Great white sharks more endangered than tigers

Fewer great white sharks are left in the oceans than there are tigers surviving on Earth.

Canadian expert Dr Ronald O'Dor said the two top predators are almost equally under threat, but the plight of great whites needed greaster attention

Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in San Diego, he told how the discovery was made by colleagues from the Census of Marine Life.

He said: "I recently heard a report from the team that's been tagging great white sharks. The estimated total population of great white sharks in the world's oceans is actually less than the number of tigers.

"We hear an awful lot about how endangered tigers are but apparently great white sharks are pretty close to the same level. Some people say I don't care, they eat people, but I think we have to give them a little space to live in.

"Until recently, people thought sharks were bad and there was no urge to save great whites. Now people are beginning to understand that they are rare and that they are a wonderful species."

The same meeting heard from experts warning that seep sea "bottom trawling" was causing untold damage to fragile reef ecosystems around the world.

The heavy fishing nets, dragged along the sea bed on large rubber rollers called "rockhoppers", smashed and flattened coral outcrops that provided vital refuges for fish and other marine species, said marine biologist Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, from the University of Plymouth.

He is calling for concerted international action to ban all bottom trawling from at risk habitats, many of which are yet to be identified.

Work by scientists involved in the Census of Marine Life (CoML) - a major worldwide project cataloguing life in the oceans - is now bringing to light the true extent of the destruction wrought by bottom trawling.

Dr Hall-Spencer, a leading CoML researcher, said: "Less than 1% of the estimated 50,000 seamounts have ever been surveyed and our research visits have revealed pristine coral reefs and many species that are brand new to science.

"However, over the past five years, these surveys have also worryingly revealed that all over the world, deep-sea habitats are suffering severe impacts from bottom trawling down to depths of 1,000 metres and more."

Many of the most threatened sites were cold water coral reefs in temperate zones that are still in the process of being discovered and explored, he said.

Scubageek enjoy life - and you can enjoy his logbook

It's a job we all dream of. Warm seas, golden beaches, cold beers at the end. Oh, and plenty of diving.

So if you want to see how a professional guide is enjoying life check out scubageek for a run day of his day 'at the office'.

The PADI instructor, aspiring writer, and rum enthusiast says he' running away from the American Dream on paradise islands around the world.

"I love my life!" he adds.

I bet you do!

Biggest crab in Britain claws its way to Birmingham

THE biggest crab ever seen in Britain has arrived at Birmingham’s National Sea Life.

A Japanese Spider Crab with a two-metre claw span, he has been christened ‘Crabzilla’.

“It is rumoured these crabs can grow as big as four metres,” said curator Graham Burrows, “big enough to straddle a car.
“Crabzilla certainly lends credence to those claims.”

The colossal crustacean has been flown to the UK from Japan and is ultimately bound for Belgium to take up permanent residence in a specially adapted display tank at a Sea Life centre in Blankenberge.

Having been quarantined in Dorset, however, Sea Life marine experts agreed that UK animal lovers deserved a chance to see him before he crosses the Channel.

The National Sea Life Centre’s open-topped ray tank has the icy cold waters Crabzilla needs, and will be his home until the end of March.

“He will absolutely dwarf the other crabs in there, but he’s not aggressive and they should have nothing to worry about,” said Graham.

The Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the largest known member of the ‘arthropod’ family…which includes all invertebrates with jointed limbs.

Crabzilla’s front limbs are his feeding arms, each over five feet long and ending in sizeable claws.

Found in the Pacific off Japan, the giant spider crabs are most common in waters between 200 and 300 metres deep but have been known to live as deep as 800 metres.

A Japanese delicacy when salted and steamed, eating them is however forbidden in the spring, when they lay their eggs.

For pics, click here

ONE of the web's top underwater photography sites, DivePhotoGuide.com, has launched a free series of comprehensive underwater photography tutorials written by professional underwater photographers.

"Whether you're just beginning in underwater photography, simply looking to improve or fine tuning your established skills, the DPG underwater photography guide is designed to provide practical underwater photography tips, equipment requirements, and lighting techniques that you can put to use the next time you hit the water," the website states.

It includes all manner of hints and tips for shooting everything from wide angle to macro to helping with strobes thanks to articles from some of the world's top underwater toggies including Dave Doubilet and Alex Mustard.

Check out that image - an example of close focus-wide angle "high impact" photography.

In one of the articles ,Alex Mustard offers a tutorial on making the most of the "classic technique to produce attention grabbing underwater photographs" including the best kind of kit to use and strobe positioning to get the best out of lighting.

Read it and be amazed at his images, it will make you desperate to get into the water with your camera.

Scuba diving Fujairah - artifical reefs take hold

A PLAN to use artificial materials to rehabilitate coral reefs 100 metres off the coast of Fujairah seems to be working, leaders of a conservation project have revealed.

