To be designated as a Certified Association Executive, an applicant must have a minimum of three years of experience with nonprofit organization management, complete a minimum of 100 hours of specialized professional development, pass a stringent examination in association management, and pledge to uphold a code of ethics.

Scientists studying Baird's beaked whales have discovered they form long-term alliances. In findings published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, researchers who identified individual whales by scars on their bodies are calling for hunting of the species to be halted while more information is gathered about their complex social structure. Currently, they are hunted off northern Japan.

In addition the current state of the domestic economy also forced a number of local exhibitors to withdraw from the show due to lack of funds.

Compared to the previous year only 30% of the booths were sold at this juncture and as consequence, after after consulting with leaders of the diving community, the management decided to postpone the Festival "Golden Dolphin" until 2016 and ask the audience for their understanding under the circumstances.

Mrs. Hass was much more than the wife of Hans Hass, one of the greatest dive pioneers, underwater explorer and one of the last great naturalists of the last century; she was a pioneer, role model and trailblazer in her own right.