Diving News

THREE giant man-made reefs will be built off the NSW coast to boost fish stocks for recreational fishing. The State Government will today announce it will construct the reefs within three nautical miles of Newcastle, Sydney and the Illawarra. Each reef will be made of four steel or concrete pyramid-like structures up to 11 metres high, anchored together. Similar reefs have been built in South Korea and Japan - two of the world's leaders in the technology. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said an environmental assessment had been made of the possible biological, biophysical, economic, social and environmental impacts of using artificial reefs
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For $20,000, companies and individuals can attach their name to tons of concrete railroad ties and culvert pipes in a plan by St. Lucie County to sell naming rights for 23 planned artificial reefs. The names of those who purchase the rights will be stamped on private and county navigation maps for all to see
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On an illuminated wall in the American Museum of Natural History, three clear plastic tubes about 5-feet long and a couple inches in diameter automatically fill with water. In the first tube, a small amount shoots up, barely visible at the tube's bottom, representing the meager 3 gallons of water that the average Ethiopian subsists on daily. The middle tube fills about one quarter full, showing the more bountiful 30 gallons of water the average Briton uses in a day. Both amounts pale in comparison when water fills to the top of the third tube and shows the astounding 150 gallons of water that the average American uses in a day
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To marine biologists, "plastics" is a dirty word. Fish and birds can eat or become tangled in fishing gear or other plastic flotsam. But what about microscopic pieces of plastic in the oceans? They come from products used to clean ships or deteriorating larger pieces of plastic. In a study in Environmental Science and Technology, Emma L. Teuten of the University of Plymouth in England and colleagues point out that microscopic plastic is a potential problem, too. The particles can adsorb pollutants. The researchers looked at how plastic particles picked up a pollutant, phenanthrene. They found that plastic adsorbed far more of the chemical than sediments
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A vast rubbish dump, which covers an area bigger than Australia, is floating in the Pacific Ocean and research shows it is growing bigger. The rubbish collects in one area because of a clockwise trade wind that circulates around the Pacific rim. In his Tasmanian-built research vessel, Captain Charles Moore has just returned from a trip through the plastic stew floating between Hawaii and San Francisco
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Loggerhead sea turtles dug their fewest nests in two decades on Florida beaches this year, their ninth straight year of decline, initial tallies show. That is making some scientists worry about the long-term survival of Florida's best-known sea turtle and one of its top ecotourism attractions. Brevard's beaches are the largest nesting site in the Western Hemisphere for loggerheads. Thousands of people are drawn to the Space Coast annually to go on "turtle walks"
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More than one in three of Europe's freshwater fish species faces extinction because ecosystems are being destroyed, the World Conservation Union said Thursday. Scientists from Switzerland and Germany have found that 200 of the 522 species of European freshwater fish are threatened by the rapid development of agriculture and industry over the past 100 years, the group said. The union, a network of nations, agencies and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries, said 12 species are already extinct
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The acting mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., is frustrated wildlife managers have allowed a group of beluga whales to get trapped in nearby lakes for the second winter in a row. Merven Gruben told CBC News that at least 40 beluga whales are currently swimming in small sections of open water on the frozen Husky Lakes, a chain of lakes between Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik
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A WWF survey has discovered several marine turtle nesting sites on the beaches of Senegal, prompting calls from conservationists to improve protection of the endangered species. The survey - conducted by WWF staff, Senegalese wildlife officials and the local community between July and September - discovered nine new green turtle nests on the beaches of Joal-Fadiouth in the Saloum Delta south of the capital, Dakar. Turtle tracks in the sand left by female turtles were also discovered at nearby Palmarine Beach as well as at Langue de Barbarie at the mouth of the Senegal River in the northern part of the country
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The mysterious "mass suicide" of 152 dolphins washed up on Iran's coast over the past month has alarmed environmentalists, with the blame pointed at regional fishing practices, officials said on Monday. In September, 79 striped dolphins were found washed up near Jask port in southern Iran, and last week another 73 were found dead in the same area. Pictures of rows of the corpses have been widely featured in Iranian newspapers, which said the dolphins had "committed suicide" -- behaviour the animals have occasionally exhibited in the wild. "The suicide of dolphins on Jask's coast continues," Iran's state run-newspaper wrote on Saturday. "Locals tried to put the animals back in the water but they refused to return
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