Top Marine Scientists Warn Reefs in Rapid Decline
By Agence France-Presse 11 July 12 More than 2,600 of the world’s top marine scientists Monday warned coral reefs around the world were in rapid decline and urged immediate global action on climate change to save what remains. The consensus statement at the International Coral Reef Symposium, being held in the northeastern Australian city of Cairns, stressed that the livelihoods of millions of people were at risk. Coral reefs provide food and work for countless coastal inhabitants globally, generate significant revenues through tourism and function as a natural breakwater for waves and storms, they said. The statement, endorsed by the forum attendees and other marine scientists, called for measures to head off escalating damage caused by rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, overfishing and pollution from the land. “There is a window of opportunity for the world … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report
Up to 20,000 sea turtle eggs crushed by bulldozers on Caribbean island
By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com Thousands of leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and eggs were crushed over the weekend by bulldozers and excavators used to divert a river on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. “Unfortunately the engineers in charge bulldozed a far greater portion of beach than necessary, and they did destroy many viable nests,” the Papa Bois Conservation group posted on its Facebook page. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of an impact the tragedy would have on the critically endangered species, but the group noted that it happened on “the world’s most densely populated leatherback nesting beach.” Papa Bois said it wasn’t opposed to diverting the river, since it had been eroding not only a local eco-tourist hotel but the nesting area itself. But it noted that the work was done without supervision by “any of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, Events, extinction, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report, Turtles
Show your support by displaying Divetalkings official logo
Displaying the Official Divetalking Logo shows you are committed to marine life conservation, preservation and protection. Contact lars2923@divetalking.com to have your high resolution logo emailed to you. Display it at your website. Print it on letter head and attach it to emails to let others know you are affiliated with the organization acting as the worlds protagonist in ocean conservation, protection and awareness. Become an official representative today. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Dolphin, Earth, Featured, ocean, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report, Rescue, SeaLions, Sharks, Shrimp, Stories, Training, Travel, Video, Volunteer, Whales, Whaleshark, Wrecks
Stop the sale of Shark in a bottle
It has just come to our attention, sharks are being sold in a bottle. This is not a new thing from what we are finding. Yet today, after growing in knowledge and understanding of the need to protect what we humans feel we may neglect, it is imperative that we voice our objection to the commercialization and industrialization through proliferation of a species to its extinction. Here is one example: eBay Please do not let this happen, ANYWHERE. Contact … Read entire article »
Filed under: Alert, Earth, Featured, Fish, Indonesia, ocean, Reefs, Report, Rescue, Sharks
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
Divers Direct Sponsors Multi-Location Beach and Reef Cleanup
Sunday, April 22nd FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Divers Direct, Florida’s largest retailer of SCUBA diving equipment, announces its 2nd annual “Scrub & Grub” beach and reef cleanup to benefit multiple locations throughout the state of Florida. This year’s event is being held on Earth Day (Sunday, April 22nd) to bring awareness to the importance of maintaining the health of the aquatic environment by engaging in “green” practices when enjoying this natural resource. Each of the Divers Direct store … Read entire article »
Filed under: Adv. Open Water, Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Diver, Earth, Events, Featured, ocean, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report, Volunteer
James Cameron Dives to deepest part of our ocean
After 50 years since our last voyage to the deepest part of our planets ocean, James Cameron makes this trip again. Here are some clips and links related to this event. http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/habitats-environment/habitats-oceans-env/james-cameron-mariana/ See and read more about this sub here Ker Than for National Geographic News At noon, local time (10 p.m. ET),James Cameron‘s “vertical torpedo” sub broke the surface of the western Pacific, carrying the National Geographic explorer and filmmaker back from theMariana Trench‘s Challenger Deep—Earth’s deepest, and perhaps most alien, … Read entire article »
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
Shark fin soup to blame for blue shark decline
by Tamera Jones hey discovered that the sharks feed in exactly the same places in the ocean that long-line fishing boats operate, which means they get caught along with other target fish. The researchers add that such regions are ideal places to implement so-called marine protected areas, where fishing is banned, to safeguard blue sharks and other vulnerable species. ‘These sharks aren’t simply by-catch; we think along with mako sharks they’re being targeted for the shark fin market … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conservation, Earth, Featured, Fish, ocean, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report, Sharks
Amazon.com Confirms New Policy to Ban Sale of Whale and Dolphin Products
On March 2, 2012, Divetalking posted Petition Amazon To Ban the sale of Whale/Dolphin Today, Internet giant Amazon.com has now officially banned the sale of all whale and dolphin products from its wholly owned Japanese website, following global outrage that these products were offered for sale. Amazon confirmed the prohibition on its main website by adding language under the Food and Beverage section that prohibits “Products containing shark, whale, or dolphin” and Amazon’s Japanese website contains a similar ban on selling whale and dolphin products. The Environmental Investigation Agency and Humane Society International revealed last month that Amazon Japan not only sold products from endangered and protected whale species, but also products containing dangerous levels of mercury. In response, Amazon withdrew all whale products from Amazon Japan within 24 hours, but declined to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conservation, Earth, Events, Featured, ocean, Reference, Report, Rescue, Whales
Director James Cameron prepares for a seven-mile solo
Avatar director James Cameron sets sights on another mysterious world – as he prepares for a seven-mile solo dive to the bottom of Pacific’s Mariana trench Aims to be first human to visit bottom since January 1960 Solo submersible so cramped he can’t move his arms First of several competing missions to deepest point on Earth By Rob Waugh Avatar director James Cameron is preparing for an attempt to be first human being in 50 years to visit the deepest point on Earth – the bottom of the Mariana Trench, seven miles down in the Pacific. The director will start his attempt ‘within weeks’ – becoming the first of at least four teams racing to the ocean floor, an icy, alien environment with pressures 1,000 times higher than the surface. Many liken the journey to man’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Earth, Events, Report, Trip Report
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
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