GirlDiver: Where the Girls Are... Turkey’s Kas Brazil’s

GLOBAL EDITION Ilha Grande July 2008 Number 24 Profile Hans Hass Medicine Diving with Asthma Ecology Coral Trade NORTH UW Photography Black & White Sulawesi1 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 cover photo by silver

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Explore the past but no looting please

Wreck diving and marine dispute with Spain over the trea- ments were found. On land, such archaeology can be fasci- sure and wreck code named, remains would have rotted away ”Black Swan”, found by Odyssey long time ago, and that is what nating and rewarding. in a non-disclosed position in inter- makes marine archaeology so Wrecks are often refer- national waters. Spain alleges it special and fascinating. In the red to “time capsules” to be the Nuestra Señora de las blue realm, you can find stuff that and with good reason. Mercedes, which was sunk by would otherwise have disappea- the British fleet off the coast of red. Underwater, artefacts can Portugal in 1804. In the previous sometimes be preserved issue, we could report on the find And you don’t have to be a for centuries, as is the of a completely intact medieval , have the resour- case with especially the vessel in the Baltic, presumably ces of a professional salvager like Dutch, and it was only this week Odyssea, or have major funding many magnificent finds the HMS Ontario—a 22-gun British to be a shipwreck detective. of the perfectly preserved warship that was lost on Lake Many of the significant finds have wooden shipwrecks in Ontario without a trace with as been done by enthusiasts and many as 130 people aboard historically interested divers who fresh or brackish waters. during a gale in 1780—was research archives and scan the reported found virtually intact in seabed weekend after weekend The 17th century warship on deep water. (See page 25) with echo sounders or sidescan display in a museum in Stockholm . I know of many dive clubs harbour is one of Sweden’s big- From Europe to America, Africa who have found and now proud- gest tourist attractions. It is a and Asia, historically busy shipping ly display carefully restored arte- must-see for every visiting diver lanes are strewn with tens of thou- facts from shipwrecks, which they who happens to pass through the sands of shipwrecks from all eras. located and explored. Swedish capital. The initial sight Many of them have long since of the complete vessel as you go decayed and deteriorated into The retrieval and restoration of through the entrance will send a pile of ballast stones, but even artefacts from shipwrecks is a shivers down your spine. It looks in these cases, a lot of interesting delicate issue, however. First of exactly as it would if popped out artefacts can survive surprisingly all, should it be done in the first of a time machine, materialising well for centuries, preserved by place? Many wrecks have been before your very eyes. It is an physical and chemical conditions shamefully pillaged by visiting almost unreal sensation. of the bottom sediment. recreational divers who hack, saw, unscrew and break lose Ancient wrecks—and sometimes In Denmark, where X-RAY MAG’s parts of the wreck to have a even treasures—are still found headquarters are located, even “souvenir”—what is so interesting on a regular basis. As we go to remains of stone age canoes about a rusty porthole anyway?— press, Odyssey Marine Exploration have been found, and on these to the detriment of other divers. is engaged in a protracted legal remains, intricate painted orna-

4 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED A real conversation piece. A box of coding wheels for the top- secret German Enigma coding machine found by a club of sports divers on a local WW2 wreck in the Danish straits. This and other artefacts were meticulously restored and dis- played at a public wreck exhibition

ficult have also incurred loss of many to iden- lives. Many wrecks still contain the tify in the first remains of unfortunate seafarers, place, but that and they should be met with the does not mean same respect as those who lie the seabed is a free for interred in a cemetery. all buffet, where finders are keepers. It will often be the insu- All that being said, the seabed rer who owns the remains—or, as enables most of us recreational is the case with warships, a state, divers to be our own shipwreck which the Odyssey vs Spain case detectives or archaeological goes to prove. If in doubt, contact explorers. I would suggest that you In many countries, the law the maritime authorities or national always contact the local maritime is perfectly clear: Do not remove museums. In many places, you can museum, or other appropriate aut- anything without specific permis- be granted a permission to recover hority, if you find a wreck, to get sion from the relevant authorities souvenirs. guidance, and not to forget—to be and the legal owner. recognized as the finder. If there is Some wrecks should not be touc- to be an excavation, you will often Everything—also artefacts lying hed at all. War graves are such be asked to take part and have a around on the seabed or the instances. You may, in some instan- great time learning about marine apparently abandoned wreck— ces, visit them, while in other cases, archaeology and also about the has an owner. It is a widespread they have been declared complet- wreck itself from professionals. misconception among sports divers ely off limits to divers. Always dive that what lies on the seabed is on wrecks with the appropriate There is plenty to go around, and “owner-less” or “abandoned”. reverence. Shipwrecks are scenes it can be highly rewarding as you Granted it is often challenging, if of accidents and disasters, which might uncover facts about our not impossible, to establish who’s in the best of cases, just meant past. Just play by the rules the owner of remains that are dif- huge material losses, but may often …please. ■

