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SCUBA News...
News, research and articles on scuba diving, travel and the marine environment.

Cut greenhouse gases to save coral reefs

To keep coral reefs from being eaten away by increasingly acidic oceans, humans need to limit the amount of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a panel of marine scientists have said.

New giant clam species discovered

A new species of giant clam has been discovered in the Red Sea. Fossils suggest that, about 125,000 years ago, the species Tridacna costata accounted for more than 80% of the area's giant clams. The species may now be critically endangered, researchers report in Current Biology journal.

Chuuk Lagoon threatened by wrecked WWII oil tanker

Sixty years on and the impacts of the second world war are still being felt. A sunken oil tanker, one of dozens on the bottom of Micronesia's Chuuk Lagoon, is releasing streams of purple diesel bubbles. On 31 July, the resulting oil slick was 5 kilometres long. Corrosion experts say the 52 wrecks in Chuuk Lagoon could collapse in a few years, yet no-one knows how much fuel was inside the vessels when they sank. The problem could take on astonishing proportions: more than 380 other tankers lie at the bottom of the Pacific.

Seals help unlock ocean secrets

Sensors developed by the University of St Andrews have been employed by Antarctic researchers to collect otherwise inaccessible information about the climate. The small data logging transmitters have been attached to the heads of elephant seals. Scientists usually collect data to characterise the ocean using satellite sensing, buoyant floats, and ship expeditions, but winter sea ice renders the Southern Ocean virtually impermeable to all three. The data provided by the seals has enabled scientists to follow the yearly rise-and-fall cycle of sea ice production, and should help them refine computer models of the Southern Ocean circulation.

Shipwreck fuels invasion of unwanted species

Aggressive invaders are spreading through a coral reef in Hawaii thanks to a shipwreck that ran aground in the remote Palmyra Atoll in 1991. Researchers believe that iron leaching from the ship is fuelling the invasion. And now they are calling for shipwrecks to be removed from sensitive ecosystems elsewhere.

Update: Diving in Madagascar

Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, lies off the southeast coast of Africa. The SCUBA Travel Guide now lists more dive companies on our Madagascar page.

Pacific dives recover novel fish

Marine biologists being filmed for a BBC TV series have confirmed an astonishing 13 new fish species on a single expedition in the Pacific Ocean. The haul comes from deep dives made across reefs in Micronesia.

Thousands of sharks and turtles wiped out for tinned tuna

Tinned tuna sellers John West are relying on fishing methods responsible for wiping out thousands of sharks and turtles every year - including some rare and threatened species. The UK's largest seller of tinned tuna has been ranked bottom of an environmentally friendly tinned tuna league table due to the use of these destructive fishing methods used to catch its tuna.

Coastal "dead zones" spread globally, study finds

"Dead zones" in coastal waters - regions of ocean floor so deprived of oxygen that most marine life cannot survive - are spreading worldwide at an alarming pace, scientists said on Thursday. Driving the trend are nitrogen and phosphorous from chemical agricultural fertilizers that reach coastal waters after flowing off farm fields and into streams and rivers, according to the study published in the journal Science.

Humpback whale on road to recovery

Some large whale species, including the humpback, are now less threatened with extinction, according to the cetacean update of the 2008 IUCN Red List. Most small coastal and freshwater cetaceans, however, are moving closer to extinction.

Pacific Shellfish Ready To Invade Atlantic

As the Arctic Ocean warms this century, shellfish, snails and other animals from the Pacific Ocean will resume an invasion of the northern Atlantic that was interrupted by cooling conditions three million years ago, predict Geerat Vermeij, professor of geology at the University of California, Davis, and Peter Roopnarine at the California Academy of Sciences.

New Manta Ray Species Discovered, Expert Says

What scientists call the manta ray is actually at least two distinct species with unique behaviors and lifestyles, a scientist announced recently. The more commonly known manta ray is smaller and more easily seen, usually staying near coasts. Little is known about a second, larger species that avoids contact with humans and seems to have wider migration patterns. It also has evolutionary remnants of a spine and a harmless, non-stinging barb on its tail.

Boycott Mediterranean bluefin tuna, before it's too late says WWF

Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the brink of commercial and biological collapse, driven by the uncontrolled demand for its high quality meat for sushi around the world. The root cause lies in decades of mismanagement. But the solution is now in the hands of restaurant owners, chefs, retailers and consumers, like you, to bring this magnificent species back from the brink.

SCUBA News #99 Now Online

Issue 99 of SCUBA News is now freely available on-line. Featuring the Caribbean Island of Dominica, Mozambique, Taiwan and the pick of the diving news from around the world.

Update: Underwater Photos of the Maldives

More fantastic marine photos of the Maldives are now in the SCUBA Travel Gallery.