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SCUBA News 77

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 77 - September 2006
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello.  This month we're pleased to welcome a new 
member to the SCUBA Travel team: Kate Stanton.  
Kate will be managing the Indonesia section 
and helping moderate the Diving Board.

We hope you enjoy this issue, 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?
- Your Letters
- Reader's Story: Stay Close to your Buddy
- Did You Know? Coral Reef Facts
- Diving News from Around the World 
__________________________________________________________

What's New at SCUBA Travel?
===========================

Diving Thailand
  Six more diving operators have been added to our 
  Diving in Thailand section at
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/thailand/thaiop.html

Diving Panama
  We've created a page on diving in Panama, containing 
  Bill Mashek's recent article, views from other divers 
  and contact details of dive operators.
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/americas/panama.html
__________________________________________________________

Your Letters
============

From the Diving Board...

Thaiand versus Red Sea

   Hi

   I'm considering joining a group on a liveaboard dive 
   cruise to Similan/Surin Islands (with Seafarer Divers) 
   in February.

   Yet, it is a bit expensive and I was naively wondering 
   if it was really worth it. It's a stupid question put 
   like this, but to be more precise I've been diving a 
   lot in the Red Sea and I was wondering if Thai waters 
   were so much more attractive.  I'd be glad for 
   any advice.
    
   Thanks fellows

   Joel

   http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=628

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__________________________________________________________

Reader's Story: Stay Close to your Buddy
========================================

Diving the Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida, 
the dive flag broke (came off its rod) and neither my 
buddy nor I could fix it.  I was looking at my dive 
buddy to see if she wanted to abort or continue the dive. 
We continued.

We didn't see any of the seahorses or octopus that I 
usually see there, but my buddy got excited when she 
spotted the shipwreck under the bridge and, later, a 
big stingray. 

After diving the bridge we went over to the pilings.  The 
further South we got, the worse the visibility became.  
The current was starting to go out to sea.  My buddy and 
I lost each other. I couldn't find her so I surfaced to 
look for her.

I didn't see her.  She's a new diver, so I wondered if 
she remembered what to do when you and your buddy get 
separated.  My mask was fogging up, so I couldn't see 
very clearly.  A guy in a small motor boat was going out 
to sea.  He saw me, stopped, and said "You should have a 
flag".  I told him that I did, but it broke.  He said 
"Well, you still need to have a flag" then went on 
out to the ocean.

I continued to look for my buddy and saw a diver holding 
onto a buoy. I yelled my buddy's name. The diver was 
looking toward the bridge (in the opposite direction 
that I was) and after I yelled, the diver disappeared. 
I guess it wasn't her.

I saw a black object on the beach.  I didn't know if 
it was a person (because my mask was foggy and it was 
a distance), so I just yelled as loud as I could 
"HELP!" a few times.  I saw the black object move, so 
I now knew it was a person.  So, I yelled again. The 
person left my view.  All I could do was hope that the 
person was getting some help.

I kept swimming (against the current, now) to get back 
to the beach but I lost a fin.  So, instead of 
exhausting myself even more (I was really tired from 
swimming against the current) and possibly swimming in 
circles (because I only had one fin),  I inflated my 
BC all the way, laid back, and just relaxed while 
floating. I said to myself "If someone should find me 
like this, they'll probably think I’m dead!".  So, 
after relaxing for a couple of minutes, I got back up 
and started to swim forward using my arms.

Fortunately, the guy in the small boat returned.  I 
asked him if he could tow me back to shore.  He asked 
if I could grab a rope he had in his boat. I said YES, 
so he threw the rope to me. I didn't even try to catch 
it because I couldn't even see him throw it, due to 
my mask being fogged up. I told him I can't see, so 
he got closer, threw the rope to me again (he was 
very close to me this time), and I caught it.  He 
pulled me in to shore. 

I heard the boat's engine stop, so I took my head out 
of the water, looked up and saw my husband and dive 
buddy! They helped me get out of the water. 

I later learned that the diver holding onto the buoy 
WAS my dive buddy.  She said I must have some very 
powerful legs, to swim all that way. I also learned 
that the black object that I saw on the beach was 
my husband. He left to get binoculars from the lifeguard.

Things I learned from this experience:
-Abort the dive when your flag doesn't do its job.
-Stay close to your buddy.
-Don't hesitate to ask a stranger for help.

by Jodi McMasters

Note: Florida law requires that divers display a diver 
down flag whenever they are in the water.  Jodi had a 
surface marker buoy from which a rod poked up. She slid 
the flag onto this but the flag worked its way up and off 
the rod.  
__________________________________________________________

Did You Know? Coral Reef Facts: Schooling
=========================================

Schooling is a behaviour found in many fish species, 
including those living around coral reefs.  

There are several reasons why fish school: feeding and 
spawning is easier in large groups and individual fish 
are also much safer from predation.  The larger the 
school, the greater number of eyes available to watch for 
approaching predators.  Additionally, predators find it 
much harder to target individual fish in a school than
when their prey is alone.

