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Florida Spiny Lobster Season – Things you need to know

Florida Spiny Lobster Season – Things you need to know

Before reading the article below, take the quiz to evaluate your knowledge on the rules and regulations for harvesting Spiny Lobster off Florida waters. Lobster Seasons: The spiny lobster sport season is July 30-31 (always the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July).  The regular season begins August 6.  Unless exempt, a recreational saltwater fishing license and a lobster permit are required to harvest spiny lobster. Commercial harvest is not allowed during the sport season.   Florida Regulations: Spiny Lobster Sport … Read entire article »

Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Lobster, ocean, Open Water, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report, Spiny Lobster

Obama approves use of sonic cannons to explore for oil and gas off the Eastern Shore

The Obama administration has approved the use of sonic cannons to explore for oil and gas off the Eastern Shore. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Friday formally approved guidelines for using air cannons in the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Delaware. Energy companies could buy new oil and gas leases and begin drilling in 2018 if they find profitable reserves. The guidelines are meant to protect endangered whales and other creatures from the loud noises and increased vessel traffic, but the government’s environmental impact study estimates that more than 138,000 sea creatures could be harmed. The decision opens an area of the eastern seaboard larger than two Californias to exploration for the first time in decades. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Alert, Article, Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, Events, Featured, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report

Food Poisoning from Marine Toxins

By Vernon E. Ansdell Seafood poisoning from marine toxins is an underrecognized hazard for travelers, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. Furthermore, the risk is increasing because of factors such as climate change, coral reef damage, and spread of toxic algal blooms. CIGUATERA FISH POISONING Ciguatera fish poisoning occurs after eating reef fish contaminated with toxins such as ciguatoxin or maitotoxin. These potent toxins originate from small marine organisms (dinoflagellates) that grow on and around coral reefs. Dinoflagellates are ingested by herbivorous fish. The toxins are then concentrated as they pass up the food chain to large carnivorous fish (usually >6 lb, 2.7 kg) and finally to humans. Toxins are concentrated in fish liver, intestinals, roe, and head. Gambierdiscus toxicus, which produces ciguatoxin, may proliferate on dead coral reefs more quickly than other dinoflagellates. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Earth, Education, Emergency/FirstAid, Featured, Fish, ocean, Open Water, Reefs, Reference, Report, Training

NE Florida’s 2nd Annual Lionfish Derby

NE Florida’s 2nd Annual Lionfish Derby

Come on… You know  you love to hate lionfish. To help the state control lionfish population, NE Florida is conducting its 2nd annual lionfish derby. Last years event handed out thousands of dollars in cash awards and more. Be part of this movement. Sign up and join us August 8 for the captains meeting and August 9th for the hunt and harvest. Proceeds benefit the DSAJ (Down Syndrome Association of Jacksonville) and REEF as well as local … Read entire article »

Filed under: Alert, Article, Artificial Reefs, Boats, Conservation, Contest, Diver, Divetalking, Donation, Earth, Events, extinction, Featured, Lionfish, ocean, Open Water, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report

Hammerhead now under U.S. Federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

    The federal government today listed four key populations of scalloped hammerhead sharks under the Endangered Species Act. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for the first time in history, gave a shark species federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. The scalloped hammerhead shark is considered globally endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species is targeted primarily for its fins but is also killed as “by-catch” in fisheries targeting other species. NOAA Fisheries listed scalloped hammerhead sharks inhabiting the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean as “endangered.” The agency listed scalloped hammerhead sharks living in the Central and Southwest Atlantic and Indo-West Pacific as the less-serious status of “threatened.” The federal agency declined to list scalloped hammerhead sharks that inhabit the Northwest Atlantic or Central Pacific. “This … Read entire article »

Filed under: Article, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, ocean, Preservation, Reference, Report, Sharks

