centuries after Arab failing network of Damascus's galloping when you stand up to your heads, and your prayer at a Damascus Conquerorsbrought leaky pipes contributes population, which pray, wash your faces, feet up to the ankles." mosque obey the words ISlamto this city on to the frequent water has more than doubled and your hands up to Faithful Muslims of the Koran nearly 14 the Sarada River. A 54 shortages that plague since 1970. 55 -~._. "The main drugs, even diagnostic kits, are simply not here," says hospital manager H. A. Borak. Smoldering quietly, he demands: "Why is America doing this?" WAlT, THE OIvRICH NATION that Iraq still covets, has little fresh • SYRIA: Where the water, but it has the money to Quwayq River once make it. To utilize seawater, I flowed, a weed-choked Kuwaitconstructed sixlarge-scale II ditch enters Aleppo, Koil-powered desalination plants. " filling with sewage and The plants use a complex distillation process, l industrial waste as it in which water "flashes" into a salt-free vapor. crosses the city. Alep This requires huge amounts of energy and pro po's river dried to a duces a cubic meteroffresh water thatcosts more trickle decades ago than two dollars, compared with 20 cents in Chi after farmers upstream cago. But the water is heavily subsidized. Con diverted Its waters. sumers pay less than a tenth ofthe cost. Todaythe city's nearly Says Abdulla Mohammed Al-Minayes of two million residents Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water, receive drinking water "Availability and reliability are very important from the Euphrates, to us. Economics does not mean anything." though hard-pressed Kuwait City in the spring of 1992 is a shell. local farmers tap into Rubble litters the quiet streets. Bitterness and the stream of sewage recrimination between those who stayed and to Irrigate produce. The struggled through the Iraqi invasion and those result: occasional out who left for the comforts of London or Paris breaks of cholera, polarize Kuwaitis. Half the population of two typhoid, and dysentery. million, primarily the foreign laborers, is gone. Thefour surviving desalination plants produce a surplus-204 million gallons of drinking water a day for a demand of only 174 million gallons. Saudi Arabia, farther down the Arabian Pen insula, leads the world in desalination. Its 22 large plants produce 30 percentof all desalinated waterin the world. Itis also aleaderin the pump ing offossil water-wateraccumulated in an ear he says, "43 straight days of bombing, with no salts, agricultural runoff, and chemical pollut I fly to Basra from Baghdad. Saad, my official liergeologic age-lying deep in aquifers spread electricity, and you-you-are responsible for ants from upstream users, for Iraq sits at the tail guide and handler from the press office in Bagh under northern Africa and tbeMiddle East. Min supplying water to 4.5 million people? It was a end of the drainage. dad, advises me of practical things en route: "To ing nonrenewable water is like extracting oil nightmare. People were using polluted water At the same time, drought has intensified, and shampoo in Basra, buy two bottles of mineral someday it will run out. Various estimates of the from ditches. And without electricity to operate as Turkey begins massive irrigation this spring weter. Ifyou don't, your hair will stick straight life span for Saudi fossil-water reserves at the the pumps, Baghdad was flooded with sewage." Iraqisfear even lower levels. Seasonal floods tha out with the salts." present rate of pumping range from 25 to 100 J abro feels.that Iraq has done everything the once leached and washed the soil have been rare. In the stricken city barefoot toddlers wade years. Saudis themselves say longer. United Nations wants. "Government officials With over-irrigation andpoor drainage, saliniza casually through ponds of sewage. Our taxi Using such water, Saudi Arabia has exceeded can drink bottled water, " he says, "butwhat can tionhas affected huge areas; in southern Iraq, driver, Abu Hekmat, says, "When we drink its goal of self-sufficiency in wheat. Surprisingly, the other people do? Ifthe United Nations really where brackish marshes surround the Shatt al from the tap-it's directly to the hospital!" it has become the world's seventhbiggestexport intends to kill people, they should come out Arab ~a,te.rw(.l)'forme.d by.the confluence of the Waterborne diseases-typhoid, cholera, amebic er, selling the wheat at one-quarter of cost. The dysentery-s-have tired. and say it." Tigris and Euphrates, thousands of acres have governmentabsorbs the loss. Iraq has a surplus of river water; its shortcom been glazed with an icing of salt. About 20 cases of gastroenteritis arrive at the "The Saudis are shortsighted," says Elias ings are in management, investment, and control In the infirmary thatis Iraq, the city of Basrais children's hospital in Basra every morning. In Salameh, professor of hydrology at the Univer of pollution-During four decades of oil wealth, on the critical list. Basrasuffered morethan thre.' the wards, acrid with the smell of antiseptic and sity ofJordan. "Someday theywill need that wa Iraq gave its rivers and agriculture low priority. years ofshelling from Iran and was savagedagain diarrhea, mothers whisk flies from pale babies ter. And takingoutfossil resources hasits impact For ten years of war, water projects were further by coalition bombing and by street fighting hooked to plastic tubes andIV bottles. Straycats on the geologic structure of the area. The ground set back. And water arrives already degraded by between Shiite rebel forces and Iraqi troops. stride boldly in the heatof the corridors. level may drop. Water is pressurized, and ifyou Watey_ The Middle East's Critical Resource 56 National Geographic, May 1993 57 -' w main tributary, the Yarmuk, which forms part of 1n the 1970sJordan completed the extension of the kingdom's northern border with Syria. But its major project, the East Ghar (King Abdullah) the Yarmuk is also crucial to Syria and Israel. Canal, which runs from the Yarmuk River south, Only the small Zarqa River runs within Jordan. parallel to the Jordan. Farmers returned, Recognizing earlyon the volatility ofthe water induced by promises of continued land reform. issue in this area, U. S. President Dwight D. Agriculture now soaks up 73 percent of Jor Eisenhower sent an envoy to devise a sharing dan's water, but some hydrologists insist that plan for the Jordan in the 1950s. Technical water-poor nations must curb their farmers experts from all four riparians-Syria, Lebanon, instead of investing in them. Says the University Israel, and Jordan- accepted the Johnston Plan of Jordan's Elias Salameh, "We should take in principle. Butthere was no agreement on exact whatever we need for domestic purposes first, quotas, and governments would not ratify it. The and then use the rest for irrigation, not the plan was abandoned, but Jordan and Israel reverse. We have a crisis because we are not able agreed to quotas in return for U. S. aid in financ to put enough investment into industrialization, ing a major water project in each nation. so we rely on agriculture, which needslessinvest In the 1960s Israel finished its project-the ment and more water." National Water Carrier-tapping the Sea of Gal "If Israel didn't exist," Salameh allows, "we ilee to channel water as far south as the Negev still would have scarcityin the future. The cake is desert and virtually drying up the southern Jor the same size; we can't enlarge it." dan River. Jordan and other Arab states were In 1967 the Israelis shelled a joint Jordanian outraged, calling the transfer of water from the Syrian dam site on the Yarmuk. Jordan and Syr Jordan basin a breach of international law . Israel ia's current effort to build the Unity Dam on the maintains that it has the right to do whatit wants Yarmuk, to provide hydropower to Syria and with its own water. more waterfor Jordan, has been stymied as well. During the 1967 war Israel capturedthe Golan Institutions such as the World Bank will not help Heights and the West Bank, effectively gaining finance the project as long as Israel objects to a • WESTBANK: "If there control of almost the entire Jordan River basin . diminished waterflow. NowSyria has builtsome take it out, no one knows what will happen." • ISRAEL:"Mines. Be Jordanian farmers in the valley, under shelling 20small diversion dams on the sources of the Yar Is no rain, what can For drinking water, the Saudiswill increasing warel" reads a Hebrew and fearing a full-scale Israeli invasion, tempo muk, leaving even less for Jordan. we do? Nothing," says ly rely on desalination. They fear only sabotage sign on the Golan Jordanian water experts have been meeting Jihad Ahmed Jamaat. rarily abandoned the east bank, and agriculture and pollution, as dramatized by the 600-square Heights. The former shriveled there. with their Israeli counterparts for years, but the mile oil slick thatblackened the Persian Gulfdur Syrian terrlto1')',annexed He coils Irrigation hose ing the war against Iraq, threatening to clog In 1981, is key to after a failed banana desalination intake pipes. controlling 35 percent harvest near the village of Israel's water supply. of AI AUja in the Israeli occupied West Bank, a ADDAM HUSSEIN remains a hero to the In the valley below lies ;Palestinians. Many of those who Israel's main reservoir, 2,270-square-mile c'~·'%))lc. labored in Kuwait welcomed the Iraqi the Sea of Galilee, area seized from Jot ~} warlord, then fled before Desert where members of Kib dan in 1967. AI AUja's r Storm. More than 300,000 flooded cit butz Haon raise fish in Palestinians say deep Sies andrefugee camps in the Hashemite Kingdom rectangular ponds. wells dug for Jewish of Jordan, already burdened with two prior settlers made their waves of Palestinians in 1948 and 1967. They ancient