SCUBA News 111

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 111 - July 2009
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to July's SCUBA News: thanks for subscribing. I do hope you enjoy the newsletter, but should you wish to remove yourself from our mailing list you can do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html

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

Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Letters
- Bookshelf: Oceans
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Diving the Maldives

"Unbelievable", "phenomenal", "pelagic heaven". Just some of the comments our readers have made about diving the Maldives. We have therefore set up a new page all about Maldives diving at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/pacific/maldives-diving.html

Maldives Photos

To accompany the new Maldives section we've extended our underwater photo gallery of the Maldives at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photomaldives.html

Diving France

Find out more about the excellent wreck diving in the South of France at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/france/francedive.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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Cave Diving in France

Do you know some instructors who teach cave diving in France? Starting from level 1.

Regards
Waldemar from Sweden

Diving Plymouth, UK

Has anyone done any diving in Plymouth? I may go there for a weekend in August, but i only have a semi-dry suit. Do you think this is wise? Also is there a some good diving down there? I am an advanced diver with about 100 dives.

Thanks
Bob
Diving Board or contact SCUBA News.

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Bookshelf: Oceans, by Paul Rose and Anne Laking
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Oceans
Paul Rose and Anne Laking
BBC Books, 2008
240pp. £20
1-846075-05-X

Oceans is the book of the BBC series of television programmes that aimed to reveal the hidden stories of the sea. It was presented by four divers: underwater archaeologist Lucy Blue, oceanographer Tooni Mahto, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau and explorer Paul Rose.

I was pleased to be asked to review this book as Lucy Blue and I learnt to dive together many years ago, although we have long since lost touch. I already had a special interest in the series therefore and was very jealous of her travelling the world diving whilst I sat in my office merely writing about it.

The book starts with cave diving in the Mediterranean. It progresses to an interesting section on stromatolites. These are bacterial cities that were around in the oceans 2.5 billion years ago. They expire oxygen and are responsible for our atmosphere today. Amazingly there are still two places in the world where stomatolites still exist. One of these is in the Bahamas where the team dived.

But the divers then went even further back in time to 3.5 billion years. There is one place where you can still experience an ancient ocean: on the island of Andros, south of Grand Bahama. The Black Hole is a sinkhole that plunges 47 metres into limestone. Isolated from the rest of the ocean it is a unique marine environment hosting bacterial life. It is acidic and toxic, but the team dived it; measuring temperature and oxygen levels as they did so.

This was a dive I didn't envy. Clear water gives way to a very hot sulphurous layer which in turn heralds blood red then black depths. The divers were all ill after the dive and one person's hair even changed colour.

The diving improves with the Sea of Cortez chapter. This small stretch of sea by Baja California contains one third of the earth's marine mammal species. Five of the seven species of turtle migrate here. More species of whales and dolphins feed and breed in the Sea of Cortez than in any other part of the world. It used to also be known for its schooling Hammerhead sharks. Now, though, these once abundant animals are disappearing as a result of shark-finning and over-fishing.

So what has replaced the sharks as top-level predators? Packs of two-metre-long Humboldt squid. A few decades ago there were none of these squid in the Sea of Cortez. Now there are over 10 million.

The rest of the book is taken up with the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Southern Ocean and the Artic Ocean. It covers how the oceans came to be and why they host so much life, the history of the coasts, shipwrecks, underwater villages, threats to the oceans, the effects of climate change, pollution, fishing…tying everything together.

This is a very interesting book, more so than some of the television series. I would buy it just for the Sea of Cortez chapter. As you would expect from a BBC publication, the photos are first class. It is at once a celebration of under-the-sea and a warning about the massive affects we have on the marine environment and its inhabitants.

About the Authors
Paul Rose is a polar guide, professional diver and yacht skipper. He was the base commander of the British Antartic Survey and was awarded both the Queen's Polar Medal and the US Polar Medal. He ran the US Navy's diver training programme at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Anne Laking is a producer of factual and science programmes which have won a number of awards.

More on the Oceans series is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/oceans/. The book is available with 45% off from Amazon.

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Diving News From Around the World
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If you would like display this news on your web site then go to http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsfeed.html to find out how. It's free and automatically updates your web page with the latest diving news.

Belize barrier reef in Danger

UNESCO has added the Belize Barrier Reef to its list of world heritage sites in danger. The reef is the country's top tourist destination but is being affected by excessive development.

Dive to Adventure: Exploring the World's Most Famous Wrecks

Just published, guide to the wrecks of the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dahlak Islands.

Fish surveys could be inaccurate

Fish surveys are often conducted by SCUBA divers or snorkellers. A new study has found that these surveys may be inherently inaccurate as snorkellers frighten away the fish they are supposed to be counting.

NOAA developes first underwater detection system of harmful algal toxins

Researchers have carried out the first remote detection of a harmful algal species and its toxin. This represents the first autonomous detection of both a harmful algae bloom species and its toxin by an underwater sensor.

'Bycatch' whaling a growing threat to coastal whales

Scientists are warning that a new form of unregulated whaling has emerged along the coastlines of Japan and South Korea, where the commercial sale of whales killed as fisheries "bycatch" is threatening coastal stocks of minke whales and other protected species.

Warming Arctic could teem with life by 2030

An influx of tiny organisms could lead to an Arctic rich with life during the summers in the next few decades, a study of ice cores suggests.

Jumbo Squid Invade Shores

Thousands of jumbo squid have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on tourist-packed beaches.

Male Seahorses Like Big Mates

Male seahorses have a clear agenda when it comes to selecting a mating partner: to increase their reproductive success. By being choosy and preferring large females, they are likely to have more and bigger eggs, as well as bigger offspring, according to Beat Mattle and Tony Wilson from the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

Ganges River Dolphin in dire straits

Dolphin hotspots must be protected if the Ganges River Dolphin is to survive in the Brahmaputra river system, according to a recent study.

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