headlines on your own web pages for free! Click here for details. |
SCUBA News 44~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) Issue 44 - December 2003 http://www.scubatravel.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The last SCUBA News of the year is upon us, and we wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. We'd also like to thank all of you who sent us Christmas greetings. We hope you enjoy this month's issue, but should you wish to cancel your subscription please do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html Contents: - What's new at SCUBA Travel? - Letters - Creature of the Month: Marine Flatworm - Diving News from Around the World __________________________________________________________ What's New at SCUBA Travel? =========================== Australia More dive write ups are now in the Australia section. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/australia/ :ADV_____________________________________________________ Automatically count the customers entering your dive shop - by the day, by the hour, by the week - you choose. Use any Windows program for analysis and decision making. More details see... http://www.videoturnstile.com/ ____________________________________________________ADV: Photo Gallery Some superb photos, taken in the Isle of Man, have been included in the UK room of our gallery. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photouk.html Diving Operators: Baja California and Jordan Find more diving operators in Baja California (Mexico) and Jordan http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/baja/bajaop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/jordanop.html __________________________________________________________ Letters ======= Dear SCUBA News I really enjoy going to Bonaire last month. The water was crystal blue and visibility unbelievable. The marine life set the tone and moray eels from spotted to green 6 footers. The weather was sunny warm and the people were very good hosts. I am a member of NABS (National Association of Black Scuba Divers) and our summit was held at the Plaza Resort of Bonaire. A great trip and a lot of dive sites. Terron Whitehead (NABS) -- The National Association of Black Scuba Divers, Inc. (NABS) was founded in January 1991 to promote scuba diving, throughout the African-American community, together with conservation and environmental awareness. NABS is a non-profit organisation which also provides scholarships for students studying marine and environmental sciences. __________________________________________________________ Creature of the Month: Marine Flatworm ====================================== Nudibranch-like in appearance: marine flatworms are beautifully coloured. They have thinner bodies than nudibranchs and may move by beating hair-like cilia on their undersides - rippling through the water. Some have short tentacles on their heads. Flatworms are bilaterally symmetrical animals. The left and right sides of the animal are the same but the underneath and top are different. This is common in higher animals, but flatworms are one of the most simple creatures to exhibit this. Their eyes are tiny, comprising just 2 to 3 cells. There are hundreds of eyes along the sides of the body, distinguishing between light and dark and determining the direction of light. They have two other types of sensors. One is sensitive to chemical stimuli, perceiving far-off substances and sensing them on contact (smell and taste). Another is stimulated by the passage of water over the flatworm's body and perceived by rheotactic sensors. The flatworm's simple brain can interpret information and even has the capacity to learn. Like nudibranchs, some flatworms utilise nematocysts - the stinging cells they obtain when eating fire coral or other hydroids. These are not digested but passed to the body wall as a form of defense. Mobile flatworms are carnivorous, and feed on slow-moving, sedentary or dead animals. Many capture living prey by wrapping themselves around it, entangling it in slime and pinning it to the ground. Flatworms have amazing regenerative capabilities. When cut into a number of pieces, each will develop a head, tail and full complement of organs. Although common, divers rarely see flatworms as they hide under rocks, dead coral or seaweed. When spotted they are often mistaken for nudibranchs. Look carefully at these pretty animals - the nudibranch you've seen may not be a nudibranch at all. For a photo of a flatworm swimming in mid-water, taken in the Red Sea, see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/flatworm.html Further Reading: Invertebrate Zoology, by Robert D Barnes http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/asin/0030259827/1286 __________________________________________________________ Diving News From Around the World ================================= DIVER SETS SCUBA DEPTH RECORD OF 313 METRES A British diver reached a depth of 313 metres off Phuket (Thailand), setting a new world scuba record. Mark Ellyatt collected a marker to prove his feat pending independent verification. He took six hours and 40 minutes to return to the surface. He used six breathing tanks on the dive and had another 24 delivered to him by support divers who met him at various stages during his way up to the surface. