DIVING NEWS
Shark fatality linked to conservation success
The death of a swimmer following an attack by a great white shark last week has been linked by a shark expert to the successful restoration of seal and consequently shark populations off the USA’s north-east coast. Read more...
Peristera wreck: smile, you’re on camera
Much has been made of the liberation of Greece’s underwater heritage after decades of restriction by the archaeological authorities, but they are taking few chances as the ancient Peristera shipwreck is opened to recreational scuba divers on Monday (3 August). Read more...
Gliders reveal whales’ breakfast habits
Some of us are morning people and others not, and it seems the same is true of cetaceans. A new British-led study has found that, while some of the thousands of sperm whales in the Mediterranean are active around the clock, others start their day in a laid-back way – and the researchers think they know why. Read more...
Half-million for Sussex coast project
A boost for the English Channel coast has come with news that the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded a £528,600 grant to Sussex Wildlife Trust for its Wild Coast Sussex Project. Read more...
Divers locate Americas’ earliest ochre-mine
Cave-divers have discovered a red-ochre mine in a cave system on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula – and learnt that it was worked between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, making it the oldest-known such mine in the Americas. Read more...
Brothers die on scooter dive
Two brothers died while scuba diving as one tried to rescue the other at the Portroe inland dive-centre in Co Tipperary, Ireland on Saturday, 4 July. Read more...
Two diver deaths in Australia
It’s unusual for an entry-level scuba diver to die on a dive - or for any level of diver to be killed by a shark. Unfortunately both of these rarities were reported to have occurred off Australia’s east coast on the same day, Saturday, 4 July. Read more...
It’s still a small diving world
If commercial flights are available and pre-entry Covid-19 testing accepted, the Azores, Bahamas, Barbados, Croatia, Gibraltar, Madeira, Spain and Turkey appear to be the most immediately viable overseas destinations for English scuba divers, as the UK government relaxes coronavirus travel restrictions. Read more...
Divers’ ancient finds confound experts
Scuba divers have found stone artefacts off north-western Australia that date back as far as 8500 years, to when the archaeological sites would have been on dry land. The submerged sites are the first of their kind to have been found on Australia's continental shelf. Read more...
Charter boats untied – but questions remain
Dive charter-boats in England can get back to business, and club-boats can take larger groups aboard from Saturday, 4 July, now that the government has withdrawn confusing guidance it issued on 11 June. Read more...
X-ray grant lights up wreck investigators
Analysing encrusted artefacts recovered from centuries-old shipwrecks can be challenging without risking damage to the items. Now an advanced X-ray machine is to be made available to scan artefacts from historic wrecks such as the Rooswijk in UK seas, thanks to a £150,000 grant from charity the Wolfson Foundation. Read more...
Video-sledging reveals deep coral gardens
Soft-coral gardens have been found at depths beyond 500m off western Greenland, the first habitat of its kind to have been identified in this part of the North Atlantic - and they were revealed by scientists from the UK and Greenland using a GoPro. Read more...
Covid scorecard developed for diver safety
A scorecard designed to help scuba divers exposed to or infected by the Covid-19 virus calculate whether it is safe for them to resume diving has been produced by the UK Diving Medical Committee. Read more...
Divers unite with swimmers on pools
Continued closure of public swimming pools in the UK because of the coronavirus pandemic is causing problems for scuba dive-club members who don’t have ready access to open water, and often depend on them for training. Read more...
Dolphins pick up ‘shelling’ habit from friends
Dolphins are like the great apes in that they learn foraging techniques not only from their mothers but from their friends – that’s the surprise finding from a new scientific study carried out in Shark Bay in Western Australia. Read more...
Bodies found on ‘fallen leaves’ wreck
The remains of hundreds of people are claimed to have been located on a 120-year-old shipwreck off New Zealand - but the documentary-makers who found them knew that they had already been long dead when the vessel sank in 1902. Read more...
Giant cuttlefish show up in force
More giant Australian cuttlefish have returned to their breeding ground this year than have been seen since the last century. Read more...
Caymans divers do have their uses
Scuba divers in the Cayman Islands, who had until recently felt they were being sidelined in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, have now been asked to help combat another disease - in corals. Read more...
DeeperBlue in your ear
The DeeperBlue Podcast, which is launched today (23 June), is a weekly half-hour audio guide on freediving and scuba-diving issues as well as ocean advocacy. Read more...
Son follows father on deepest dive
Fifty-two-year-old American Kelly Walsh has undertaken a 10.925km-deep submersible dive in the Western Pool of Challenger Deep - the location famously first visited by his father Captain Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe Trieste 60 years before. Read more...
Italian divers find 16th-century wreck
The wreck of the Santo Spirito & Santa Maria di Loreto, one of the biggest Italian merchant vessels of the 16th century, is believed to have been located by two scuba divers at a depth of 50m off the north Italian coast near Genoa. Read more...
Out with whales? Ask about decibels
Human interaction with whales in most parts of the world is limited to snorkelling or simply watching from a boat-deck to avoid undue disturbance of the mammals, though many scuba divers build one or other activity into their diving holidays. Read more...
Why big veggies rule the reefs
Large herbivores are the future of reef-fish, according to new scientific research in Australia. What is described as a breakthrough study has revealed that it’s the diets of different fish species that dictate how fast each one evolves. Read more...
JULY issue of DIVER Magazine out now!
TO ENSURE prompt delivery of DIVER Magazine during the current period of coronavirus disruption a special FREE digital version of the JULY issue has been produced to replace the normal paper copy - with no reduction to subscribers' overall paper-copy entitlement. Read more...
When divers need a bigger knife
Video has appeared online of an attempt by a diving instructor in the Gulf of Thailand to free a whale shark from a long trailing rope knotted around its tail. Read more...
Underwater Internet a step closer
Can’t even wait to get back to the surface to share your latest underwater photos or videos? Scientists in Saudi Arabia believe they have found a way to provide scuba divers with a sub-aquatic Internet service. Read more...
Official confusion preceded dive-charter ban
Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water.... The UK government’s decision last week to maintain the ban on charter-boat hire imposed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic came despite indications to the industry that it could head back out to sea. Read more...
Deep gardening shot is UN winner
This unusual underwater photograph by Joanna Smart emerged as the theme winner in this year’s United Nations World Oceans Day photo competition. The theme for the day (8 June) was “Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean”, and the image was entered in the Innovation category. Read more...
Dive charters ruled out in England
Hopes of an early resumption of dive charter-boat operations in England have been dashed with the publication by the UK government of new guidance to the industry yesterday (11 June). Read more...
