SCUBA News 138

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 138 - November 2011
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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SCUBA News is published by SCUBA Travel Ltd, the independent guide to diving around the world.

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Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- SCUBA Gift Ideas
- Letters
- Creature of the Month: Manta Ray
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Red Sea Life Guide

Photos, identification tips and lifestyle notes on the marine life of the Red Sea with fish, corals, octopus, crab, etc.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/redsealife.html

Diving Costa Rica

Costa Rica has some great diving and you can now find more recommended dive operators at
Tips for Travelling to Dahab

Dahab on the Red Sea is home to the famous Blue Hole and Canyon dive sites. We now give tips on getting to Dahab, hotel recommendations and other things to do apart from diving.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/dahabdive.html#Dahab-go

Maldives Dive Sites

More about the spectacular diving in the Maldives is at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/pacific/maldives-diving.html

For regular announcements of what's new at the SCUBA Travel site see our Twitter feed, our Facebook page or the SCUBA Travel Google+ page.

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SCUBA Gift Ideas
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For many of us the frenzy of present buying is fast approaching. Here are a few ideas from the SCUBA Travel team for your SCUBA diving friends and relatives.

Diving First Editions

You can pick up a first edition of some diving classics relatively cheaply, which makes an out-of-the-ordinary gift. For example, a first edition of Jaques Cousteau's Silent World is under 10 pounds - http://bit.ly/hanshass.

Underwater Photographic Books and Prints

You can now buy books and prints of the best photos taken by our photographer - Tim Nicholson. His beautiful photos are available from

Reef Jewellery

Simply Scuba have some great jewellery which divers will love - we liked the hammerhead shark pendant.

Diver Cufflinks

Or what about the dive flag cufflinks?

Diving Magazine

12 gifts in one - a subscription to a diving magazine. Use the link above to save up to 50%.

For other gift ideas see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/presents.html

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Your Letters
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Diving Saudi Arabia

Hi there, I just got a job at Yanbu and I'd love to continue my diving activity. However, I am a single female and I'm wondering if we will be allowed to dive. Do you know of any single female divers who are active divers in Yanbu. I would love to join them. Hope you can help me.
Regards,
Mag

If you can help Mag please post on the diving board or e-mail news@scubatravel.co.uk

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Creature of the Month: Manta Ray
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Until recently there was thought to be only one species of Manta Ray: Manta birostris. Now though, researchers have observed that there are actually two: the Reef Manta Ray (Manta alfredi) and the Giant Manta Ray (Manta birostris). Both of these species have been classified as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List which was published this month.

Growing to more than seven meters across, the Giant Manta Ray is the largest living ray and a very impressive sight underwater. The Reef Manta Ray is smaller but still reaches 5 m across.

Mantas migrate vast distances, crossing international boundaries, in search of food. Products from manta rays have a high value in international markets, and targeted fisheries hunt them for their valuable gill rakers used in traditional Chinese medicine. Monitoring and regulation of the exploitation and trade of both manta ray species is urgently needed, as well as protection of key habitats.

Both species of Manta are found around the globe, their ranges overlapping in some places like Mozambique. It is difficult for a diver to distinguish between the two species. Both can be shades of black or white. They are also sometimes confused with the devil rays of the genus Mobula.

Completely harmless filter-feeders, Mantas use their head fins to direct plankton into their mouths. As plankton occur near the surface of the seas, that's where Mantas are also found. Filtering your food out of the oceans doesn't take much energy, which is why Manta rays can be so large.

The Giant Manta Ray appears to be a seasonal visitor to coastal or offshore sites. While this species seems more solitary than the Reef Manta Ray, Giant Manta Rays are often seen aggregating in large numbers to feed, mate, or clean. Sightings of these giant rays are often seasonal or sporadic but in a few locations their presence is a more common occurrence. At certain times of the year you can see the Giant Manta Ray at aggregation sites such as the Similan Islands, Thailand; northeast North Island, New Zealand; Laje de Santos Marine Park, Brazil; Isla de la Plata, Ecuador; Cocos Island, Costa Rica; and Isla Holbox, Mexico. Being oceanic, you see them less frequently than the Reef Manta Ray.

