Stronger Shark Finning Ban Endorsed by European Parliament

Stronger Shark Finning Ban Endorsed by European Parliament

GetUp! - Help Save the Great Barrier Reef

GetUp! - Help Save the Great Barrier Reef

Real-life mermaid swims with whales

Underwater swimmer Hannah Fraser has been fascinated with mermaids since she was three years old. Hannah, 36, an Australian who now lives in LA, made her first mermaid tail at the age of nine, after seeing the film Splash with Daryl Hannah. Now she works as a model, actress and performer, swimming with whales, dolphins, stingrays and even sharks.

Stunning: Photographer Ted Grambeau captured beautiful photographs of 36-year-old Hannah Fraser swimming with whales in the wild to promote their conservation.

Hannah can hold her breath for up to two minutes and swim to depths of 45 feet, allowing her to move like a real mermaid, without the restraints of diving gear.In these images she is seen swimming with humpback whales off Vava'u Island, Tonga, to promote marine conservation and oppose whale hunting.

Hannah and her then husband Dave Rastovich, a surfer, were upset and frustrated after International Whaling Commission meetings where whaling nations were allowed to continue their slaughter under the guise of 'scientific research'.'It was depressing and we wanted to go somewhere to connect with the whales and to raise awareness,' said Hannah.

The couple flew to Tonga with photographer Ted Grambeau, who was able to capture beautiful images of humpbacks swimming with Hannah, in scenes documented by filmmaker Bali Strickland. 'A baby humpback was curious and actually came up to me,' said Hannah. 'The whales were singing so loudly and the baby whale was squealing, which sounds even louder under the water. It was a very powerful experience.'

Many photographs for anti-whaling campaigns show brutal acts including harpooning and whales being winched onto ships, which can be too horrific for ordinary observers. But Ted's images appear in the children's book, The Surfer and the Mermaid, and aim to inspire whale conservation. He added: 'All the shots of Hannah are really poetic - really just surreal, beautiful shots.'

In 2007, Hannah swam in the sea in Taiji, Japan, with 30 surfers, celebrities and musicians, in an attempt to halt the ruthless slaughter of thousands of dolphins by local fishermen. Hannah remembers: 'Half of the dolphins had been caught and the others were roped off in the middle of the bay to be herded towards the fishermen.

Deep blue: Hannah is seen here swimming with humpback whales off Vava'u Island,

Tonga, to raise awareness of marine life and oppose whale hunting

'Instead of being frightened, the dolphins were trying to come closer to us in their net, as if they knew we wanted to help them. 'But at this point the fishermen were hitting us with sticks and moving their boat propellers towards us. We couldn't get any closer and we couldn't save the dolphins. 'It was indescribable to see this happening and have to abandon them. I cried for hours afterwards. It was hard to be part of the human race at the point.'

Two years later, in 2009, Hannah swam in her tail with 14ft Great White Sharks off Guadalupe island, Mexico. 'I thought if I was going to be a professional mermaid I'd have to face my fear of sharks,' she admitted. After trying out the shark-infested waters in scuba gear, Hannah was about to put on her mermaid tail, when one of the sharks became trapped in the diver's cage. 'Luckily the shark freed itself in time. But it made me realise it was safer not to use the cage,' she said.

'I got my tail on and got into the water. I was supposed to be surrounded by divers, but in the mermaid tail I swim much faster than anyone else. I realised I was on my own, but I stayed calm.'

She added: 'Another time a shark turned round and came towards me, so I made a scary face and screamed at it in the water. Amazingly I scared it off. I felt invincible for months afterwards.' Filmmaker Rob Benavides is currently shooting a documentary about Hannah's life, which will feature her work as a model, diver, and sea-life campaigner. 'One of the imperative messages in marine conservation right now is over-fishing,' she said. 'We should be asking countries to better regulate their fishing industries.

'We shouldn't be eating any fish, but if any it should be only little ones. Large fish take years to grow and reach maturity. If we continue taking them from the ocean it will be a long time before stocks are replenished.' Hannah Fraser is featured in a new children's book Last Night I Swam With A Mermaid by Kimberley Muller.

Inspiration: Hannah says she made her first fish tail after seeing Daryl Hannah play a mermaid in the 1984 film Splash

Dubai's Planned Underwater Hotel

Dubai shipbuilder Drydocks World has signed on with Switzerland’s BIG InvestConsult, on behalf of partner Deep Ocean Technology (DOT), to become the sole construction contractor of the futuristic Water Discus Underwater Hotels in the Middle East. Tailored to the luxurious lifestyle, aspiring divers and marine life enthusiasts, the patent-protected concept by DOT is comprised of disc-shaped volumes that are both above and below the water’s surface, exploring the depths of the ocean while taking advantage of the warm climate.

