According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- comprised of 2500 experts from 130 countries -- the Great Barrier Reef could become "functionally extinct" within a few decades. According to the Panel's leaked report -- the final, official draft of which should be available this Friday -- the reef will (might?) die from bleaching, which occurs when water temperatures grow too high, and which involves a breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between corals and their color-giving zooxanthellae. Interestingly, the cooling waters associated with last year's Cyclone Larry preempted the potentially catastrophic bleaching event that scientists had predicted for 2006. However, the thought is that by 2030, the GBR will likely begin suffering from routine bleaching events and quickly perish.
What's most disturbing to me about this news is that the GBR is the largest living organism on the planet. Able to be seen from space, a dead GBR would be a permanent, hideous scar -- a constant reminder of beauty and life wasted.
Oops, I meant to write the largest "fossilized" coral reef has been found in the arid mountain range near Dadu, about 100 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan. Yes, Pakistan.
In fact, researchers haven't just discovered fossilized reefs, they've also found fossilized fish, plants, snails, sponges, and "other organisms" in the area's mountain ranges, which, naturally, were once underwater.
Yesterday, we told you about Eric Nerhus, the abalone diver who survived a great white shark bite. Wasting no time to grab at his 15 minutes, Nerhus has reportedly inked a deal with celebrity consultant Harry M. Miller to "handle" his story. Evidently, Miller is working fast to get Nerhus' story out there, too, because both an Australian television network and Woman's Day have already secured the exclusive rights to his story.
Raising speculation (and fueling a much-hoped for bidding war, no doubt), Miller has announced that no international deals have been made...yet: "We haven't heard from [Oprah Winfrey's production company], but that's about the only one we haven't heard from." Right. Miller has not indicated how much money is being offered for the story.
Since Nerhus escped with all his limbs and *only* deep lacerations, I'm guessing the fees won't be that high. However, if Nerhus can cry on cue, then I can hear dollar signs ringing.
Earlier this week, we told you about Kendra Motter, a rookie diver who died during a dive excursion in the Florida Keys. Although there's no update available concerning the manner in which she died, some odd details have emerged from the investigation into her death.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, when officials tried to remove Motter's gear, Michael Ryan -- a staff member with Horizon Divers, with whom the Motters were diving -- began to hose down the gear. Although ordered to stop, Ryan continued to rinse the equipment, and, according to Deputy Becky Herrin, also "picked up Motter's dive computer, attached to the equipment, and reportedly appeared to be attempting to alter it in some way." Ryan was subsequently arrested and charged with a felony count of attempting to destroy evidence; a misdemeanor count of obstructing a law enforcement officer; and a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.
Last week, Greenpeace released a 74-page report, Trading Away Our Oceans, which concluded that trade liberalization is bad for fish and for communities dependent on fish. Using data from official bodies such as the OECD and the EU, the Greenpeacers determined that liberalization of fisheries will increase the speed at which over-fishing occurs; further increase unsustainable aquaculture production; and have "generally devastating consequences for fish, the wider marine environment, developing countries and the one billion poor people worldwide who depend on fish as their primary source of protein." Ouch.
The report also concludes that developing countries must be provided with the capacity to establish and enforce effective fisheries management systems in their own waters.
ScubaVision Productions recently launched a weekly podcast and made it to iTunes (and hopefully a larger audience). They shoot video for commercial and non-profit clients and, in our case, produce a 5-10 minute weekly scuba show. The visuals are clean, soundtrack soothing, and make for a nice diversion at work.
Current episodes:
Interview with John Hanzi, Dive Safety Officer at the New England Aquarium and author of adventure novel Out of Hell's Kitchen
Whiteface (The Anchor) at West Caicos
The Driveway at West Caicos
Boat Cove at West Caicos
Although not a podcast, check out ScubaVisions "Now Playing" link for a wreck diving video shot in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos of the Southwind and W.E.
On Sunday, the 62,000-ton MSC Napoli was intentionally run aground near the East Devon Coast -- a World Heritage site -- to avoid sinking. An estimated 200 tons of oil from the ship's tanks immediately began entering the water, as did up to 200 of the ship's 2400 cargo containers, some of which carried hazardous materials such as battery acid and perfume. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has said the leak, which has spread up to five miles from the vessel, is believed to be coming from waste oils in the flooded engine spaces but does not pose a major environmental threat. Salvage teams are hoping to pump out the remaining 3,000 tons of oil in the ship's tanks.
Although the Maritime and Coastguard Agency warned the public to stay away from any containers they see because of their potentially toxic contents, hundreds of beach-combers have plundered goods that have washed ashore. Apparently, many of the stolen items have already started to appear on eBay. For example, steering wheel airbags advertised as coming "from the MSC Napoli" were on offer. (Caveat: I couldn't find these items, though I did find some genuine MSC Napoli sand.)
The operation to salvage the vessel has now started and the ship may be towed to Lyme Bay. For some pretty amazing images of the wreck, check out the BBC for a photo gallery. It'll be interesting to see what kind of environmental damage this ultimately causes.
The show Steve Irwin was filming when he met an untimely death is airing this evening on Animal Planet. The 90-minute documentary, Ocean's Deadliest, will be narrated by Philippe Cousteau who was with Irwin during production. Afterward, stay tuned for Crikey! What an Adventure which is a 30-minute tribute to Steve Irwin's life. Neither show is purported to cover the topic of stingrays.
Last week, several dozen dolphins accidentally trapped themselves in the shallow, windswept coves off New York's Long Island. Efforts to free the animals have so far been unsuccessful -- in fact, 6 dolphins died during the weekend, including one that had to be euthanized. In order to save the remaining dolphins, a team of shallow-water boats will try to corral them through the mouth of a shallow creek and out into the ocean. A team of scuba divers will stand by in the event anyone falls overboard, or if help is needed getting dolphins out of the water. Time is of the essence, officials say, since there are no fish for the stranded dolphins to eat. If you're interested, NBC5 has a small, sad video documenting the stranding.
