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SCUBA News 71
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 71 - March 2006
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello and welcome to the 71st issue of SCUBA News. Thank
you to everyone who entered our draw last month: the winner
is announced below. If you weren't successful don't
worry - there is another chance to win in this issue.
We hope you enjoy SCUBA News, but should you wish to
cancel your subscription you can do so at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html
Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- On-line Coral Reef Course Competition: Another Chance
To Win!
- Did You Know? Coral Reef Facts
- Creature of the Month: Bluefin Trevally
- Diving News from Around the World
__________________________________________________________
What's New at SCUBA Travel?
===========================
Discover the World's Best 100 Dive Sites
We've updated our list of the world's top 100 dive
sites. The Yongala (a wreck in Queensland, Australia)
keeps its top spot but there are new entries for
Polynesia, Nassau, Roatan, New South Wales and elsewhere.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/topdiveslong.html
Diving Colombia
The sinister and forbidding Malpelo Island is located
314 miles (506 Kilometers) off the coast of
Buenaventura in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Of special
interest are the schools of up to 300 hammerhead sharks.
Other outstanding sights are the huge number of cluster
and free swimming moray eels, and the enormous
congregations of silky sharks who often mix with
hammerheads to form colossal shark schools.
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scubaall.html#Colombia
Diving in Greece
Discover which dive operators in Greece are the most
highly recommended. Also, more write ups of Greek dive
sites are now in place at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/europe.html
ADVERT:__________________________________________________
LOW COST FLIGHTS: Find the cheapest flights to diving
locations.
http://www.kelkoo.com/
__________________________________________________:ADVERT
__________________________________________________________
On-Line Coral Reef Course Competition:
Another Chance to Win
========================================
The winner of last month's competition to win an on-line
Coral Reef Architecture and Organisms course is Janice
Fleming.
Janice lives in Alberta, Canada. She did a lot of diving
in the 70's when she went to Acadia University in Nova
Scotia. She got back into it 4 years ago and mostly visits
Cuba and Mexico. "I love the tropical dives", says Janice
"but last year I went back to Nova Scotia to see if I
would still enjoy colder diving & it was fabulous! I
would probably not be an enthusiastic winter diver like
I used to be but Nova Scotia in the summer is a wonderful
place to dive! The colors are not as dramatic as you see
in warmer waters but there is an amazing variety of plant
& animal life and of course lots of wrecks to keep it
interesting. And you can dive right off the shore
almost anywhere."
We had loads of entries to the draw and Beautiful Oceans,
who run the courses, have kindly offered us another free
one to give away.
To enter the draw just e-mail us and put "Beautiful Oceans"
as the subject line.
For more details of the course see last month's review at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scubanews70.html#course
or visit
http://www.beautifuloceans.com/
__________________________________________________________
Did You Know? Coral Reef Facts
==============================
Some coral species are particularly aggressive
combatants, capable of extruding their stomach tissue -
known scientifically as mesenterial filaments - over
adjacent colonies. Literally digesting them alive.
Other corals might overgrow their competitor, or
block access to vital resources such as light.
Scientists recently discovered that corals also use
this trick to defned themselves against algae that try
to overgrow coral in their quest for light and space.
--
From the Beautiful Oceans science diver program, Coral
Reef Architecture and Organisms. To enter our draw to
win a free course e-mail us and put "Beautiful Oceans"
as the subject line.
For more on the course visit
http://www.beautifuloceans.com/
__________________________________________________________
Creature of the Month:
Bluefin Trevally, Caranx melampygus
=====================================================
For a photo of a Bluefin Trevally see
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/trevally.html
Trevallys are large silvery fishes with forked tails.
They are fast-swiming predators of the waters above the
reef and in the open sea.
The species we are concentrating on today, the Bluefin
Trevally, is found in the Red Sea and Pacific Ocean. It
is distinctively coloured, being the only trevally with
electric blue fins and blue speckles on a gold or green
background.
This fish can be as large as 1 metre, but you normally
see individuals smaller than this. They range from the
shallows to the depths, usually singly but you may see
a trevally small school.
Bluefin Trevally are currently being trialled for
aquaculture in the Pacific. But if eating this fish
beware of large specimens: they become toxic when over
50 cm.
The fish feeds on other fish and sometimes crustaceans.
It launches high-speed attacks, typical of large
transient predators. However, when feeding on spawning
fish it also ambushes its prey, attacking from a hiding
place. This is unusual in such a fast-swimming fish.
During ambush hunting, it adopts a dark coloration and
defends a section of the reef.
