Bonaire Eels dying

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BonaireDan

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Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
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Location
Ohio, retiring to Bonaire within 5 years
# of dives
I'm a Fish!
Just returned from Bonaire and for the first time noticed dead eels on various dives at fairly shallow depths. Primarily the speckled and green morays it seems. Check out topics on Bonairetalk.com for more details but this observation seemed to start about mid-Spetember. The local marine biologists are starting an investigation and have listed some 15-20 dead eel sightings with dive site, depth, species, etc. Jerry Ligon is apparently taking the lead. Anyone headed to Bonaire should keep an eye out to report specific information to STINAPA and Jerry. On the Omar side of the equation some damage, lots of sand on the reefs, altered entries of course, missing docks, damaged beechside bars (way too bad !) and such.
 
I too just returned from Bonaire and was fortunate to not have personally seen dead eels laying around. I was warned of it and asked to report any that I found but came accross none thankfully. What I did notice.....I saw almost no moray eels. I only logged 11 dives because of Hurricane Omar (which pretty much started "over" Bonaire), but on those 11 I have a whopping grand total of 4 moray eel sightings. Last year I logged 24 dives and saw probably 5-10 per dive. This really stood out for me. It is sad that this is happening because I think they are a wonderful creature. Hopefully they can figure out exactly what is happening and reverse it quickly.
 
This is some sad news. While Eels are a bit strange, they are beautiful in their own way, and one of my favorite subjects. I hope they can discover what is killing them. I think they can live around 13 years.
 
I was down on Bonaire the same time ScubaSteve was and I never saw any dead eels. I actually saw some very pretty eels, glad I didn't see any dead ones and hope they find out what the problem is! I love seeing eels, saw a LARGE green moray down by the lighthouse and many others, although small comparatively to other places I've been diving. I saw a bright white moray with black spots on a night dive, it was beautiful. Never seen one so white!
 
Hope it's not a big problem. We found a large 6-8 ft green one dead last Aug at Old Blue but that was the only one in 2 weeks of diving.
 
Thanks for the feedback on dying eels on Bonaire. As ScubaSteve said I also saw few green morays on the west side comapared to previous trips. Plenty of green morays on the east side however diving with Larry. Keep an eye on the blogs from Bonairetalk.com for more updates on this issue. It seems there is concern about pollutants from sewage and other run off that may be the problem.
 
I also hope they figure out what is going on. I love spotting eels and often photography and video them. Such beautiful creatures especially if you get lucky and find one swimming. I hope to go to Bonaire next year, I heard wonderful things about the diving there!
 
I saw a dead black and white eel at Andria 2 in Sept. But also saw a lot of live white ones a few black and white, and 3 very large green free swimming moray's one at divi house reef and 2 at alice in wonderland.
 
Thanks for the feedback on dying eels on Bonaire. As ScubaSteve said I also saw few green morays on the west side comapared to previous trips. Plenty of green morays on the east side however diving with Larry. Keep an eye on the blogs from Bonairetalk.com for more updates on this issue. It seems there is concern about pollutants from sewage and other run off that may be the problem.

What has changed that they are now having problems with sewage/runoff?
 
Here is the latest dead eel report from Jerry Ligon, biologist on Bonaire:
species number dead date dive site
Spotted Moray 1 12sept08 Buddy's
Spotted Moray 1 22aug Tolo (Old Blue
Spotted Moray 22aug Karpata
Spotted Moray 4 6sept Andrea 2
Spotted Moray 1 3sept oil slick
Spotted Moray 1 17sept Bari
Spotted Moray 1 24sept Bari
Spotted Moray 1 28sept Bari
spotted Moray1 1 28sept capt dons
Spotted Moray 1 30sept bachelor beach
Spotted Moray 3 6Oct Chez Hine
Spotted Moray 1 6Oct Jerry's Sponge
Spotted Moray 1 6Oct Andrea 1
Spotted Moray 1 8Oct Bari
Spotted Moray 1 9Oct Some. Special
spotted Moray1 1 12Oct Jeff Davis
Spotted Moray 1 17 Oct First after Omar
spotted Moray1 1 19 Oct Knife
spotted Moray1 1 20 Oct SW Corner
Spotted Moray 1 20 Oct Calabas
Spotted Moray 1 21Oct Angel City Turned in CIEE
Spotted Moray 2 22Oct East Coast
Spotted Moray 1 24 Oct Bari
spotted Moray 1 2 27 Oct Something Sp- CIEE
Spotted Moray 1 26 Oct Angel City
Spotted Moray 2 27 Oct 1 turned in CIEE
Sharp-tail 1 8sept small wall
Sharp-tail 1 8sept andrea2
green moray 1 13aug ?
green moray 1 25sept Ebo's
green moray 1 30sept donkey beach
green moray 1 28july witch's hut
green moray? 1 30sept 1000 steps
green moray 1 7Oct SW Corner
green moray 1 ear. Oct South Bay
viper moray 2 25sept Tory's
viper moray 1 23sept front porch
viper moray 1 20sept Andrea 1
viper moray 1 27 Oct Something Sp-CIEE
Chain Moray 1 1Oct front porch
Purple-mouth 1 25 Oct Something Sp- CIEE
Goldentail 1 Karpata ear. Oct

Total 50 Through 27 Oct
NOTE: Few Purple-mouths, Golden-tails, Vipers, Chains on the DEAD list. ALso, I have seen few Yellow-headed Jawfish lately. Are these pertinent bits of the puzzle?? Jerry C Ligon
 
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