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5 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED News edited by Peter Symes & Catherine GS LIm NEWS

Brittlestar6 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 City EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PRONaFtionILEalS In s tit u tePO of WaRteTr aFnOd AtLmIOosphe r ic ReCsearLASSch (NIWA)IF NIEewD Zealand All images this page courtesy of the National The Brittlestar City seamount Institute of Water and displayed several geo- Atmospheric Research logical faults affecting its (NIWA) New Zealand news shape and geomorphol- ogy. The odd rectangular edge of its southern peak seamount. Brittlestars are echi- in the ridge and sending was formed by the intersec- noderms, relatives to starfish, sea it sweeping over the flat tion of two perpendicular cucumbers, sea lilies, and sea tops of the seamounts at 2 faults. Because the upper urchins. knots. surface is relatively flat, A the dense aggre- experts believe it was once gation of brittlestars, Identification at sea level, or slightly sub- marine the first to ever be The two brittlestar spe- merged. The flat topogra- metropolis found atop a seamount, cies observed and pho- phy suggests wave erosion with tens of mil- were thought to be the tographed by the biolo- occurred during the last ice lions of brittlestars only animals able to keep gists aboard the Research age 18,000 years ago, when their footing amid unusually Vessel Tangaroa of New sea level was low. Although and numerous new spe- strong currents racing across Zealand’s National Institute the base of Brittlestar City cies of starfish and spong- the flat tops of the seamounts of Water & Atmospheric seamount is 850 meters es constituting a hitherto sweeping away many of the pred- Research (NIWA) were below surface, its peak is ators that would otherwise control tentatively identified by just 90 meters underwater. unknown ecosystem has the population. taxonomist Tim O’Hara “This is estimated been found on a seamount at Museum Victoria in to be 110 to 150 times south of New Zealand. Current Melbourne, , who deter- while some may be new to sci- Seamounts larger than all the water Macquarie Ridge is one of a mined that the smaller, densely ence. Thousands of specimens of Oceans worldwide contain an esti- flowing in all the rivers of Usually, corals and sponges domi- few places where the Antarctic packed brown-black brittlestar all kinds were gathered from eight mated 100,000 seamounts rising at the world,” says Dr Mike nate seamount peaks, filtering Circumpolar Current is detoured in species, found living arm tip to seamounts in over 30 sled col- least one km above the seabed; Williams of NIWA. “In terms food that arrives on the current, its endless clockwise churn at the arm tip on the sand and cobble lections and now fill almost 1,600 fewer than 200 have been sam- of the world’s oceans, New but instead, scientists surveying the globe’s southernmost latitudes— substrate of the peak, numbering vials, jars and bags, to be sent pled in any detail. Zealand sits right beside the Macquarie Ridge—a vast 1400km playing a vital part in the global hundreds per square meter, were from NIWA to taxonomists in New Undersea mountains can be motorway.” ■ long underwater mountain range ecosystem, merging and mix- likely Ophiacantha otagoensis or Zealand, Australia and overseas. highly productive and biodiverse, south of New Zealand—found ing waters of the Atlantic, Indian Ophiacantha fidelis. sometimes host unique species dense populations of another and Pacific Oceans. The current Larger orange-red species dis- Fish and serve as feeding grounds filter feeder, the brittlestar, inhab- is being funnelled by the geol- covered down the seamount’s An abundance of deepwater for fishes, marine mammals and iting the 100 km2 flat top of the ogy of the region through a gap flanks, filmed waving arms in the cardinal fishes (Epigonus species) seabirds. They also may serve as current to collect passing food, was found sheltering below a rock important way stations for marine were likely Ophiacantha rosea. ledge on the seamount. In the lee migrations. The scientists’ work “We were excited to see such of the rock, biologists believe, the sheds light on factors underpinning a huge assemblage of brittle- fish could both conserve energy seamount biodiversity, suggesting stars on the Macquarie Ridge and access food. ways to improve their environmen- seamount. Not only is it amazing Several Morid cods (family tal management. ■ to see a vast array of one type Moridae) were found in of organism but the implications the folds of a large bub- of the find for our understand- blegum coral (nearly ing of the relative uniqueness two meters high, and of seamount assemblages are likely hundreds of years potentially far-reaching.” said old). These fish were also ecologist Dr.. Ashley Rowden of believed to be finding NIWA. shelter from the current Full identifications may take and perhaps benefiting many years. The eight biologists in other ways from their on board believe some species close association with the collected have never before coral. been recorded in the region