spring run dry, severely tax thenation's meager water resources. In Baqaa refugee camp outside Amman, I visit Mohammed Abu Ghoname, his wife, and their 1991.92, years of drought had worn agriculture to 18children. Thefamily shares one brass faucet to stubble. In Amman water rationing has been a wash babies, scrub laundry, and fill pots. One fact oflife;thewaterauthority pumpsonly two or son, six-year-old Shadi, steps up and demands: three times a week to the metal tanks that sit on "Do you like Saddam?" every rooftop. I reach for a positive answer: "He has a fine Jordan controls no major rivers. The Jordan mustache." The father translates. The child River forms part of its border with Israel, but the stares up at me, then lunges with a tiny fist and Jordan's headwaters rise mainly in the moun socks me hard in the stomach. tains of Lebanon, northern Israel, and the high Times are tough in Jordan. Its aquifers are lands of Syria, and the river is heavily tapped overpumped, andbefore the inundatingwinter of upstream. Jordan must depend on the river's National Geographic, May 1993 58 loss of their water to an enemy eats atthe pride of • JORDAN: By the tank Yarmuk River by the Jordanians. Jordan's King Hussein has said that or by the can, JordanI Syrian border, a mother water is such a volatile issue that it "could drive ens limit water con sponges her son with nations of the region to war." Abdullah Toukan, sumption whlle their rainwater from the fam the king's science adviser, adds, "In this arid country endures the ily cistern. region water is life. Money may bring desalina gravest shortages in Since the early tion plants, but the real solution remains the res the Middle East. In the 1960s regional poli toration of Jordan's rightful share of water." capital, Amman, pri tics have stifled a plan The East Ghor Canal snakes down theJordan vate truckers sell water to build a dam on the Valley, radiating life as it flows, into a heat sink for rooftop tanks, Yarmuk-and bring where oranges and bananas are grown year supplementing govern running water to sur round. Here the barley stands ripe and golden, ment rations. Near the rounding villages. and white polyethylene hothouses, nurturing melons, carnations, and tomatoes, shimmer under a consuming sun. "Go back a hundred years and you'll see that Near the Dead Sea, I drive past Mount Nebo, agriculture determined the borders of what i~ massive in the magenta haze to the east, the Israel," says Jacob Bear, professor of hydrolog mountainwhereMoses stood andlooked over the at the Technion, Israel's technological university Jordan to the Promised Land, knowing he could in Haifa. "So we are still in a state of creation never cross. establishing our borders-if not to say in a state of war." SRAEL DEFINED ITSELF early as a nation Israel draws 65 percent of its renewable fresh seeking to reclaim the land from neglect. water from two major aquifers-a limestone Arriving from Europe with memories of aquifer under the mountains and a shallower, green fields and forest glades, the early partly saline one beneath the coastal plain, in Zionists toiled to reestablish a Jewish cul cluding the Gaza Strip. The rest comes from tho Iture based on agriculture. They drained swamps Jordan River and its great storage basin, the Sec and quickened the desert soil with irrigation. of Galilee. The Litani Riverin southern Lebanon 60 National Geographic, May 1993 l has been a temptation, especially since Israel "The sound of the water," says MooIi, shak established its security zone there eight years ago, ing his head. "I can't get over the sound. Since but so far Israel has resisted tapping it. 1968this has been nothing." Israel's major contribution to farming in arid Until last year decades of drought and overuse lands has been the development of drip irriga had dried up many springs and wells in the West tion, bringing precisely the rightamountof water Bank, where agriculture is suffering. Palestin to each plant through holes in plastic hoses, with ians, chafing under Israeli occupation, are con minimal waste. Computerized automation has vinced thatIsrael is to blame - that it takes more allowed such refinements as high-frequency than its fair share of water and denies permits for pulse irrigation. Farmers have more than dou new Arab wells. bled their output in the past 20 years, with the Israelis pointoutthatunlimited drinkingwater same amount of water. is available to everyone in the occupied territo Such achievements prompt recent Israeli ries, but neither Jew nor Arab can dig new wells water commissioner Dan Zaslavsky to call the for agriculture when the water table is so low. Middle Eastern water crisis a myth: "There are The salient fact about the mountain aquifer is local andtemporaryshortages becauseit'snot the that its waters flow naturally, underground, highest priority of the countries involved; that's toward its edges. They emerge as springs and all, nothing else." wells in the foothills, in Israel proper, The moun Zaslavsky's brave words belie a growing anxi tains, much of the West Bank, cannot sustain ety. Until the heavy rains of 1991-92 partially intensive agriculture, in part because the aquifer refilled aquifers, the government had cut agricul is too deep for viable irrigation wells. tural use of water by as much as 30 percent. Now But water remains a point of rancor. In the farmers have succeeded in pressing for a larger Arab village ofMarda, 25miles east of Tel Aviv, I allotment. Says water expertHillel Shuval of the meet with Palestinian elder Shaher Khufash. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "We are living who announces gravely, "Israel has stolen our in fear that there will be a return to the old, dan water, and we are thirsty." gerous policies of overpumpingaquifers to satisfy How? "They have dug a well on confis • JORDAN: An under switch to a drip Jordan across the river, with its mud-brick vil ground transfusion wa irrigation system, lages and spring grass sneaking up the hillsides. agriculture." cated village land. And they are denying us As the population soars with new immigrants, this water." ters beds of cucumbers watering plants At a Tiberias seaside restaurant I dine on St. the search for alternatives has taken on urgency. Mardacould tap into the Israelistatewatersys at a private greenhouse through tubes in the Peter's fish from the Galilee, a primitive model of Israel has pioneered in the use of recycled urban tern, as 250 otherWestBankvillages have, but it in Baqaa, near Amman. ground; plastic sheets a fish, all scales and spines. The ample .....-inter wastewater for agriculture; a project in Tel Aviv has declined. Its main water source now is a "We are saving discourage insects and rains have swamped bushes along the shore. The already generates enough to cultivate 20,000 Roman-era well that shrinks deep in summer, about 50 percent of our prevent water-guzzling cup of Galilee is full. acres of farmland, water that is pure enough for leaving 50 steps for the women to climb. water," says owner weeds. Using the same "The water problem is not a problem," says a accidental drinking. The use of brackish water "This well is dangerous," says Khufash. Abdelraouf el-Khatib. method, he grows local hydrologist, who declined to be named. drawn from fossil aquifers is being developed in "Four citizens have drowned in it." In 1978 he was among green peppers, toma "It's psychological and emotional. A hundred the Negev. Desalinationfor agriculture is still too Then why not hook up with the Israelis? Khu the first in Jordan to toes, and beans. million cubic meters overflowed from the Sea of costly, at least until other options run out, or until fash rolls his worry beads carefully: "Doing so Galilee this year. Ifwe had peace betweenIsrael new technology brings down the price. means accepting them and their confiscations. and Jordan, we might have developed 30,000 Some experts pointout that desalination could Also, they say we have to pay for the water then. and palms. "Just like Las Vegas," he beams. acres of land. Instead, the water goes into the be a mutual investment between nations. To The people refuse. They say, 'Why should we Even Arab hydrologists point out that swim Dead Sea." meet the needs orIsrael, Jord_an, and the West pay? The water comes from God.' " ming pools are mere thimblefuls in the overall Next day I visit the Jordan Valley Water Asso Bank, for example, would require less than ten IntheJewish settlement of Ariel, built along a water volume. Butpools and green lawns are red ciation, a private agency organized by area kib billion dollars. By comparison, the gulf warto mountain ridge thatoverlooks Marda, the young flags to the Palestinians, whose cultural resent butzim. Computers run the irrigation system free Kuwait cost Arab countries 430 billion. mayor, Ron Nachman, drives me around town in ment runs deep. Israel fears thatifanewPalestin through cables and radio. "The computer gets his new white Ford Scorpio. I tell him whatI have ian state comes into existence on the West Bank, information from the fields, decides what pump H E ALON ROAD nearJerusalem leads heardfrom Khufash. it might pursue a policy of deep, heavy pump to run and what valves to close or open," says through the wilderness of J udaea, "It's pure Arab propaganda," he counters. ing-not just to use the water but to deprive engineer Gidi Sela. "Want to change levels?Just where migrating storks pick their "We tried to dig this well for the Arabs but got Israel. Politicians use the argument to resist push a few buttons, and the valves of a holding way through waves of wildflowers, only mud. Hah! No one uses it. We get our water Israeliwithdrawal. Says one water expert, "Any tank five miles away open to admit water!' and landslides of goats teeter on the by pipe from the Sea of Galilee. But why don't body, in my opinion, who would give away their Onone kibbutz, manager ZviRubtellsmethat Tridges. With Israeli historian MooIi Brog I go to Arabs build up themselves? Huh? Why not? I'll water resources is simply mad, sick in-the head." 7,000 cubic meters of water per quarteracre were see the revived and roaring EI Fawar mountain tell you why not. It's easier to sit and cry,": Onthe road from Jericho to Tiberias on the Sea used for bananas each year when they wereflood spring that in ancient times supplied winter pal The mayor guns the car into the parking lot of Galilee, yellow mustard weeds wave in the irrigated. "When we started to drip-irrigate, we aces westof Jericho. of the Ariel Hotel, with its swimming pool ditches, and thistles spike the roadside. I can see were down to 2,000 cubic meters," he says. 62 National Geographic, May 1993 Water_The Middle East's Critical Resource 63 -.