SCUBA News 16
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) Issue 16 - August 2001 www.scubatravel.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello, and welcome to issue 16 of SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011). It's early this month owing to the editor's imminent holidays. If you have any diving news, or comments on this newsletter, we'd love to hear from you. __________________________________________________________ What's New at the SCUBA Travel Web Site ======================================== Moray Eels in Photo Gallery We now have a fine collection of moray eel photos in Room 2 of our Gallery, including a couple of a Giant Moray patiently waiting for the tiny cleaner wrasse to do its work. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photo2.html Red Sea Life The Red Sea Life page continues to grow with more pictures and notes. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/redsealife.html Next Month: Diving in the South of France Next month we're launching a new section all about diving in the South of France. If you have any tips or recommendations for French diving, please let us know. E-mail webmaster@scubatravel.co.uk __________________________________________________________ Diving News From Around the World ================================= Coral reefs and coastal environments this month, including what may turn out to be the most species rich dive site in the world. World Record Broken for Most Species seen in 1 hour Dive The waters of the Raja Ampat Islands off Indonesia's province of Irian Jaya may replace heralded Palau as the most species-rich sea in the world, says the National Geographic Society. An international team of marine biologists who visited the Raja Ampats recently to examine the reefs said they found what may be an unparalleled array of species, including some never seen before. The leader of the expedition, Gerald Allen, broke his own world record, twice, for the number of species he saw in a one-hour dive: 281 on one dive and 283 on another. More information: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ ::ADVERT__________________________________________________ : : Download the free Windmill software to log data from GPS : and sonar to your spreadsheet, database or mapping : program. For diving, marine archaeology, salvage, coral : reef monitoring and deep-sea research. Visit : http://www.windmill.co.uk/mapping.html : ________________________________________________ADVERT:: Ancient Overfishing Tied to Marine Collapse Overfishing that took place hundreds if not thousands of years ago is a key culprit in the collapse of coastal marine ecosystems today, an international group of researchers reports. They note that large marine vertebrates - whales, sea cows, monk seals, crocodiles, swordfish, sea turtles, sharks and rays - are now functionally or entirely extinct in most coastal marine ecosystems. They found that the depletion of these animals through over-fishing and over- harvesting triggers a domino effect that can have impacts even centuries later. To draw a picture of what marine ecosystems looked like in the past, the researchers examined marine sediment evidence from about 125,000 years ago, archaeological information from early human coastal settlements some 10,000 years ago, and European trade records from the 15th century to the present. In every case looked at over-fishing by humans preceded ecosystem collapse. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ Jaws Author Campaigns for Sharks Peter Benchley, the author of "Jaws" is now urging conservation of the sharks he helped to vilify. Benchley's book sold more than 20 million copies, and he co-wrote the screenplay for the 1975 hit movie. To spread the conservation message, Benchley recently toured Asia with the San Francisco-based conservation group WildAid, urging the next generation not to eat shark fin soup, "a major factor in the devastation of shark species around the world". He denounces the practice of "finning" - capturing sharks for their fins, slicing them off, and throwing the fish back into the sea, immobile and doomed to a slow death. Reuters Hong Kong Reefs Dramatic Improvement The health of some coral reefs around Hong Kong has shown remarkable improvement, an environmental group has found. Reef checks by divers at Pak Lap Tsai, off Sai Kung, have found encouraging numbers of coral, fish and invertebrates. Pak Lap Tsai is one of the 19 reef checkpoints designated by the government to monitor coral reef health. SCUBA Travel Ltd - http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/ * Reprinting welcomed with this footer included. We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and even use parts of it on your own website, providing the above copyright notice is included, and a link back to our website is in place. Previous editions of SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) are archived at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING Visit http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html and add or remove your e-mail address.
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