The single water discus module works as an independent structure, with the possibility of joining other modules to create a larger resort complex. Each module consists of two discs; one disc is submerged ten-meters underwater and the other floats five to seven-meters above the sea’s surface. Both parts are connected by three structural “legs” and a vertical shaft containing a lift and stairway.

Enormous panes of glass frame the vibrant sea life within each of the twenty-one private rooms, located in the underwater disc. A special lighting system is integrated within each room, allowing visitors to illuminate the water world and view the sea creatures. Adjacent to these rooms is an underwater dive center and a fully stocked bar.

The above-water disc is comprised of a restaurant, spa, a special recreation area and a multifunctional lobby that is built inside an enormous swimming pool. The swimming pool can be accessed by the roof, along with a rooftop garden and the helicopter pad.

The safety of the occupants is placed at high priority. The structure is designed to withstand the most adverse weather conditions. And, in the event of any danger, the underwater disc will automatically surface. However, one must question the safety of the marine life if this hotel is constructed. DOT highlighted the fact that each disc is sized according to the local condition and has the ability to be relocated if “any changes in the environmental or economic conditions occur”.

Technology: Lech Rowinski (Technical University of Gdansk)
CEO: Arkadiusz Majerski
CFO: Jacek Zdrojewski
Company’s Development : Grzegorz Malenczuk
Architecture: Pawel Podwojewski
Executive Creative Director: Pawel Podwojewski
3D Artist: Dimitriy Belozertsev at MOTYW

Reference: Deep Ocean Technology, World Architecture News

Sexy Diver - Jessica Alba

Do you want to be a sexy diver? Need to get fit? Now we have the reason why Jessica Alba looks like this. So how can you become the next Jessica Alba thanks to Scuba Diving…

Think of the amount of calories you loose while scuba diving.

Here we go:

Shapely legs: Swimming with fins (flippers) is like water-based weight-training – firming the front of the thighs as you kick down and the back of the thighs as you kick up. 4 stars

Weight loss: Surprisingly good for burning energy. Someone weighing approximately 70kg (11st) burns 13 calories a minute while scuba diving, so a 45-minute dive would use 585 calories. 3 stars

Cardiorespiratory fitness: According to the British Thoracic Society, scuba divers tend to have larger-than-average lungs and an increased vital capacity (the maximum volume of air exhaled after inhalation). 4 stars

Upper-body strength: The back, shoulders and arms get a certain amount of work lugging around equipment, but once in the water, the upper body gets off lightly. Arms are usually folded across the chest or kept by the sides. 2 stars

Convenience: Even if you decide to dive in the Australia, it’s still an equipment-heavy, location-specific, expensive sport that requires a licence, and therefore tuition. 1 star

I can SEA clearly now

Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd Marine Wildlife Conservation Society has been released. He was bailed from a Frankfurt jail pending a decision on whether he will be extradited to Costa Rica, where he is wanted for supposedly endangering a Costa Rican fishing vessel whilst filming a documentary back in 2002.

On Friday (18th) a Frankfurt court ruled that he could be released on bail for around £200,000. A mystery donor stepped in and he was released on Monday (20th).The Captain was relieved to be out, “I didn't expect something that happened 10 years ago to sneak up on me in Germany.”

Watson must remain in Germany while the extradition case gets haggled over.

Luckily for Paul the Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla was in Germany on an official visit trying to drum up more foreign investment from Chancellor Angela Merkel. By the time she had arrived in Berlin more than 400 Sea Shepherd supporters had shown up to greet her.

Sea Shepherd called for a global day of action on Wednesday (23rd) asking people to go and stand outside German Embassies and protest. Demonstrations took place outside the German embassies and consulates in Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, US, South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Costa Rica and many other countries.

Keep checking SEA SHEPHERD website for news and updates.

NSW Acts to Protect Hammerhead Sharks

New South Wales Australia is heading an effort to save two species of hammerhead shark from extinction.

The NSW government has passed legislation to protect the great and scalloped hammerhead sharks in NSW waters, two species whose numbers are being endangered by local fishing and an appetite for shark fin soup.

An ammendment to the Fisheries Management Act 1994 lists the great hammerhead shark as vulnerable and the scalloped hammerhead shark as endangered under the act.

“The listing of these two species is a big leap forward in the conservation of these sharks in NSW waters,” said Alexia Wellbelove of Humane Society International. “These listings will ban the sale and possession of these threatened species and help to provide a safe haven for them in NSW waters.”