---_•.-_. ..!""'-- • JORDAN: Old-style River Valley. Since the waters to the country's ditches with a network make the switch to drip government in 1991 sluices flood a banana early 19605 the East main farming area. of pressurized pipes irrigation. to limit irrigated lands field 800 feet below Ghor Canal has chan" Now the Jordan Valley and offering row-cost Meanwhile lack of to less than half the neled Yarmuk River Authority is replacing loans to farmers who water prompted the 64 sea level in the Jordan valley's capacity. 65 the Undugu talks. It has threatened to build its The new Egyptthatwantsto grow into the des own hydropower dam, rattling nerves in Cairo. ert must tear itself away from this nostalgia. The brutal civil war in Sudan has sidetracked Historycomplicatesitsmlssion. TheBritish, who one key water scheme-the jonglei Canal that occupied Egypt from 1882 to 1922, discouraged was to drain Sudan's southern swamps and pro most Egyptians from the desert. vide Egyptand Sudan each with two billion more At the Water Research Centerin the delta town cubic meters of water a year. of EI Qanatlr, I speak to Bahay Issawi, former Says Abu-Zeid, "Egypt is not a water-rich director of the Egyptian Geologic Survey. "The countryany more. Beyond 20000ur water budget British tried to separate valleydwellers and Bed is very dark and very serious." ouin, to keep barriers between us, " he says. The next day I fly to the town of Aswan, in "The desert is full of genies and dangerous southern Egypt, where the daily furnace stokes things, they said. We Egyptians inherited the up by 7:30, and the color bakes out of sunsets. idea, without knowing why. In 1965I still needed From the Aswan High Dam, Lake Nasser spreads a permitto gointo Bedouin territory. Thatpolicy south as iffloatingon the heat. A hundred twenty held Egypt back for along time from Sinai." million tons of silt settle yearly behind the dam, Now, in a "new lands" program, Egypt offers silt that once replenished the banks and built the young people livestock, money, andvirtuallyfree Nile Delta. To compensate, farmers have had to 'waterto farm the desert. Thousandshave accept increase their use offertillzer, which contributes ed. The aquifers that could sustain agriculture in to water pollution. Butthe High Dam has keptits the Western Desert and in Sinai have been identi short-term promise. In the years of drought fied and drilling programs begun. before the previous winter's ample rains, Lake In addition, the 103-mile El Salam, or Peace, Nasser kept Egyptian agriculture stable and the Canal will soon channel Nile water under the • WEST BANK: A swim from local wells-but , i "But aren't bananas still uneconomical?" I economy from collapse. Suez Canal and along theMediterranean coastto , ask, remembering a vagrant statistic that a ming pool and an with water piped in Aswan is the southern terminal for 200 river the North Sinai Project near EI Arish. This could banana costs more to grow in Israel than to ancient well symbolize from the Sea of Gali tour boats. I take a three-day trip down the Nile, add 400,000 acres to cultivation. importfrom, say, Honduras. "Ifyou onlywantto the separate worlds of lee-to the Palestin visiting monuments, breathing the fresh stale The land is cheap, buttoo manyof the pioneers consider economics, you can close down agricul two communities less Ians it stands as a nessoflife unchanged for millennia. Islands thick in the new lands have been wealthyinvestors, not ture," Rub said, voicing the Israeli reverence for than a mile apart. Ariel bitter reminder of their with grain and fruit trees quiver with reedy the young farmers the government wants to Ill! the soil, "and you can close down the country." is home to 12,000 treatment under Israeli growth, and fellahin till the soil among date encourage. And those who grow staples in the Israeli settlers; Marda rule. The Israelis, they palms. The river pulses north, generous to those Egyptian desert find that five acres of irrigated I FLY FROM TEL AVIV TO CAIRO, arriving at numbers 1,500 Pal say, have confiscated who trust it. Soil breathes, life appears, man desert will grow only as much as half an acre of night into a chaos of smoke, dust, and estinians. Although the the land and stolen struggles. Time flickers past. river bottomland. whirling traffic. My taxi, with one tire flat Israeli pool is not filled their water. and no lights, rattles the wrong way up the down ramp of a major freeway and atlast Ideposits me at the hotel door. both sides of the Nile is cultivated twice, some Egyptians have always huddled around the times three times a year." green tendril of the Nile, clinging to it as if The Nile drains eight other nations: Ethiopia, to arope, afraid to letgo. Onlyalong thecoastand Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zaire, in the Western Desert have they strayed, gather Burundi, and Rwanda, more than 10 percent of ing around oases. But for most Egyptians the Africa. Itflows into the Nubian Desert of Sudan desert is as alien as the sea; they are the people of and gathers behind Egypt's Aswan High Dam, the river. They do not think of themselves as which has given Egypt's farmers security from desert Arabs. destructive floods and drought since its comple Yet to feed a projected 25 million more people tion in 1971. by 2010, Egyptian authoritiessay they must yank Egypt has seldom been challenged for Nile a sizable population from its river roots and re water, but other nations in the catchment will plantit in the desert. They also need to make bet soon need more water for agricultural and power ter use of the Nile's gift-recycling its waters for projects. Egypt has organized discussions multiple use-and to pump water from aquifers. between riparians-a forum called the Undugu In the office of the Egyptian Water Research Group-and has made a compact with Sudan fer Center, chairman Mahmoud Abu-Zeid says that a stable Egyptian quota of 55.5 billion cubic me the nation now depends almost totally on the ters ayear at the High Dam. But Ethiopia, source Nile: "Every inch of this very narrow strip on of 85 percent of the headwaters, is not a party to 66 National Geographic, May 1993 • KUWAIT: "It was like former technician told station in Kuwait City. 1991 as they retreated Kuwait and other gulf stations.Shuwaikh's a heartbeat when they the author at the Iraqi soldiers destroyed during the gulf war. states increasingly fate underscored the were all going, and wrecked Shuwaikh the station, Kuwait's With no rivers and count on seawater con stations' vulnerability now it has stopped," a power and desalination oldest, in February limited groundwater, verted at oil-powered to enemy attacks. 68 69 .I ----, • EGYPT: Far from the Nile, Bedouin in the Sinai desert stock up on river water along EI Arish pipeline. The hundred-mile line is part of a plan to lure Egyptians from the teeming banks of the river, where a girl fetches water. Just 22 years after the Aswan High Dam ushered in an era of water abun dance, Egyptians are asking: Will there be water for the next generation? The Nile Delta blossoms like a peony on the He shifts uncomfortably. "But now I must go stem of the Nile, watered by a network of canals do my work. Our son died. He was the strong one. that flood the alluvial earth. I drive along the He died of schistosomiasis"-caused by para "farm road" north from Cairo in the early morn sites in stagnant water. ing, passing horse-drawn wagonloads heading to On the way back to Cairo diesel pumps along city markets, shaggy with onions, lettuce, and the roadwaysputter and crack like artillery, and I emerald green berseem clover. mustlook hardto find asaqia, the traditional irri Farmers in the delta have been accused of gation wheel turned by an ox. In the old way the wasting water by flood irrigation-letting water animal is blindfolded with a thick pad of cloth. run onto the fields until they are soaked. But re "Otherwise, he will get dizzy and fall down," cent studies seem to vindicate them. To properly explains a woman nearby. The beastmoans in its leach the soil and to keep intact the powerful un yoke, plodding nowhere, but as it turns the derground pressure against seawater intrusion, wheel, water trickles into the culvert to spread much fresh water must be sunk into the delta. among the clover. And then the trickle passes to The key to conservation here, scientists say, is the sea, from which all life has come. to interceptdrainage water for reuse justbefore it goes into the sea. Twelve billion cubic meters of "T.