Be in Diveheart’s Book of Dreams!
Diveheart has been working on writing and publishing the Diveheart Book of Dreams, based on testimonials of our divers and volunteers. The long-established non-profit organization specializes in introducing scuba diving to people with disabilities and wounded war veterans.
We know that there are hundreds of volunteers and divers that have a story to tell. The non-profit organization wants you to tell them your story. Click here to learn more.
(ENS) – The federal government has proposed that 66 species of coral in U.S. waters should be protected under the Endangered Species Act because global warming, disease and ocean acidification are pushing them toward extinction.
Under the rule proposed by NOAA Fisheries, 12 species of coral would be listed as Endangered and 54 as Threatened. Listing species as Endangered does not prohibit activities like fishing or diving, but prohibits the specific “take” of those species, including harming, wounding, killing, or collecting the species. It also prohibits imports, exports, and commercial activities dealing in the species. Listing would mean habitat protection, recovery planning and prohibition of federal actions that could jeopardize the corals.
Of the 66 corals covered in NOAA’s proposed rule, seven live in Florida and the Caribbean. In these waters, five corals would be listed as endangered and two as threatened. The other 59 species proposed for protection live in the Pacific, including Hawaii. In the Pacific, seven species would be listed as endangered and 52 as threatened.
NOAA Fisheries is also proposing that two Caribbean species – elkhorn and staghorn corals – already listed under the ESA be reclassified from threatened to endangered.
“Healthy coral reefs are among the most economically valuable and biologically diverse ecosystems on earth,” said NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco. “Corals provide habitat to support fisheries that feed millions of people; generate jobs and income to local economies through recreation, tourism, and fisheries; and protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Yet, scientific research indicates that climate change and other activities are putting these corals at risk.”
“Corals are facing severe threats, and it’s highly likely that these threats will increase over time,” NOAA said in its proposal. The agency notes that coral cover in the Caribbean has declined from 50 percent in the 1970s to less than 10 percent today.
“The three major threats identified – rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and disease – are all directly or indirectly linked to greenhouse gas emissions and a changing climate,”
One independent study cited by NOAA reports that coral reefs provide approximately $483 million in annual net benefit to the U.S. economy from tourism and recreation activities and a combined annual net benefit from all goods and services of about $1.1 billion. NOAA also estimates the annual commercial value of U.S. fisheries from coral reefs to be more than $100 million; reef-based recreational fisheries generate an additional $100 million annually.
Together, the Status Review, Supplemental Information, and Final Management reports form the basis of NOAA’s proposed listing of these 66 corals. Click here for a list of all 66 corals.
Drug smugglers are always creating clever new ways get illegal drugs into the United States. To a long list that already includes clams, shoes, and soccer balls, we can now add scuba diving diplomas.
According to Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a group of six people, allegedly led by 39-year-old Jorge Guerrero, used their access to privately-owned parcel delivery companies to smuggle narcotics into the country from Ecuador. The group were arrested this morning after a six-month wiretap investigation that led, in just the last three months, to the interception of five packages containing more than 11 pounds of narcotics from a warehouse at JFK Airport and private parcel delivery companies in Newark. In total “approximately four kilograms of cocaine (nearly 9 lbs) and one kilogram of heroin (over 2 lbs)” were seized.
Most of the cocaine was found stuffed inside empanada packages, at the bottom of “homemade sugar and oatmeal cookies,” inside chocolate candy packaging and, impressively, the Feds also found more than three pounds of liquid cocaine soaked into a stack of scuba diving diplomas. The heroin was found inside sesame candy packages.
The way that the ring allegedly worked was simple: the parcels were sent directly from Ecuador to JFK where they were then distributed to parcel delivery companies where Guerrero and his ring would pick them up. In addition to Guerrero, the government also today arrested his wife Cecilia (“the money manager”) along with Noe Fernandez, Judy Campos, Luis Amable Caisa Altamirano and Riqui Perez (the “main customer”).
Guerrero was also charged with ”grand larceny conspiracy” for using his position as a driver for American Distributors, a private company that delivers lost luggage, to steal valuables from airline passengers’ bags.” Which is why we should always check our luggage.
Scuba Sport Magazine, the only diving magazine geared strictly to the recreational diver, and it’s Publisher were featured DEMA’s Member Spotlight in todays DEMAIL, sent out to over 5000 industry professionals.
“We’re thrilled to have been chosen by DEMA to showcase ourselves. Scuba Sport has rapidly evolved into a high quality publication.”
Scuba Sport has already made plans to exhibit at the DEMA Show again this year. Be sure stop by and see for yourself what all the buzz is about. We’ll be in booth 2563.
In case you missed it, you can see the spotlight by clicking here.
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.
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.
The unseasonally mild temperatures in Chicago brought out many who are already thinking about Spring diving. Scuba Sport was there meeting everyone.
Our own Scuba Barbie (Janis) met the real scuba Barbie. They have already become fast friends exchanging e-mail addresses, twitter names and have friended each other on Facebook. To see more from the 2012 Our World Underwater show, please visit the album on our Facebook page.
Be sure to “like” us while you are there!