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Revealing the Urgent Fight to Save Tasmania's Giant Kelp Forests: New Documentary "Reviving Giants" Premieres

This compelling ten-minute film dives deep into the urgent mission to restore Tasmania's rapidly declining kelp forests, a direct casualty of climate change. The documentary follows the life and work of Mick Baron and Karen Gowlett-Holmes, owners of the Eaglehawk Dive Centre, who have been front-line witnesses and activists to the massive destruction of the giant kelp forests.

World map of Chlorophyll-a
World map of Chlorophyll-a phytoplancton. Greener tones imply higher phytoplankton activity whereas deeper blues suggest less life.

Oceans are changing colour due to climate change

According to satellite data, 56 percent of the world's oceans have experienced a colour change from blue to green over the past 20 years. The changes are especially noticeable in tropical areas close to the Equator.

According to researchers, the gradual greening of our oceans indicates how climate change is affecting aquatic life.

Sequential Shots

The transition from analog to digital cameras has been a boon for photographers, granting them unlimited shots and freedom of movement. These circumstances lend themselves well to the technique of shooting sequential stills. Underwater photographer Claudio Ziraldo shares his insights and tips on taking sequential shots underwater.

Poseidon M28A dive computer
Poseidon M28A dive computer

Poseidon Diving Systems recalls Poseidon M28A dive computers

Poseidon M28A dive computers are subject to this recall. They continuously calculate and provide the data that divers require. The Poseidon SE7EN Rebreather with the M28A can be used separately or together. This recall only applies to dive computers with serial numbers that begin with "M28A-". On the rear of the recalled dive computers are the serial number and two metallic wet-switches.

Navy Experimental Diving Unit
Navy Reserve Navy Diver Seaman Jesse Kole, assigned to Naval Experimental Diving Unit, does an inspection dive of the interior of the wreck of the former Russian submarine Juliett 484.

US Navy is working on dive suit that prevents decompression

The Navy Experimental Diving Unit tested the Deep Sea Expeditionary with No Decompression (DSEND) Suit underwater last February.

The Atmospheric Diving Suit (ADS) used by the Navy at the moment is cumbersome, unmaneuverable, and requires relatively large sea craft for deployment. With this new project, it will be improved in a number of ways, including the rotary joint design that it now uses.

Possible illustration of the Satellite
Possible illustration of the Satellite

Discovery of 1879 Lake Superior shipwreck

The Satellite sank on 21 June 1879, according to the historical society, either as a consequence of a technical issue or because the boat collided with a floating log. The ship capsized, but no one perished.

In the summer of 2022, the society worked with Josh Gates of the Discovery Channel's Expedition Unknown to produce a show about two French minesweepers that vanished on their maiden voyage in 1918.

Origins of vertebrates may be pushed back by 500-million-year-old sea squirt fossil

In 2019, paleontologist Karma Nanglu from Harvard University received a finger-sized fossil. The specimen had originated from a fossil-rich stratum of Cambrian limestone in western Utah, and had been kept in a drawer at a Salt Lake City museum for years.

Upon hearing that there could be a very old tunicate, Nanglu expressed excitement interlaced with caution: "That's a group for which there is essentially no fossil record for the entire 500 million years of recorded history."

How corals are surviving climate change

For more than two years, researchers on board the French expedition ship Tara sailed through the Pacific, stopping at almost 100 coral reefs to take thousands of water and coral samples. The expedition ended in 2018, and the analysis of the massive amount of data collected has taken five years.

Now, the initial results of the data analysis have been published. The findings should help us to better understand the living conditions of corals, to check their health status and to open up new possibilities for nature conservation. 

Ocean oxygen loss may ultimately reverse

Ocean deoxygenation has detrimental repercussions. Fish, crabs and other significant species of marine life that are unable to flee these low oxygen zones may perish as a result. People who depend on them for food and employment may be subsequently impacted by their absence as many of these species are economically significant.

Additionally, there is a negative feedback loop at play: as ocean oxygen levels decline, so does its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. This may cause global warming to accelerate even further.

WMO declares onset of El Niño conditions

According to the WMO projections, there is a 90 percent chance that the El Niño event will persist over the second half of 2023. It is predicted to be at least moderately strong.

El Niño episodes typically last between nine and twelve months and occur every two to seven years on average. It is a naturally occurring climate pattern linked to the warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean's central and eastern ocean surface temperatures.

However, it occurs in a climate that has been altered by human activity.

Aqualung, Apeks sold to Barings

The Aqualung business was established in 1943 after Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan created the "Aqua-Lung." The business also owns the brands Apeks, Omer, Aquasphere, Stohlquist, and US Divers.

One of the top investment management firms in the world, Barings, is in exclusive talks to purchase 100 percent of the Aqualung Group. Barings is most known to the general public for the 1995 collapse of Barings Bank.