Scubaism

Perhaps someone ought to tell Trevor Leyland, the director of Shootingandscuba.co.uk that promoting scuba diving in a shop selling lethal weapons is something that the FBI will want to talk to him about. Or maybe the San Diego marine authority. Then again, he’s not under American jurisdiction since his shop is in Christchurch, Dorset, England.

Check out Scubaherald’s really sarky editorial on Shootingandscuba.

The most relevant part of ShootingandScubas’ website is that in a smart marketing strategy Course Director Keyland (sic) has decided to promote the Emergency First Response Instructor course. The reasons are obvious, it is smart to have EFR instructors around in case of lack of aim in the shooting range….

Oh, how I so wish Shootingandscuba had a logo that featured a scuba diver firing an M-16. If only for the comedic irony…

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The Chicago Tribune has the interesting story of Alex Retraubun, a man who works for the Indonesian marine and fisheries ministry. He is on a mission to visit and survey each and every one of 17,504 islands and determine the names of all of them. He and his team started two years ago jumping on a fishing boat every two weeks and motored their way from island to island, province by province.

On each two-week trip, Retraubun and his staff visit at least 100 islands and sometimes as many as 400. After canoeing ashore, they walk all the way around each island, find the high-tide mark — sandbars that are submerged at high tide don’t count as islands — and try to track down some locals to determine the name, if any.

In a nation with thousands of islands just a foot or two above sea level, up to 2,000 islands could vanish within 30 years if the region’s seas rise as predicted, he says. “If that happens, I’ll know exactly which islands have disappeared and which have not,” Retraubun says, “because we’ll have the data.”

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Planktos Inc., an American company that focuses on commercial opportunities in the green industry, wants to set sail this month from Florida to dump more than 45 tonnes of iron dust into the sea near the Galapagos Islands in a process called iron fertilization. They expect the iron would stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, which would then absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide — an experimental process Planktos compares to reforestation.

Reading this interview that Treehugger did with David Kubiak the spokesperson of Planktos, I’m not sure they’ve really thought through the consequences of their actions. Kubiak did not address the long term concerns of the EPA with regard to the long term environmental impact of iron fertilization.

For instance, what happens to the food chain with a sudden bloom of plankton? Does anyone have any idea what might happen?

Today, the chief scientist of the WWF International Climate Change Program calls Planktos’ idea “unacceptable”.

According to a summary by the United States Government submitted to the International Maritime Organization, Planktos, Inc. — a for-profit company — will dump up to 100 tons of iron dust this month in a 36 square mile area located approximately 350 miles west of the Galapagos Islands. Planktos, Inc. plans to dump the iron in international waters using vessels neither flagged under the United States nor leaving from the United States so U.S. regulations such as the U.S. Ocean Dumping Act do not apply and details do not need to be disclosed to U.S. entities.

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On 24 June, in Lincoln Nebraska, someone took off with $3,700 worth of scuba diving equipment from a yard shed. Police Capt. Jim Thoms said sometime between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of South 24th Street, the burglar or burglars pushed in a sliding door to the yard shed to get inside and took a regulator, wet suit, fins and other scuba equipment. Police have no suspects.

Just one set of gear? If a guy is that desperate to dive, yippee for him. I don’t think the black market for diving gear is that big.

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Baby turtles find their way to the ocean by moonlight. So the Lighting Science Group Corporation has invented a turtle friendly LED floodlight for businesses along waterfronts so turtles won’t run aground on their beaches. They found that turtle hatchlings are less attracted to the amber color used in their LED lights. The side benefit of these lights is they don’t attract insects either. They’re so environmentally friendly, the lights contain no mercury or other hazardous substances found in fluorescent and HID lighting. They fit into any standard 120-volt light socket. The catch is the price tag: RM125 (USD$39.95)

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Divers Alert Network has a new programme called Diving Emergency Specialist (DES) that rewards divers for continuing their education in advanced diver emergency aid specialties.