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=475386 AUSTRALIA PROTECTS GREY NURSE SHARKS Grey nurse sharks have been declared officially endangered by the Queensland government. Diving restrictions were put in place at three of the four shark breeding sites (Cherub's Cave, Henderson Rock and Flat Rock). http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/ IRISH PROTECT CORAL REEFS Huge, cold-water, reefs off the west coast of Ireland are to be declared "National Treasures" by the government. They have been mapped by a 27-million Euro study of the country's seabed - one of the largest seabed mapping surveys undertaken anywhere in the world. http://www.iol.co.za/ UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION LAUNCHED The BS-AC have launched their 2004 photographic awards. Entries are invited each month, with the best shot that month going into the final at the end of the year. The Award of BSAC Travel Club Photographer of the Year will win an Undersea Explorer Coral Sea Adventure trip to the Great Barrier Reef and Osprey Reef valued at Australian $2450, and economy air fare from the UK. http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/photography/ :ADV_____________________________________________________ Log data from GPS, sonar and other instruments to your database or mapping program with the free Windmill software. For diving, seafloor mapping, salvage, coral reef monitoring, etc. Download your free copy at http://www.windmill.co.uk/gps.html ____________________________________________________ADV: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR FLYING AFTER DIVING EXPERIMENTS Volunteers are needed for the 2004 trials of the US Navy Flying After Diving Study. Participants should be between 18 and 60 years old and certified divers or experienced in hyper/hypobaric exposures. The experiments are to take place at Duke Hospital, North Carolina, USA. http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/news/ ANOTHER DIVER DIES AT DOROTHEA A man has died after a diving accident at Dorothea quarry lake in north Wales, the fifth diver to die there this year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ DIVING COMPANY FINED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE Stoney Cove Marine Trials Ltd has been fined £7500 and ordered to pay £40000 costs after pleading guilty to failing to ensure that divers on a recreational diving course were not exposed to risks to their health and safety. The prosecution followed an investigation by the HSE into the circumstances surrounding the death of Paul Gallacher, a trainee technical diver. The company did not check Mr Gallacher's written diving records to assess that he satisfied the prerequisites for attending the course. Stoney Cove did not accept that their failings caused Paul Gallacher's death and the court sentenced them on that basis. The company has reviewed and changed its procedures and co-operated with HSE in its investigation. http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2003/e03246.htm MENSTRUAL CYCLE AFFECTS DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS A recently published study found that the greatest percentage of decompression sickness incidents occured in women in their first week of the menstrual cycle. However, in women who were taking the oral contraceptive pill, DCS incidence was more widely spread across the cycle. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/ TROPICAL OCEANS BECOMING SALTIER Saltier tropical oceans and fresher ocean waters near the poles are further signs of global warming's impacts on the planet, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This trend appears to have accelerated since 1990--when ten of the warmest years since records began in 1861 have occurred. http://www.divenews.com/ SEAS SCUBA EXPO 21-22 February 2004. McKimmon Center, North Carolina State University, USA http://www.seas-expo.com UNDERWATER INTERVENTION CONFERENCE 2004 17-19 February 2004. Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA, USA http://www.underwaterintervention.com __________________________________________________________ * 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 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 send your letters or press releases to: The Editor SCUBA News The Cliff Upper Mayfield DE6 2HR UK ADVERTISING Should you wish to advertise in SCUBA News, 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 Subscribe To SCUBA NewsOur newsletter, SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011), is absolutely free. It is a monthly publication, delivered by e-mail. To receive your copy fill in your details below. We will never pass your e-mail address to any third parties, or send you unsolicited e-mail. You will receive an e-mail confirming your subscription. If you don't receive this you have probably entered your e-mail address incorrectly - revisit this page and re-subscribe. Send us your Press Releases
If you have a SCUBA related press release, or would like to write to SCUBA News, please fill in the form below.
|
|
|
