Scuba With Bill

More than 60 countries agreed Sunday to ban the killing of sharks for their fins in the Atlantic Ocean, a move that conservationists hope will increase protection of threatened species around the world.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas drew up the agreement at its annual meeting being held in New Orleans. The group, which oversees management of many Atlantic fish species, acted on a proposal by the United States.

Read the rest at ENN

Santa dove into the shark tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific hoping to get kids interested in marine life. In addition to seeing Santa, children watched as other animals were treated to special holiday treats, including icy candy canes and cookies.

Read it here.

Bamboo sharks released at Cape Panwa

CAPE PANWA: The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PBMC) and Phuket Provincial Administration Organization pooled their resources and released 99 Indonesian Bamboo sharks yesterday in a gesture to mark the birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyedej.

The sharks - between six and 12 months old and measuring up to 50 centimeters long - were bred at the PMBC.

Harmless to humans, these creatures - which reach around a meter long when fully grown - can, surprisingly, live out of water for up to 12 hours.

Although bamboo sharks are not classed as endangered, there is concern that accidental or deliberate fishing may soon begin to take their toll on the species.

Brought to you by:
The Phuket Gazette
12:01 local time (GMT +7)

This is very sad but it appears that poachers have killed several of the dolphins who protected swimmers from a great white. The Scotsman reports:

The mutilated carcasses of the two bottlenose dolphins were found on Wednesday in the Awaroa River, which branches off the upper reaches of Whangarei Harbour on North Island’s east coast.

Staff from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) believe the dolphins died about two weeks ago after drowning in fishing nets set out by criminals poaching fish. DOC officer Richard Parrish said their tails had been hacked off, probably to free them from the net.

. . . read the entire story.

The 62-year-old photographer, along with an A-team of biologists, oceanographers, and two of Jacques Cousteau’s grandchildren, will venture to the Mariana Trench, just off the coast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. There they will drop a remotely operated camera system 7 miles down to the bottom of the deepest spot on Earth.

via Wired Magazine

Well worth checking out. Some interesting trivia the article offers:

220 feet: Depth at which compressed air becomes toxic and can cause seizures in divers.

558 feet: Only two people have held their breath to this depth: Audrey Mestre, who died in 2002 when her equipment failed; and her husband, Pipin Ferreras, who tied her unofficial dive record one year later.

1,010 feet: Scuba-diving record set by Brit diver John Bennett in 2001.

1,969 feet: Maximum diving depth of nuclear-powered attack subs.

5,187 feet: Maximum diving depth of the elephant seal.

12,434 feet: Average ocean depth.

12,500 feet: Depth of the wreck of the Titanic discovered by a US-French team headed by Woods Hole researcher Robert Ballard in 1985.

36,201 feet: Deepest recorded ocean depth, taken by the Soviet submersible Vityaz in 1957.

A pod of dolphins is being credited with saving a group of lifeguards from a circling great white shark.

Lifeguard Rob Howes, his daughter Niccy, 15, Karina Cooper, 15, and Helen Slade, 16, were swimming 100m out to sea at Ocean Beach, near Whangarei, when seven bottlenose dolphins sped towards them and herded them together.

. . . via The New Zealand Herald

Poco was a beluga whale who seems to have been lost from his usual pals and decided to stay in Maine and befriend the locals. Despite the best efforts of wildlife officials young Poco didn’t want to return to the wild. He was known for playing with scuba divers and making visits to be with the local fishermen. Unfortunately, his body was found last week, washed ashore in South Portland.

“You are more likely to be killed by falling airplane parts or be hurt by using a room deoderizer than be attacked by a shark.”

– Researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, Ca.

Taken from the Nov. 2004 edition of Scuba Diving Magazine.

About.com has an interesting top ten list of barracuda facts. For instance, did you know that scientists still don’t know how to tell a male barracuda from a female?

I’ve been wanting to dive Monterey, Ca. ever since I went up there for my buddy Jason’s wedding reception. I finally got my chance. After some prodding on both sides we convinced each other to head to Monterey for a dive weekend.

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.