7 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED news sive creature. There is even uncertainty as to whether it is actually a freshwater species, or whether it can swim out into the ocean. its diet consists of clams and crabs, located using its jelly-filled pores that can detect their electrical pulses. It spends part of its time buried in the mud, breath- ing through modified gill slits called spira- P hoto G all e ry cles.

N e ws At the base of its tail is the barb (or stinger), which can grow as long as 37.5 centimetres (15 inches), making it the longest barb of any species. The tip is sharp enough to pass through skin, and even bone. World Record Wreck Dive Na tion al Geo gra phic Size-wise, there have been unverified During the recent Dynamic Dive 215 meters. stories of giant freshwater stingrays as Exhibition (DDE), held at lake Maggiore the dive had several objectives. Giant stingray captured in heavy as 450 kilograms and six metres in northern Italy, divers from Italy One, was to obtain video footage of long. They are reportedly very strong, and the Netherlands have set a new the wreck using human cameramen. there being accounts of hooked individ- depth record for . On It was also an exercise in collabora- Thailand, then gives birth uals dragging boats for miles and even May 10th, using Ouroboros closed cir- tion between a number of the leading When biologist Zeb Hogan received had given birth soon after her capture. pulling them underwater. cuit , Alessandro Scuotto, divers. And finally, to set a word of a capture of a giant freshwater The baby, which was only as big as a “We need to absolutely rid our minds Mario Marconi and Pim van der Horst new record for wreck dives in open stingray, we wonder if it had crossed his dinner plate, clung to its mother’s back. of stingrays as dangerous creatures and reached the remains of Milan resting at water. The maximum depth reached mind that the news could have been an It had taken an angler 90 minutes to become more curious about them and the lake bed at 236 meters. The Milan by divers in a similar environment has April Fool’s joke. capture the pregnant stingray. Nine men protect them,” said Hogan. was sunk during WWII, in September been 205 meters of water. After all, he had spent an entire week were needed to hold down the stingray the captured giant freshwater stingray 1944, by Allied aircraft while transport- it took a support team of over 60 at the Mekong River in Cambodia trying at the riverbank. was eventually released back into the ing both soldiers and civilians of which people to make this extraordinary dive to locate the species, without success. “It’s been a goal of mine for a long river, with its baby clinging to her back. many perished. happen. The time on the wreck was a Add to that the fact that the capture time to see if these stories of huge sting- hogan’s interest in the stingray the wreck was only located in mere four minutes, but the total runt- had been made on March 31st, just one rays are really true,” said Hogan. stems from the fact that he leads the November 2007 during a training ses- ime of the dive was almost eight hours day shy of April 1st. the species, found in some rivers in Megafishes Project, the first global sion conducted by the armed . (a little more than planned), of which nevertheless, Hogan made his Southeast Asia and northern Australia, is attempt to document and protect the The vessel, which is about 50 meters around 4.5 hours were spent decom- way to the Bang Pakong River in also called the freshwater whip ray. Earth’s freshwater giants. Before this giant long and six meters wide is pressing in a dive Chachoengsao, Thailand, and was duly The 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened freshwater stingray was caught, the larg- broken in two parts, which lie bell. Support rewarded (twice over!) for his efforts. Not Species lists it as vulnerable, due to over- est freshwater fish ever caught was a about 20 meters about. One Divers also used only did he come face-to-face with a fishing in the Mekong River. Mekong giant catfish in 2005, weighing in part rests on the bottom at a rebreathers: 4.3m (14 ft) giant freshwater stingray, she Yet very little is known about this elu- at 293 kilograms. ■ depth of 230 meters, while the Inspiration and other part lays on a slope at Megalodon. Only near the sur- face was open circuits used. During the dive, the deep divers were accompanied by a ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) from VVF (the Italian fire department), which lighted the wreck and took its own video footage. ■