Expansion of US marine protected zone could double world reserves

  By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News The US plans to create the world’s biggest marine protected area (MPA) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The White House will extend an existing protected area, known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Fishing and drilling would be banned from an area that could eventually cover two million sq km. The extended zone would double the world’s fully protected marine reserves. Rare species The Pacific Remote Islands Area is controlled by the US and consists of seven scattered islands, atolls and reefs that lie between Hawaii and American Samoa. Essentially uninhabited, the waters that surround these remote islands are home to a wide range of species including corals, seabirds, sharks and vegetation not found anywhere else in the world. In 2009, President Bush declared … Read entire article »

Filed under: Alert, Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, ocean, Preservation, Recognition, Reefs, Reference, Report

Florida Turns to Smartphone App in Battle Against Invasive Lionfish

Florida Turns to Smartphone App in Battle Against Invasive Lionfish

ORLANDO Fla. – Florida has a new phone app to help cull the invasion of its waters by the spiked lionfish, a venomous species that is devouring other fish and harming reef ecosystems. The state is home to more than 500 non-native species, but few as rampant in the wild as the marauding lionfish, which is fast-reproducing and has a voracious appetite. It preys on native fish such as yellowtail snapper, Nassau grouper and banded coral … Read entire article »

Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Diver, Earth, Education, Featured, Lionfish, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report

Gulf Oil Spill

The Gulf oil spill is recognized as the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Within days of the April 20, 2010 explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people, underwater cameras revealed the BP pipe was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. By the time the well was capped on July 15, 2010 (87 days later), an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf. The well was located over 5,000 feet beneath the water’s surface in the vast frontier of the deep sea—a permanently dark environment, marked by constantly cold temperatures just above  freezing and extremely high pressures. Scientists divide the ocean into at least three zones, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Article, Conservation, Earth, Education, ocean, Preservation

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and its Aftermath

Prologue to The The Deepwater Horizon Spill 20 April 2010 began as a day of celebration for The Deepwater Horizon, a 9-year-old offshore semi-submersible drilling rig engaged in drilling a deep exploratory well 18,360 feet (5,600 m) below sea level, in approximately 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of water in the Gulf of Mexico. Located in the Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, a valley in the continental shelf, it was one of the 3,858 oil and gas platforms that dotted the coastline of the five States of the USA bordering the Gulf as on 20 April, 2010 (Figs. 1 & 2). Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea, and owned and operated by the Swiss-based offshore-oil-drilling company Transocean, the rig was leased by oil company BP (ex British Petroleum) … Read entire article »

Filed under: Article, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report, Stories

Is it possible? 103 Y/O Orca… Sorry Seaworld.. Your professiona opinion is not accurate

  SeaWorld could be in trouble because of “Granny,” the world’s oldest known living orca. The 103-year-old whale (also known as J2) was recently spotted off Canada’s western coast with her pod — her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But while the Granny sighting is thrilling for us, it’s problematic for SeaWorld. First of all, SeaWorld has claimed that “no one knows for sure how long killer whales live,” when simple figures or even living and thriving examples — like Granny — can give us a pretty good idea. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation project estimates that whales born in captivity only live to 4.5 years old, on average; many of SeaWorld’s orcas die before they reach their 20s. Perhaps because of their reduced lifespans, the whales are forced to breed continuously and at perilously young … Read entire article »

Filed under: Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, Killer Whale, ocean, Orca, Preservation, Recognition, Reference, Report, Stories, Whales

Slow life – A must watch

Daniel Stoupin is a PhD student in the University of Queensland. His research is in the field marine biology. Mixing his passions of biology and photography, Daniel has produce stunning photos and videos. “My interest in photography, especially in photomicrography, came from the scientific background. Working with microscopic protists during my first research years and later swimming countless nights with glowing plankton in the ocean opened my eyes on the diversity and complexity of life that we can’t see without tools. Although I am obsessed with marine life, particularly microscopic one and whatever glows in the dark, my photography interests are growing and eventually this website will change its name and become a lot more diverse in content.” – Daniel Stoupin   More pictures from Daniel    ““Slow” marine animals show their secret life under high … Read entire article »

