SCUBA News 109

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 109 - May 2009
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to May's SCUBA News: thanks for subscribing. I do hope you enjoy the newsletter, but should you wish to stop receiving them please remove yourself at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html

SCUBA News is published by SCUBA Travel, the independent guide to diving around the world.

Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Letters
- Bookshelf: DIVER by Tony Groom
- Creature of the Month: Northern Right Whale
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Diving Bali

Bali lies in the Indian Ocean, north-west of Australia. There is diving all year round and you have been recommending more diving centres on the island.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/indonesia/balidive.html

Diving Portugal

We've also more on the diving in Portugal is at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/europe/portugal-diving.html

More...

For regular announcements of what's new at the SCUBA Travel site see the Diving Board at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=2

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Letters
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Does anyone have any information on liveaboard trips in Farasan, Yunbu or Tiran?. Or any scuba diving exploration trips on the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) - Red Sea coast?
S Selim

From the Diving Board...

My wife and I are snorkelers and will be travelling to Semporna in Malaysia. Where and how would you recommend we take snorkelling trips in this area?
Adrian7996

Post your answer on the Diving Board or contact SCUBA News.

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Bookshelf: DIVER, by Tony Groom
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Tony Groom
Seafarer Books, 2008
366pp. £9.95
1-906266-06-9

The book is an autobiographical account of Tony Groom's years as a professional diver, first in the Navy then commercially. It is well written and easy to read and runs to just over 300 pages.

Tony joined the navy at 17, having a lifelong fascination with the sea which turned into an ambition to become a diver. The book begins with the gruelling selection process to become a Navy Diver and his progression to the Fleet Clearance Diving Team, whose job it is to clear all sorts of unexploded mines and bombs around the world.

In 1982 Tony joined the taskforce that went to the Falkland Islands and went to war. A large section of the book covers his time, there and is a vivid and at times harrowing account of Clearance Diving during conflict. A remarkable number of bombs dropped by the Argentineans did not explode. This posed the diving team a challenge in itself, but imagine doing this while being bombed!

The Falklands conflict obviously had a profound effect on Tony and a large section of the book is dedicated to this time. It is an interesting account and there is a lot of diving.

In 1985 Tony left the Navy and became a commercial diver working all over the world. A lot of the "action" is set in the North Sea saturation diving, it is a fascinating account of life in a saturation environment, living in a very confined space for weeks on end, going to work through a hole in the floor into a cold, dark and dangerous world.

The Piper Alpha disaster happened at the time and there is an interesting account from the perspective of one of the divers on board a rig nearby.

The technical diving is explained in an easy to understand manner interspersed adventure, humour and shore leave stories.

Overall the book gives you real insight into life as a Navy Diver and also a commercial diver. Ideal if you are thinking of a career or just out of interest.

Andrew Reay-Robinson

Signed copies of DIVER are available from Tony Groom's web site, http://www.amazon.co.uk/.

Read the SCUBA News interview with Tony Groom at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/tonygroom.html

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Creature of the Month: Northern Right Whale
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The northern right whale is arguably the world's most endangered great whale. It is a "fat", slow whale. Right whales are massive animals, weighing more per foot of body length than any other species bar the bowhead.

The main reason the northern right whale is so endangered is whaling. Even the original name of the species - "true whale of the ice" - is no longer apt: they have virtually disappeared from the higher-latitude portions of their range in places like Iceland and Northern Norway. Good news arrived this month though, when scientists reported that they had detected northern right whales in an area off the southern tip of Greenland where they had been thought extinct.

Right whales are also at risk from shipping. They are vulnerable to collisions with ships as they ignore general ship sounds. Alarm sirens intended to scare them away from ships may actually be more likely to cause a collision, as the whales have been shown to rush to the surface when they hear the alarm.

The western Northern Atlantic population of right whales numbers 300-400 animals, and despite over 60 years of protection shows no sign of recovery. This is due to their slow reproduction and deaths caused by humans from entanglement in fishing gear and the ship strikes. The European population is in an even worse state and until the recent research had been thought extinct. Interestingly, it has been suggested that preventing the deaths of only two females a year would increase the western population growth rate to a sustainable level.

