Dan and Robbie Wisdom: Protecting the Marine Resources that They Love

The vibrant underwater photographs on the Coral Reef Photo Gallery are courtesy of Dan and Robbie Wisdom, students in the Marine Resource Management (MRM) program at COAS.

Taking photos of ocean flora and fauna became a passion for the Wisdoms 11 years ago when they took up scuba diving and discovered their diving styles were not similar. Dan wanted to cover a lot of territory, while Robbie wanted to take the time to explore small, colorful and mysterious creatures. Robbie suggested they take photos as means to slow down Dan and so that she could remember the details of what she discovered. Dan’s artistic sense for the qualities of light, texture and composition soon became apparent.

Over the years, they realized that their diving sites were deteriorating. That realization awakened another passion—and a new vision for their lives.

One of their first dives was at El Bajo near La Paz in Baja California, Mexico. “There were sardines with tuna around them and swordfish around them, and marlin over the surface,” Robbie said. “We were engulfed in a small fish cloud; they were everywhere and I couldn’t even see Dan because of the fish between us.” When they returned to El Bajo several years later they discovered that it had been trawled and trashed by nets. The prolific life that once inhabited the waters was not to be found.

Dan became interested in the COAS marine management program by chance after he had sold his successful computer-related company in Portland and looked to buy another. After considering about 200 businesses, and while driving to Eugene to look at yet another, he took Highway 99 through Corvallis and happened by COAS. “That’s when the lightning bolt hit me,” he said. He realized he wanted to go back to school and study oceanography because of his love for oceans and to learn what is happening to them. He enrolled in the MRM program in the fall of 2005.

“After I had taken some basic oceanography courses, I began to see the impact people and nature are having on coral reefs; 60 to 70 percent of them are threatened,” he said. On one of the Wisdoms’ dives near Fiji they discovered a reef that had been totally destroyed because of El Niño events of l997 and l998. “It was just a rubble; there were no fish and the coral was dead.”

While Dan attended classes in Corvallis, Robbie was employed in high-technology marketing in Portland “He’d come back on Fridays and the first thing I would ask was ‘What did you learn?’ He’d bring out his books, and we would spend hours discussing the key concepts he had learned that week.” It wasn’t long before their plans expanded; Robbie quit her job and enrolled in MRM in the spring of 2006.

Love of the South Pacific and especially Australia play heavily in the Wisdoms’ vision for the future. After they finish their work at COAS they will have the credibility of advanced degrees to help them protect valuable marine resources and find volunteer or other work in the area, perhaps with the Nature Conservancy. “There are coral reef initiatives and marine protected areas in Papua, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Komoto, Paulau and other areas we are familiar with,” Dan said. To find the intense colors in their photography, the Wisdoms carry small flashlights, which they shine on subjects before using flash to take the photos. “You look at our photos,” Robbie said, “and you see all kinds of colors, but you don’t see them with the naked eye when you’re down there.” She has found that there are thousands of species and great diversity with each variety of sea slugs, one of her first interests. “I’ve only just begun to learn all the habitats and how to spot them there. Many of them, when you take away the bright light, virtually disappear. You have to understand the environment to even see them.”

Links:

NOAA (National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration) Coral Reef Conservation Program

The Nature Conservancy 'Rescue the Reef' initiative(Several of the Wisdom's underwater photos may also be seen at this site.)

One of Dan's favorite photos is of an elephant ear sponge (Inathella basta). It was taken on the wreck of a small coastal freighter in the Solomon Islands. Note the dramatic color shadings. Elephant ear sponges are common in tropical waters, and most divers swim right past them without a second thought. This photo shows that when you put light on a subject underwater, what may appear as uniformly boring grey or green sometimes turns out to be almost kaleidoscopic. Even ordinary things can have uncommon beauty.

Robbie’s photo is of a lacy scorpionfish (Rhinopias aphanes). It was taken in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. There are many types of scorpionfish but this form is rare.  Her comments: “I like this photo because of the rarity of the subject, and because - let's face it - it's really a bizarre creature.  I also like it because it's a fish picture. Previously I've focused on invertebrates because fish are more difficult to photograph so it was very momentous for me to get a really good fish shot.”

Dan and Robbie Wisdom.