·~'HEFuTuREofthehumanraceisthe drainage water, six times the water budget of sea," former Israeli water com- Israel, once flowed into the Mediterranean each'~ missioner Meir Ben-Meir told me, year. Egypt already recycles almost two billion 11 preaching desalination. "The wa- cubic meters of that water. By lining irrigation ter problem will be solved ifwe are canalswith plastic andby capturingwater under- willing enough, patient enough, clever enough." ground with drain systems, Egyptians hope to In my journeythrough the Middle East I found salvage five billion more. much cleverness, little patience, but a growing Today the water sometimes falls short. On the will. Ancient.angers burn; flash points over water roadside I talk to farmer Hassan Ibrahim Ghazy, rights still smolder. And yet, most nations will a gaunt, dark man whose face seems squeezed concede that water is a mutual, interconnected below his turban. He is harvesting garlic in the need. They know that the quest for water, life culverts. "Sometimes I can't get water," he com- itself, could foster peace as easily as warfare. plains. "I'm at the tail end of the canal. Also, the Now minds must be changed, biases curbed. water I get is polluted. There are many villages andbrotherhood kindled in this infertile crescent and many donkeys and ducks between me and Water must be understood as a resource, not just the beginning." taken as a gift from God. 0 National Geogmphic, May 1993 70 \ WALL MAP SUPPLEMENT: THE UNITED STATES (page 2201 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY WASHINGTON, D. C, of a quarter inspected me from head to toe. Then,' with sinuously graceful movements of body and tail, the mon ster returned to the open sea, never varying its serene cruising speed. Popping to the surface, I also returned whence I came-to the solid, sunny beach. I moved at something better than cruising speed. I had met a shark, and if the encounter was dull thea ter, it was meaningful, and I have chosen it deliberately as the opening incident of this article. For in the over whelming majority of meetings between these fearsome carnivores and humans who enter the sharks' domain, the sinister predators cruise on past. Equally important: One must not count on it. Any moment the time may come when one of the enigmatic creatures will attack a man. Results can be gruesome. Razor-edged teeth may re move an arm or leg or cleanly take out a to-pound piece of flesh. Hide rough as a rasp can flay, edges of fins and tails cut like swords. A shark is all lethal weapon. Cars Pose Bigger Threat Than Sharks And what are the odds for or against your becoming a target for a shark's armament next time you go to the beach? To this most important question of all, the experts cannot give a completely satisfactory answer. You have only the assurance that the odds are long-perhaps mil lions to one-in your favor. Since 1958 the Smithsonian Institution of Washington. Heroic photographer, Australian D. C., has been custodian of a shark-attack file on an Henri Bource,who lost a leg to a shark international scale. Senior Zoologist Leonard P. Schultz, in 1964, still films the marine world in charge of the file, believes it to be far from complete. with the aid of a special flipper; "Faraway primitive peoples do not compile statistics," crutches take him through shallows. he explains, "and seaside resorts don't overexert them Other equally daring diver-camera selves publicizing incidents that could plunge them into men risked their lives to make the spectacular photographs illustrating bankruptcy." this article: Jerry Greenberg and Bur From the evidence of the file, plus the personal opin ton McNeelyof Florida; Peter Gimbel ions of experts to whom I talked during a year of study of New York; and Ben Cropp, Ron ing sharks in many parts of the world, I would make an Taylor, and John Harding of Austral educated guess that in a normal year sharks kill or maim ia In warm seas and cold throughout not less than 40 or more than 300 people, without appar the world, they spent countless hours ent provocation by the victims. In times of war at sea or beneath the surface, capturing some major marine disaster, the toll undoubtedly rises. of the finest action portraits ever pub Thus you can go into the sea-any principal sea or lished of the sea's most dangerous and ocean, for the shark lives in them all, plus many rivers mysterious predator. and a few fresh-water lakes-with far less risk than you run every time you take a trip in an automobile. You will As if oblivious to human intruders, also hear that lightning is a greater danger than shark a whitetip shark-a species known bite, and the figures of about 15a lightning deaths a year to attack man-cruises in formation in the United States alone, plus several hundred injuries, with banded pilotfish. Swimming in support the statement. Tongue of the Ocean, a mile-deep You must not, of course, provoke a shark into attack trough in the Bahamas, diver Donald ing-not even the small, slow species frequently encoun R Nelson arms himself with a stout tered in coastal waters. If you step on one of these or four-foot pole; a stainless-steel barrel tweak its tail, it can-and often will-bite hard. at its tip houses a waterproof 12-gauge shotgun shelL Should the seven-foot Despite the odds against unprovoked attack upon us, shark threaten him, Dr. Nelson would we attach a sinister mystique to the shark. The sight of a jab the muzzle against its head, trig gray fin in the surf, even the rumor that somebody has gering the firing pin. seen one, brings unreasoning panic. Add, on a more 224 With a blink-the upward movement of a nictitating mem brane that serves as an eyelid-thelemon shark responds to a shaft of ligbt. Infrared detector enables scientists to observe each "wink" during the experiments in a darkened testing room at the institute. As the shark's eyes gradually become adapted to the darkness. its pupils begin to expand (right). How sensitive is a shark to sound? It can hear moving objects in the water at a greater distance than it can see them, tests on young lemon' sharks reveal, and its ability to locate the source of the sound is highly developed-c-vital to a predator (diagram, pages 230-3]). A scientist at the insti tute prepares to place a live specimen in a water-filled tube into' which sounds will be projected from the electronic equipment in foreground. Conditioning the shark with elec tric shocks, the researchers learn what frequencies the fish can hear and its degree of sensitivity to sounds. Testing the vision of a young lem on shark, research assistant Samuel impersonal level, the shark's inroads on com us all, and we must exploit the waters-c-? 1 Gruber of the University of Miami's mercial and sport fisheries, and you have a percent of the world's surface-or perish. Institute of Marine Sciences employs an ingenious apparatus that he de malefactor of some consequence. But it was Divers in unprecedented numbers began searching the depths for oil and metals and vised. The shark is lashed down in a not until fairly recently that science organ tank of circulating water, its nose ized to study sharks and seek ways of con ways to farm the oceans. in which are locked vast quantities of protein yet to be tapped; fitting into a Plexiglas hemisphere. trolling them. At intervals the lamp at right flash some worked from self-contained sea bottom es filtered light of varying color and Disasters at Sea Spur Shark Research communities pioneered by Edwin A. Link, intensity: at the same time a mild Blood-chilling mass attacks on survivors the U. S. Navy, and Jacques-Yves Cousteau.* electric shock causes the fish to of torpedoed ships and crashed airplanes in Encounters with sharks became everyday blink. Eventually, the shark becomes World War II gave the initial impetus to the occurrences. Plainly, more knowledge of the so conditioned that it blinks when search. After the war, interest in sharks not fish was needed. In 1958. the American Insti only the light is flashed, an indica tion that it can see that particular only increased but broadened: We not only tute of Biological Sciences, Washington, D. c., agreed to meet the challenge. It offered to color or level of light. Utilizing this wanted to know how to protect swimmers approach, scientists hope to deter and divers; we also sought an insight into the serve as an international clearinghouse and repository for shark knowledge, and formed mine whether sharks distinguish undoubtedly large part sharks play in the colors. The knowledge would be in ecology of the seas. valuable in designing garments and "See, in the GEOGRAPHIC: "Working for Weeks on the The postwar human population explosion Sea Floor." April, 1966,and "At Home in the Sea," April, gear for use in the open sea spurred this interest in sharks. One day, we 1964,both by Capt jacques-Yves Ccusteao, and "Out realized, earth's soil might no longer support post Under the Ocean," April, 1965,by Edwin A. Link, 227 226 illil often are weakened fishes. Thus a man in the sea ~""~~ should avoid appearing like a crippled fish." f' And how does a crippled fish attract a shark? I asked Dr. Warren]. Wisby, then with the Uni versity of Miami's Institute of Marine Sciences, now Director of .the National Fisheries Center and Aquarium planned for the Nation's Capital. "Obviously, if the fish is belly-up," said Dr. Wisby, "the shark can see that something is wrong with it. But from far beyond visual range, other shark senses can pick up distress signals. Thrashing May whet Shark's Interest "Low-frequency sound or pressure waves interest sharks, which have adequate hearing as well as pressure sensors, called the lateral line system, running the lengths of their bodies [next page). Swimming motions, of fish or of man, gen erate low-frequency vibrations, and I suspect that sharks almost always become curious as to their source. "If the sound is rhythmic and regular, de noting normal swimming activity, a shark's appetite may not be unduly aroused, and the predator may go on its way. If, however, the noise is something out of the ordinary-jerky, or thrashing, or struggling-then the shark may sense easy prey and follow it purposefully. "We put the sounds of wounded fish and thrashing swimmers on tape .and played them in the sea off Florida. From a plane