The Reef Manta Ray is found from the Sinai Peninsula in the Red Sea to Durban, South Africa in the Western Indian Ocean, and from Thailand to waters off Perth, Western Australia in the Eastern Indian Ocean. Reef Manta Rays do not commonly venture from coastal waters, often moving between inshore cleaning stations and feeding areas. The Reef Manta Ray can reach 5 m across, however, in most mature individuals do not exceed 4 m.

Another factor which adds to the vulnerability of the Manta ray is its low reproductive rate. In the wild, females bear on average only a single pup every two to three years. Female mantas are thought to mature at around 8 to 10 years of age and to live to around 40 years.

Dive tourism involving Mantas is a growing industry and can significantly enhance the economic value of such species in comparison to short-term returns from fishing. However, tourism related industries can also negatively impact individual behaviour, entire populations and critical habitat. Tourism needs to be developed responsibly, with the needs of the animals respected.

Manta and devil ray catch increased from 900 tonnes to over 3,300 tonnes between 2000 and 2007.

Further Reading:
Mantas on Red List of Threatened Species
Red List: Reef Manta Ray, Manta alfredi
Red List: Giant Manta Ray, Manta birostris
Coral Reef Guide Red Sea by Ewald Lieske and Robert F. Myers

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Diving News From Around the World
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You can display this news, in real-time, on your web site. Just grab our news feed from http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.xml. For more details see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsfeed.html. You can also read it on our Twitter page Dubai's artificial islands are affecting marine ecosystems

Untrammelled development, weak regulatory oversight and a lack of scientific monitoring are seriously threatening ecosystems along the coast of the Gulf, according to an extensive assessment of the region's marine environment. The region has already lost 70% of its coral reefs since 2001, with most of the remaining reefs threatened or degraded.

Mantas and Tuna on Red List of Threatened Species

The latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals two species of Manta Ray are vulnerable, and the situation is particularly serious for tunas. Among the marine species classified as critically endangered - the most serious risk category - are staghorn and elkhorn coral, the hawksbill turtle and the Mediterranean Monk Seal. The marine realm though is very poorly covered in the IUCN Red List, comprising less than 5% of the species included.

EU plans to protect tunas and swordfish

The European Union has said that it will table ambitious proposals for the conservation of Mediterranean swordfish, and tropical tunas and sharks, in line with scientific recommendations.

Massive Shark Slaughter Reported in Columbian Waters

Columbian government officials have reported that as many as 2,000 sharks have been killed in a single incident for their fins. The slaughter occurred in the Malpelo Wildlife Sanctuary, a remote 8,570 square kilometer area of the ocean off Columbia's Pacific coast.

Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary Threatened

Increasing coastal populations, ship and boat groundings, marine debris, poaching, and climate change are critically threatening the health of the Florida Keys ecosystem. Many historically abundant marine resources such as green turtles and coral habitat continue to be at risk with low rates of recovery.

Dolphins Don't Get the Bends

Scientists know that the blood and tissues of some deceased beaked whales stranded near naval sonar exercises are riddled with bubbles. It is also well known that human divers can suffer from bubbles-induced decompression sickness, also known as the bends. What researchers know comparatively little about is how living marine mammals handle the compression of lung gas as they dive deep and then resurface. Now, a study has confirmed that bubbles do form in live, stranded dolphins. But in many cases, those animals are able to "manage" those bubbles and can resume relatively normal lives of swimming and diving in the ocean.

Fin massage relieves stress in surgeonfish

Life on the reef can be stressful. Fortunately for some of its fishy inhabitants, they can call on a masseur to soothe their nerves--the first non-primate known to do so. Surgeonfish make regular use of cleaner wrasse to remove their parasites and dead skin. Scientists, noticed that the cleaners seem to offer another service too: they can placate an agitated surgeonfish by rubbing back and forth on its pelvic and pectoral fins.

'Fishy lawnmowers' help save Pacific corals

Can fish save coral reefs from dying? UC Santa Barbara researchers have found one case where fish have helped coral reefs to recover from cyclones and predators.

Scientists raise estimate of humpback whale numbers

Scientists have increased their estimate of the number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean. By matching photos from the species' northern feeding grounds around the Pacific Rim with photographs of the same individuals in the warm tropical waters of their southern feeding grounds, the scientists were able to produce an estimate of the overall humpback whale population.

Greenhouse Gas Index Still Climbing

NOAA's updated Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which measures the direct climate influence of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, shows a continued steady upward trend that began with the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s.

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