Last year, he was honored by the Pew Charitable Trust with a prestigious Marine Conservation Fellowship. And several years ago, the American Oceans Campaign, an organization founded by actor and marine conservation activist Ted Danson, launched a crusade to address the devastating effects of mobile fishing gear on the seafloor. The campaign was based, in large part, on Auster's work. To understand what is happening hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface, Auster lives like a fish - maybe a canned sardine would be more accurate. One example of the damage Auster sees is the result of bottom trawling.
Fishing boats drag huge nets across the ocean's bottom.
The nets are held open by heavy metal arms that can weigh up to a ton. The leading edge of the net usually has chains or metal bobbins weighing tens to hundreds of pounds each. They force fish or shrimp to rise off the seafloor and into the net. What they leave in their wake is devastation. Seafloor communities that were once dominated by species such as sponges, corals, and mussels, all of which function as fish habitats, are crushed or removed by the trawls.