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It seems that you can’t dive in Florida, Bahamas or Caribbean without seeing a lionfish almost every time you submerge. Lionfish are an invasive species spreading throughout the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
DAN and DEMA have teamed up to create a public safety announcement providing first aid instructions for lionfish stings.
To see the PSA, click here
Get Mom or Dad a Scuba Sport Subscription and Yours is FREE!
Just in time for Mother’s and Father’s Day! Get Dad (dive buddy, mom, son, daughter, cousin or friend) a subscription to Scuba Sport Magazine, the diving magazine geared for the recreational diver, and you get one for yourself for free!
One year is only $9.99! Or get him a 3 year subscription for only $21.99 and not only get the subscription, but also receive the “new logo” Scuba Sport T-Shirt!
Click here to get started!
The first loggerhead sea turtle nest of the year in Georgia has been reported on Atlantic coast, authorities said. The nest was found this week on Cumberland Island, National Park Service biologist Doug Hoffman told The Savannah Morning News.
“Loggerhead nesting in April is rare in Georgia”, said Mark Dodd, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia sea turtle coordinator. He said only one previous April nest has been recorded, on Ossabaw Island in 2001.
Loggerhead nests have already been reported this year in Florida as far north as St. Augustine. In Georgia, nesting is typically expected from May through July, with hatching continuing into October.
Last year was record setting for loggerheads with close to 2,000 nests identified on Georgia beaches. The rise in nests is a positive sign in the recovery of the threatened species, but it also means there are likely more turtles in Georgia waters so more can be hit by boats or caught in shrimp nets, authorities said.
Last week, 13 turtles washed up dead on Georgia beaches, continuing a trend of a greater than usual number of such strandings this spring. The total is 50 so far this year compared to 19 by the same time last year. “Seven of those dead loggerheads last week had injuries consistent with being struck by a boat,” Dodd said.
Scuba Sport Magazine for a number of reasons, supports organizations that act on attempting to eradicate the lionfish from Florida and the Caribbean. Here is another opportunity to help. By the way, Lionfish TASTE DELICIOUS!
On May 12, 2012 in the afternoon, American Dive Center out of Pompano Beach, Florida is facing off against Boynton Beach Dive Center in a Lionfish Shoot out. We are having a pot Luck BBQ afterwards. There are still spaces available on both teams so call which ever is local to you and join the fun. 954-346-0174
ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2012) — Shark fins are worth more than other parts of the shark and are often removed from the body, which gets thrown back into the sea. To curtail this wasteful practice, many countries allow the fins to be landed detached from shark bodies, as long as their weight does not exceed five per cent of the total shark catch. New University of British Columbia research shows that this kind of legislation is too liberal.
“The five percent ratio provides an opportunity to harvest extra fins from more sharks without retaining 100 per cent of the corresponding shark carcasses,” says Sea Around Us Project researcher Leah Biery, lead author of the study. “It does not prevent waste or overfishing, as the law intended.”
Currently, the EU and eight other countries use at least a five per cent shark fin to body weight ratio for landed catch. Only 59 countries in the world have any legislation related to sharks.
“Sharks are sensitive to overfishing and it’s embarrassing how little we have done to protect them,” says Daniel Pauly, principal investigator of UBC’s Sea Around Us Project and co-author of the study. “We would like to see more science in the management and protection of sharks in the coming years.”
Researchers estimate about 26 to 73 million sharks are killed each year to feed the growing demand for shark fin. Sharks are sensitive to overfishing because they often grow slowly, mature later, and have very few offspring.
Canada MP Fin Donnelly introduced a bill last December that would ban the import of shark fin into Canada, but it has not been voted on. The Canadian municipalities of Brantford, Mississauga, Oakville, Pickering, London and Toronto have all banned the sale and possession of shark fin.
The May issue which features stories on the Humpbacks of the Silver Bank, Utila, and North Sulawesi, as well as When it is OK to Touch Marine Life, Most Neglected Diving Equipment II and a photo Tutorial by Michael Lawrence, will begin hitting mailboxes and participating dive centers on Monday, April 30!
The Digital version will be available to subscribers within a week, and to non-subscribers in June. Why wait? To subscribe for a year for only $9.99, click on the photo!
Scuba Sport Magazine, the diving magazine geared for the recreational diver, will be conducting and publishing product reviews beginning with their July 2012 issue.
The first items to be water tested will be:
Sealife DC1400 Pro X Camera System
TUSA M-211 Freedom One Mask
Halon Corsair Dive Light and Lanyard
These items will be water tested while aboard the Caribbean Explorer II, the week of May 12-19. Those who are participating in the “Open Call for the next rising stars of underwater photography” will have an opportunity to use these items and give us their honest opinions. These opinions will help our writer with helping to determine if the items are gear bag worthy, or belong in the back of the closet.