UPDATE: Several of the dolphins were freed late today. Only about 6 or 7 remain. Rescuers hope to complete the task on Wednesday.
As if dolphins didn't have enough problems already, Tara Reid has decided to inflict yet more pain on some of the already oppressed marine mammals. The former-actor-turned-party-girl is in Australia to promote Magic Millions' two-week carnival. To the delight of no one at all, she frolicked in the water with two dolphins -- Gemma and Nila -- while photographers yawned and looked on.
Wearing a tiny purple bikini, Reid described her experience thus: "It was one of the most magical moments of my life . . . I'm on a total high. I think this will be my favorite experience – this is just amazing... Ilove Australia. The people are amazing." Amazingly, the dolphins did not return the compliment. For more <ahem> amazing shots of Reid's escapade, check out this image gallery.
While I don't support robbing banks, I DO support creativity. And Charles Everett Coma gets some credit for creativity.
In April, 2004, Coma managed to leave an Olympia, Washington bank with $6000 in stolen money. Wearing a wetsuit under his street clothes, Coma apparently rushed to Puget Sound in his car, and dashed toward the water carrying scuba tanks. Police saw him throw a backpack containing the robbery money into the Sound, but tackled him before he was able to enter the water. Evidently, he was planning on swimming to freedom.
Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess sentenced Coma to 16 years in prison for armed bank robbery, brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on a federal officer. He was overheard to've said, "Man, if only I'd been wearing Flip Fins!"
In November, the Coast Guard admitted that one of its divers suffered an "uncontrollable descent to a possible depth of 189 feet" during what was supposed to be a routine exercise with a max depth of 20-30 feet. However, other than this little morsel of news, the Coast Guard has kept brazenly silent about the events that occurred aboard the Healy that August day. Until now. According to a recently-released report, multiple regulations were violated that contributed to the deaths of Lt. Jessica Hill and Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque, including: "Untrained personnel put in charge, faulty equipment used, and the presence of alcohol. " In other words, what happened to Hill and Duque was clearly preventable.
Apparently, when Hill and Duque entered the water, they were tethered to lines handled at the surface. Inexplicably, the two divers were carrying more than twice the amount of lead weights required for the dive. Unable to ditch the weights, the pair quickly entered free fall. Single jerks on the line signaling "stop" were misinterpreted by unqualified dive tenders who erroneously paid out more line. Hill descended to 187 feet, and Duque plummeted more than 200 feet. By the time the tenders realized what happened, the pair was dead.
Want to learn more? This week, the the Coast Guard released a 33-page (PDF) Final Action Memorandum on the tragedy.
Rob Stewart never picked up a videocamera before he started making Sharkwater. However, he sure seems to be a quick study. Stunningly filmed in high-def, Sharkwater takes viewers to some of the most shark-rich waters of the world. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't just focus on the beauty of the fish; it also exposes the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands.
Filled with brutal images of finning, pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems, attempted murder charges -- and lots and lots of sharks -- the movie looks like it's going to be absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see it. The trailer alone totally fired me up.
Sharkwater is set to open nationwide this April. In the meantime, learn more about it:
Happily, Wetpixel moderator shawnh recently noted that all shark fin products have been pulled from Amazon's grocery catalog. High five! If you took the time to send an email to Amazon or leave negative feedback on the page for any fin products, congratulations! You did something good this week.
If you didn't take the time to leave feedback, but you still want to take credit for something, you can send an email to Amazon imploring they take a public stand against he trade of endangered species. If you don't know exactly how to phrase it, shawnh has provided a passionate script for you to copy and paste into your email client. All you have to do is enter the addresses, and hit Send.
Who says blogs are useless? I didn't see any mainstream media outlets reporting on Amazon's environmentally un-friendly practices.
Recently, staff at the Georgia Aquarium grew concerned about Ralph, one of four rescued whale sharks in the facility. Apparently, the 22-foot-long fish had developed unusual swimming patterns and lost his appetite. Yesterday, Ralph stopped swimming. The aquarium's husbandry and veterinary team "administered immediate care," but he died at 9:30 p.m. last night. The Aquarium has not announced a cause of death, although they are planning a necropsy.
Ralph lived in the aquarium for nearly two years, and had grown six feet while there. He was joined by another male whale shark, Norton, and two female whale sharks, Alice and Trixie. I wonder if the other whale sharks will realize Ralph is missing?
Sadly, on January 2, the aquarium euthanized Gasper, a 17-year-old beluga whale. Gasper, who delighted visitors by blowing bubbles, was ill prior to his October 2005 arrival at the aquarium, and the facility said his condition had deteriorated in the weeks before his death. According to officials, Gasper's condition "was believed to be the result of his weakened immune system due to years of chronic illness." The past two weeks have been tough for the Georgia Aquarium.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- comprised of 2500 experts from 130 countries -- the Great Barrier Reef could become "functionally extinct" within a few decades. According to the Panel's leaked report -- the final, official draft of which should be available this Friday -- the reef will (might?) die from bleaching, which occurs when water temperatures grow too high, and which involves a breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between corals and their color-giving zooxanthellae. Interestingly, the cooling waters associated with last year's Cyclone Larry preempted the potentially catastrophic bleaching event that scientists had predicted for 2006. However, the thought is that by 2030, the GBR will likely begin suffering from routine bleaching events and quickly perish.
Oops, I meant to write the largest "fossilized" coral reef has been found in the 
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