Matthew Young and Cameron James Avenell, who were convicted of theft of Palau’s underwater artifacts, were sentenced to a jail term of three months and six months, respectively.

Chief Justice Arthiur Ngiraklsong also ordered Young to pay a US$5,000 fine and Avenell US$12,000.

Young was found guilty of violating the Lagoon Monument Act, grand larceny, malicious mischief and conversion of public property.

He was sentenced six months for each violation.

CDNN :: Palau Scuba Looters Go To Jail

Overfishing presents a much greater risk to the kelp forest ecosystems that span the West Coast — from Alaska to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula — than the effects of run-off from fertilizers or sewage from the shore, say scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The findings have important implications for the design of California’s Marine Protected Areas.

In an article published in the May 26 issue of Science, researchers describe the first study to compare the top-down versus bottom-up human influences on the food chain of the kelp forest ecosystems.

Underwater Times | Study: Overfishing Puts Southern California Kelp Forest Ecosystems at Risk; ‘So Sensitive’

Simon Jeffery, 36, who has worked for Dive Timor Lorosae for three years leading guided dives and captaining their boat, waxes lyrical about the potential for diving in the young nation.

“Big tour organisers come out here and love the place — it’s world-class diving,” he says, comparing it to Bali and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

“The exciting thing about it is that it’s all virgin territory — there are virtually 1,000 — or 10,000 — dive sites out there that have never been dived before,” he enthuses.

“At traditional dive destinations like Thailand and Fiji now there’ll be 200 people at a site and you can’t see the fish.”

The humpback population roaming the North Pacific, estimated at about 10,000, is believed to have been growing at annual rate of about 7 percent since the mid-1990s. And as more whales swim to Hawaii from icy feeding grounds off Alaska, Canada, Russia and Japan, boaters are navigating around some 1,000 calves born in Hawaiian waters each year.

“As long as the population continues to get bigger, it’s going to keep happening,” said Joseph Mobley, a professor at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu who researches whales.

Whale collisions on the rise around Hawaii

Several friends of mine have told me about diving in Bali over the last few months, and the Liberty shipwreck continually crops up as a place to visit. You can walk in straight off the beach to go see the Liberty, and it’s a haven of marine life at whatever depth you decide to explore it. Besides the Liberty, there are numerous other sites to explore in the Tulamben area, and if you get very lucky, you might get to see the legendary Mola Mola, or sunfish.

Curiosity caused Tan to dive head-long into the hobby about 10 years ago. He is captivated by the ecology beneath the water’s surface.

And he still hasn’t satisfied his seemingly insatiable curiosity. Instead, he has taken his hobby to a new level: He has become a diving instructor.

That combination – diving and teaching – helps Tan escape the stresses, and psychological burdens, that come from his day job.

Whenever he feels stressed and tired, he plans a trip to the colourful world beneath the sea.

“It is not an exaggeration that I find something new each time,” Tan said, with a broad smile.

I know just how Tan feels. I became an instructor for the same reasons. I wasn’t looking for a new career but sharing the experience of diving with students helps me “escape the stresses, and psychological burdens,” of my day job

We only ended up doing one dive on Sat. and one dive on Sun. but both dives were enjoyable. I would be more enthusiastic but we’re both idiots so the diving was not as good as it could have been. Jason had purchased a guide to diving Monterey that had all of the details on the various dive spots but we forgot it at the restaurant we had dinner at Friday night so we totally missed the actual dive spot at the Breakwater. The best part of the dive site starts at the break wall and goes out from there. We started at the break wall and headed in towards shore missing out on the good stuff.

Sunday was a little better. We were supposed to take a 2pm boat but at 2pm there was no boat and both of us had long drives home (5 + hours for me). Instead of waiting any longer for the boat we headed up to Lover’s Point Beach to do another shore dive from there. Diving Monterey is a lot like diving Catalina, Anacapa or any of the local So. Cal. spots but with little twists. For instance, as we were kicking out an otter goes scooting by us. Jason said that another one buzzed right over us after we descended but I didn’t catch that one.

On the way in, we came in close to this grouping of rocks sticking up out of the water and perched on the rocks were some harbor seals. I wish they had been in the water playing with us but as we swam by they just looked over and acknowledged us but didn’t seem in the mood.

All in all, even though we only got in two dives (and botched one of them) it wasn’t bad. There’s a ton of marine life that we don’t get down south so it’s always fun to dive something new.

Check out the pictures.

But, how can a day of diving with the sea lions be bad? Our first dive was the rookery where we had a small group of underwater friends to play with. Second dive we headed up to The Anchorage and our friends were there as well. Last dive we made back at the rookery where it seems conditions had improved slightly.

All in all, not a bad day of diving though it’s a little early in the season for the full sea lion experience as most of the females are just birthing pups and they are too young to come out and play. In a few months when those little guys and gals are more free to roam it should be one heck of a dive.