Japans announcement that it is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission and will resume commercial whale hunting next year, have sparked swift condemnation from other governments and conservation groups. For many years Japan has hunted whales for what it calls "scientific research" and to sell the meat, a programme widely criticised by conservationists.
So as the Year of the Shark in 2019 begins, here is a review of how their actions reveal some of their mental states.
Alan was a friendly colleague who loved being outside and talking to anyone. As a child, he developed the skill of always finding something of common interest to discuss with anyone he met, and he carried this through into his adult life. Alan was able to strike up a conversation about anything with anyone. Alan learned to scuba dive in 1970 when he joined the Leicester Underwater Exploration Club. Two years later, he became a commercial diver—a high-risk career in the early '70s—with his "office" primarily being the North Sea exploration rigs.
He was awarded the MBE medal by fellow scuba diver, HRH Prince Charles in recognition of his award-winning underwater photography. Mustard later remarked on social media that HRH Prince Charles had told him to keep taking pictures of plastic in the ocean so we can beat the problem.
Kinki is a ruggedly beautiful peninsula in the southwest of Honshu, Japan. The area is best known for the Shinto shrines of Kumano, which sit atop forested mountains in the center of the region. Each year, thousands of tourists and devotees undertake a pilgrimage through the mountains to reach the tranquil sanctuary, which is said to be a place of physical healing.
The SEABOB is a luxury seatoy designed for “fun in the sun.” Corporate divers or technical divers are not invited to this party—unless they are vacationing, of course. No, this is a unit for scuba divers, free-divers or snorkelers, and meant to be purely recreational.
Prior to this meeting the Rebreather Education and Safety Association (RESA) and the Rebreather Training Council (RTC) had been having a robust active discussion about industry-wide rebreather training standards. It seemed sensible therefore to take the opportunity for the two organisations to find a common path forward.
Mark Caney from PADI and the RTC stated "The key item to come out of this meeting was an agreement for a joint committee to look at standards issued by both organisations, and work objectively towards harmonisation of standards.
Noted alumni of this USA centric non-profit include the following accomplished and renowned female divers:
Sabine Kerkau will be the first German female diver to be inducted in WDHOF, since it was founded almost two decades ago, in 1999.
Kerkau is a diving journalist, more specifically, a technical diving journalist. There are very few of these specialist reporters, and even fewer female techie correspondents. Kerkau is an intelligent author. She keeps the wreck or cave centre stage, and gives it maximum exposure.
Sabine Kerkau is the first German female diver to be inducted in WDHOF
Peter Kubicka is an ardent cave diving explorer.
For us survivors of the Perestroika, there are still some nice things we recall from the nostalgic Soviet past—one of these being, of course, the endless Cousteau series, run and rerun so many times on black-and-white television. The skinny Frenchman, with the (supposedly) red beanie, introduced an entire generation (or two) to the mysterious underwater world, full of beauties and beasts.
The new method, developed by the researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, is more cost-effective and flexible, and it can yield better video quality by improving the bandwidth to stream real-time underwater video images.
