Gear & Gadgets
Your survey slate can really affect your ability to identify as
many fish as possible. It is your record to help fill in the gaps
of your memory when your mind is occupied with the many other
tasks of diving. It is also an additional piece of gear on top of
your gauges, safety equipment (i.e., safety sausages, mirrors,
etc.), and light. For these reasons, we felt that experience from
our members in surveying would help the beginner in getting
accustomed to the surveyor setup.
-Use a retractable clip to attach your slate to an outside ring
on your gear. With the slate on the outside of your gear, you
don't have to dig in your BC pocket, possibly losing everything
else in the pocket. Also, at any time you can let go of your
slate and feel secure that your invaluable data is still kept to
your side. In the event that you need you hands immediately at
any time, you'll realize that value of this small, but
significant investment. I'm not sure how many gear lines carry
these clips, but mine is from Cetacea. --(Tip from Founder/Member
Danielle)
-Use underwater paper on your slate**. You can't leave your
surveys on your slate no matter how small you write, so you
eventually have to pull out the toothpaste and clean off all your
sketches and writing. However, if you write on paper, then you
can keep the sketches and you don't have to worry about cleaning
your slate on a multiple dive trip. Also, you could keep all your
surveys in a logbook. REEF makes a printed underwater paper that
fits over their student kit slates, which has two preprinted
sides, the same layout as the slate with general fish shapes for
sketching, a ruler for measurement, and the names of many common
species for quick reference. This two-dive, hole-punched paper
fits into their 3 ring binder, and is available from the Field
Station at cost for $0.65 each, plus shipping. --(Tip from
Founder/Member Danielle)
****REEF U/W PAPER ON SALE ONLY AT THE FIELD STATION! 4/$1.00!****
-Pencils...you gotta have them. On the REEF slates, a wooden
pencil with hook and loop tape is provided to keep it on your
slate; however, if you drop it while writing or break the tip,
there goes your survey dive. Co-founder, member, and long-time
REEF surveyor Greg Bunch suggests to take down multiple pencils
and secure them by putting a sunglasses rubber tubing end over
the non-writing end of the pencil, while the other end of the
tubing is tied to your slate. Your wooden pencils will be wet
from your dive, so Greg also brings plastic mechanical pencils on
board for filling out his survey form after his dive.
**-If you have a slate other than the REEF slate, then you may
want to use DuraCopy,
a popular choice among marine scientists. DuraCopy comes in 8.5"
x 11" sheets and can be cut to size. You may find, however,
that you run out of room on any slate you find in a dive shop.
When starting out in fish surveying, you may have more fish
sketches than positive IDs, which can really take up your slate
room quickly. Also, carrying multiple pencils and securing your
paper to a regular slate can seem to be more work than the actual
dive. A recent slate development has been presented by gb undersea called the DataSafe. Many
serious scientists and hobbyist surveyors have found this two-sided,
multiple pencil, shatterproof, positively buoyant slate a
wonderful alternative to the small slates that have to be cleaned
and the clipboard and duct tape method. Considering how much you
spent to go on the survey dive, this one-time investment allows
you to be confident that in high current or high seas, one thing
you can be sure of is that your survey is DataSafe! Both Greg and
Danielle dive the DataSafe, as they learned their lesson on a
dive trip where they didn't recover all their gear, but the data,
by luck, was saved! (That story to come!)
Techniques
-Study the fish on the boat ride out to the dive site and, if
applicable, on the road trip to the boat. No matter how long
we've been doing this, seasoned and beginner surveyors alike
should and usually have to study each time they go. It's a skill
you learn through repetition, and to think you shouldn't have to
study is an unreasonable standard for anyone, professional or
hobbyist. --(Tip from Greg and Danielle)
-Make a cheat sheet. Yes, it is okay in this situation to bring
notes with you on your slate. If you have particular trouble with
groupers, for example, write in small print in a corner of your
slate the markings distinguishing species (i.e., black saddle-Nassau,
rounded tail-graysby, etc.) --(Tip from Danielle)
-As surveying is a mental task in addition to your other diving
skills, it can be easy to forget your abundance codes, so take
the time you are hanging on your safety stop to fill them in. --(Tip
from Greg)
-Study the fish found in that area before you go diving. If you
are planning to hit the Pensacola area, we have a page of local
species with pictures. You may also want to check the data
itself on the REEF
website. After all, we are building this database with our
surveys for use by all, including the surveyors. --(Tip from Greg
and Danielle)
-Fill in your survey forms on the boat. The longer you wait on
this, the harder it becomes, and because you are less sure about
an ID after an hour, you may lose some species ID's. --(Tip from
Greg and Danielle)
-Don't try to cover a lot of area underwater. As it is, surveying
is consuming when trying to really get in close on those obscure
blennies. Losing your navigation bearings is very easy when you
are chasing down fish and not looking up enough to keep
orientated to your bottom markers. --(Tip from Greg and Danielle)
If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please email them to us.