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SCUBA News 84~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello. This is our second issue with the new text and HTML format. If you would like to swap from plain text to HTML format (ie to with colours and pictures) then please follow the link at the bottom of this newsletter. E-mail your comments on the new format to news@scubatravel.co.uk. Should you wish to cancel your subscription to SCUBA News you may do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html Contents: __________________________________________________________ What's New at SCUBA Travel? 
Diving the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies Dominica is mountainous, volcanic and very beautiful. The dive sites are pristine. Yours will often be the only dive boat at a site. We now have a major new section all about the diving, dive shops, accommodation and travel details of Dominica. (Note: Dominica is not the same place as the Dominican Republic.)
Diving the Americas
It's now easier to find information on the diving in the Americas - the Caribbean and Central, South, and North America – in our new Americas Index.
Diving in Antigua
We have a new page on the diving around Antigua including dive sites, dive operators and recommended books.
Diving in Italy You can now see details of more dive shops in Sardinia, including their locations on a map. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/italy/sardop.html SCUBA Bestsellers
See the bestselling diving books and DVDs of the first quarter of 2007.
__________________________________________________________ Getting Away from it all at Kadmat Island, India Kadmat is one of the larger islands of Lakshadweep, 400 km off the west coast of India. It is 8 km long and 500 m wide. The remoteness of Kadmat Island really gives you a feeling of "getting away from it all" - but this comes at a price, either in terms of money or time. Staying on Kadmat Island and paying for the dives are not expensive (in fact, comparatively cheap), but getting to Kadmat is. The only flight into the Lakshadweep archipelago is from the city of Cochin which is in south India. There is only one flight a day (Monday through Saturday) and it takes two hours. These flights are cancelled every now and then for various reasons. If you do manage to fly to Lakshadweep, you have to take a 3- to 4-hour speedboat transfer to Kadmat. A cheap alternative to the flight-speedboat option is taking an 18- to 24-hour ship journey from Cochin directly to Kadmat, though this is also fairly unreliable since (a) the ship schedule sometimes changes at the last minute and (b) the ships are very old and may be cancelled because of engine failure or things like that. If you do decide to go, build in a few days of delay-time. On the upside, I faced almost all these problems in my recent trip to Kadmat - and I still think the trip was worth it. The diving was truly spectacular, and Kadmat had a wonderfully comfortable, mellow island feel to it. At one point there were only 3 of us on the whole resort. I only wish I could have stayed there longer! The Lakshadweep islands have the same gorgeous marine life and great visibility as the Maldives, only for much cheaper. The dive centre I trained with - Lacadives - had a great student-to-teacher ratio - I was the only student! Lacadives is located in the Kadmat Resort. This is at the isolated South tip of the island. Kadmat is one of the few Lakshadweep islands which is open to foreign tourists. by Trushna
More information: Tell us about your favourite diving location: e-mail news@scubatravel.co.uk ADVERT:__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Creature of the Month: Seahorse, Hippocampus sp. 
Seahorses are delightful to spot, curling onto sponges, coral or sea grass. They range in size from the tiny Hippocampus denise which is just 16 mm, to the 35 cm (1 foot) Pacific seahorse. Seahorses take some looking for as they blend in with their surroundings. They can change skin colour to match their environment and even grow skin filaments to imitate seaweed or sea grass growths. The seahorse is remarkable as the male becomes pregnant. The female seahorse deposits her eggs into the male's pouch where they are fertilised. The eggs remain in the male's pouch until they hatch, when the male gives birth to tiny seahorses. The time to hatching takes between 10 days and four weeks, depending on the species and water temperature. Male seahorses are often pregnant for as many as 7 months in the year. The natural lifespan of seahorses is not known, but believed to be from one year for small species to five years for a larger species. All seahorses for which data is available are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as either Vulnerable or Endangered. This means they are facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. There are many reasons for their vulnerability. Seahorses are exploited for traditional medicines and the aquarium trade. Male brooding means that young depend on parental survival for far longer than in most fish. Many species are monogamous so widowed animals don't reproduce until they have found a new partner. Their low population density and low mobility means that this can take some time. Habitat degradation is also a real threat to populations as they mainly inhabit shallow, coastal areas, which are highly influenced by human activities. The name hippocampus comes from the ancient Greek, loosely hippos meaning horse and campus meaning sea monster. Hippocampi refer to the mythical creatures on which the sea gods rode. Early zoologists initially classified seahorses as insects not fish. Instead of the scales found on most fish, seahorses have a thin layer of skin stretched over a series of bony plates visible as rings around the trunk. These rings are useful in identifying species, as are the cheek spines and coronet (a crown-like group of spines on the top of the head). Seahorses are opportunistic predators, sitting and waiting until prey come close enough and then sucking them rapidly from the water with their long snouts. Their eyes move independently of each other, maximizing their search area. They will eat anything small enough to fit into their mouths