8 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED news

Evolution ‘runs backwards’ in Lake Washingon

Evolution is supposed to algae, which thrived on the 20 It’s precisely that cleanup effort backs have evolved to become inch forward over eons, million gallons of phosphorus-rich that sparked the reverse evolu- fully armoured, with bony plates sewage pumped into its waters tion, Katie Peichel and colleagues protecting their bodies from head but sometimes, at least each day. Thanks to a US$140 surmise. Back when the lake was to tail. For example, in the late in the case of a little fish million cleanup effort in the mid- polluted, the transparency of its ‘60s, only six percent of stickle- called the Threespine ’60s—at the time, considered water was low, affording a range backs in Lake Washington were stickleback, the proc- the most costly pollution-control of vision only about 30 inches completely plated. Today, 49 J u n Kit a no effort in the US. Today, the lake deep. The tainted, mucky water percent are fully plated and 35 The fish in the top photo is low-plat- ess can go relative and its waterfront are a pristine provided the sticklebacks with percent are partially plated, with ed, which corresponds with the time warp speed in reverse, playground for boaters and bil- an opaque blanket of security about half of their bodies shielded when Lake Washington was heavily according to a study lionaires. against predators such as cut- in bony armour. This rapid, dra- polluted. The fish in the bottom photo throat trout, and so the fish need- matic adaptation is actually an is fully plated, an adaptation thought led by researchers at to arise from the cleanup of the lake We propose that the ed little bony armour to keep example of evolution in reverse, Fred Hutchinson Cancer 40 years ago most likely cause of this them from being eaten by the because the normal evolutionary Research Center. trout. tendency for freshwater stickle- reverse evolution in the backs runs toward less plat- Forty years ago, most of the stick- sticklebacks is from the In 1968, after the cleanup was ing, not more. lebacks in Lake Washington, the complete, the lake’s transpar- largest of three major lakes in higher levels of trout pre- ency reached a depth of 10 “We propose that the most likely due, Peichel believes, to their rich the Seattle area, had no body dation after the sudden feet. Today, the water’s clarity cause of this reverse evolution in genetic variation. The sticklebacks armour plating. Today, most of approaches 25 feet. Lacking the the sticklebacks is from the higher in Lake Washington contain DNA them do. What happened? increase in water cover of darkness they once levels of trout after the from both marine (saltwater) fish, transparency enjoyed, over the past 40 sudden increase in water trans- which tend to be fully plated, and Five decades ago, Lake years, about half of Lake parency,” said Peichel. freshwater sticklebacks, which Washington was quite liter- Washington stickle- tend to be low-plated. When ally a cesspool, murky with The ability of the fish to quickly environmental called for an overgrowth of adapt to environmental changes increased plating, some of the fish blue-green such as increased preda- had copies of genes that control- tion by the cut- led for both low and full plating, throat trout is and so natural selection favoured the latter. ■ Source: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Fishes of New York fish.dnr.cornell.edu

9 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Historic photo of the 12th century abbey, the Chartreuse de news Vaucluse, which now lies sumberged under 60 meters of water Edited by Peter Symes

