NEWS
Hone your Galapagos image-making
Tour operator Aqua-Firma is encouraging photographers who have visited Galapagos to enter a contest for which it is sole sponsor, the Galapagos Conservation Trust photography competition. Read more...
Anglesey Divers’ Caroline Sampson dies at 51
The many scuba divers familiar with north Wales centre Anglesey Divers have been shocked by the sudden death of its co-owner Caroline Sampson at the age of 51. Read more...
Fun & games for divers in Brighton
Scuba divers are being invited to join in with “Europe's largest free beach festival”, the 2019 fund-raising Paddle Round the Pier event on the Brighton & Hove seafront in Sussex over the weekend of 6-7 July. Read more...
No sweat: divers report Agent Orange find
Two US scuba divers who found a barrel in a mountain lake labelled as containing the notorious Vietnam War chemical weapon Agent Orange had their report put aside by health agencies for 10 months - but a media outcry now appears to have spurred the authorities to take action. Read more...
Up on Indonesian walls…
Bunaken Oasis Dive Resort & Spa in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, has become the third offering from Best Boutique Collection, which already promotes dive resorts in the Philippines. Read more...
Mission 2020 hits halfway mark
Mission 2020, the dive-industry conservation initiative announced last summer, reached the midway point in its intended lifespan on World Oceans Day on 8 June. Now the 150 international organisations that have signed up have only 12 months left to fulfil pledges they have made to reduce their environmental impact. Read more...
Cage nights with jumbo squid
Diving in the Sea of Cortez with Humboldt squid, the smaller cousin of the Pacific giant squid, is a real one-off experience, and it’s being offered on the liveaboard yacht Nautilus Gallant Lady. Read more...
Team effort cracks Tasmanian cave puzzle
A Tasmanian cave-diving team has made the long-sought link between Australia’s deepest and fourth-deepest-known caves – and broken the national cave-depth record in the process. Read more...
Dragonfish secrets of dental invisibility
Its name might mean “shiny loosejaw”, but its prey don’t see the danger until it’s too late. The unusually crystalline nanostructure of deep-sea dragonfish teeth is unique, rendering them virtually invisible, according to US researchers who have been analysing these teeth for the first time. Read more...
Diver hit by dhoni prop
A German scuba diver is reported to have been seriously injured after being struck in the leg by the propeller of a dhoni near Paradise Island Resort at Lankanfinolhu in the Maldives. Read more...
‘Highly protected’ English seas review welcomed
Timed to coincide with World Oceans Day (8 June), the UK Government has launched a review into introducing an elevated level of protection for England’s marine life and habitats in the form of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). Read more...
Now Cyprus has too many fish
With scuba divers reporting seeing 20 or more lionfish on a single dive around Cyprus, marine conservationists have held the first organised series of culls in the eastern Mediterranean island's coastal waters. Read more...
Wreck find surprises researchers
The wreck of an unidentified 19th-century sailing ship has been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico by chance during sea trials of the research vessel Okeanos Explorer, operated by the USA’s National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Read more...
Delay in raising alarm at Tubbataha
A search and rescue operation is under way for a scuba diver in the remote Tubbataha Reef area of Palawan in the Philippines. Read more...
Shore-diver dies in Devon
A man has died following a shore-dive in Babbacombe Bay, Devon. Read more...
D-Day attractions protected 75 years on
Submerged Valentine and Centaur tanks, D7 armoured bulldozers and Mulberry floating harbour components, many of which have long been attractions for Channel scuba divers, have been given protected status to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Read more...
Saturday is World Oceans Day
World Oceans Day is set for next Saturday (8 June), and more than 50 official events have been organised around the British Isles, ranging from beach-cleans, barbecues and film screenings to debates. Read more...
Clean-up record bid in Florida
Scuba divers from around the world are invited to get together at Deerfield Beach on Florida's east coast on Saturday, 15 June in a bid to help break the world record for the largest underwater clean-up. Read more...
‘Paper parks’ warning as English Blue Belt extended
Environmentalists have welcomed today’s announcement (31 May) of a near-doubling in the number of Marine Conservation Zones in England’s “Blue Belt” - while warning against the danger of creating mere “paper parks”. Read more...
Divers ID historic slave shipwreck
The remains of the 19th-century schooner Clotilda, the last-known ship to bring slaves from Africa to the USA, have been found in Alabama’s Mobile River. Read more...
Farrell death: ‘No prospect of convictions’
The parents of Bethany Farrell, the British woman who died on her first dive on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef four years ago, have been told by Queensland’s Office of Industrial Relations (OIR) that there is “no reasonable prospect of securing a conviction” against a diving instructor and skipper involved in the incident. Read more...
Divers urged to back crawfish recovery
Scuba divers are being asked to show that they care about resurgent crawfish - by pledging not to catch any of the spiny crustaceans. Read more...
How tiger sharks prey on songbirds
Tiger sharks have never been thought of as fussy eaters, but scientists in the USA have been surprised to discover that, for juveniles of the species, land-based birds such as sparrows, woodpeckers and doves have become a regular part of their diet. Read more...
Life-saver dies on wreck-dive
A scuba diver who had saved many lives while working as an officer with the Garda, the Irish police force, has died during a 70m-deep wreck-dive off Ireland’s south-east coast. Read more...
Harmoni coming next year
Under construction and set to launch in July 2020, the 48m Emperor Harmoni will be Emperor Divers Indonesia’s second liveaboard, and is said to be one of the few in the region to have two engines. Read more...
British diver’s body found
Police divers have found the body of a British scuba diver who went missing in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain on Thursday (23 May). Read more...
British diver missing in Spain
Air and sea searches have been continuing for a 70-year-old British scuba diver who became separated from his dive-group off the Murcia coast of south-east Spain. Read more...
Angels & Girls diving for cash
US-based shark-conservation charity Shark Angels says it is running its third annual online auction from 27 May until 9 June, to coincide with World Oceans Day on 8 June. Read more...
Three weeks to spare?
Triton Bay is a diving hotspot just south of Raja Ampat in West Papua, and Divequest says that, with few liveaboards reaching the area, you could be one of very few divers to experience rare wonders – from whale sharks to flasher wrasse and the walking shark that was discovered only in 2008, the year the bay was declared a marine protected area. Read more...
