Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause. Dahr Jamail Last Modified: 18 Apr 2012 03:16 New Orleans, LA – “The fishermen have never seen anything like this,” Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. “And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I’ve never seen anything like this either.” Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University’s Department of Oceanography … Read entire article »
Filed under: Boats, Conservation, Dolphin, Earth, Featured, Fish, General Question, ocean, Open Water, Reefs, Reference, Report, Shrimp
Favorite place to dive
If you had to choose just one place in the world, what place would you choose as your most favorite place to dive, and why? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Earth, Featured, General Question, ocean, Open Water, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Travel
Missing Diver March 28, 2012 in Cozumel UPDATE
Click HERE to read original post. On March 29th, 2012 I received an email from a DM friend working the boats with Sand Dollar this morning regarding the missing diver off Santa Rosa. He writes: Today and Tomorrow will be the last days of rescue for the missing girl. I am sure she never made the surface, I told the captain 15 minutes after we couldn’t find her on the surface. We check other boats in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Diver, Emergency/FirstAid, Events, Featured, ocean, Open Water, Reefs, Reference, Report
Diver Lost in Cozumel March 28, 2012
On March 28, 2012 while diving Santa Rosa, Cristina Cassin fails to surface during an aborted dive. Currents have gotten strong and the dive was aborted. Upon surfacing, Cristina was not with the group. A call over the radio was made. Search and recovery is still occuring at this time. Here is the english translation for the link below. COZUMEL, March 28. – He lost a foreign tourist who was diving on the reef of Santa Rosa. The woman was with a group of divers when he made the sign that was to emerge to the surface, which he did, however, when the group ended the tour and got into the boat that carried them, the crew noticed that she was not . Escalante Genaro Medina, chief officer of Federal Maritime Ward (Remafe) of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Boats, Diver, Featured, ocean, Open Water, Reference, Report, Rescue
DEMA WORKS WITH FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION (FWC) TO PLACE FAIR LICENSURE LANGUAGE IN FLORIDA BILL
Culmination of Effort That Began Last Year Clarifies Responsibility and Ensures Options for Divers and Dive Operators in Fishing and Lobster Licensing Law Following months of close collaboration with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), DEMA has succeeded in placing language regarding the licensure of dive charter vessels in Florida House Bill 7025. This Bill amends a previous law which would have forced dive charter operators to purchase a fishing and lobster license … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Conservation, Diver, Earth, Featured, ocean, Open Water, Reefs, Reference, Report
Underwater World Offshore Jacksonville Florida Event
Thursday March 29th, 2012 @ 7PM Intuition Ale Works 720 King Street, Jacksonville, Fl. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Diver, Earth, Events, Featured, ocean, Open Water, Photography, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report, Volunteer
New Sighting on DECO, the Great White
On March 7, 2012 Divetalking received a new report. Marissa Lasso, Manager at Cave Country Dive Shop located in High Springs Florida along with fellow cave diver Kristi Bernot found DECO in the Devils Eye. Marissa writes “We found your little sharky friend in the devils eye last night at Ginnie Springs! — with Kristi Bernot” Speaking with Marissa on the phone, she states that she and Kristi were both heading out of the eye when … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cave, Cavern, Contest, Events, Featured, Open Water, Reference, Report, Sharks
Underwater ‘Seaview’ lets you explore coral reef
February 2012 by Paul Marks An underwater variant of the Google Street View service will from today begin giving web users an unprecedented photographic tour of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – and another reef in Bermuda will soon be getting similar treatment. Called the Catlin Seaview Survey, the project is a joint venture between Google, the University of Queensland and their sponsor, a multinational insurance firm called the Catlin Group. Part science project and part public outreach, the aim is to learn as much as possible about the reef’s state of health from a panoramic underwater photographic and video survey – and let the rest of us enjoy the reef’s untrammelled beauty online. “For the first time in history, we have the technology available to broadcast the findings of an expedition through Google. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Earth, ocean, Open Water, Photography, Reference, Report
Dolphin strandings in Mass
WELLFLEET, Mass (AP) — There’s no good spot on Cape Cod for dolphins to continue this winter’s massive and unexplained beachings, but a group of 11 has chosen one of the worst. The remote inlet down Wellfleet’s Herring River is a place where the tides recede fast and far, and that’s left the animals mired in a grayish-brown mud one local calls “Wellfleet mayonnaise.” Walking is the only way to reach the animals, but it’s not easy. Rescuers crunch through cord grass and seashells before hitting a grabby muck that releases a footstep only after a sucking pop. One volunteer hits a thigh-deep “hole” and tumbles forward. The mud covers his face like messy war paint the rest of the morning. Rescuers make a quick assessment once they reach the animals. One dolphin is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Dolphin, Featured, ocean, Open Water, Reference, Report
S.B. Filmmaker Mike DeGruy Killed in Helicopter Crash
Mike DeGruy, the internationally respected and unanimously liked documentarian of underwater nature films who called Santa Barbara home, died today in a helicopter crash in Australia just before 4 p.m. local time. He had just turned 60 years old at the end of December, and leaves behind his wife and two children. In charge of curating the “Reel Nature” sidebar of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for the past decade, DeGruy was missing his first film fest in nine years, according to his Twitter page (twitter.com/mvdegruy). He was in Australia to work on his next project, and was slated to continue working sometime next week in Papau New Guinea. The crash, which also killed a pilot from Melbourne, occurred near the town of Nowra on the New South Wales coast, according … Read entire article »
Filed under: Diver, Events, Open Water, Photography, Reefs, Reference, Report
Diver Rescues Killer Whale
A scuba diver in New Zealand diver has rescued an orca, commonly known as a killer whale, he found trapped in a fisherman’s rope. New Zealand media report the whale had become entangled in a rope attached to a crayfish trap off the coast of Coromandel Peninsula. Diver Rhys Cochrane said the whale did not seem to mind when he swam down to cut the rope and said it swam away quickly once it was freed. He said several other whales had watched from a distance. New Zealand orca expert Ingrid Visser watched the video Cochrane had taken of the experience. She said whales are smart enough to know when you are trying to help them. Visser said she could see bite marks on the whale, indicating other whales had tried to free it. Visser … Read entire article »
Filed under: Diver, Events, Featured, Killer Whale, ocean, Open Water, Reference, Report, Rescue, Video, Whales
Our Living Ocean
Did you know these facts about our oceans? How important is our oceans to you? Please share the knowledge that our oceans are under our care. It is up to you and you to stand up for what is yours and yours. That we, the citizen of this planet are all responsible for the stewardship of this one and only planet that supports our life. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, ocean, Open Water, Reefs, Reference, Report
Administration unveils sweeping plan to protect the country’s oceans
By Andrew Restuccia The Obama administration unveiled on Thursday a federal strategy for protecting the country’s oceans that calls for improving oil-spill response capabilities in the Arctic and managing the effects of climate change. The draft plan outlines a series of steps that various federal agencies will take to meet the goals of a 2010 executive order that called for ensuring the “protection, maintenance, and restoration” of the oceans. “This action plan will help focus our resources on actions that will enhance the stewardship of coastal and marine resources on which so many communities, small businesses, and American jobs depend,” Nancy Sutley, the head of the Council on Environmental Quality and the co-chairwoman of the National Ocean Council, said in a statement. The plan outlines a strategy for improving federal agencies’ ability to respond … Read entire article »
Filed under: Events, Open Water, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report