For example, Blue Tangs are often found schooling with 
other members of the surgeonfish family.  These schools 
often form around dusk - the period when nocturnal predators 
like moray eels begin to hunt.  The school moves from one 
patch of algae - their favourite food - to another.  This 
produces an agressive reaction from the resident 
damselfishes defending their algal garden.

--

From the Beautiful Oceans on-line course: Coral 
Reef Architecture and Organisms.  To read our review of 
the course see http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/
__________________________________________________________

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.

50 New Species Discovered Including Walking Sharks
  More than 50 new marine species have been found in 
  Indonesian West Papua (Irian Jaya).  The region, 
  however, is coming under increasing threat from a 
  proposed policy to increase commercial fisheries there.  
  Among the new species were two kinds of epaulette shark 
  (Hemiscyllium sp.) - small, slender-bodied bottom-
  dwellers that use their pectoral fins to "walk" across 
  the seafloor.
  http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/  

Project Launched to Preserve the Manta Ray
  Thousands of Manta rays are slaughtered annually by 
  fishermen in Indonesia for food and traditional 
  Asian medicine.  This demand has changed the 
  Indonesian fishery from a subsistence fishery catching 
  200-300 Mantas a year to a commercial fishery catching 
  between 1000-2400.  Ivan Choong has launched the 
  Flying Manta Project to increase governments' and 
  NGOs' awareness of Manta rays' vulnerability to 
  fishing pressure. The long lifespan, late maturity 
  and low reproductive rate of Manta rays make them a 
  poor target fishery because they cannot quickly replace 
  adults that are removed from a population. Mantas live 
  50-100 years, reach maturity at 8-10 years, and have 
  only one pup every 1-3 years.
  http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/

More divers going to Sipadan illegally
  An increasing number of divers are going to the 
  environmentally sensitive dive sites of Pulau Sipadan, 
  Malaysia, illegally.  The permitted number of divers 
  per day is 120, but dive operators have been taking as 
  many as 200 divers daily. 
  http://thestar.com.my/news/ 

Sipadan Development to go Ahead
  Basic facilities for divers and tourists have been 
  approved for Sipadan.  The plans include toilets, showers, 
  basic sewerage system and a  divers' resting place.
  http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/state_news/   

Scientists Ask for Help from Caribbean Divers
  Scientists have issued their strongest warning so far 
  this year that unusually warm Caribbean Sea temperatures 
  threaten coral reefs.  The warning issued by NOAA urges 
  divers to look for coral damage and use caution around 
  the fragile reefs, which are easily damaged by 
  physical contact. 
  http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11325 

Most Corals Can't Survive Global Warming
  Many corals rely on their symbiotic algae for survival. 
  Under stress (such as higher temperatures) these algae 
  are expelled, resulting in coral bleaching.  It has 
  previously been reported that corals may recover from 
  coral bleaching by changing the type of algae they 
  host.  However, a new study shows that less than a 
  quarter of coral species can do this.
  http://news.scubatravel.co.uk/  

EU Proposes Mediterranean Cleanup Strategy
  The European Commission proposed a strategy to clean 
  up the Mediterranean and halt pollution from industry, 
  shipping and households by 2020.  They will target 
  the most significant sources of pollution -- industrial 
  emissions, municipal waste and urban waste water, which 
  are responsible for up to 80 percent of 
  Mediterranean Sea pollution.
  http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11203 

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  locations.
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New Measures Reduce Turtle Bycatch by 90%
  A study by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery 
  Management Council indicates that new measures have 
  been extremely effective at reducing interactions with 
  endangered sea turtles.  The regulations changed the 
  type and size of fishing hook and bait from a J-shaped 
  hook with squid bait to a wider circle-shaped hook with 
  fish bait.  Capture rates of leatherback and loggerhead 
  turtles declinedby 82.8 percent and 90.0 percent, 
  respectively. The swordfish catch rate, the target 
  species of this fishery, was higher by 16.0 percent. 
  http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/ 

Stop Bottom Trawling
  Destructive bottom trawling is the most damaging form 
  of industrial fishing.  Heavy nets plow the seafloor, 
  obliterating everything in their path. On October 4-5, 
  the UN will convene in New York to decide what to do 
  about these vulnerable deep-sea habitats.  The campaign 
  group Oceana are calling US nationals to contact 
  President Bush's environmental advisor, and tell him 
  to support the UN moratorium on bottom trawling.
  http://takeaction.oceana.org/ 

Pacific nations to protect whales
  A group of Pacific Island nations have signed an 
  agreement to strengthen efforts to save whales and 
  dolphins in the South Pacific.
  http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/  

Iceland Resumes Whale Exports after 15-Year Gap
  Iceland is resuming whale meat exports after a gap of 
  more than 15 years with sales to the Faroe Islands 
  despite objections from environmentalists that the 
  shipments undermine a global trade ban.  Iceland 
  resumed whaling in 2003 despite a global moratorium 
  on hunts imposed two decades ago. It has not exported 
  meat since some sales to Japan around 1990. 
  http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11228
__________________________________________________________

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