SCUBA News 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) Issue 23 - March 2002 www.scubatravel.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to the March edition of SCUBA News. We hope you enjoy it, but should you wish to cancel your subscription you can do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html In this issue: - What's new at SCUBA Travel? - Your Letters - SCUBA News Bookshelf - Diving News from Around the World If you have any diving news, or comments on this newsletter, we'd love to hear from you. Just fill in our Contact the Editor form. __________________________________________________________ What's New at the SCUBA Travel Web Site? ======================================== Hotel Booking Engine You can now research, and book, hotels around the globe direct from the SCUBA Travel website. Just pick where you want to go and when, and you'll receive a list of hotel suggestions. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/hotel.html We're interested to know how useful (or not) you find this hotel tool - if you try it please e-mail your thoughts to webmaster@scubatravel.co.uk Diving in Mozambique Mozambique is reported to have some of the best diving in the world...better than the Red Sea, better than Australia. For more information see Diving in Eritrea "Good diving, excellent equipment, the locals are super nice and the fish fare is terrific". Just one of the comments on diving in Eritrea, for more see: http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/africa.html#Eritrea __________________________________________________________ Your Letters ============ Dear All Where there's life there's hope. You couldn't make it up! I answered my 'phone the other day to a lady who wanted to order a copy of my book. Nothing unusual about that you might say, but she said "I used to live in your village until I was 80". "Pardon", says I, "How old are you now then ?". "I'm 88", she said. I asked her if the book was for a son or nephew/niece, but she said, "Oh no, it's for me, I'm really looking forward to it". So, there you go, anyone looking for a diving buddy? Best regards Jim Limbrick Jim is the author of North Sea Divers - A Requiem, which we featured in January's SCUBA News http://www.scubanews.co.uk/scubanews21.html __________________________________________________________ SCUBA News Bookshelf: The Enchanted Braid - Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef ============================================= The inner dust cover flap promises to deliver an eye-opener for a very broad readership encompassing the lay person and the marine biologist. Over a global range of subject matter, the author has been successful in achieving this apparently tall order in what is claimed to be a blend of aesthetic appreciation, scientific enquiry and environmental manifesto. The material covered ranges from the essential basic ecology and history of our knowledge of coral reefs to the modern day pressures which they are under. Throughout the book the text is well delivered and presented through the eyes of an enquiring non-specialist mind but with sufficient rigour and content to captivate those with a scientific training. Technical areas of the text are, conversely, necessarily peppered with additional explanatory notes but not so much as to present an obstruction to the more informed reader. The author has systematically researched the material for the book whilst on travels throughout the world over a number of years. Based on first hand experience he is able to successfully conjure from the page, many of the most significant places and people in relation to coral reef biology and our understanding of it. The style is easy to follow and, with analogy and day-to-day concepts, technicalities are easily grasped. By the second part of the book the reader is well enough equipped with an enthused, broad understanding of the biology and functioning of coral reefs to be able to tackle the profound threats with which coral reefs are now faced. It is surprising not to find more pages of colour photography in a modern publication on such a subject. In addition to the target audience, the book would be of particular value to biologists and conservationists interested in coral reefs as well as a companion to those visiting tropical coral coastlines. Review by Dr Bill Sanderson + The Enchanted Braid is available, with 20% off, from Amazon.co.uk + And also from Amazon.com For more diving book reviews, and interviews with authors, visit http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/interview.html ::ADV_____________________________________________________ : : For the inside information on Amazon, join the Amazon : Associates Mailing List. Lively comment on Amazon, : search engines and web site positioning. Visit : http://www.listpartners.com/cgi-local/subscribe?1729 ______________________________________________________ADV:: __________________________________________________________ Diving News From Around the World ================================= Marine Diving Fair 5-7 April 2002 Ikebukuro Sunshine City Convention Center, Tokyo Tourist boards from around the world (Egypt, Tahiti, the