To earn this recognition, divers must hold current certifications in:

• Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries (or equivalent)

Plus three of the following:

• Advanced Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries (or equivalent)
• First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries (or equivalent)
• AEDs for Scuba Diving (or equivalent)
• On-Site Neurological Assessment for Divers (or equivalent)
• Remote Emergency Medical Oxygen (REMO2™)

If you have taken a Diving Emergency Management Provider class, it must have included Advanced O2 and that must be reflected on your certification card.

You must also hold:

• a rescue-level certification or higher with your training agency; and
• current CPR and first aid certifications.

This program is open to any diver.

To receive this recognition, submit your application directly to DAN Training with photocopies of all the required certifications and the USD$20 application fee.

DES recognition includes a:

• plastic Diving Emergency Specialist certification card;
• DES certificate; and
• DES shoulder patch.

As a DES recognized diver, you will also receive:

• invitations to preview future DAN Online Seminars before they are released to public at no charge; and
• a coupon good for 10% off oxygen units or accessories.

Sportdiver.com adds that the DES programme runs from June 1 – Dec. 31, 2007. During the Quest, when DAN is notified of a diver’s achievement of DES, that diver will receive a specially designed T-shirt and ballcap prize package. In addition, the diver will automatically be entered in a drawing for a DAN Gift Certificate worth $250*.

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The FBI have issued an advisory to the American diving industry to be on the lookout for suspicious behaviour. (As early as 2003, The Department of Homeland was already warning of scuba attacks.) The most recent advisory includes:

1. Requests for odd specialty training that are inconsistent with recreational diving, including requests to dive in murky water or sewer pipes and inquiries about specific procedures such as diver towing.
2. Requests to learn advanced skills associated with combat swimming, including use of re-breathers and diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs), deep diving, conducting kick counts and extra navigation training.
3. Requests for advanced diver training by applicants from countries where diving is not a common recreational activity.
4. Training sponsorship by groups or agencies such as religious organizations, cults, associations, or charitable agencies not normally associated with diving (Scubaherald: So, let’s be suspicious of any Swizz diver and YMCA divers…. .)
5. Volume purchasing inquires related to Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) and Diver Propulsion Vehicles (DPVs).
6. Paying cash for diving instruction (huh?!) and refusal or reluctance to provide personal information.

To this list, I would also add:

1. Reluctance to learn how to ascend.
2. Reluctance to learn how to remove, clean and store gear.
3. Reluctance to learn how to deploy signaling gear.
4. Bulk purchases of scimitar-shaped diving knives.

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To attract more divers to Pulau Bidong, the tourism committee of the state of Terengganu thought it might be interesting to sink some larger-than-life concrete (it looks like that’s what they’re made of) replicas of Malay cultural artifacts.

They’re part of the new Bidong underwater gallery, set at 15m depth. There is a giant replica of a traditional fishing boat called the Perahu Payang, the famous Batu Bersurat, a tepak sirih, a tengkolok (a traditional Malay headgear) and a kris.

The little nugget hidden at the end of the article is the promise by the government not to develop Bidong: “No chalets or resorts will be allowed on the island. As you can see, the forest on the island is growing back.

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Customs officers at Kuala Lumpur’s airport seized 404 Indian Star Tortoises in April from an Indian national’s cabin luggage. The man was immediately deported to India and no charges were laid. The tortoises, scientifically known as “Geochelone elegans”, could have fetched up to $23,700 in total. The case underlines large-scale smuggling of tortoises and other endangered wildlife into and through Malaysia. But only 385 of the tortoises will make it to India as the remaining 19 have since died.

Native to the Indian sub-continent, the tortoise is distinctive, growing up to about 30 centimetres across the carapace, conservationists said. But it faces a number of threats: it is traded for food, used in traditional medicine (primarily in Asia) and kept as a pet in Asia and North America.

In India, it is illegal either to possess or trade the Indian Star Tortoise and the species is also legally protected in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, it said. According to the Turtle Survival Alliance, India has 28 species and subspecies of tortoises and freshwater turtles, making it one of the most diverse chelonian faunas in the world.

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This shot has so much detail in it! Taken by fujibob in Raja Ampat with a Nikon D200 with settings at 1/250 and F9.

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