Great Whites found at Ginnie Springs AND Devils Den
Divetalking received an email reporting DECO has been found! Attached to the email was this picture of Chris holding DECO. Attached with the picture was the following message: “Found this little guy in the ballroom in Ginnie springs, placing another shark my Dive Buddy found in Devils Den.” The individuals who found DECO are being rewarded for the find. Congratulations to the team who found her. Chris just reported that the dive team found TWO Great Whites. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Photography, Promotions, Report, Sharks
Oceans Turning Acidic Faster than Past 300 Million Years
By Wynne Parry | LiveScience.com The oceans are becoming more acidic faster than they have in the past 300 million years, a period that includes four mass extinctions, researchers have found. Then, as is happening now, increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere warmed the planet and made the oceans more acidic. These changes are associated with major shifts in climate and mass extinctions. But while past increases in the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide levels resulted from volcanoes and other natural causes, today that spike is due to human activities, the scientists note. “What we’re doing today really stands out,” lead researcher Bärbel Hönisch, a paleoceanographer atColumbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in a news release. “We know that life during past ocean acidification events was not wiped out — new species evolved to replace those that died off. But if industrial carbon emissions continue at the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conservation, Earth, ocean, Reference, Report
Petition Amazon To Ban the sale of Whale/Dolphin
Last week, public outcry forced Amazon.com to pull over one hundred whale and dolphin meat products from its Japanese site. Consumers were outraged that the world’s largest online retailer supported the killing of whales and dolphins — and Amazon.com listened. But now, Amazon.com is refusing to put a permanent ban in place to protect these animals in the future. Melissa Sehgal, an Amazon.com customer, is in Taiji, Japan — the site of an annual dolphin hunt that was exposed in the documentary The Cove. Every day she is witnessing how dolphins are captured and killed, and she wants Amazon.com to help stop it. That’s why Melissa started a petition calling on Amazon to never again sell meat from dolphins and whales. Click here to sign Melissa’s petition asking Amazon.com to permanently ban whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conservation, Dolphin, Events, Featured, ocean, Promotions, Report, Rescue, Whales
See the 90-Mile-Wide Storm Brewing Underwater
by Liz Klimas What we may call a huge underwater vortex, scientists call an eddy — and a satellite spotted a huge one off the coast of Africa just before the new year. New Scientist reports that NASA’s Terra satellite caught the 90-mile-wide, blue, swirling mass in late December and NASA released the photos last week. But there is and was no need to worry, even though its size rivals that of many a tropical storm. New Scientist states that unlike above water cyclones, eddies actually create a nutritious, underwater haven: […] these ocean whirlwinds draw nutrients up from the deep, nourishing blooms of microscopic marine life in the otherwise barren open ocean. In fact, it’s the life — mostly plankton — inside this eddy that is giving it this bright blue color. The Daily … Read entire article »
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
Inshore reefs next for city artificial reef program
by Joe Wilhelm Jr., Staff Writer The City’s Waterways Commission was updated on the progress of the City’s Artificial Reef program Wednesday and learned of efforts to develop in-shore reefs. Dana Morton, City Aquatic Biologist and Artificial Reef Coordinator, was joined by City Planner Jody McDaniel in presenting an update requested by the commission City Waterways Coordinator Jim Suber also helps coordinate the program’s efforts. “Artificial and natural reefs are public resources that provide recreation benefits and income to local economies,” said McDaniel. “Fishing is a multibillion dollar industry in Florida and its estimated economic impact is $5.4 billion and 54,000 jobs associated with the fishing industry,” she said. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission administers a state artificial reef program created by the Florida Legislature in 1982. The program provides financial and technical assistance … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Events, ocean, Reefs, 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
The ultimate amphibious trucks
Gibbs Humdinga II, Phibian trucks can pivot their wheels to achieve high speeds on water By Bryan Laviolette | The Detroit Bureau After more than a decade of false starts, Gibbs Technologies launched a High Speed Amphibian that it says will change the way rescue crews respond in disaster situations. With the dramatic backdrop of the Pentagon on one side and the Washington Monument just across the Potomac River, Gibbs gave a demonstration of Phibian, a 30-foot amphitruck, which will be road legal and capable of more than 80 mph on the highway and 30 mph in water. Like Gibbs’ other amphibians, the Phibian can transition between land and water in as little as 5 seconds. Like the rest of its products, the Phibian uses proprietary technology that allows it to seamlessly transition between … Read entire article »
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
Can you identify what these pictures are?
Ozone is Earth’s natural sunscreen, shielding life from excessive amounts of ultraviolet radiation. But Earth’s ozone layer has been damaged by well-intentioned chemicals—chlorofluorocarbons, used for refrigerants and aerosol spray-cans—that have the unintended consequence of destroying ozone molecules. In the late 1980s, governments around the world woke up to the destruction of the ozone layer and negotiated the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals. The treaty included a requirement that scientists regularly assess and report on the health of the ozone layer, particularly the annual Antarctic ozone hole. In January 2011, the Ozone Secretariat of the United Nations Environment Programme released its latest report and noted that the Protocol has “protected the stratospheric ozone layer from much higher levels of depletion…[and] provided substantial co-benefits by reducing climate change.” This … Read entire article »
High School Student May Have Found Potential Cure For Cancer
I found this so amazing, I had to post it. source … Read entire article »
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
Proposed bill pushes more state scuba diving
A state representative from Northwest Michigan has proposed a bill that would allow for the creation of more scuba diving opportunities around the state. Rep. Greg MacMaster, R-Kewadin, said he hopes to give lakeshore tourism a boost by making it easier to intentionally sink decommissioned ships or other structures for scuba divers to explore. Currently, Michigan’s law states that vessels can be intentionally sunk only within underwater preserves, MacMaster said. His proposed bill would create a permitting process where an interested party would apply for a permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality. Any ship or other vehicle that would be sunk would need to be cleaned in accordance to federal environmental standards for decomissioned vessels used as artificial reefs, according to the proposed bill. MacMaster said it also would need … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Events, Reefs, Reference, Report