Brighter Future For Asia Pacific Turtles
August 21, 2008 – Turtle numbers have been threatened for decades due to loss of critical habitats on land, entanglement with fishing lines and nets at sea, and excessive harvesting of eggs and for meat. A new report, due to be released at an upcoming environmental summit in Bali of 27 countries to sign to a region-wide turtle conservation agreement, sheds some light on how countries have been tackling these problems.
“Participating countries have made progress in many areas, but there is still room for improvement,” said Douglas Hykle, programme coordinator for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) office in Bangkok. “Many have yet to clearly describe their resource needs and to mobilise sufficient funding for domestic implementation; and only a few are carrying the burden of supporting international coordination efforts,” he said.
Though there’s still work to be done, countries like Australia, Indonesia, and the Seychelles have implemented initial plans to track and protect their turtle populations. Delegations from more than 30 countries are expected to attend the Bali meeting. (Photo courtesy ENN.)
Hope Fades As Stranded Humpback Weakens August 21, 2008 – Hopes to save the humpback whale calf stranded in Sydney, Australia (featured in the video two posts below), are fading fast. The calf continues to try and suckle from a moored yacht, and scientists fear unless they manage to reunite it with a passing whale pod the calf will die for lack of nourishment. If they cannot find a solution fast, the calf would have to be put down within the next two days. (Photo courtesy ENN.)
Perhentians Host Successful IE
August 20, 2008 – Eleven divers from various parts of the world attended a PADI Instructor Examination (IE) on Perhentian Island in late July 2008. A small group of beautiful, coral-fringed islands off the coast of northeast Malaysia in the state of Terengganu, the Perhentians are not far from the Thai border.
Mike Holme, Director of Training and Quality Management at PADI Asia Pacific, was the Instructor Examiner and evaluated their teaching skills in confined water, open water and knowledge development. After two-and-a-half days, 10 candidates were successful and are now travelling to various parts of the Asia Pacific region to pursue their diving careers.
Humpback Calf Bonds With Yacht
August 19, 2008 – No introduction needed, really. A humpback calf lost off the coast of Sydney forged a bond with a rescuing yacht, even trying to suckle it as rescuers lured it back out into the open ocean.
Elephant Seals Help Fight Global Warming
August 13, 2008 – Elephant seals fitted with special sensors are providing crucial data on how fast ice forms in the Antarctic.
You might wonder why knowing the speed by which ice forms is important. According to scientists, ice reflects sunlight back into space; less sea ice means more energy is absorbed by the earth, leading to more global warming. (Photo courtesy ENN.)
Though it was certainly a surprising find, scientists believe the bear was likely dead before the shark ate it. “There’s no possibility a Greenland shark could predate a live adult white bear unless it was injured or seriously ill,” said Jeffrey Gallant, co-director of a Canadian-based Greenland shark education and research group.
The find raises some interesting questions, however, most notably what a Greenland shark was doing so far north. Even more evidence of global warming, perhaps. (Photo courtesy ENN.)
Issue 4/2008 On Newsstands Now
August 7, 2008 – The latest issue of Scuba Diver AustralAsia hits newsstands around the region this week, with feature stories including Insider: Similans, the Philippines’ Davao Gulf, bioprospecting marine life, how to take better B&W photos, a portfolio from Singapore’s Aaron Wong, and a world exclusive: Diving in Mongolia’s Lake Khovsgol.
Where Will El Niño Strike Next?
August 6, 2008 – Scientists in Israel have created a software that, they hope, can predict where and when the next El Niño event will strike. The new software maps the world’s climate as an interconnected network by plotting rough temperature measurements. Using these data points the software can predict future events by finding the “weak links,” which break and reform from the norm.
“Under normal climate conditions this happens only occasionally, but disturbances from an El Niño event cause the links to ‘blink’ on and off…The location of the blinking links reveal where the El Niño is having an influence.”
What Do Squid Hear?
August 1, 2008 – For those of you who have ever wondered what squid or other marine life actually hear and how they respond, here’s an interesting study by a zoologist studying at the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the USA.
Aran Mooney studied the squid, Loligo pealeii, monitoring its brain waves in respect to different sounds, especially those of its main predators. Of note he predicts that “squid probably hear very low-frequency sounds, which means they pick up on fish tones and boat traffic.” A reason, perhaps, for why they’re so curious when divers are around? (Photo courtesy ENN.)
Fish, Coral Hotspots Due to Plate Tectonics
August 1, 2008 – For centuries scientists have been trying to uncover why Asia Pacific is such a “hotspot” for fish, coral, and marine invertebrate life. A recent geological study claims to have uncovered why: vast shifts of geological plates in the earth’s crust.
Good news for those of you living in Melbourne and Sydney (and everywhere in between): According to one geologist quoted in the study, candidates for the next global hotspot – in a measly 25 million years, of course – are likely to be off southern or eastern Australia.