I saw sharks III",I "\ ,I '11 Rapacious ruler of the jungle deep, the the Shark Research Panel for that purpose. Military funds still largely support the work great white shark is often called simply Dr. Perry \\7. Gilbert, Professor of Xeuro of the panel, and consequently it devotes con "man-eater." Leaning overboard from an biology and Behavior at Cornell University siderable effort toward finding ways of pro Australian fishing boat and submerging and probably the foremost American author tecting shipwrecked sailors or airmen against his camera, Ron Taylor made this rare ity on sharks, is chairman of the panel. Other sharks. Obviously, you begin such a quest by portrait of a 12-foot great white. Bait line dangles beneath the vessel at right members are Stewart Springer, Biologist, noting that a shark is a predator and normally U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; Dr. attacks for food. In a way, it is like a wolf. "A shark is an opportunist," Perry Gilbert John R. Olive, Executive Director of AlES; Dr. Fangs of death: The great white mons Sidney R. Galler, Assistant Secretary for Sci said. "It frequently hunts the weak, the old, its upper jaw forward when seizing prey ence at the Smithsonian; Dr. Albert L. Tester, the stupid, and the crippled. Like any preda Like all sharks, it has reserve sets of teeth Senior Professor of Zoology, University of tor, it may improve the prey animals by taking behind the outer row. \Yhen the creature Hawaii; Deane Holt, Biologist, Office of misfits out of the breeding stock. losesteeth, new ones begin to work forward into place within 24 hours. Naval Research; and Dr. Schultz. "In the shark's case, the prey animals 229 228 -~~---.._... ·r FISH INDISTRESS ERRATIC IMPULSES Nudging a rubber raft in the narr-ow ,~./, shark channel at the Miami Seaquarium. a bold lemon shark risks a rude recep ~F tion. The craft holds an electronic repel lent under test by inventor John Hicks When he activated the device, Hicks SMOOTH, RHYTH!IlI'lC IMPULSES says, it emitted shocklike radio waves that sent the shark fleeing. Later trials in HAIR CELLS the Atlantic reportedly caused larue hammerheads to retreat hastilv when SENSITIVE SOUNDS MADE BY A WOUNDED FISH,similar to the FISHSWIMMING NORMALLY TO IMPULSES thrashing of a human swimmer in trouble.can they came within range. Other tests, ended less conclusively. attract a shark fromas far as 300 yards away. The united States :-'l \·y has long en Theerratic. fow-frequency vibrations triggersensitive ~ a hairr::ells in fluid-filledcanalsjust beneaththe skin. deavorcd to de\"{.'lop an infallible shark Located onboth sidesof the body. the cellsflash repellent to protect seamen adrift in in messages to the brain.Ignoring healthierfish. fested waters. Chemical-dye clouds han ~ w,",.~ been the most widely used but have not the animal streaks towardthe more vulnerable prey. O,.000<;'.,",<••• BY ,.,. ''''''DHH. 'O"D © ~ATION>l GrOG.A'H,e SOCIEH proved satisfactory. Scientists today are optimistic about development of a new 'DO"ri'O~' " '''D ..-"D. '''00 "" 11· ".~ .•. cease whatever they happened to be doing to the hard way: As he was examining a preg home on the sound. nant shark, an unborn baby bit his hand! "They came in several instances from 300 Violent habits might not make sharks wel yards. Had we continued the tests, I believe come at a swimming party, but the creatures we would have found they heard the sound do have their uses. Generations of premedical from far greater distances." students of comparative anatomy, for exam How else does a wounded fish tempt shark ple, have studied spiny dogfishes, small sharks appetites? that are cheap and readily obtainable. "It bleeds," said Stewart Springer. "A small Being boneless, dogfishes and other sharks amount of blood attracts sharks from afar, are easy to dissect Not as complex as mam especially from down-current. The); have mals, they provide simple diagrams of features extraordinarily sensitive noses." and processes common to many life forms. Following blood trail or sound, the shark Sharks Have Cancer Shield approaches to within sight distance of a possi ble meal. It circles cautiously, gradually nar Scientists now believe sharks to be resist rowing the circles. Eventually, if still alone, it ant to cancer and less prone than human bumps the object with its snout. A bite comes beings to heart diseases and other major ail next, delivered with a savage shaking of the ments. At the University of Miami School head. The rest is mayhem. of Medicine, Drs. L. William Clem and M. This is the normal,feeding pattern of a Michael Sigel, collaborating with Dr. Parker lone shark. If other sharks appear, all may A. Small of the National Institutes of Health, short-circuit the pattern, attacking in a com discovered that sharks possess only one class petitive rush without the preliminaries. As of serum antibodies. feeding continues and the blood and flapping These are like the ones a human infant stimuli increase, the sharks become wildly produces to protect itself against disease, and excited and snap at anything they encounter, which adult humans make in comparable including other sharks. quantity only when afflicted with certain One species of shark is a cannibal even blood cancers. It could be of importance to before it is horn. The eggs of the sand tiger learn how sharks synthesize such high levels hatch within the uterus, where the young re of these proteins. main until they are sufficiently developed to Through studies of shark blood, livers, and enter the ocean. The first baby hatched feeds brains, Drs. David P. RaIl and Richard H. on its weaker brothers and sisters as they Adamson of the Federal Government's Na emerge from other eggs. As there are two tional Cancer Institute seek knowledge of the separate uteruses, two young sand tigers sur machinery by which sharks detoxify cancer Cruisinglemon shark at the Lerner Marine producing agents in their bodies. Other re device, the survival sack (opposite), vive to be born. which is scheduled for tests in the fleet. Laboratory on North Bimini Island circles searchers look for this process in various This is the only known case of intra-uterine Three air-filled rings, colored yellow for Dr. C. Scott Johnson, testing a "survival organs, such as the kidneys and gills. sack" of his own design. Attached to a life cannibalism in the animal world. Stewart visibility, buoy the six-foot-long bag, jacket, the plastic bag can be quickly inflated. Springer discovered the remarkable process (Continued on page 237) called Shark Screen. 230 231 '" SOUPFIN SHARK A.. e ~ 6FHT ~.:;.-~- ------, Finned hitchhikers waiting II> dine en scrap'. rem:: a whale shark With a ca\'CrnollS mouth a1m051 as ~ shark gulps down great loads of srnalilish and planktc: organisms with sicvelike gill rakers and hundreds 0' Human hitchhiker clings to the 35·footwhale shark. Australian waters. Straddling a shark or banging ,. exhilarating, but the Shark ReSl'Mch Panel of the . Biological Sciences label, the sport "danguous and ,.~ hide and sharp fins of .,-cn the docile whale ,hark C" Wondering why sharks' heal15 gave their own Dr. Kjell Johansen of the Unh-ersity of Washirt; one summer meticulously charting the vascula. Coast species, keeping his aneslhetizerlsubjects a; designed respirator that fed water to their gills the National Institutes of Health is investigatinc less reaction to brain injuf)' than mammals. Source of Boots and Belts, Soup and Shark hide makes tough, good-looking leather. years, the Ocean Leather Corporation of Newer. been tanning shark hides and furnishing them and hoots, wallets and golf bags, luggage, warcn other objects. Shark livers, huge organs making up as much owners' weight, contain v-itamtnA in quantity. r" the livers alone made Japanese and California s~ Then someone lcarped bow to synthesize vitamir; ties, and there is little demand now for shark liv- Dried shark fins provide the costliest ingredie!:C fancied by Oriental gourmets. Fresh shark meez. parts of the world, particularly in lands around Anyone who has ever ordered scallops or "stea. rant might very well have eaten shark. San Franc: it knowingly as "grayfish," but these days it is c market under its own name, shark. And just what is a shark? It is a somewhat unc ing billions of individuals grouped in about 1';.'" L I, I, I1[''i i II ill 111 113'1 i~ I ~i i",1il "III i,:ii! I'il "I't ,II I!I 'ODAeN"O"" " "N t"O", "Y"ON, © ".0.' Finned hitchhikers waiting to dine on scraps, remoras beard the chin of 11'1 a whale shark. With a cavernous mouth almost as broad as its head, this shark gulps down great loads of small fish and plankton,straining out larger II organisms with slevelike gill rakers and hundreds of tiny teeth. Human hitchhiker clings to the 35-foot whale shark as it lumbers through Australian waters. Straddling a shark or hanging on to its tail may be exhilarating, but the Shark Research Panel of the American Institute of Biological Sciences labels the sport "dangerous and foolhardy." Sandpaper hide and sharp fins of even the docile whale shark can inflict wounds. Wondering why sharks' hearts gave their owners so little trouble, Dr. Kjell Johansen of the University of Washington, Seattle, spent one summer meticulously charting the vascular systems of West Coast species, keeping his anesthetized subjects alive with a specially designed respirator that fed water to their gills. Dr. Igor Klatao of the National Institutes of Health is investigating why sharks show I less reaction to brain injury than mammals. II Source of Boots and Belts, Soup and "Steak" I, I Shark hide makes tough, good-looking leather. For more than 40 years, the Ocean Leather Corporation of Newark, New Jersey, has been tanning shark hides and furnishing them to makers of belts and boots, wallets and golf bags, luggage, watch bands, and a dozen other