Commercial whaling probably began in Europe in early medieval times. The northern right whale was the perfect target: slow, inhabiting coastal waters and with a thick layer of blubber that caused it to float when killed. Being so large, the right whale yielded an enormous quantity of meat, oil and baleen. All of these characteristics probably gave the right whale its name - it was the "right" whale to kill. The earliest record of whaling is in 1059.

As plankton feeders, right whales move through patches of plankton with their mouths agape, continuously filtering as they swim. One of the biggest animals feeding on one of the smallest. The whales are very good at finding the patches of plankton, and at efficiently feeding in the densest patches.

Further Reading:
Endangered right whales found where they were thought extinct, SCUBA News, May 2009
Whales by Phil Clapham.
Alarm sirens lure whales into peril, New Scientist, December 2003.

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Diving News From Around the World
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Caribbean Big Fish Disappearing

Sharks, barracuda and other large predatory fishes disappear on Caribbean coral reefs as human populations rise, endangering the region's marine food web and ultimately its reefs and fisheries, according to a study published today in the journal PLoS One.

Protecting the oceans makes economic sense

Marine protected areas can provide higher and more sustained income through tourism and controlled fisheries than continued exploitation. This is the result of IUCN's new compilation of case studies about the economic benefits of marine protected areas.

Basking shark mystery solved

Once thought of as a strictly cool-water species, basking sharks migrate to deep tropical waters each winter, according to research published in the June 2009 issue of journal Current Biology.

Dolphins seen trying to kill calf

Adult tucuxi dolphins have been seen trying to kill a newborn calf of their own species. It is the first record of these dolphins attempting infanticide. Although common in many mammal species, infanticide is rarely recorded among cetaceans, the group of animals that includes whales and dolphins.

Endanged right whales found where they were thought extinct

Using a system of underwater hydrophones that can record sounds from hundreds of miles away, a team of scientists has documented the presence of endangered North Atlantic right whales in an area they were thought to be extinct. The discovery is particularly important, researchers say, because it is in an area that may be opened to shipping if the melting of polar ice continues, as expected.

New initiative to reduce shark deaths

The Shark-Marina, a not-for-profit company, has launched a new strategy to prevent the deaths of millions of vulnerable and endangered species of shark. The initiative aims to win over the fishing community by working with game fishing societies, tackle manufacturers, competition sponsors and marinas. The Shark-Free Marina Initiative works by prohibiting the landing of any caught shark at a participating marina, promoting catch-and-release fishing.

Coral Triangle could Disappear

If the world does not take effective action on climate change, coral reefs will disappear from the Coral Triangle by the end of the century, according to the WWF. The Coral Triangle, just one per cent of the earth's surface, includes 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs, 76 per cent of its reef building coral species and more than 35 per cent of its coral reef fish species as well as vital spawning grounds for other economically important fish such as tuna.

World's Largest Leatherback Turtle Population Found

An international team of scientists has identified a nesting population of leatherback sea turtles in Gabon, West Africa as the world's largest. The research estimated a population of between 15,730 and 41,373 female turtles using the nesting beaches.

Manage corals and minimise climate change

A better assessment of the threats to coral reefs along with improved management will give corals a much higher chance of survival in the face of warming oceans, says IUCN's latest report.

Unmanned underwater vehicles to move like animals

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) could eventually turn on their axis like a shark or crawl along the seabed like an octopus - that is, if a UK research programme is successful.

Ultrasound weapon wipes out toxic algal blooms

Red tides and other poisonous algal blooms are vulnerable to a blast of high-frequency sound, researchers show.

High Human Impact Ocean Areas Along US West Coast Revealed

Climate change, fishing and commercial shipping top the list of threats to the ocean off the West Coast of the United States. "Every single spot of the ocean along the West Coast," said Ben Halpern, a marine ecologist, "is affected by 10 to 15 different human activities annually."

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