Filed under: Article, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Earth, Education, Featured, Fish, ocean, Photography, Recognition, Reefs, Reference

Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand intervening) – Judgment of 31 March 2014

  Today, The International Court of Justice ruling regarding Japanese whaling in the south seas is illegal. “Japan shall revoke any existant authorisation, permit or licence granted in relation to Jarpa II [research programme] and refrain from granting any further permits in pursuance to the programme,”  Peter Tomka, International Court of Justice’s Judge said on Monday. Since 1988 Japan has slaughtered more than 10,000 whales. A victory for the whales and all those who stood to protect them. April 2013, Japan announced its haul from the Southern Ocean was at a record low by “unforgivable sabotage” by activists from the environmental group, Sea Shepherd. Here is the link to the findings It chronilogically outlines the compant, and the courts findings. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Alert, Article, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, ocean, Preservation, Recognition, Reference, Report, Whales

California Lawmaker to Propose Ban on Orcas in Captivity

If passed, the bill would be the most comprehensive protection law for captive orcas in the United States in more than 40 years.   By David Kirby David Kirby has been a professional journalist for 25 years. His third book, ‘Death at Seaworld,’ was published in 2012. full bio follow me In a surprising move that is sure to send shock waves across the entire captive whale and dolphin industry, a California lawmaker will propose legislation to outlaw Shamu shows at SeaWorld San Diego. State Assemblymember Richard Bloom, D–Santa Monica, will introduce Friday the Orca Welfare and Safety Act, which would make it illegal to “hold in captivity, or use, a wild-caught or captive-bred orca for performance or entertainment purposes.” The bill would also ban artificial insemination of captive killer whales in California and block … Read entire article »

Filed under: Alert, Conservation, Divetalking, Dolphin, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Killer Whale, ocean, Orca, Preservation, Recognition, Reefs, Reference, Report, Training, Whales

6 Ways You Can Help Save Captive Killer Whales Right Now

If you’ve ever wondered what one person can do for caged orcas, this is for you.   By David Kirby David Kirby has been a professional journalist for 25 years.   ‘What Can I Do?’   Ever since my book Death At SeaWorld was released, nearly a year ago, I have received countless emails from concerned readers, who were so disturbed by the lives of killer whales in glass and concrete tanks owned by powerful corporations that they wanted to do something to help. But how? Emily Vargo, a Spanish teacher from Maryland, for example, told me about how her father, a former SeaWorld employee, who is now “very critical of the treatment of park animals,” read her excerpts from the book. “I cried and asked him to stop—I couldn’t take it!” she wrote. “I just wanted to write … Read entire article »

Filed under: Alert, Article, Conservation, Divetalking, Dolphin, Earth, Education, extinction, Killer Whale, ocean, Orca, Preservation, Recognition, Reefs, Reference, Report

Cozumel Lionfish Invasion

Divetalking has just returned from 8 days of diving the various reefs along the marine park corridor and have concluded the program put in place to control the Lionfish population is performing very well. During the 8 days of diving in the park, we came across very little lionfish, harvesting a total of 17 during the weeks dives. We did note they appear to be in groups, meaning there would be a number of lionfish clumped in an area, then periods of no lionfish. Most lionfish were in the depths 80+ foot, some can be found in the 50+ foot range and were usually smaller in nature. Congratulation to the people of Cozumel in promoting a program which appears to be working well within the marine park in controlling the lionfish population. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Lionfish

Lionfish, It’s whats for dinner

Lionfish, It’s whats for dinner

[singlepic id=743 w= h= float=center] You’re just know hearing our this fish called a Lionfish. Perhaps you already know what a Lionfish is. Perhaps you have never harvested, or even tasted lionfish. So where do you find lionfish to eat? You can acquire the sumptuous delicacy by harvesting them yourself or from divers who do  harvest. Perhaps stores in the area offer lionfish. What is becoming more popular is finding lionfish on the menu, at local restaurants around the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, Featured, Fish, Lionfish, ocean, Reefs, Reference

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