objects. Shark livers, huge organs making up as much as a quarter of the owners' weight, contain vitamin A in quantity. Until the early 1950's, the livers alone made Japanese and California shark fishermen rich. Then someone learned how to synthesize vitamin A in large quanti ties, and there is little demand now for shark livers. Dried shark fins provide the costliest ingredient of sharkfin soup, fancied by Oriental gourmets. Fresh shark meat is eaten in many parts of the world, particularly in lands around the Indian Ocean. Anyone who has ever ordered scallops or "steakfish" in a restau rant might very well have eaten shark. San Franciscans once bought it knowingly as "grayfish," but these days it is beginning to find a market under its own name, shark. And just what is a shark? It is a somewhat unusual fish, number ing billions of individuals grouped in about 250 separate species 237 (painting, pages 232-4). I am forced to say Real-life Mob)' Dick, a great "about": Here is yet another gap in the body white shark matches the fury of shark knowledge, and the figure could be of fiction's famous whale in a sudden attack off Canada's wrong by at least 10 either way. Cape Breton Island. Seas Of all the shark species known at present, swamped the splintered dory only a handful can be listed as proven eaters of twolobstermen: one of them of man. Against some of these there is the drowned, and the other clung incontrovertible evidence of human remains to the wreckage until rescued. found in stomachs, teeth left in wounds of Apparently scorning them. the victims, and eyewitness identification by un animal swam away to seek a impeachable experts. Against others stands meal elsewhere. the strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, The painting re-creates the including the characteristics of wounds and harrowing experience of John MacLeod. who survived. and the proven presence of the shark species at John Burns, who died, on a the scene of attack. summer morning in 1953, A Nine Killers Admit No Argument tooth embedded in the bat tered boat identified the spe Every list of proven man-eaters agrees on cies. The shark's length was nine sharks. These are the great white, which estimated at about 1Zfeet. and also bears the name "man-eater"; mako; bull; its weight probably exceeded lemon; tiger; dusky; blue; the largest ham 1,000 pounds merheads; and the whitet.ip, a pelagic shark, Mr. MacLecd still fishes the meaning one that dwells at or near the surface same North Atlantic c-aters of the open seas away from land. All these Ravenous silky shark charg sharks have attacked living humans as well es diver Donald Xelson. fran as corpses. tically, Xelson pushes away To·the sinister roster, some authorities add the six-foot attacker with one the Pacific Ocean gray and the Australian hand and with the other aims whalers. Several species may share these same his short-handled underwater names, and some of these may prove to be gun at the shark's head An instant later the would-be sharks known under yet other names in dif ki11er swam away to thrash ferent parts of the world. out its own death agony In addition to the "proven" man-eaters, Photographer Greenberg, there is a category of sharks-s-and the experts swimming with Nelson off don't always agree on the individual species Florida, snapped this remark, -bestcharacterized as "reasonable suspects." able picture even as he him The porbeagle is one, and the sandbar, or self desperately maneuvered 238 brown, is another. So is the silky, named for to avoid attack. its relatively glossy skin, a rarity in the shark entirely on small living fishes. The sand tiger world. Confusingly, there is another whitetip once had a bad, but undeserved, reputation which might be dangerous, but it is a coastal in South Africa, where it is named ragged or reef species, not the pelagic shark of the tooth (page 244), and in Australia, where it is same name. called grey nurse-and it should be pointed One other shark group can be called "po out that this is not the small-mouthed, be tentially dangerous to humans," and all the whiskered nurse shark that ranges most of experts agree on its members. They cite every the world's tropical and subtropical waters. shark which because of size, power, arma Add all the sharks on these lists and you ment, and general disposition might be ex come up with no more than 40 or 50 species pected to make a meal of a man if the man The others, it can safely be said, never dine got in its way. An example is the big Green on human flesh at all, or do so more or less land shark. But it lives in waters too cold for accidentally, as when they bite in self-defense. swimmers and divers, and no one knows In spite of this, no shark should be described what it might do if it chanced upon a human. as entirely "harmless," and a wise swimmer The thresher and sand tiger could kill treats them all with the same respect he ac or injure humans, but both appear to feed cords a strange fox terrier. 239 Sharks are close relatives of skates, rays, sawfish, and gui tarfish, the latter named because of their unusual shape. All these have skeletons of cartilage and are called elasmobranchs; the other (far more numerous) fish, the teleosts, have true bones. Between bony fishes and cartilaginous sharks lie many other differences. Most shark species produce live young, although some lay eggs. The horny egg cases from which skates and certain small sharks have hatched in the water are the "mer maids' purses" washed up on ocean beaches." No other fish can match a shark in jaw power. Perry Gilbert has measured this force with ingenious apparatus. The read ings came out in tons, not mere pounds (pages 250-51). From 20 to several hundred teeth, depending upon the species, stand in the ready-for-business rows at the front of shark jaws (page 229). Normally, five or six sets-but in some species as many as I5-wait in reserve behind, continuously moving forward so that when front teeth drop out, new ones take their place; in the young of at least one species, this occurs as often as every eight days. New teeth are always larger than the old to match the shark's growth. One of the most persistent shark myths holds that, to use these teeth, the animal must roll over on its back or side. Not so. Of hundreds of sharks I have watched feeding, not one ever turned over to attack its prey. Sharks, however, are agile, and could do so if they chose. Rough Hide Once Used as Sandpaper Shark teeth grow not only in the jaws, but on nearly every square inch of hide, in a crude form called placoid scales. or dermal denticles. Abrasive shark hide, known as shagreen, was once used as sandpaper in cabinetmaking. Air-filled swim bladders give bony fishes buoyancy. Sharks have no such thing. If they stop moving, they no longer plane on their bellies and fins, and they sink to the bottom. Most sharks swim from birth to death for an even more vital reason. Their breathing machinery lacks adequate pump ing: apparatus; only forward movement passes oxygen-bearing water over their gill surfaces. Dropping dynamite into a school of bony fishes will injure their swim bladders and kill or cripple them. Unless it is a direct hit, an explosion doesn't appear to harm sharks. In fact, it seems to attract them. "See "Miracle of the Mermaid's Purse," by Ernest L Libby, NAT10:-AL GEOGRAPHIC, September, 1959. Descending into the blue underwater world in a protec tin cage he designed, diver J. G. Stemples finds himself sur rounded by aggressive silky sharks. Bag in his hand, con taining pieces of herring, attracts the pack into camera range as the strong but lightweight cage dangles 15 feet below the surface in Tongue of the Ocean. Plastic floats at the top keep the cylinder almost weightless. If the buoy line snapped, Stemples would escape through a hatch. At work on a photographic study of the shark population in these infested waters, StempJes looked down once to see a small silky shark halfway inside the cage, and quickly kicked it out. Jerry Greenberg, outside the cage, found "one nipping ,It my swimming fins, and another giving my light meter a taste test." '''OC"RO.' BY JERO' GRHN."G © N.G.S 241 i111j Illi Daring woman diver, Van Laman pats the back of a nine-foot grey nurse shark. Cap tured off Australia's east coast, this specimen has survived for four years in an aquarium at Tweed Heads, New South Wales. A close relative of the smaller Atlantic sand tiger, the grey nurse may reach 15feet in length. Some shark experts consider it a dan gerous species in Australian waters; others believe it undeserving of such a reputation. Large or small, fast or slow, peaceful or aggressive, every shark-and every other marine creature as well-gives sea room to one member of the family, the great white shark, or man-eater. Here is the real lord of the sea, perhaps the most direct descendant of the prehistoric Carchorodon megalodon: In 1916 a shark or sharks attacked five swimmers along the New Jersey coast. Four died of savage injuries. The fifth lost a leg. There was panic and publicity. Shortly after ward a fisherman caught a great white shark with human remains in its stomach. Great Whites Attack Fishermen As the years passed, fishermen from Maine to Nova Scotia reported occasional encoun ters with great whites. In most cases the huge fishes attacked their boats. Sharks of several species charge boats with disconcerting frequency. In the best-docu mented Nova Scotia attack, a shark swamped a dory off Fourchu (painting, pages 238-9). In the splintered wood around an eight-inch hole in the dory was part of a shark tooth, the unmistakable serrated, triangular tooth of a great white, Along the California coast, Barry Wilson died in 1952 and Albert Kogler in 1959, both Curiously, several species of small bony P. Applegate. paleontologist and Associate stomach was found to contain varied