Photos by Domain French wine makers take to diving Henri Maire Domain Henri Maire, a the same period. Built by monks developed in comparison to nor- year sent 20,000 bottles around leading French wine- of the order of Saint Bruno in the mally conserved bottles. Besides the world as an experiment, while 12th century, the Chartreuse the wine, 12 bottles containing crates of its yellow wine are cur- maker, have placed 276 de Vaucluse was submerged in messages from “different person- rently stored in the Norwegian bottles in the ruins of an 1968, when ’s electricity alities from the arts, media, the island of Spitsbergen, far inside abbey that is now sub- operator, EDF, created a huge world of wine and gastronomy” the Arctic circle, in minus 40 merged 60 metres below dam and France’s third largest were also laid to rest at the bot- degree . Henri lake. A team of divers placed tom as a testament to “future Maire himself started the craze the surface of an artificial bottles of Arbois wine, kept in generations about our art of liv- for such tests in 1955 by walling in lake in Vouglans, in the wire crates, within the walls of the ing today,” said Henri Maire. bottles of vin jaune in the bowels Jura region of eastern ruins where the wine will be kept Arbois whites are produced of the Tour d’Argent, one of Paris’ France. at 4°C, with at seven from Chardonnay and Pinot most famous restaurants with a bars and between 4 to 8 mg of Blanc and its yellow wine from sumptuous wine cellar. These bot- The wine company intends to per liter. the obscure Savagnin vari- tles are due to be removed in keep them there for many dec- every 20 years, a crate of 24 ety. The reds contain Pinot Noir, 2055. ■ ades to see how they differ from bottles will be brought to the Trousseau and Poulsard grapes. bottles stored above ground for surface to test how the wine has the Henri Maire domain last

Press release And why not Champaign? Roederer, one of France’s oldest rocky tidal island off the coast of champagne producers, is also Normandy. Roederer, founded in 1776, is sparkling wine. Other firms have testing the underwater environ- A cellarman came up with the one of France’s last independent tried it out in the past four years ment to find out if its wine tastes idea after realising that the water family-owned champagne mak- for still wines, including red Crozes- better if it is kept in cold sea in the bay, a con- ers and its bottles are among the Hermitage, white Muscadet and water and rocked by currents stant 10°C (50°F), was ideal for most expensive in the country as white Burgundy. “It would appear than in the traditional cellars. Luis aging wine. In 12 months’ time, production is small accounting for that and the cold water Roederer told Reuters that it had Roederer will hold a tasting session about one percent of total cham- had less of an impact on red placed several dozen bottles 15 to compare champagne from pagne production. wines than on white wines,” Herve metres (50 feet) underwater in the bottles kept on the seabed Roederer is the first producer to Boucton, commercial director for the bay of Mont Saint-Michel, a with those from its cellars in Reims. test the unusual aging method for Roederer, explained to Reuters. ■

10 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED news Ancient Deep-Sea Coral Reefs Serve as Underwater ‘Islands’ in the Gulf Stream

NOAA has found that some These deep coral habitats on the conti- nizinski says the coral habitats largely unexplored deep-sea nental slope off the east coast of the US explored during the expeditions appear are perhaps hundreds of thousands of to be more extensive than previously coral reefs off the years old. believed and are important habitat for “These deep-water coral coast of North “We discovered that a number of ani- several species of commercially and banks can grow to be Carolina are not mals thought to be rare are common recreationally important fish as well as only larger than around the corals, documented many sponges, crabs, brittle stars and other 100 meters tall and kil- animals outside of their previously known creatures. The corals also contain histori- expected but also ometers long. It is not ranges, and discovered species new to cal data about changing ocean cli- home to commer- science,” NOAA zoologist Martha Nizinski mate and productivity, and are hotspots what people expect to cially valuable fish said. “We also have had a firsthand look of biodiversity. Many organisms live in find off North Carolina, populations and at how animals are using the habitat and around these deep coral habitats, and interacting with each other. These including species new to science and probably the northern- many newly dis- discoveries relate to the fact that this species with pharmaceutical potential. most deep-water coral covered and unu- has been a difficult habitat for scientists She is still studying the biological and sual species. to sample because of the deep depths, coral samples collected during the vari- banks existing along the rough topography and strong currents ous expeditions, research that will take U.S. East Coast.” from the overlying Gulf Stream.” several more years to complete. ■

