Diving News

East Asian countries are importing between 50% and 90% more Russian sockeye salmon than Russia is reporting as caught, according to a new report from WWF and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. Analysis of data from officially published sources reveals that from 2003 to 2005, the estimated excess quantity of Russian sockeye salmon entering East Asian markets was between 8,000 and 15,000 tonnes each year, worth US$40-76 million
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Tel Aviv University Professor (and alumnus) Hudi Benayahu, head of TAU's Porter School of Environmental Studies, has found that soft corals, an integral and important part of reef environments, are simply melting and wasting away. And Prof. Benayahu believes this could mean a global marine catastrophe. Environmental stress, says Benayahu, is damaging the symbiotic relationship between soft corals and the microscopic symbiotic algae living in their tissues. There is no doubt that global warming is to blame, warns the marine biologist, explaining that this symbiotic relationship is key for the survival of most soft corals
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North American online magazine, the Underwater Journal's latest release is available for free download
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Italy's dive expo, AdiSub, takes place in Milan December 1st and 2nd. This is the 3rd annual event for AdiSub. Our Italian partner, the largest diving related website in Italy, Scubaportal.it & Scubaportal.net (English/international version), will be exhibiting at the show and reporting from the show floor
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Scientists involved in monitoring changes in Australian waters say more needs to be done to slow the effects of climate change. Fifty scientists from around the world are in Hobart this week discussing the Argo ocean robot network. Scientists deployed 3,000 floating devices across the globe to measure salinity, temperature and currents
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The full environmental impacts of yesterday's oil spill in the Black Sea would not be known for some time, says WWF. At least four ships sank, including one tanker believed to be carrying about 1200 tonnes of oil, and four others were in danger of breaking up after a severe storm hit the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea on Sunday
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Tiny ocean plankton can reduce global warming by soaking up unexpectedly large amounts of carbon dioxide but their carbon-bloated cells might damage marine food chains, scientists said on Sunday. Experiments in a Norwegian fjord showed that plankton - small drifting plants or creatures - could absorb up to 39 percent of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, in seawater pens that simulate projected climate conditions to 2150
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An upcoming episode (Nov. 14) of History Channel's Monsterquest will supposedly show the largest squid ever caught on video. A squid researcher with film crew in tow filmed a squid estimated to be between 50-100 feet long at 1,000 feet in the Sea of Cortez
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Dozens of dead and injured seabirds found coated in black goo are the most visible victims of a 58,000-gallon (220,000-liter) oil spill in the San Francisco Bay that scientists say could threaten wildlife for years. The spill fouled miles of coastline, sending environmentalists scrambling Thursday to save the bay's birds, fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals
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Members of the international body responsible for the management of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea must agree to a moratorium on fishing for this imperilled species or risk the end of a valuable fishery. WWF is calling on the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) - meeting this week in Antalya, Turkey, from 9 to 18 November - to support a multi-annual closure of the fishery for at least 3 years to give stocks a chance of recovery
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