items fishes like the company of sharks. Pilotfish Curator at the Los Angeles County Museum from massive shark-inflicted injuries. In 1964, of clothing, probably swallowed accidentally. off the Farallon Islands, also in cold Califor swim with them (page 225), sometimes appar in California. "But in a few cases they left Ben Cropp, diver-photographer and a ently riding the sharks' bow waves, while descendants of considerable size." nia waters, scuba diver Jack Rochette sur member of the Shark Research Society of vived serious bite wounds. Thesurgeon found remoras attach themselves to the big preda He handed me a tooth recovered from Australia, recently took turns with a friend tors, using sucker-like disks on top of their 15,OOO,000-year-old Miocene fossil deposits, a tooth fragment in the victim's leg. It had riding a whale shark as it sluggishly cruised belonged to a great white shark. heads (page 23i). The little fishes probably so big it almost covered my palm. ill Ben's native Australian waters (pages 235-i). Two years before, Leroy French, Al Gid feed on scraps from shark meals. "It belonged to a most dreadful carnivore "It didn't seem disturbed even when I knelt II called Carctiarodon megatodon;" he said. dings, and other members of a Marin County on its head and looked down into its mouth," II Mammoth Shark Ruled Ancient Seas "This creature was a shark that must have scuba club had been diving in the same area. Ben reported. "I stayed with it until 1 had "I was in the water near our boat," Gid I Sharks first appeared on earth about three been 40 to 50 feet long." used all my film. 1 could easily swim as fast as ii' hundred million years ago. Judging from fos The biggest fish is still a shark, the whale dings recalled, "Leroy surfaced from a dive it was moving." Iii I 1111 sil remains, their body shape has changed lit~ shark. The second largest is the basking 75 yards away, Suddenly he screamed for help At the other end of the size scale, the rare and went under. I swam to him fast as I could. III tle through the ages, proof of the efficiency of shark. Both, like the largest whales, feed on Sonalioius laticandus grows no longer than the torpedolike form. plankton and tiny fishes. Barring collision, The water was red. Leroy came to the top. So about half a foot. Occasionally caught off the did a large shark.. "Fortunately, the most formidable of the neither of these 40- and 25-foot monsters is Philippine Islands, it is so little known that it ancient sharks are extinct," said Dr. Shelton dangerous to humans, though one whale shark "1 towed Leroy to the boat without inter has no popular name. ference from the shark. The Coast Guard 242 Iii1'1 243 11::1 IIII! I 1 _ flew him to a hospital, where he eventually recoI'ered from dreadful bites on a hip, left arm and left foot, and both legs. "From my father, a California ti"h and game warden, I had learner! to recognize all our local species of -harks. I saw this one quite well. It \\'a5 a great white.' I The most dangerous shark of them all eave :1 an Australian sport fisherman a world record for the largest fish ever taken on rod <.ind reel I' He caught a great .vhitc ",hark] 6 fed. 1U ! inches long, \wighing 2.66-1- pounds. with :l l!1 I girth of 9 feet. 6 inches..-\ zrcat \\-hile taken I' off Cuba measured 21 feel. < How big do these -harks grcl\\'> '\ "::'\0 one really knows." said Cliff Town ii:1 send, General Manager of :\Jarincland. Ileal' St. Augustine, Florida. "But one day a man brought in a tooth dredged up far offshore. It The Indy and the chark: I'roving that a tooth can learn to cat hom her ham!' Dr .\nlle vtcxcnder holds a ~li2-foDt cl\lth'e and ."tuff" into it" wir-ke d-Iouking mouth "I belicve the 111111 not the rJ.gged-looth, >cuilty of mo-t auarks 0]1 South African Lathers." she told the authornt thr: Oceanographic Research lnstitute in Durban, where she ser vcc! a~ principal rcscarcb offircr Pancake kin of the ~hark, llll·~ui:;]rJi."h ,:)11 !LLI' winglikc pcctoral rill- If! -tlv :llnng the' bottoru. fanning- up small crustaceans and other food Hovering above coral gardens off southern Queensland, a leopard shark ignores the Calico eumouflage of a six-foot wobbcgcng shark approach of a diver-photographer. :\ sluggish crea ture also known as zebra shark, the leopard helps to conceal it from its prey off Australia can pump water through its mouth and past its gills to obtain life-sustaining oxygen. All pelagic sharks-those living near the surface far out at sea-s-and most coastal species must forever swim to maintain a constant flow of water through their gills. was a great white shark tooth, or that of an folded, finds small pellets on the bottom of its ancestor-and it was more than five inches tank by echolocation.* long. The tooth of a zo-footer is two inches." "How do porpoises fee! about sharks?" I Captivity Fatal to Ocean Rovers asked. "From what rye seen," Dr. Johnson said, No one can yet keep the big, far-ranging "they don't like them, although they don't oceanic sharks, among them the great white, attack on sight as people will tell you. Nor, in alive for long in captivity. Most soon die, all probability, do sharks attack healthy por either of shock or from ramming tank sides. poises. Let's call it a standoff, under normal "That is the main reason we know so little conditions. You'll sometimes find sharks and about the behavior of the pelagic species, porpoises quite near each other, but each including the great white," said F. G. Wood, gives the other room to pass." head of the Navy's Marine Bioscience Facility If ever there are hostilities, shark teeth at Point Mugu, California "We must study would probably have an advantage oyer the them at sea, and there the sharks dictate con battering rams of porpoise snouts. Both ani ditions, not the scientists." mals are capable of speeds in the neighbor At Point Mugu I also talked with Dr, C. hood of 20 knots. I Scott Johnson, Navy physicist studying por Happily, the great white sharks seem to poise hearing. Dr. Johnson, who has worked "'See "Porpoises: Our Friendsin the Sea:' bv Robert I with sharks, has a porpoise that, while blind- Leslie Conly, ;-':ATlO:-;.~L GEOGRAPHIC, September, 1966, 245 I 244 :1 I j ;1 II be rare. Few people have seen more than two together. 1'.1 More than most sharks, they prefer a mammalian diet I -c-whales, seals, sea otters, and so on. Paleontologist I Shelton Applegate has a possible explanation: i "The evidence indicates that Corchorodon megato don fed mainly on marine mammals. The white shark still appears to like them. The inference is obvious. Man is a mammal too." I In a rubber diving suit, a man looks like a seal. And Ii' according to Perry Gilbert, neither great whites nor any other sharks see things in clear detail "It's a matter of visual sensitivity as differentiated from visual acuity," said Dr. Gilbert. "The shark's r retina, amply equipped with photosensitive cells I" called rods, permits the animal to see, in very dim light, the, outline of an object against a contrasting I background-in short, the eye has great sensitivity. "But the shark's eye probably doesn't see sharp details, even in bright light, because of its relatively few retinal cone cells, responsible for visual acuity." Scientists differ on whether or not sharks see color. pending more conclusive research (pages 226-7). Dr. Tester of the shark panel doubts that they can. "At Eniwetok Marine Biological Laboratory," he said, "we trained sharks to discriminate between dif ferent shapes. In one end of their tank we had alter nately displayed triangular and square targets of equal area With the triangles we gave the sharks electric shocks, but left the current off when we displayed the squares. In a remarkably short time the sharks learned to flee the mere sight of the triangles, even without the shocks, hut ignored the squares. "Then we tried the same experiment, using targets that differed in color, not shape. The sharks didn't clearly discriminate, even after days of trials." Hammerhead Wears Its Eyes on Stalks Of the proven eaters of man, I have met se\'eral species more or less personally. I have caught hammer heads off Florida, and wondered why they, alone of all sharks, possessed such oddly shaped heads. "Nobody really knows why," said Perrv. "The wide lobes undoubtedly make good planing surfaces and give these sharks maneuverability. Also, since eyes and nostrils are out on the ends of the lobes, the ham merhead samples a wider path of water than other sharks [pages 222~3, 232, and 252-3]." In the Red Sea, among the islands of Ethiopia's Dahlak Archipelago, I surfaced from an inspection of a bent boat propeller, and an Arab sailor said that a Ripping out ham-size bites of flesh, a blue shark shreds a dead porpoise off Montauk Point, New York. Photographer Peter Gimbel, submerged in an antishark cage, witnessed the carnage. "The jaws opened so wide they seemed actually dislo cated," he remembers. "with wild, vicious shakes the blue tore loose ten-pound hunks" "rOC",OM<" pn" .'~' Green flag signals safe seas for bathers at Queensland's Greenmount Beach. When the tower watchman sights a shark, he rings the bell and raises a red-and-white flag. Some beaches also send spotters aloft in planes. To combat the shark menace that plagued its populous east coast, Australia began lay ing nets in 1937. Not a single fatality from shark attack has occurred at a meshedbeach. 