Bleach and Vitamin C Could Help Shield Lakes Aliens invade UK waters from Deadly Fish Disease The American Signal crayfish have the south of England. David Hand, a professor at virus that causes the disease. The become a massive threat to native spe- the crayfish is extremely aggressive, Michigan Technological University ballast water is disinfected with cies in Britain’s rivers, lakes and ponds. encased in a tough shell and armed professor has developed a new sodium hypochlorite—ordinary Introduced in the 1970s and bred on with two large pincers. They are equally treatment of ballast water in ves- household bleach. Then it is treat- farms for the restaurant at home on land and can walk for sev- sels that could help keep deadly ed with ascorbic acid, or vitamin trade, a eral miles across country in search of fish diseases out of Lake Superior. C, which neutralizes the bleach hand- new territory. When the crayfish move viral hemorrhagic septicemia before the water is released into into a stretch of river, it is virtually a (VHS) is an often-fatal disease the lake. death warrant for other species. that has caused massive dieoffs “Ships unload their ballast water Signal crayfish American Signal Crayfish will eat plants, of fish species ranging from wall- from all over the world, and with can live up invertebrates, snails, small fish, fish eggs eyes to salmon in all of the Great it all kinds of exotic, invasive spe- to 12 years and its own young. The loss of plants Lakes except Superior. Infected cies, from viruses and bacteria to and are big- ful of escapers have now means there are fewer places for insect fish die from bleeding of their the zebra mussel,” said Hand. It’s ger and more grown to an aquatic larvae and for fish to lay their eggs, internal organs and often have unfair to point the finger only at aggressive army numbering millions, which in some rivers has reduced trout open sores and bruised-looking, ocean-going ships, says Hand, a than native crayfish which has infiltrated river and salmon stocks. The creature also reddish tints on their skin. devoted angler and boat owner systems from Cornwall digs burrows up to three feet long in professor Hand has devised a himself. All boaters should sterilize to Scotland and have river banks where, each year, it lays simple way to treat ballast water their bilge, ballast and livewell already annihilated the more than 250 eggs at a time. At a time in vessels ranging from pleasure water. ■ smaller native White of increased flooding risk, the numbers craft to ore boats and kill the Claw crayfish from most and size of the burrows is increasingly of the waterways in causing river banks to collapse. ■

11 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Five divers swept to sea off Komodo and went missing for two days

The divers were exploring waters off Tawa Besar Island in the Komodo National Park, between the islands of Flores and Sumbawa, an area which is notorious for strong “washing machine” currents, when they went missing for several days. G ra pic: A qua Scope A employee explained everything, to see if they had washed to BBC that two groups had entered up.” the waters, which are a popular A local diver who works for Coming to a computer near you: Google Ocean draw for divers keen to explore an Reefseekers told the Telegraph: area of unspoiled coral reefs teeming “It was a very strong current, going If you’ve ever used Google Earth to (SIO). with marine life, but only one group from north to south, so it may be that locate your home, you’d be familiar with nevertheless, Google Ocean would be returned. the divers have been swept out a how technologically advanced, yet user- the ideal starting point. “Google will basi- When an initial search failed to long way, and the local boat didn’t friendly, it is. cally just provide the field, and then eve- locate the second group, authorities find them because it’s too far. It’s also now, imagine this same technology ryone will come flocking to it. There will were alerted and police and rescue possible that they’ve been trapped being applied to the world’s oceans. It be peer pressure to encourage people