Sunday, August 5th, 2007
A diving instructor drowned in a 300ft (91m) pool at a disused quarry after she became entangled in ropes and a companion was unable to free her. There was also a fault with Mrs Paula Blakemore's breathing equipment, an inquest heard. During the descent, at 6 m, one of the pair of divers - Graham Owen - signalled to about the dive. But it appeared there was a problem with his buddy's re-breather and he saw her sinking below him. He followed the trail of bubbles and found Mrs Blakemore at 40 m clinging to a ridge in a desperate attempt to stop her descent. "I could see rope tangled around her left leg. I tried to pull the rope off the end of her foot but I couldn't move it," he told the inquest. Mrs Blakemore was breathing using his equipment but getting tired, and Mr Owen said he began to become tangled in the rope himself as he tried to save her. When he freed his legs, he was disorientated for a time, then realised she had disappeared again.
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Friday, August 3rd, 2007
Thousands of tiny 2-week-old lobsters have been released into Maine waters (USA) as part of an ongoing effort to keep the state's lobster populations strong.
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Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
Prime Minister John Howard announced some details of a planned carbon-trading trading scheme for Australia on Tuesday, but avoided setting targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
Human activity in the deep sea is extending ever deeper, with recent research showing that this environment is more sensitive to human and natural impacts than previously thought. A new review examines issues in deep-sea conservation and discusses the conservation status and the designation of protected areas. The enforcement of protected areas using satellite tracking of vessels is discussed and applied to an internationally agreed deep-water conservation area, which aims to protect cold-water coral habitats on the Darwin Mounds in the north east Atlantic Ocean.
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