Message from the organisers:
TEKDiveUSA has been monitoring the evolving situation on coronavirus both in the U.S. and around the globe. Due to the public health emergency, we are currently facing, we believe that it is not possible to move forward with TEKDiveUSA.2020 as planned.
It all starts east of the Philippines where the constant blowing of the tradewinds and the ocean currents forces huge masses of water up against the Philippines, where it is trapped and forced southwards.
Most of this current is directed by ocean bottom morphology to flow into the Sulawesi basin and down between Borneo and Sulawesi—the fat red arrow on the figure above. The only thing sitting in this giant current’s way is the lesser Sunda Islands, predominantly Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Timor—with Bali sitting right in the ideal position to benefit from this flow.
Overfishing has reduced biomass of most sharks and other large predatory fishes worldwide by over 90 percent, and even remote locations have been severely impacted. However, a few localities worldwide still maintain large abundances of top predatory fishes due to either being remote and unfished or having recovered after full protection from fishing.
Our coral reefs are now under threat not only from the global warming, pollution and exploitation but also by the conduct of divers in these sensitive areas. The reefs are now calling for our protection both when we dive and as contributors to the ongoing struggle to preserve these unique ecosystems for future generations.
The coral sanctuary is a wildlife hotspot where species are thriving despite warming events that have killed their neighbours
The coral refuge, which stretches from Shimoni, 50 miles south of Mombasa, in Kenya to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, is fed by cool water from deep channels formed thousands of years ago by glacial runoff from Kilimanjaro and the Usambara mountains. Outside that area, the corals are bleached and dying. But inside the area, of around 400 sq km [150 sq miles] they retain their colour and their health.
The Lost Shark, Carcharhinus obsoletus, is already extinct, and others that are expected to follow soon include four species each of hammerhead and angel sharks, from the world’s most threatened shark families. In spite of all the press that shark conservation has received in the past two decades, no effective protection of sharks has been established, no sharks have been saved, and their decline into extinction is ever more apparent.
Underwater photography by children of the Ukraine Delta Club
How do you get a bunch of children and teenagers interested in art and science? Put them in a pool with underwater camera equipment and let them go wild! That is exactly what a group of progressive-thinking and innovative dive instructors did in the vibrant and dynamic land of the Ukraine. They formed the Delta Club for children ages 5 and up for just this purpose.
Did you say, “Bonito”? I had never heard of this place. A Brazilian diver I met in the Galapagos Islands referred to it as the capital of cave diving in Brazil, located south of the Pantanal wetlands in Mato Grosso do Sul—a state bordering Bolivia and Paraguay.
Knowledge of the habitat use and migration patterns of large sharks is important for assessing the effectiveness of large predator Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), vulnerability to fisheries and environmental influences, and management of shark-human interactions.
In 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undertook a closer examination of the wrecks of the German U-boat U-576 and the Nicaraguan freighter SS Bluefields, using glass-domed submersibles. The two historically significant and deep (200m) shipwrecks sank near one another on the continental shelf of North Carolina, USA, during World War II.
The SS Cotopaxi—an American merchant steamer—left Charleston, South Carolina, on Nov. 29, 1925, with a cargo of coal, destined for Havana, Cuba, but the vessel didn't make it far. The vessel vanished without a trace and the fate of the Cotopaxi and the 32 people on board has long puzzled experts.
Researchers from James Cook University's ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies examined stomach contents of reef sharks and conducted chemical analyses of shark body tissue to find out what they had been eating.
Somewhat surprisingly after pumping sharks' stomachs to identify the contents of the last meal, the most common thing to find was in fact, nothing. "These results suggest that reef sharks eat small meals infrequently and opportunistically," Lead author, Dr Ashley Frisch said.