teams called in. The dive was organ- in the eddies at the end of the island. does seem like an impossible task, con- to get their data out there,” said Stephen ised by Reefseekers—a diving center At the end of the island, there is a sidering that much of our ocean’s terrain P Miller, who heads the Geological Data based in Labuan Bajo—Flores and meeting current, which creates tur- and environs remain unmapped and Center at SIO. one of the missing divers. The group bulence, and I have a big worry that unexplored. Then again, we are talking Some of the data needed to compile leader was Ms. Kathleen Mitchison the people got into trouble because about Google here. If anyone could do Google Ocean is expected to come who runs the center and turtle of the turbulence. It’s a washing it, it would be them. from SIO’s Predicted Depth Map, which sanctuary with her husband Ernest machine current. All five divers were Which was why last November, the infers the ocean-floor depth from the Leandowski. experienced, but there is a strong cur- company gathered a group of research- bumps and dips in the ocean surface. the search of the area was rent in the national park when there ers from all over the world together to Another possible source is the high-reso- called off at 3:00 am local time and is a new moon. When the accident discuss plans for a 3D oceanographic lution tiled images from multibeam and    resumed at dawn. It was a new happened, it was low and very, map, tentatively dubbed Google predicted topography compiled by the      moon and very dark at sea. As he very strong.” Ocean. Like its existing counterparts, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of continued to search for the party 36 Google Earth and Google Sky, users will Columbia University.      hours after the divers vanished, Mr Found be able to locate specific spots and indeed, Google Ocean possesses Lewandowski told CNN: “Time is criti- The divers were found drifting, but manoeuver via zooming and panning. much potential for more collaboration cal. It’s absolutely blistering hot out alive, on Saturday after having been in Google Ocean, there will be a basic and research amongst oceanographers, there. There were three missing for two days. After 12 hours layer showing the depth of the ocean geographers, marine scientists and other boats out today adrift, they managed to scramble floor, with specific areas featuring high- experts. SeaCure™ Custom Mouthpiece searching. I was ashore on Rinca, where they spent resolution images. Additional informa- Said Miller, “We hope that one of the is moldable and remoldable. on a speed- two nights battling dehydration and tion concerning ocean currents, tem- outcomes of Google Ocean will be an boat going came face-to-face with a Komodo peratures, weather patterns, coral reefs, understanding of how much remains to Created by an orthodontist, around all dragon. Police in the Nusa Tenggara algae blooms and even shipwrecks will be explored. We know far more about SeaCure is designed to fit the beach- island chain told AFP that fishermen also comprise part of Google Ocean. In the surface of Mars from a few weeks of your mouth, teeth, and es and had spotted the group waving franti- addition, there will also be other specific radar surveying in orbit than we know of gums . . . PERFECTLY. cally on the shore. layers featuring specialised data. the bottom of the ocean floor after two the five were taken to nearby this is, of course, easier said than done, centuries.” Available at your local dive center. Flores Island for medical considering that only a very small portion So, if everything goes according to treatment. of the ocean floor has been mapped plan, we would one day find ourselves ■ using , and this is likely to remain exploring the underwater world within the case for the near future. the dry comforts of home. Possibly not “It would take about 100 ship years as exciting as the real thing, but it would to map the oceans at high resolu- be something to help us get through the www.seacure1.com tion,” said Dave Sandwell, a geophys- ‘drier seasons’ of the year. ■ ics professor at the Scripps Institution of

