SCUBA News 128

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 128 - December 2010
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to SCUBA News: our complements of the season to you.

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

Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Bestselling SCUBA books of 2010
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Diving Kenya

Kenya has some lovely diving which is detailed on a new section of the SCUBA Travel site.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/africa/kenya.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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SCUBA Bestsellers of 2010
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Still stuck for Christmas presents? What about one of the top ten SCUBA books of this year so far...

	1. Dive Atlas of the World: An Illustrated Reference to the Best Sites by Jack Jackson 300 pages detailing some of the world's best dive sites.
	2. Fifty Places to Dive Before You Die: Diving Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations by Chris Santella The fifth in Santella's bestselling "Fifty Places" series.
	3. Ultimate Diving Adventures: 100 Extraordinary Experiences Under Water, by Len Deeley Classic dives and secret spots: the authors' top 100 dive spots.
	4. Coral Reef Guide Red Sea by Ewald Lieske, Robert Myers Covering jellyfish, corals, nudibranchs, starfish, sea urchins, fishes and turtles of the Red Sea.
	5. Dive in Style by Tim Simond Luxury diving around the world.
	6. Thailand (Lonely Planet Diving & Snorkeling Guides) by Tim Rock Dive sites of Thailand. Includes city guide to Bangkok.
	7. Diving with Giants by Jack Jackson Features the best places to dive with pelagic species.
	8. Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World, by Tim Ecott Tales of the characters and episodes in the history of diving: the sponge divers, the second world war saboteurs, the free divers, etc.
	9. Dive Red Sea: The Ultimate Guide Mainly covers Egypt but also mentions Aqaba, Eilat, Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen.
	10. Shipwrecks from the Egyptian Red Sea by Ned Middleton Eight years of research went into this accurate and definitive guide to the wrecks of the Egyptian Red Sea.

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Diving News From Around the World
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If you would like to read the diving news as it happens, without waiting for this newsletter, then grab the SCUBA News feed from http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.xml. It's free and automatically updates you with the latest SCUBA news via your web site or e-mail.

Egypt calls off shark search and opens beaches

Tourists at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are to be allowed back into the sea after a search for the sharks behind attacks on swimmers was formally abandoned. Egyptian officials said they had learned from their mistakes and would place the emphasis on safety rather than on identifying the culprits.

Blue whale feeding methods are ultra-efficient

The largest animal that has ever lived may also be the most efficient, as its method of filter-feeding takes in 90 times as much energy as it uses up.

Widely Adopted Indicator of Fisheries Health Questioned

The most widely adopted measure for assessing the state of the world's oceans and fisheries led to inaccurate conclusions in nearly half the ecosystems where it was applied, according to an article published in Nature.



Another fisheries commission fails the tuna test

The Commission responsible for managing tuna resources in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean has yet again failed to take any effective action to reduce the decline of valuable big eye and yellowfin tuna, according to the WWF.

Seeds of Gulf Dead Zones Are Draining from US Farms

Study finds that tile drainage systems in upper Mississippi farmlands are the biggest contributors of nitrogen runoff into the Gulf. That runoff has been identified as a major contributor to "seasonal hypoxia" or dead zones in which nitrogen fertilized algae blooms, depletes oxygen and suffocates other life forms over thousands of square miles each summer.

Blooming Jellyfish in Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean: Over-Fishing, Warming Waters to Blame

A study examining over 50 years of jellyfish data has confirmed an increase in the size and intensity of proliferations of the mauve stinger jellyfish, common around the world. There are several complex reasons for this -- including over-fishing and the current increase in sea water temperatures.

Jellyfish-Inspired Pumps

To researchers at the California Institute of Technology, the undulations of the simple invertebrate jellyfish hold secrets that may make possible a new generation of tiny pumps for medical applications and soft robotics.

WWF and Mozambique government join forces to protect marine resources

WWF and Mozambique have agreed to work together to boost marine life protection and develop joint mechanisms to better investigate and monitor fisheries of the country with a coastline of nearly 3000 kilometres.



Secrets of Sharks' Evolutionary Success

New research from the University of South Florida suggests that one of the evolutionary secrets of the shark's success hides in one of its tiniest traits -- flexible scales on the bodies of these peerless predators that make them better hunters by allowing them to change directions while moving at full speed.

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PUBLISHER: SCUBA Travel, 5 Loxford Court, Hulme, Manchester, M15 6AF, UK
EDITOR: Jill Studholme