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SCUBA News...
News, research and articles on scuba diving, travel and the marine environment.
- New IMAX Film: DOLPHINS AND WHALES
Filmmakers and environmentalists Francois and Jean-Jacques Mantello and ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau are pleased to announce they have joined forces on the new 3D documentary film DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D: Tribes of the Ocean, which will be released at IMAX (R) Theatres. - Thistlegorm re-opens to divers
Following an intense operation, conservation work to preserve the wreck of the Thistlegorm has been successful and finished on schedule. Diving boats and operators can now make use of the new mooring system. - Diving Ecotourism benefits nature and reduces poverty
Ecotourism, sometimes criticised as the voyeuristic indulgence of rich first-worlders, really does benefit the environment and the people who live in protected areas. A review of four marine conservation initiatives shows that they have helped reduce poverty and created tourism-based jobs. The report, Nature's Investment Bank, is based on interviews with more than 1000 people in four recently protected marine zones in Fiji, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. In every case, the conservation schemes had boosted fish catches and helped create new jobs. - SCUBA News #91 is now Online
Latest issue of SCUBA News includes competition to win a dive guide to the Red Sea wrecks, an article on diving the Banda Sea and Spice Islands of Indonesia and all the diving news from around the world. - Remote controlled manta ray
A remote-controlled 'fish', whose form is modelled on the movement of the manta ray, has been developed by a German pneumatic drive specialist. The 'Aqua ray' provides a manoeuvrable, remote sensing platform with potential applications in the inspection of undersea pipelines and cables. - Diving the Galapagos
New page on the SCUBA Travel site is dedicated to the diving at the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. "Hundreds of hammerheads, black tip, white tip, silky and Galapagos sharks. Large schools of eagle rays floating in the currents. Huge morays...The most amazing sea life I've encountered with whale sharks, huge schools of other sharks, turtles etc." - Voyeurs put male fish off their ideal mate
Mating fish don't like an audience, it seems. When another male spies on them they change their mind about which female they prefer. The findings may alter the way we think about mate choice driving evolution, researchers say. - Red Sea mega-dam would be irresponsible
A plan to build a gigantic dam across the mouth of the Red Sea that could generate huge amounts of clean, renewable energy has been condemned by experts who say it would wreak untold ecological ruin.The scheme would literally part the Red Sea with a massive wall more than 150 metres high, one kilometre thick and 100 km long, stretching between Yemen in the north and either Eritrea or Djibouti in the south. - Conservation work starts on Thistlegorm
Conservation work has now started on the SS Thistlegorm off the Red Sea coast of Egypt. The intense operation to install moorings and air-escape outlets on this legendary wreck is being undertaken by Red Sea NGO Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA). Members of the HEPCA diving and mooring team are currently working alongside volunteer divers from the Red Sea community to preserve the SS Thistlegorm for the future. - Whale's diet revealed in its doo-doo
Want to find out what whales eat? There's no need to cut them open, just wait until they relieve themselves.One of the reasons given by the Japanese government for its "scientific" whaling programme is to learn more about the animals' diet. Now Stacy DeRuiter at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and her team have developed a way of investigating diet by identifying mitochondrial DNA from the remains of the prey in a whale's faeces. - Overfishing is creating a jellyfish plague
Global warming is starting to sting - literally. Last week millions of baby mauve stinger jellyfish, in a swarm 26 square kilometres in area and 10 metres deep, drifted into a salmon farm in the Irish Sea, killing all 100,000 fish. More swarms have been spotted along British coastlines as far north as Shetland. The mauve stinger, a Mediterranean species, has been increasingly turning up in UK waters in recent years, but this autumn's numbers are unprecedented. What's more, this isn't supposed to be the season for babies. It is now. Warmer seawater is boosting mauve stinger numbers in the Med by increasing winter survival. - Win a copy of Red Sea Wrecks of Northern Egypt
SCUBA Travel are giving away three copies of the Red Sea Wrecks of Northern Egypt - a combined dive guide and log book. The guide covers 16 wreck sites, including the Thistlegorm and Rosalie Moller. - New Frontiers in Marine Tourism: Diving Experiences, Sustainability, Management
Diving tourism has seen such growth in the past decade that the World Tourism Organization suggests it will soon become as important as ski tourism. According to a WTO estimate, there are now 5-7 million active certified divers in the world. Despite its development as a mass tourism activity, its dynamic growth and great economic importance, particularly for island destinations in the tropics, surprisingly few scientific publications address this form of special-interest tourism. In the light of this, New Frontiers in Marine Tourism is the first attempt to describe and analyse this tourism sector comprehensively. - Laser spots decompression sickness
Decompression sickness, it not treated quickly, can cause lasting damage and may even be fatal. Instead of waiting for symptoms to appear, a University of Houston professor is developing a laser-based system that can diagnose decompression sickness in a matter of seconds.Larin's optical device can locate microbubbles of nitrogen gas in blood and tissues, which can restrict the flow of blood throughout the body and cause harm. - Your dive memories needed for global shark census
A Canadian researcher is asking divers to contribute to a global shark census. "We believe that scuba divers/snorkellers possess valuable information about the critters they see in the ocean - especially about conspicuous species like sharks. Reports about the places where you don't see sharks (either today or 50 years ago) are just as important as places where you do see sharks." - Update: Diving the Philippines
Many more descriptions of the dive sites of the Philippines are now on the SCUBA Travel site. - Update: Diving in Mozambique
More rave reviews about the diving in Mozambique, this time from divers in Malongane. "Tons of tropical fish, honeycomb eels, parot fish, turtles, and beautiful coral. I also saw two Humback Whales, giant manta rays, a sea turtle, a prodigal son and a big sea bass..." - Extra $5 Off Scuba Diving Magazine
"Scuba Diving" is one of over 150 magazines now available with an instant $5 off Amazon's already low prices. Just add the subscriptions you'd like to your Cart, and for each one, you'll see an instant $5 rebate. - Thistlegorm closed to divers for a month
The wreck of the Thistlegorm will be closed to divers from 15th November till 15th December 2007. This is to allow for conservation measures that will help to preserve this historical and legendary wreck for the future. The closure is part of the new Saving The Red Sea Wrecks Campaign, launched by HEPCA (Hurghada Environment Protection and Conservation Association). During the intense conservation operation, the wreck of the Thistlegorm will acquire a complete buoy mooring system; separate descent and asc
