Over the past 20 years SCUBA diving has developed tremendously as a sport; from 1987-2001 the number of Dutch dive certifications increased twenty fold. Along with the increase in absolute numbers of divers, people have a growing interest in the diversity of underwater life along Dutch coastlines. In the last few years several guides were published that were meant for underwater identification of animals and plants in the Netherlands. In general they include photographs of the more common and easily recognisable organisms in their marine environment, but lack a good description of organism occurrence by dive locality. Because of our great seasonal changes, most organisms cannot be seen throughout the year. A SCUBA diver wanting to see or photograph a certain animal, or an environmental organisation wanting to know something about the biodiversity over the years at different locations in the Netherlands, will value information about when and where certain organisms were observed. Furthermore they will appreciate any information about rarer organisms, which in some cases, within a few years, expand tremendously in population and become common. Visa versa common species may decline to near extinction within a short period of time. To get a better insight in these aspects of the marine environment the ANEMOON foundation has started the MOO-project, "Monitoringproject Onderwater Oever" (Monitoring Underwater Shore).

SCUBA divers often make observations of great interest and utility to science. The MOO-project is focussed on organizing information about where, when and how many of particular animal species were seen by SCUBA divers. Furthermore, this will help to expand our knowledge about correlations with seasons, day and night activity, and the influence of recreational activities on the marine environment. This requires many underwater observations over the year for accurate results. At the moment there are at least 150 divers/volunteers very actively doing observations for the MOO-project. Anyone with an interest in biology is invited to participate.

In principal no prior biological knowledge is needed. The foundation has designed a MOO-form with a 117 animal species that can be observed underwater. These species were selected based on their abundance and ease of identification. It is not necessary to be able to recognize all species. The cooperating diver can fill in a MOO-form together with his/her buddy after a dive. Per species one marks whether or not one is able to recognize the species and if so, an indication of how many individuals, if any, one saw during the dive. In this way any diver can participate. A diver who does not know much about underwater biology just fills in that he/she cannot recognize some of the listed species. Observations of the more common species are still valued because they can be used in the analysis of the presence of that species (for example "lobsters") over time. For organisms or species that one cannot recognize, or for unusual underwater observations, one can put a question or remark on the bulletin board (internet chat-site of the ANEMOON foundation). Normally you will receive a reaction within a few days. In this way we teach each other more and more about the Dutch underwater environment. Furthermore, on the bulletin board we post rare observations made in the Netherlands. In this way, you can stay in touch when for example, a "Zonnevis" Zeus faber is seen, a "new" nudibranch species is spotted, or another strange/unusual observation is made. Diving at the location specified increases the chance that you will see the same organism, making your diving much more interesting.

Methods
At a chosen dive site, you and your buddy record or tries to remember which species were seen. After the dive you fill in a MOO-form together with your buddy.
Per species four categories can be filled in:

(?) The buddy-pair is not able to recognise/identify this species and/or they did not look for the species.
(O) At least one person in the buddy-pair can identify the species, has looked for it during the dive and did not see one specimen.
(Z) The buddy pair observed 1- 9 individuals of the specified species during the dive.
(A) The buddy pair observed 10 -99 individuals of the specified species during the dive.
(M) The buddy-pair observed more than 99 specimens of the specified species during the dive.

These categories have proven to be quite practical for the divers as well as for the statistical analyses. It is easy to calculate the chance that a diver sees at least 1, at least 10 or at least 100 individuals of a certain species during a dive. Especially for the more common species (of which the chance of seeing at least one is almost always 100%), these last two measures can be valuable for showing fluctuations over time or show differences between diving sites. The ANEMOON website has a species information section where you can find information on when and where you have the best chance of seeing a particular species. The more divers who fill in the MOO-forms, the more the results will grow in accuracy.

In addition to the 117 species on the MOO form, many other species are present in the sea. Therefore, some space is left open on the form to record any observations of species not present on the form. Furthermore, you can fill in under which circumstances and how long you have been diving.

In 2000 we established a MOO-support post in Zeeland. On the camping site "de Witte Boulevard" in Renesse, divers can freely get MOO-forms. There are also a variety of books about the underwater life in the Netherlands, including "Duiken gebruiken", a report of the ANEMOON foundation with an overview and analysis of the observations done within the MOO-project in the period 1994 to 1998. Furthermore, you can get a refill of you dive tanks at the camping site.

Did this short introduction interest you and do you also want to become a MOO-observer? Please contact the ANEMOON foundation: cistron@anemoon.nl. You will get a MOO-code and MOO-forms will be sent to you. Much success observing our underwater environment!

(The ANEMOON-foundation is grateful to dr. Ellinor Michel for this translation into English)