Last June, 15 large reef balls – dome-shaped, concrete spheres with holes in the sides and top, some weighing more than two tonnes – were placed in the water in front of Le Méridien Al Aqah Hotel.

An additional 20 have been placed since, and an exploratory dive this week revealed that a variety of young and adult fish have made the reefs their home.

The structures are also covered in barnacles and what is believed to be the beginnings of soft coral.

“We’ve been monitoring the progress of the reef closely since we laid the first blocks,” said Simon Tambling, the managing partner of Al Boom divers.

The goal is to have soft corals form in five years, followed by hard versions in the long-term.

Patrick Antaki, the general manager of Le Méridien Al Aqah, which is also involved in the project, said the artificial reef was meant to help restore damage done by a cyclone that hit the coast in January 2008.

"We wanted to be responsible for the environment that directly surrounds us,” he said.

There are already plenty of juvenile banner fish, puffer fish and jacks using it as their home.

Pike display intelligent hunting patterns

DO pike hunt in packs?

Not a question you'll find an easy answer to on the internet but reports from divers at Dosthill Quarry suggest they may have learned some interesting new feeding techniques.

Normally lone predators who favour the "strike first, ask questions later!" style of hunting, it would appear the group of five adults at Dosthill are stealing ideas from dolphins and sharks.

Dive site boss Ian Forster said: "There are five of them hunting in a pack!!

"They are circling around the fry, herding them together in a large ball up against the quarry wall, and then attacking the shoal in two's and three's leaving a few pike to keep the ball together.

"This displays the same intelligent behaviour that is seen in dolphins!!"

Anyone who has seen Blue Planet or Nature's Greatest Events will know the drill. Fish hungry pack hunters like dolphins will surround the smaller fish, forcing them into a tighter an tighter ball by blowing bubbles to scare them or circling the shoal.

Gradually, they increase speed and narrow their path, trapping the fish in a tight ball against the surface before ripping through the centre of the ball for a feast.

pic from Jamie Parker's African Space sardine run tour

pic from Jamie Parker's African Space sardine run tour

pic from Jamie Parker's African Space sardine run tour

The pike are normally found on the back shelf over the weed beds and around the van and caravan, typically hunting in the morning and evening so it might be worth a look next time you are down there.

Galapagos Sea Lions set up colony in Peru

A COLONY of sea lions endemic to the Galápagos Islands have established a colony off the coast of northern Peru as a result of increased sea surface temperature.

The Organization for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Animals, found the colony, including 30 sea lions, had travelled 932 miles (1,500km), from Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands to the Foca Island, off the coast of Peru’s Piura district.

Orca president, Carlos Yaipén, said the colony was the first reported outside the Galápagos archipelago and due to an increase in sea temperature.

He said: "Individual sea lions have been reported stranded in Ecuador and Colombia, here as well, but never a colony. This is due to their adaptation to climate change. The conditions of the sea around Piura are now similar to the Galápagos.”

Researchers say surface sea temperature around off the coast of Piura has increased over the last ten years from an average of 17C to 23C. Sea temperature around the Galápagos Islands averages 25C.

Canon IXUS 980 underwater

Well here it is, the new holiday camera, the Canon IXUS 980.

Compact but with manual features - focus, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and a choice of two apertures per each focal length.

But more importantly it finally gives me the option of attaching a wide angled lens (and an additional macro at that).

The whole package was not cheap. The INON wide angle lens itself was £300 and the housing specific adaptor another £70. But it does offer a greater field of vision that I was never going to get with my G9 without the necessary Ikelite housing it needed.

The below image shows images without and then with the wide angle and the increased field. It was not a true test of the capabilities of the lens are re sharpness out to the edges, just simply a straight-out-of-the-box blast to show my other half why I'd spent all this extra cash on a new camera.

So how did it perform?

This is very much a warm-water camera. The buttons are too close together to operate with gloved hands. Sadly, I have also sacrificed full control of aperture that the G9 offered and also the option of shooting in RAW.

When the camera lens is at it's widest, you only get the choice of F2.8 or F8 (fully zoomed it offers F5.8 and F16). That said, using manual focus allows you to get around the lack of full aperture control to an extent to get those macro-type shots with shallow depth of field. A bit fiddly underwater, it can still produce some quality stuff if you persevere and it is a function I will be using permanently from now on.

It definitely needs a strobe for underwater use. The slow shutter speeds needed when using the available light in the pool test left slight blurring from camera shake.

The Powershot S90 with the Ikelite housing might have been the next best in comparison to the G9, but at a cost of an extra couple of hundred quid.

That might be the next step for UK underwater photography but the IXUS 980 represents a chance to do wide angle stuff abroad without the need to lug around large and heavy camera gear (and the extra cost of excess baggage charged by airlines).

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the limited test carried out in the pool.