Maldives, etc) will be represented, plus underwater photography experts, marine life videos and other diving information. md@marinediving.co.jp ASIA DIVE EXPO (ADEX) 18-21 April 2002 Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre Includes seminars by international dive associations like PADI and NAUI, new products, diving packages, try-dives and marine conservation. Admission S$5 for adults and S$3 for children and students. OCEAN FEST 18-20 May 2002 Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida, USA Over 200 dive related exhibits. http://www.oceanfest.com/ FREEDIVING RECORD ATTEMPT On 20 April the Belgian freediver, Patrick Musimu, will attempt to set 2 World Records. Initially he's targeting the Constant Ballast World Record and aiming for a depth of 87 meters. Later, he will strive to break the Variable Ballast World Record currently held by Umberto Pelizzari. http://www.iafdusa.com/ HAS SHARK FINNING REACHED THE RED SEA? Shark-finning, where the fins are sliced from live animals, goes on in many parts of the world. But in the Red Sea such a spectacle has set alarm bells ringing among top wildlife conservation groups which are urging Egypt and all countries bordering the Red Sea to ban shark finning. Egyptians who have come to rely on the tourist trade, which is having a difficult time, are also sufficiently concerned to demand action from the authorities. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/ HELP PROTECT TURTLES AND OTHER THREATENED MARINE WILDLIFE People in the UK in May can help raise funds for endangered marine life by taking part in the WWF Big Swim 2002. Just get sponsored for swimming, diving, snorkelling, water polo, water volleyball, etc. Register on-line at http://www.wwf.org.uk/ TEN MOST IMPORTANT CORAL AREAS LISTED For the first time, scientists have listed a top ten of the richest but most threatened reefs. Each is home to a wide range of endemic species (those confined to a particular area). The scientists say their work should help to target conservation work more successfully, but comment that 25% of the world's reefs have already been destroyed or badly damaged by problems arising from climate change. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/sci_tech/ ::ADV_____________________________________________________ : : Log data from GPS and sonar to your spreadsheet, : database or mapping program with the free Windmill : software. For diving, marine archaeology, salvage, coral : reef monitoring and deep-sea research. For your copy see : http://www.windmill.co.uk/mapping.html : ___________________________________________________ADV:: ROBOT SUBMARINE DISCOVERS FOOD SOURCE UNDER ICE A robot submarine has found an important food store under the Antarctic ice. On its first mission, Autosub-2's echo sounder found that krill were 5 times more concentrated beneath the ice, where they were safe from predators, than in the open sea. Krill are shrimp- like creatures that provide essential food for fish, penguins and whales http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/ JAPAN TO BUY WHALE MEAT FROM NORWAY... To justify its position on whaling, Japan is about to import whale meat from Norway. However, the amount of meat to be imported is negligible compared to Japan's domestic harvest of 4,000 tons (which the authorities claim is scientific research only, even though the whale meat thus obtained is sold for consumption). http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/03/03072002/ ...AND PLANNING TO CATCH SEI WHALES Japan plans to begin hunting a type of whale it has left alone for years. Averaging 40 to 50 feet long, fast- swimming sei whales are the largest baleen whales after blue whales and finbacks. http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/03/03012002/ REPLACE KILLED FISH RATHER THAN SAVING THEM? The American Environmental Protection Agency wants to let power plants and other industrial facilities pay to replace fish sucked into their cooling water intakes instead of installing equipment to keep them out. Wildlife groups claim that billions of fish and shellfish are killed each year by factories that withdraw trillions of gallons of water from bays and rivers. http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/03/03062002/ EL NINO 6000 YEARS OLD El Nino, the periodic warming of Pacific Ocean waters that affects the weather worldwide, started about 6000 years ago, according to a study of ancient fish bones published in the Journal Science. http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/02/02222002/ __________________________________________________________ * Copyright 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. CONTACTING THE EDITOR Please use the Contact the Editor form to send us letters or press releases or write to: The Editor SCUBA News The Cliff Upper Mayfield DE6 2HR UK ADVERTISING Should you wish to advertise in SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011), please fill in the form at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsad.html PUBLISHER SCUBA Travel Ltd, 5 Loxford Court, Hulme, Manchester, M15 6AF, UK
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