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Scuba News..because we can’t be underwater all the time
Archive for June, 2008ROV Finds New Coral SpeciesMonday, June 30th, 2008
Researchers on the third-largest atoll in the world, the Saba Bank in the Netherlands Antilles, have discovered and collected two new species of soft corals (gorgonians) and documented severe anchor damage with the aid of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) from Seabotix. Experts collected 40 species of soft corals, seventeen of which were collected using the ROV.
Barrier Reef ‘no-take’ zones see leap in fish numbersWednesday, June 25th, 2008
A controversial decision to halt commercial and recreational fishing across vast areas of the Great Barrier Reef has proven remarkably effective for reviving coral trout numbers. "Everyone is a little surprised," admits Garry Russ, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Townsville. "We've seen a consistent pattern of recovery of coral trout from just north of Cairns to as far south as Heron Island," he says. "It's an extraordinarily large area."
The Royal Navy submarine implicated in dolphin ’suicides’Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
With initial tests showing the 24 dolphins who died after becoming stranded were fit and healthy, with no obvious injuries, dolphin experts are becoming increasingly convinced the creatures fled to shallow water after a disturbance at sea.The Royal Navy has admitted testing sonar equipment on a nearby warship and having an submarine on exercise - but says it is 'extremely unlikely' it was to blame for the strandings.
Mediterranean Sharks Decline by 97%Friday, June 20th, 2008
A new scientific study has concluded that sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have declined by more than 97 percent in abundance and "catch weight" over the last 200 years. The findings of the study published in the journal Conservation Biology, suggest several Mediterranean shark species are at risk of extinction, especially if current levels of fishing pressure continue. Study lead author Francesco Ferretti and his colleagues are concerned that the declines in sharks may have implications for the broader Mediterranean marine ecosystem.
Marine life on ‘junk food’ diet - and we’re to blameFriday, June 20th, 2008
Overfishing and changes in the climate could be putting marine birds and mammals on a "junk food" diet. But unlike humans, marine animals eating junk food diet are losing weight.
As predatory fish such as cod have been removed from the sea in large numbers, fish lower down in the food chain, such as sprat, have increased in numbers. But individually the sprats weigh less, and these leaner fish, biologists say, are effectively junk food.
They are poor sources of energy for predatory birds and mammals, and as a result these animals are also losing weight, says Henrik Osterblom of the University of Stockholm in Sweden.
For Michael Fogerty of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service the story is all too familiar. "There have been concerns on the East Coast of the US about the quality of prey for the bluefin tuna," he says.
Herring play a large part in the diet of tuna, but Fogerty and his colleagues have noticed that the herring too have increased in number but decreased in weight. This has resulted in a corresponding decrease in the weight of the tuna, they say.
EU bluefin tuna fishing ban for MediterraneanThursday, June 19th, 2008
A ban on fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic has been announced by the EU for large industrial vessels after widespread evidence of illegal fishing.
The closure of the season for purse-seine vessels which catch 70 per cent of the bluefin in the Mediterranean had been planned for July 1 but the European Commission said that the end of the fishing season was being brought forward because of EU vessels' repeated failure to comply with the rules.
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