250 National Geographic, February, 1968 Sharks: Wolves of the Sea 251 recorded in the Chesapeake, and this is a small size indicating immaturity. Reaching 1965, when a surfer suffered a minor bite on them. They held only a small eow-nosej ray. mystery in itself. into the tank,Dr. Alexander pulled the shark one thigh. Attacks on surfers, incidentally, Yet at Durban, South Africa, the bull shark appear to be on the increase. "I don't believe you have sharks around," out by the nose and stuffed chunks of fish I remarked. seems to change character. There I asked Dr. into the gaping mouth. It swallowed the bits "Because a shark can swim over or past a Anne Joy Alexander, principal research offi only after she released it (page 244). net, it was a mystery at first how meshing pro "No?" said Len. "Hang on." With that he headed the boat seaward. cer of the Oceanographic Research Institute, tected bathers," said Beulah Davis of Natal City "Meshes" Its Bathing Beaches what kind of shark was responsible for the Province's Anti-Shark Measures Board. "One Choosing a spot over a reef a mile offshore, attacks atDurban and other beautiful beaches Years ago, Durban tried to solve the shark reason may be that our sharks mostly belong he dropped the anchor, and we began fishing. Immediately we caught several five-pound along the shore of Natal Province. problem with strong fences completely en to a local, nonmigratory population, and the Cape salmon, or geelbek. We stunned them "Apparently mostly the bull shark," she closing the city beaches. They worked, but nets caught just about all of them." and tossed them overboard. Within seconds said, "although obviously it's difficult to iden they were prohibitively expensive, both to Sharks off Hawaiian beaches also appear tifv an attacker. In 1960 we found bull shark the sea boiled with sharks, some six feet and build -and to maintain in the heavy Indian to be nonmigratory. Last year, under Dr. Test more long. tooth fragments in the wounds of a victim. Ocean surf, and were eventually abandoned. er's direction, the 50th state opened a three "Here are our friends," said Len. "We'll be Since the circumstances of .attacks and the In 1952, the city engineers turned to a year campaign to eradicate them so far as lucky now to catch a single whole salmon." wounds of most other people were like those system of "meshing" already in use, with possible, using set lines with hooks at 60-foot We scarcely had a chance to try before the in the proven case, we're inclined to believe apparent success, in Australia, whose beaches intervals. One of the first results was a notice ravenous sharks began banging against the our major marauder is this fellow. held the world's worst record of shark attacks. able decrease in a concentration of large tigers "Once we suspected the ragged-tooth, the off Honolulu harbor. boat. Fear gripped me. Even Len confessed To mesh a beach, you simply anchor gill nets to some nervousness slightly sluggish shark you Americans call at intervals off the shore. During the first year, Some 40 miles north of Durban, the golden To get through the surf without :;wamping, the sand tiger, and it may have been guilty in the nets at Durban took 552 sharks. Since sands of Zinkwazi Beach used to be lone the boat had been decked ever. We sat on it, a few cases. But come with me: I'll show you then, the catch has dropped to less than 110 ly, unused because sharks swarmed in the not in it. Handholds were few The sea that what a nice shark a ragged-tooth can be." a year. In seven years before the nets were creaming surf. Now they are meshed, and day was high. An eight-foot shark struck at In a shallow laboratory tank circled a used, the city had ten sure attacks, seven of holiday-seekers come in increasing numbers. the outboard propeller, although we had mottled 41/2~foot shark, its protruding slender them fatal, and at least ten probables. Len Flowers, a professional fisherman, taken the precaution of tilting the motor to dental array identifying it as a sand tiger, its After meshing, there were no attacks until tends the nets. I went with Len to overhaul bring the propeller out of water. 1IIII. II I Ii'liI11 Power of a shark's bite measures in tons, not 'i'II 'I; pounds, as Dr. Perry W_ Gilbert discovers in tests conducted at the Lerner Marine Laboratory. One of the world's foremost shark authorities, Dr. Gil bert uses a "bite-meter," a cylinder containing an aluminum core of known hardness enclosed by four quadrants of steel. Twelve stainless-steel bearings lie between the two layers. Bait wrapped around the device (below)attracts sharks like the gl/2-foot dusky at right. It clamps down hard on the apparent meal, then releases the unpalatable offering. Knowing the force needed to dent the aluminum core, Dr. Gilbert estimates the dusky's biting pressure at approximately IS tons per square inch! ~0 i" (i "Let's go home," said Len. We picked up r: usual. The-sharks only circled and watched." ing whenever I made a sudden movement in R. the anchor and left. But in the same year, a Canadian military its direction. Then it began circling faster and I photographed sharks as close as two feet. m plane with 16 men aboard crashed into the closer, and soon I had to beat it off with In the pictures Beulah Davis identified bull same area of the Atlantic. Rescuers arrived camera, feet, and hands. III ~ sharks, duskies, and sandbars, all of the 50 .11 within an hour, but it was already too late. "My diving companion, Ed Fisher, joined ~l called gray shark family. Duskies and sand Excited sharks nosed through the wreckage, me, carrying a boathook. With this he jabbed bars live in most tropical and temperate coast in which dead or injured men were seen. A the shark hard in the gills. This drove it off, al seas, including those of the United States. search vessel reported by radio that recovery although it stayed at the edge of visibility. 1 In a feeding frenzy such as this, a man's of bodies was not feasible because of "many chances of escaping death or injury would be "No question about the species: We sur I"II aggressive sharks." faced, baited a hook, and caught it to get rid slight. Stewart Springer says he has seen No one survived this tragedy to report of it so we could go back to work." frenzied sharks eat packets of the chemical 1'1 what kinds of sharks were involved or the Chuck Henderson, a Washington, D. repellent issued to U. S. sailors and airmen c., . method of attack. Not until the comparatively diver, told of a similar experience he had with during World War II. The repellent contains recent development of scuba gear did anyone a large pelagic shark off Delaware. From the Ii copper acetate and nigrosine dye. meet pelagic sharks face-to-face in the open description, it could have been a blue. "We'd learned that sharks, even though IIIit ocean and come back to tell what happened. "I had a dead tau tog on the end of my they're cannibals, won't touch decaying shark Captain Cousteau, co-inventor of the pio spear gun," Chuck said, "and this attracted 'II flesh," said Stewart, who helped develop the neer Aqua-Lung, may have been the first man the shark. I backed up against the plates of a repellent. "As copper acetate is an organic III to face the pelagic whitetip in its own element wreck in 30 feet of water and fed the tautog acid like those in decayed shark meat, we and live to describe the encounter. In 1951, in to the shark, hoping it would then go away. put this into the packets. the open Atlantic off the Cape Verde Islands, "It didn't, It kept returning, each time II "We added the nigrosine dye, which forms he and his companions were harassed by one coming a little closer to me until I was push I a dense cloud in the water, for concealment. of these marauders. ing it away bodily with the spear. I pushed It raises a man's morale to believe he is ~ j The fish exhibited a pattern of curiosity, gingerly, you can be sure. I didn't want to hidden. Moreover, the shark's final visual increasing boldness, and eventual attack. make this fellow mad. II! attack may actually be hindered, and it is Captain Cousteau drove it off finally by "When I began running low on air, I knew also possible the fish may view the cloud as II,1:'1 banging it over the snout with his camera. I had to take a chance on sterner measures. I an obstacle and avoid it." stabbed the shark in the eye, and it rushed I! I!,' Although its efficacy is limited, the services Shark Beaten Off With Boathook off, shaking its head. still issue the repellent. The National Aero In the Gulf Stream ten miles from Bimini, 1 "I could have killed this fish, but I didn't 1 nautics and Space Administration puts it into II 1'1II Jerry Greenberg of Miami, Florida, who took have an underwater gun." ' the marker dye released by space capsules I many of the pictures for this article, met a Used skillfully, this weapon is probably when they land in the sea. whitetip that behaved in much the same way. the diver's best close protection (pages 225 At least one space landing in the Atlantic "I was working for the U. S. Navy, photo and 253). Triggered by jabbing against a tar area attracted sharks. graphing the hulls of vessels passing over get, it will kill a shark instantly if fired close "Nothing happened," a NASA spokesman me," said Jerry. "One moment I was alone, to the brain. But it is bulky, a menace to other reported, "except maybe the frogmen who the next I had this shark as company. For divers, and likely to give its handler a nasty helped in the recovery worked faster than half an hour or so it kept its distance, retreat- concussion if the shell used is too large. Extraordinary gathering of sharks peppers Pursuing an elusive meal, a young shark-possibly a great white-broaches in San Oja de Libre Lagoon in Baja California Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California In recent decades more and more anglers have awak Pacific gray whales breed in these waters, ened to the fact that the fighting shark is one of the world's best game fish. The sport and some scientists speculate that sharks, of shark fishing began in Australia in the 1920's; an Australian holds the record for too, come here to mate. the biggest catch on rod and reel, a 2,664-pound white taken on a 130-pound test line. -k: 'I';' ,:,,/.Vt~~,," .. .;:J._ • " , ,~;C'Y'- .-~'-~