Further Reading:
----------------
Coral Reef Fishes, Indo-Pacific and Caribbean
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/fishbook.html
Bulletin of Marine Science [Bull. Mar. Sci.]. Vol. 66,
no. 2, pp. 487-496. Mar 2000.
http://www.csa.com/
__________________________________________________________
Diving News From Around the World
=================================
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/newsfeed.html
It's free and automatically updates you with the latest
SCUBA news via your web site, e-mail or any news feed
reader.
BSAC Change Life Support Guidelines
The British Sub-Aqua Club has changed its recommended
technique for life support and resuscitation.
http://www.bsac.org/techserv/irc/resupd06.htm
Three Arrested for Diving inside Marine Reserve
Two German nationals and their Filipino guide have
been arrested and fined for diving inside a marine
reserve in Oriental Negros, Philippines.
http://www.visayandailystar.com/2006/March/25/negor3.htm
Cyclone Does Great Barrier Reef Good
Cyclone Larry, which hit Queensland, has done little
physical damage to Australia's Great Barrier
Reef and may even do it some good. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
from the University of Queensland says the cyclone
has cooled the waters and may prevent coral bleaching
this year.
http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/
Coral Reefs Threatened by Tsunami Rebuilding
Coral reefs that survived the devastating Indian
Ocean tsunami are coming under threat from rushed
rebuilding efforts in the region, according to two
international environmental groups.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10086
ADVERT:__________________________________________________
POSTERS AND PRINTS: Save money on a vast selection of
posters and prints: Doubilet's Red Sea, sharks, Great
Barrier Reef, coral...browse the offers at
http://www.allposters.com/
__________________________________________________:ADVERT
Biologist discovers new shark species in Sea of Cortez
A Mexican marine biologist has discovered a new shark
species in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. This is the first new
find here in 36 years. Amazingly though, worldwide,
marine biologists tend to discover two or three new
shark species every year.
http://today.reuters.com/news/
Swordfish Fishery Closed to Save Turtles
In an unprecedented action, the Western Pacific
Fisheries Management Council a swordfish fishery be
shut down before it exceeds its allowable take of
critically endangered loggerhead sea turtles. The
fishery reopened in 2004 with a requirement to use a
new hook technology which the government wrongly
claimed would drastically reduced the injury
and mortality of sea turtles.
http://www.enn.com/aff.html?id=1179
Whale song reveals sophisticated language skills
Humpback whales use their own syntax - or grammar -
in the complex songs they sing, say researchers who
have developed a mathematical technique to probe the
mysteries of whale song. Whales are the only other
animals beside humans to use hierarchical structure
in language, in which phrases are embedded in larger,
recurring themes.
http://www.newscientist.com/
Global Warming Reaches Tipping Point
Human-fueled global warming has reached a
"tipping point," according to a new survey of
scientific research that found warming would continue
even if greenhouse gas emissions halted immediately.
The report also found the effects of climate change
were so severe they should spur urgent action to
prevent more damage and to combat damage that
has already occurred.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10077
Stealth sharks to patrol the high seas
Engineers funded by the US military have created a
neural implant designed to enable a shark's brain
signals to be manipulated remotely, controlling the
animal's movements, and perhaps even decoding what
it is feeling.
http://www.newscientist.com/
Pirate Trawlers Face Crackdown on Overfishing
Pirate trawlers will be tracked by a new database as
part of a planned crackdown on illegal fish catches
that are adding to strains on global stocks. The
so-called High Seas Task Force, comprising six
governments and three conservation organisations, also
urged tighter rules for trawlers, better monitoring of
marine stocks and improved international cooperation to
catch pirates.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10000
WWF discovers new coral reef in Thailand
Initial surveys of the reef off the coast of Khao
Lak show over 30 genera of hard corals and at least 112
species of fish from 56 families.
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=60700
Underwater Gliders Track Ocean Sounds
Six-foot, 100-pound underwater gliders are swimming the
oceans of the world and dutifully sending data home on
everything from whale calls to the massive waves produced
by hurricanes. Without a noisy propeller or engine, the
gliders run silently and on very little power. A small
battery pack can keep them gathering information 24 hours
a day on monthlong missions.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10011
Ocean Scientists Enlist Cruise Ships to Collect Data
Hoping to collect decades of data, ocean scientist are
enlisting cargo and cruise ships to measure water
temperatures, ocean currents and even the height of
clouds as the vessels ply their regular routes.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9967
Maldives Break Diving Record
979 people dived together in the Maldives to break the
world record for the number of divers on the same dive.
Divers aged between 10-73, consisting of tourists,
Maldivians and expatriates from 37 resorts and 9 dive
centres took part. Scuba Diving is one of the
major tourist attractions to the Maldives and
the event was organised by the tourist board.
http://www.askmaldives.com/
__________________________________________________________
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