TOFO: Mozambique's Hottest Spot

Galapagos still at risk

The World Heritage Committee decided to remove the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) from the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger, despite IUCN's recommendation to the contrary. "Threats from tourism, invasive species and overfishing are still factors and the situation in the Galapagos remains critical".

Trawlers damaging precious sponge beds

Deep-sea trawling is damaging the UK's sponge beds and threatening a potential source of medical cures, scientists have warned.

New technique to collect DNA from dolphin breath

A new technique to harmlessly extract DNA from dolphin breath could assist conservation efforts aimed at marine mammals.

Sea level rise looks inevitable, even with intervention

New findings by international research group suggest that sea level will likely be 30-70 centimetres higher by 2100 than at the start of the century even if all but the most aggressive geo-engineering schemes are undertaken to mitigate the effects of global warming.

NOAA Stands by "the oil is mostly gone" conclusion

Scientists aboard a U.S. research ship have started an around-the-clock search for elusive signs of oil lurking beneath the Gulf of Mexico's surface in what they jokingly "Operation Dipstick".

Great Barrier Reef's great-grandmother is unearthed

JUST 600 metres away from the Great Barrier Reef, the jewel in Australia's crown, a less spectacular but more ancient reef has been discovered.

Gulf spill: Is the oil lurking underwater?

What has happened to the 4.9 million barrels of oil from the busted Macondo well? Some say it's all dispersed - others say it'll be around for months.

Geoengineering won't undo sea level rises

None of the proposed technologies will stop sea levels rising this century and swamping low-lying lands, a modelling study finds.

Australia and Japan have most Diverse Marine Life

The Census for Marine Life has found that the most bio-diverse waters so far studied are around Australia and Japan. These each feature almost 33000 species. However, this could change as some highly diverse areas such as Indonesia and Madagascar have yet to report.

Horned turtles butchered to extinction

The giant horned turtles of the Pacific became extinct later than we thought - and we were to blame. The half-tonne meiolaniid turtles were thought to have died out 30 to 40,000 years ago. With no signs of human interference, climate change was blamed. Now butchered turtle remains have been found in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

Update: Diving Spain - Tenerife, Medes Islands...

SCUBA Travel have updated their guide to diving Spain, including Tenerife and the excellent diving around the Medes Islands - http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/europe/spain.html

High Levels of Carbon Dioxide Threaten Oyster Survival

It has been widely reported that the build up of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air, which is caused by human behavior, will likely lead to climate change and have major implications for life on earth. But less focus has been given to global warming's evil twin, ocean acidification, which occurs when CO2 lowers the pH of water bodies, thus making them more acidic. This lesser known phenomenon may have catastrophic effects on all sea life.

SCUBA News 123 Now Online

The latest issue of SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) is now freely available on-line. In this issue: diving India, Philippines underwater photo gallery, diving Thailand, win a dive computer, creature of the month and the marine environmental news from around the world.

Deep oil in Gulf appears to have vanished

Just weeks after BP capped its broken Deepwater Horizon well, the plumes of oil and dispersant in the Gulf's deep waters have gone.

Rescue Plan for Endangered Sea Turtles in the Gulf of Mexico

Wildlife experts have announced an ambitious plan to rescue hundreds of turtle nests and eggs from the potential impacts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The strategy has never been used before on such a massive scale.

Oil spill dispersant could damage coral populations

Coral populations in the Gulf of Mexico could fall because of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster - from contact not with oil but with the dispersant that's supposed to get rid of it.

Marine Recorders Being Used to Assess Ecological Impact of Gulf Oil Spill on Whales

Like giant canaries in a coal mine, whales reflect the health of their environment. Now scientists are placing marine recording units in the Gulf to listen to whales and document the state of that oil-threatened ecosystem.

Give Sharks a Fighting Chance

It's been one month since Project AWARE launched the "Give Sharks a Fighting Chance" petition to demand international protection for critical shark species on the brink. In just a few short weeks more than 30,000 divers have voiced their concern. If you've not yet taken signed the petition to protect threatened sharks species like hammerheads, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish, you can do so at http://www.projectaware.org/givesharksachance

How does a bowhead whale smell? Quite well, actually .

Bowhead whale brains have a fully developed olfactory system, questioning assumptions that the largest animals on Earth have a lousy sense of smell

Fish certification scheme shows its true colours

Several landmark studies have, over the past 20 years, highlighted the problem of mislabelled fish. One-third of fish on sale in the US is not the species it is sold as, and one-quarter of cod and haddock sold in Ireland is neither of these. Now an exercise in eco-forensics has found that the certification scheme run by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a global not-for-profit organisation, offers a way of ensuring you get what you think you're buying.

SCUBA news from around the world

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