(DIVERWIRE) Charles Richard Blakeslee was born October 29, 1925, in Manitou, OK. His father was a telegraph and station operator on an oil pipeline; his mother was a housewife. The family lived in southwestern Missouri before moving to Southern California when Chuck was 13. He attended Lynwood and Clearwater junior high schools then Compton High School and Compton Junior College. He also took several technical courses relating to the oil industry and maritime radio.
After working as a machinist in the shipyards and aircraft industries during WWII, Chuck was employed by Texaco, Inc. as a lab technician, essentially in bacteriology, for nine years in Long Beach, CA.
In 1948 Chuck married Geraldine (Jeri) Stone, who became his lifelong diving companion. They had four children, Chris, Jim, Carol and Renee.
Chuck started diving in 1946, as did James “Jim” Jennings Auxier. Both men went to Compton High. Since Chuck was three years older they didn’t get to know each other until after graduation, when they met at a Compton Dolphins dive club meeting (they both became members). Jim was a printer for a newspaper, a trade he learned and practiced at Compton High. The men shared many of the same interests and, in 1951, they co-founded The Skin Diver, later called Skin Diver Magazine. They were co-publishers/co-owners of the magazine and alternated as President and Vice-President. In addition, Jim served as Editor and Chuck as Advertising Manager.
The first issue of The Skin Diver was black and white, though it had a two-color cover. There were 16 pages (including the cover), two underwater photos and some topside pictures. The issue cost 25 cents; readers could get a one-year subscription for $3. Chuck and Jim published the magazine for 12 years before selling it to Petersen Publishing in 1963. It was the largest and oldest publication of its kind when it was discontinued in 2002, one issue short of its 51 birthday.
Under Chuck and Jim, The Skin Diver Magazine of the 1950s and ’60s was, for the most part, the only American source of reference material relating to recreational diving, its activities, personalities and the manufacturers and retailers of early diving equipment. Many myths existed about the history of skin diving as so few records were kept early on. Skin Diver began to investigate, to record, to follow and dispute, to compare and add to, and to question. It was a forum for divers and historians, a place to post one’s opinion and ideas.
Chuck and Jim received their LA County Diving Instructor’s Certificates in the second UICC in 1954 and NAUI affiliate status in 1963. Chuck invented the CO2 speargun, the Barracuda, and received a patent for it in 1953.
Chuck was a regular contributor to Colliers Encyclopedia Yearbook and Selling Sporting Goods, was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Film Festival, a NAUI organization participant, and served on numerous ad hoc committees, such as that of selecting and promoting the Diver’s Flag. He appeared at numerous California Fish and Game meetings in support of divers’ rights and beach access and served as an advocate for safety in diving through restriction of ads determined not to be safe.
After Skin Diver was sold, Chuck moved to Carpinteria, CA, where he was an avocado farmer for 23 years. He later moved to Grass Valley, CA, and then to Nevada City, CA. He continued to dive regularly for many years, both locally and overseas.
In 1960, Chuck and Jim became the first recipients of the NOGI Award for the Arts. They were inducted into the DEMA Diving Hall of Fame in 1994 and the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in Grand Cayman in 2003.
Chuck died April 17, 2012, in Nevada City after a short illness. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Jeri, and their four children: sons Chris (Mary) and Jim (Trisha), daughters Carol Dalton (Lowell) and Renee.
Contributions may be made in his memory to Hospice of the Foothills, the Ocean Conservancy, or any of the many organizations supporting the environment, the developmentally disabled, or the organization of your choice.
IF YOU’VE EVER HAD AN INTEREST IN GETTING PHOTOS PUBLISHED…
Scuba Sport Magazine is making it easier than ever for your talents to be discovered!
Our Editor WILL BE ON the Caribbean Explorer the week of May 12. We will be diving reefs off of St. Maarten, Saba, St. Kitts & Nevis.
We are trying a new concept for this article, scheduled to run in Scuba Sport Magazine in the July 2012 issue. We will only be using photos taken by participants that week in the article! This is your chance to show what you’ve got! All photos taken on that trip from all participants will be considered for the magazine!
This is a photographers dream! How often to you get to dive for an entire week with the editor of a diving magazine?
Call the Explorer Ventures today 800-322-3577 to book a spot on this voyage!
Scuba Sport Magazine, the fastest growing magazine in our industry, is currently in the shadow of both the Meadowlands new stadium and the Manhattan skyline. Diving around New York City in March?
As much as we enjoy blowing bubbles, this is Beneath the Sea Weekend in Secaucus, New Jersey. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hello! There are plenty of copies of our first two issues to go around. We are in booth 632.