Further Reading Seahorse photo copyright Harald Jahn. __________________________________________________________ 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. Receive this RSS Newsfeed on Your Mobile Phone Receive SCUBA News items via your mobile phone. The latest on diving, sea creatures, the environment, wrecks, equipment and dive destinations. The Underwater Photographer The third edition of Martin Edge's hands-on manual has had a major revision. The author demonstrates how to take stunning underwater photographs that will not only give you a personal feeling of satisfaction, but will improve your chances of achieving award winning results. Written in a clear, non-technical style and illustrated in colour throughout this book has established itself as the introductory guide to underwater photography. It has now been expanded to include seven new chapters containing new techniques and examples, more inspirational images and the very latest equipment. Europe's largest wreck is now open for divers Up until recently diving on the Fu Shan Hai, Europe's largest wreck, was prohibited. Now though, after a project by Danish Technical Divers, the Danish Authorities have removed the ban. How to save the climate - new free guide from Greenpeace Greenpeace have published a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost 50 percent worldwide by 2050. As part of this they have released a free step by step guide to how you can reduce your energy consumption. The 32 page booklet starts with a discussion of climate change then gives practical steps people can take to reduce their climate change pollution. Beautiful Oceans offer "Carbon Neutral" Dive Holidays Eco-Dive tour operator, Beautiful Oceans, are promoting dive vacations that don't contribute to climate change. They use a "dive carbon calculator" to determine the carbon emissions from air travel and diving activities. Beautiful Oceans then compensates for these emissions on behalf of each guest by funding carbon offset projects through the Sustainable Travel International company, such as the installation of solar panels in schools and hospitals in Eritrea. Chinese Hunger for Reef Fish Emptying Asian Seas Considered a delicacy, demand for coral fish has exploded in line with China's booming economy and some species such as the humphead wrasse are already endangered.
Restaurant fish tanks in Hong Kong are filled with exotic fish species gathered from all around Southeast Asia, Australia and even remote Pacific islands, such as Fiji and Vanuatu.
Biologists say reef fish are highly vulnerable to overfishing as they need 5-10 years before reaching breeding age, and the trade is difficult to manage because the fishing is mostly on a small scale, done by rural communities.
Large parts of reefs in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are becoming void of marine life as a result of overfishing and the use of cyanide to catch fish alive. Acidic Oceans Threatening Sea Life, UN Panel Says Rising carbon dioxide emissions are making the world's oceans more acidic, particularly closer to the poles, heralding disaster for marine life, a major U.N. report on climate change impacts says. Research showed a high take-up of carbon dioxide by polar oceans was producing marked changes in several species. There appears to be no practical way to remove the additional carbon dioxide from oceans after it had been absorbed, nor any realistic way to reverse its widespread chemical and biological effects. Global Warming Driving Australian Fish South Global warming is starting to have a significant impact on Australian marine life, driving fish and seabirds south and threatening coral reefs. Nesting sea turtles, yellow-fin tuna, dugongs and stinging jellyfish are some of the marine life moving south as seas warm, said the report by the government-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Humpback whales boast the longest mammal migration The tireless creatures travel from the Antarctic to the northern tropics to find warm water in which to raise their young, researchers have discovered. Turtle hatchery established in North Sulawesi The North Sulawesi Watersports Association has established a turtle hatchery in Bunaken Marine Park on a section of beach where the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The chances of survival for young turtles are quite slim and the NSWA hopes that the establishment of the hatchery will boost the odds for them. It takes 35 years before a turtle is sexually mature and once fertilized the female returns to the beach on which she was born to lay her eggs. They can lay several clutches a year and have been known to swim right across the Pacific in order to return to the beach of their birth. EU Drafts Plan to Battle Global Warming, Sets Binding Targets for Switch to Green Energy European Union leaders have drafted an agreement promising to take the lead in fighting global warming by setting binding targets to cut greenhouse gases and ensure a fifth of their energy comes from green power sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels. Sea sponge leads way to cheaper solar cells Marine sponges can harvest silicon from seawater and use it to build spiky filaments all over their body, inspiring the development of a cheap, low-energy method of manufacturing solar cells. The current way of making solar cells is done at high temperature and very low pressure, making it an expensive and energy-intensive process. Some sponges synthesise pristine layers of silica without benefit of high temperatures or low pressures. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 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
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