Monday, April 14th, 2008
Japan's Antarctic whaling catch fell far short of its target this season, hampered by a series of skirmishes with anti-whaling protesters, the Fisheries Agency said today. The fleet caught only 551 minke whales, compared with the planned catch of 850. No fin whales were caught at all, although it had set a target of 50.
"Sabotage by activists is a major factor behind our failure to achieve our target," the official said.
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Friday, April 11th, 2008
The latest issue of SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) is now freely available on-line. This month: enter our competition to win a Hurghada (Red Sea) dive guide. Plus, the Soldierfish is creature of the month and we've all the diving news from around the world.
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Friday, April 11th, 2008
Voted one of the best dives in the world, the SS Thistlegorm was deteriorating because of the numbers of divers visiting it. In December 2007, the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) installed installed 32 mooring lines at the site of the wreck to help protect it. However, in the three months since the conservation work, at least half of the lines have been damaged. Divers have therefore spent the last few days upgrading the moorings.
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Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
Blue crabs are the Fred Astaires of the crustacean world. The males of the species dance wildly to attract far-away females, directing a jet of pheromones to bring would-be lovers out of hiding.
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Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
The vaquita, a tiny stubby-nosed porpoise found only in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, is on the brink of extinction as more die each year in fishing nets than are being born, biologists say. A drop in vaquita numbers to as few as 150 from around 600 at the start of the decade could see the famously shy animal go the same way as the Chinese river dolphin, which was declared all but extinct in 2006.
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Friday, April 4th, 2008
Decompression sickness is caused by nitrogen being released from the blood too quickly, forming bubbles which may expand and injure tissue or block blood vessels. Anything that reduces bubble formation should decrease the risk of decompression sickness. Researchers from the French Navy have found that drinking 1.3 litres of a saline-glucose drink an hour and a half before the dive decreased bubble formation. This provides an easy means of reducing decompression sickness risk.
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