Great and scalloped hammerhead sharks are caught in the NSW Ocean Trap and Line Fishery, targeted by recreational fishers as well as being caught in the shark nets off NSW beaches. HSI has consistently called for the removal of bather protection nets off NSW beaches due to the impacts they have on protected species such as the grey nurse shark and hammerhead shark.

“Hammerhead sharks are targeted worldwide for their fins which are of high value. Efforts are underway globally to better conserve our shark species and this is a great first step taken by NSW to protect these sharks,” continued Ms Wellbelove. “We call on the Federal Government and other States to also consider listing these species to ensure they can be afforded the full protection they deserve, and now have in NSW, whilst in all Australian waters.”

Data from NSW, Queensland and international waters suggests that hammerhead sharks have declined by between 75% and more than 90% in less than two generations, representing a very high risk of extinction in the near future.

Notes: The final determinations of the Fisheries Scientific Committee for the great hammerhead shark, Sphyrna mokarran, and scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, are available at http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/species-protection/fsc/final

Plastic Trash Altering Ocean Habitats

A 100-fold upsurge in human-produced plastic garbage in the ocean is altering habitats in the marine environment, according to a new study led by a graduate student researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

In 2009 an ambitious group of graduate students led the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) to the North Pacific Ocean Subtropical Gyre aboard the Scripps research vessel New Horizon. During the voyage the researchers, who concentrated their studies a thousand miles west of California, documented an alarming amount of human-generated trash, mostly broken down bits of plastic the size of a fingernail floating across thousands of miles of open ocean.

At the time the researchers didn't have a clear idea of how such trash might be impacting the ocean environment, but a new study published in the May 9 online issue of the journal Biology Letters reveals that plastic debris in the area popularly known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has increased by 100 times over in the past 40 years, leading to changes in the natural habitat of animals such as the marine insect Halobates sericeus. These "sea skaters" or "water striders"—relatives of pond water skaters—inhabit water surfaces and lay their eggs on flotsam (floating objects). Naturally existing surfaces for their eggs include, for example: seashells, seabird feathers, tar lumps and pumice. In the new study researchers found that sea skaters have exploited the influx of plastic garbage as new surfaces for their eggs. This has led to a rise in the insect's egg densities in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

Such an increase, documented for the first time in a marine invertebrate (animal without a backbone) in the open ocean, may have consequences for animals across the marine food web, such as crabs that prey on sea skaters and their eggs.

"This paper shows a dramatic increase in plastic over a relatively short time period and the effect it's having on a common North Pacific Gyre invertebrate," said Scripps graduate student Miriam Goldstein, lead author of the study and chief scientist of SEAPLEX, a UC Ship Funds-supported voyage. "We're seeing changes in this marine insect that can be directly attributed to the plastic."

The new study follows a report published last year by Scripps researchers in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series showing that nine percent of the fish collected during SEAPLEX contained plastic waste in their stomachs. That study estimated that fish in the intermediate ocean depths of the North Pacific Ocean ingest plastic at a rate of roughly 12,000 to 24,000 tons per year.

The Goldstein et al. study compared changes in small plastic abundance between 1972-1987 and 1999-2010 by using historical samples from the Scripps Pelagic Invertebrate Collection and data from SEAPLEX, a NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer cruise in 2010, information from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation as well as various published papers.

In April, researchers with the Instituto Oceanográfico in Brazil published a report that eggs of Halobates micans, another species of sea skater, were found on many plastic bits in the South Atlantic off Brazil.

"Plastic only became widespread in late '40s and early '50s, but now everyone uses it and over a 40-year range we've seen a dramatic increase in ocean plastic," said Goldstein. "Historically we have not been very good at stopping plastic from getting into the ocean so hopefully in the future we can do better."

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Coauthors of the study include Marci Rosenberg, a student at UCLA, and Scripps Research Biologist Emeritus Lanna Cheng.

Funding for SEAPLEX was provided by the University of California Ship Funds, an innovative program that allows a new generation of scientists to gain valuable scientific training at sea, Project Kaisei/Ocean Voyages Institute, the Association for Women in Science-San Diego and the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program. The NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program (2010 Always Exploring expedition) and National Marine Fisheries Service provided support for the 2010 samples. Other study support was provided by Jim and Kris McMillan, Jeffrey and Marcy Krinsk, Lyn and Norman Lear, Ellis Wyer and an anonymous donor. Other support was provided by the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) program, part of NSF's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program.

GoPro HD HERO camera: Holly Beck and the Whaleshark