Niku VIII Plan

[Ted G Campbell]

Ric,
Have we reached our "awareness" objective i.e. $19.00 per member?
Ted

[Jeff Palshook]

Ric,

Reading between the lines of your recent announcement of your plans to expand the scope of Niku VIII ... You have not been able to raise a large sum of money to pay for the expedition.  No individual or corporate sponsor has come forward with a promise to fund the expedition.  HURL needs a firm commitment of serious money by July 1 or the expedition probably cannot happen in September 2014.  Is that about correct?

Jeff P.

[Ric Gillespie]

Reading between the lines of your recent announcement of your plans to expand the scope of Niku VIII ... You have not been able to raise a large sum of money to pay for the expedition.  No individual or corporate sponsor has come forward with a promise to fund the expedition.  HURL needs a firm commitment of serious money by July 1 or the expedition probably cannot happen in September 2014.  Is that about correct?

That is about correct.  We're hoping that by expanding the scope of the mission it will open up more potential sources of funding. It also has the benefit of being the Right Thing To Do.

[Andrew M McKenna]

Ric

A great opportunity to collaborate. 

Will it change the make up of the expedition team?  I'm wondering if folks from Conservation Intl, or the NEAQ will now likely be aboard.

Andrew

[Ric Gillespie]

Will it change the make up of the expedition team?

Probably not.  We have four berths we had reserved for Sponsor Team members. If we can find funding from supporters of climate change research those berths will be available for scientists.

[Ric Gillespie]

Please spreads the attached PDF around, especially to publications, websites and blogs concerned with climate change and ocean science.

Thanks

[JNev]

Oh boy, Ric plan the time on site carefully competing objectives can chew up time and $.

Not to be a naysayer, but that does sound like a tough balance.  That's all I'm gonna say 'bout that...

[Ric Gillespie]

Oh boy, Ric plan the time on site carefully competing objectives can chew up time and $.

Not to be a naysayer, but that does sound like a tough balance.  That's all I'm gonna say 'bout that...

There are no "competing objectives" other than the need to occasionally stop to take samples. The ocean scientists and the wreckage seekers have the same objective - take a close look at what is down there.
We have long wanted to do a joint expedition with the New England Aquarium reef researchers but there was never enough overlap in our respective agendas. We always needed weeks at Niku and they needed to visit several islands in the Phoenix Group. This time we're both focused on getting a good look at the same location - the deep water off the west end of Niku.

[Joy Diane Forster]

If I "take my membership up a notch" this year, will some of that money go to Niku VIII?  Or is it more helpful to keep my current membership level and make a donation directly to Niku VIII?   Sorry if I missed the answer to this somewhere on the website (I did try to look)....

[Ric Gillespie]

If I "take my membership up a notch" this year, will some of that money go to Niku VIII?

Yes, almost all of it - and by taking your membership up a notch you get the benefits and recognition that go along with it.

[Joy Diane Forster]

It's not a lot, but the check will be in the mail shortly!

[Paul March]

The expanded plan for Niku VIII is indeed huge. The very well-explained press release convinces me that it may very well be the "Right Thing To Do" as Ric has stated. Will have my limited funds in by the end of the week!

[Bruce Thomas]

Live on CSPAN2 at this moment, Anote Tong, President of Kiribati, is speaking on "Ocean Conservation & Climate Change," at a conference called "Our Ocean" that is sponsored by the State Department. Seated behind him is Secretary of State John Kerry.

More info available from the Department of State website.

[Ric Gillespie]

Unless something fortuitous and unexpected happens in the next week or so, there will be no Niku VIII this year.  The TIGHAR membership has responded heroically to our 1937 Fund but our appeals for the major funding we must have in order to make a commitment to the University of Hawaii by June 30 have fallen on deaf ears.  We've had to postpone expeditions before and Niku VIII will happen, whether it's this year or next year.  Our original intent, in fact was to shoot for 2015 but when NOAA pulled the funding for the Pisces subs it created a crisis.  With the subs slated for deactivation, it was "Use the subs this year or not at all."  At the moment, it's looking like it will be not at all.  That would be a real shame, not just because the Pisces submersibles are the only way to do a thorough search of the reef slope for airplane wreckage, but because the subs are the only effective way to do ocean science research on the steep carbonate seamounts of the Central Pacific.

The following quote from Stanford University professor Rob Dunbar, a leading authority on Pacific seamounts, says it all:

"At the moment, manned submersibles remain the only credible tool for use in a variety of different subsea environments, some of which are not only unique to the Pacific, but also ubiquitous. My greatest knowledge of the deep sea in the Pacific involves the pedestals of islands and seamounts. Because of the interaction of low pH seawater in the Pacific O2 minimum zone with the carbonate caps present on many if not most seamounts and island flanks, the most common bathymetric features just below 150 meters are vertical walls that extend for many 100's of meters. These walls contain very unusual communities of deep sea corals and sponges that in turn support great invertebrate and vertebrate biodiversity and biomass. They are, simply put, keystone communities of the deep ocean. Because these vertical walls are located very close to the modern reefs, ROV's cannot be deployed. We know this from a number of attempts to do so, including some in the last year. Entanglement hazards also abound. This is one example of an unacceptable environment for ROV operations; others include just about any steep slope setting, complex submarine volcanic terrain, and the vicinity of ship wrecks (that are entanglement hazards). Conversely, we know from years of experience that all of these environments are well suited for HOV [Human Operated Vehicles] work."

We certainly found that to be true at Niku in 2012.  The sad thing is that the paucity of funding for the manned submersibles in the scientific community appears to be driven by politics rather than science. 

TIGHAR will continue to search for a sponsor who will donate the $1.2 million needed to cover the charter of the ship and subs. Perhaps a benefactor will step forward before the University of Hawaii pulls the plug - which they must do soon.   They desperately want to save the subs but the program is out of money.  The TIGHAR charter is the only hope for keeping the subs in service.

If Niku VIII has to be postponed we'll regroup, rethink, and continue the search as we always have. 

[don hirth]

Hello, all, For what it's worth.....I sincerely hope that a 'miracle' occurs prior to the end of June date.

I'm quite 'up' in years and 'was really looking forward to the Niku hypothesis to be proven, this year.

It seems strange and frustrating that 'some' organizations/individuals are not willing to unite (financially) regarding

this effort and it's ironic that our govt., with it's lavish spending and waste is not willing to rally! Are there any (as yet)

untapped resources who are willing to listen and strongly consider sufficient funding to salvage the 2014 effort?

Yes, I'm a gambling man and I'd be willing to offer 10 - 1 odds that  Nessie, 22V1 and various radio receptions equal

A.E. landing on Niku and perishing there.