"Dr Bill" Bushing

Dr. Bill Bushing, or Dr. Bill as he is known in the SCUBA world, began diving in 1961. He currently does more than 300 dives each year , mostly in southern California waters for research and educational purposes. Dr. Bill has published nearly 300 newspaper columns and peer-reviewed scientific papers. He is a well-known presence both at Catalina’s Casino Point Dive Park, and on SCUBA Luv’s King Neptune dive boat where he serves as the marine life specialist for thousands of divers each year. Dr. Bill has worked and dived with the likes of Dr. Sylvia Earle, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Dr. Richard C. Murphy, Dr. Milton Love, marine artist Wyland and others.

He has been a resident marine biologist on Santa Catalina Island since 1969 when, upon graduation from Harvard College, he became head of the science and math departments at the Catalina Island School for Boys. While there, Bill taught marine biology on SCUBA to high school students and developed a five-year scientific curriculum based on the use of Catalina and its waters as a natural laboratory. He taught at the school until it closed in 1979. He also taught satellite remote sensing courses at undergraduate and graduate levels for several years at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Beginning in the mid-70’s, Dr. Bill served as a consultant, staff member and guest lecturer for Project Ocean Search Catalina run by Jean-Michel Cousteau. He later worked with Jean-Michel and his father, Jacques Yves Cousteau, as a consultant and facilitator during the filming of the two-hour Channel Islands episode in the “Cousteau’s Rediscovery of the World” series for Turner Broadcasting. It was during this project that Dr. Bill was introduced to the use of video to document natural history when Jean-Michel handed him a camcorder and asked him to film the release of two bald eagles. He began filming underwater in 2001 and has produced well over 100 30-minute episodes of his cable TV show. He has provided footage for PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, The Weather Channel, The Water Channel and other broadcast outlets. He has been a consultant and staff member for programs offered by The Cousteau Institute, The Cousteau Society and Ocean Futures; and was instrumental in obtaining a location on Catalina Island for the latter to operate the annual “Cousteau Family Camp” and KELP educational programs.

Dr. Bill earned a Ph.D. in marine ecology at UCSB. His ground breaking research focused on the use of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to study the long-term distribution and persistence of giant kelp forests (Macrocystis pyrifera) around Santa Catalina Island. His other research interests include the dispersal of non-motile marine invertebrates on drifting kelp, and ecological factors associated with the designation of marine protected areas and reserves.

In the 1990’s Dr. Bill served initially as a consultant, and later as Vice President for Science, Education and Ecological Restoration (SEER) for the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, owners of 88% of the island. During this period he instituted a number of important conservation programs including non-native invasive plant control, the elimination of non-native animals, a GPS-based native and rare plant mapping program, an island wide GIS, and active ecological restoration of damaged sites. Under his direction the Conservancy greatly expanded its educational programs with an integrated curriculum in the local schools, greater local community education and public outreach through methods like the Conservancy’s first Internet web site.

In June of 2000 Dr. Bill left the Conservancy to focus on his first love, the kelp forests and other marine environments of Catalina. He continues to conduct scientific research, and to create educational programs to better inform the general public about our underwater world, and the need to preserve it for future generations. He writes a weekly newspaper column, produces a daily cable television program on Catalina Cable TV and a weekly one on Charter Communications, and has produced seven commercial DVDs on marine life and ecology all under the title “Dive Dry with Dr. Bill.” His readers and viewers thus have the opportunity to “dive dry” in their easy chairs without the need for a wetsuit or cold water. Dr. Bill also lectures for various marine oriented groups, and maintains an informative website (http://www.StarThrower.org) that focuses on the marine world of southern California.

Articles

• Flatfish - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 013
• Abalone - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 012
• San Miguel Island - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 011
• Bat Ray - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 010
• Moray Eel - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 009
• Octopus - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 008
• Halfmoon or Catalina Blue Perch - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 007
• Sea Urchins - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 006
• Black Sea Bass - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 004
• Nudibranchs - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 003
• Sheephead - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 002
• Sheep Crab - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 034
• Navanax - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 032
• Electric Rays - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 035
• You Think Your Sex Life is Strange?
• Gray Whales - Dive Dry with Dr. Bill 033
• Dry Dive with Dr Bill No.028
• California Sea Lion
• Sex in the Underwater World