SCUBA News...News, research and articles on scuba diving, travel and the marine environment.Blue Tang is Creature of the Month- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Blue Tangs are often found roaming the reef, in search of their favourite food - algae. They are surgeonfish which may appear either singly or in large schools, which can contain hundreds of individuals. The Blue Tang, and other surgeonfish, are important on a shallow coral reef because they help keep the algae in check. Without them the algae would grow so fast that coral larvae settling and trying to make a start on the reef would soon be overgrown.http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/2007/09/blue-tang-is-creature-of-month.html You buy...we donate: Support charity when you buy insurance- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Fancy a warm charitable glow when you buy insurance From now on if you purchase World Nomads travel insurance via SCUBA Travel, we will donate to the Footprints charity of your choice.http://www.worldnomads.com/af.aspx?affiliate=SCBTVL Better Mooring for the SS Thistlegorm dive boats- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Voted one of the best dives in the world, the SS Thistlegorm was deteriorating because of the numbers of divers visiting it. In December 2007, the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) installed installed 32 mooring lines at the site of the wreck to help protect it. However, in the three months since the conservation work, at least half of the lines have been damaged. Divers have therefore spent the last few days upgrading the moorings.http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/2008/04/better-mooring-for-ss-thistlegorm-dive.html Update: Diving in Malta- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Read about the dive sites, dive operators and accommodation options in Malta and Gozo, on the newly updated SCUBA Travel Site.http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/europe.html#Malta Scientists Announce Top 10 New Species- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Scientists at the International Institute for Species Exploration have put together a list of the Top 10 New Species described in 2007. Number one on the list is a sleeper ray called Electrolux addisoni. It was thus named because the discovery of this brightly patterned electric ray "sheds light (Latin, lux) on the rich and poorly known fish diversity of the Western Indian Ocean. And the vigorous sucking action displayed on the videotape of the feeding ray may rival a well-known electrical...http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/2008/06/scientists-announce-top-10-new-species.html Missing divers: Five Europeans found on remote Indonesian island- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Five divers who were swept away during a dive off Indonesia have been found safe on a remote beach on an island 25 miles away. The 36-hour ordeal saw them carried to the neighbouring island by strong currents while they waited for their dive boat to return. Fearing their rescue might take days, the dive party began scavenging for shellfish to survive and were forced to use rocks to drive off a komodo dragon - one of the huge, aggressive lizards native to the area that are capable of killing...http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/07/indonesia Acidic 'champagne sea' nothing to celebrate for corals- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Lush, grassy, and populated by invasive algae and molluscs with paper-thin shells - that is what the acidic oceans of the future could look like. An exploration of natural "bubble streams" of carbon dioxide in shallow Mediterranean waters off the coast of Italy is the first to document the effects of ocean acidification in a real ocean setting. The notion that the oceans will become more acidic as CO2 concentrations rise is well understood. By the year 2100, ocean acidity is predicted to be...http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14085-acidic-champagne-sea-nothing-to-celebr... 8-day undersea mission begins experiment to improve coral reef restoration- (Found June 29, 2008 ) Scientists have begun an eight-day mission, in which they are living and working at 20 m below the sea surface, to determine why some species of coral colonies survive transplanting after a disturbance, such as a storm, while other colonies die.http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/37409 EU bluefin tuna fishing ban for Mediterranean- (Found June 29, 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.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/13/eatuna113.xml Mediterranean Sharks Decline by 97%- (Found June 29, 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.http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/2008/06/mediterranean-sharks-declining-fast.html |