12 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Show review NWDTE Show review in Tacoma, WA, USA TDEX in Bangkok

The shiny new Greater Text and photos Tacoma Convention by Peter Symes and Trade Center

Tacoma, a city of over 200,000 Let me jump right in: Kudos to the markedly slower, which I attribute to located just south of Seattle in the organiser Rick Stratton, publisher of the fabulous weather we had that Text and photos US Pacific Northwest, is more time Northwest Dive News, for putting day. Warm and sunny spring weather by Catherine GS Lim zones away from our European HQ together a very nice event. The teeth- is a tough competitor. It made me than even the Asian dive expos we ing problems that always bother first wonder if it was better to hold such also attend—the time difference instalments of new expos were abso- a show a little earlier in the year, but was nine hours. So, we were still a bit lutely insignificant to the point that I since there was a well-attended treas- Sawatdee Kaa from the Land of Smiles! bleary-eyed when we checked into have now forgotten what they might ure hunt on Saturday, you also want the beautiful new exposition center have been. The venue is a new com- the season to be started. So, a com- When I decided to attend the Thailand Photo Contest. The Thailand Bouldering in downtown Tacoma. The Northwest plex with nice open architecture that promise is obviously needed here, and Travel & Dive Expo (TDEX) 2008, little did I Competition took place at the expo as well, Dive & Travel Expo (NWDTE) was not makes it pleasant to be in. Granted, early May is not such a bad choice. expect it to be a baptism of sorts. For one with the participants winning the visitors’ only the first real dive expo in this you can’t quite escape the sore feet For overseas exhibitors like ourselves, thing, travelling there represented my first admiration with their climbing skills. There area in over 25 years, but also our first from walking around all day long on it was actually an advantage, as it time on an airplane, separated from terra were other booths offering lasik surgery, air consumer show visit in this neck of hard floors, but the building’s glass steered clear of the other major expos firma by—according to the captain at one travel, car rental, etc. the woods. So, we did not quite know facade opens up towards a nice view that tend to be crammed into a peri- point—39,000 feet of air. what to expect other than we sensed over the harbor. od from February to April. For me, having little interest in sinking a hole- it was going to be an interesting visit. the show was well-visited, and espe- the audience is clearly made up Secondly, I knew absolutely no one there, in-one, I sped past the golf-related exhibi- After all, there is a quite sizable diving cially Saturday saw the aisles pretty of many cool water divers at home and being on my own, it represented a tors and made my way to the dive portion community in these parts. packed. Sunday, the attendance was with drysuits and twin tanks. This was potentially daunting challenge. However, of the expo, and was promptly rewarded by also reflected in the types of exhibi- this turned out to be a non-issue, as I was handouts offering promotions on dive cours- tors present—there was a lot of fancy quickly swept up by the warm hospitality of es and expeditions. Dive merchandise com- gear around—though it was clearly the Thai people. panies like Oceanic, , Advanced not the venue where new innovations Photo Systems and Hydro Sapiens Divewear would be presented to the public. On the first day of the show, held at the were the hot spots for divers looking to pick There aren’t many cold water diving Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, up items at discounted prices. Even Feel areas in the world that can offer a I quickly realised that TDEX was more than Easy (kayaking) and Gulf Charters Thailand wide selection of diving resorts, and just another dive expo. This was because (yacht training) were around to capital- it was quite interesting to learn about it was held in conjunction with Thailand ise on the crowds. At such retail-intensive the ones in this area. The region prob- Golf Mart 2008. This meant that amidst the booths, the visitors-turned-shoppers had a ably boasts the most options, com- booths selling dive gear, dive courses, dive field day lapping up the items. pared to similar regions around the expeditions and all things dive-related, I world, with Scandinavia as a close had to contend with booths promoting golf- While I was there, I met a few familiar faces, runner-up. Plus, the renovated down- ing holidays, golf resorts and spas. and also made a few new friends (most town area of Tacoma has a host of notably with the friendly folk at Koh Tao restaurants and boutiques, museums Which was fine in itself, since it provided Easy Divers, Project and Bubble and galleries and attractions such a a wider variety for the visitors. In doing so, Dive). Everyone turned out to be very hos- public art tour including several instal- a family would have a higher chance of pitable. Even those who could not speak lations by world famous glass sculp- enjoying a productive weekend together. English welcomed me into their booth. This, tor, Dale Chihuly (see his portfolio of Specifically, in addition to the dive seminars, on one level, was the way it should be—the ocean-related works in X-RAY MAG the TDEX Underwater Photo Contest was love of diving and the underwater world is, issue #12), who is based in Tacoma. ■ held in conjunction with the Thailand Travel after all, universal, and should not be con-

13 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED TDEX

THIS PAGE: Scenes from the Thailand Travel & Dive Expo show a large partici- pation of young people both as participants and exhibitors, some present- ing new eco-tourism, dive business and conservation concepts developed as a result of the 2004 tsunami

fined by man-made language barriers. craft from the Royal Thai Air (see Some of the organisations that struck X-RAY MAG issue a chord with me included those con- #23 for our report). ceived in the wake of the 2004 tsunami. The Ecotourism Training Centre, located That such positive in one of the worst-hit areas, provides initiatives could career training to the affected young come out of the people in the area, and engages them devastation caused in environmental protection projects. by the tsunami was The intensive nine-month course includes heartening, allowing English language, computer literacy, one to feel hopeful dive training and marine conservation. in light of the recent Graduates are certified PADI professional disasters in Myanmar undersea tour guides, enabling them to and China. be employable and custodians of the marine environment. In all, TDEX was a worthwhile show. The number of visitors was reported to be Another organisation, For Sea 60,000, with sales volume at more than Foundation, was conceived two days 200 million baht. Personally, I would have after the tsunami, on 28 December 2004, preferred an expo that focused solely when 50 divers came together to work on diving and , out how to provide assistance to the but I guess this was not an ideal world in affected areas. The resultant projects which everyone was a diver… of this foundation included a study into the tsunami’s impact on the coral reefs Still, as I said my good-byes to my new around the , recovery, friends, I knew that this would not be my sea fan restoration and marine conver- last trip to Thailand. It’s a charming coun- sation by youths. They were also respon- try, endowed by both the traditional and (thank you!) to everyone I have met, sible for the creation of artificial reefs in modern, populated by a gracious peo- for the wonderful memories and experi- the Bang Tao area by using retired air- ple. So, it leaves me to say khorb khunka! ences. ■

14 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED DAN IAHD Scandinavia Training Announces bulletin DAN and CMAS Americas Weblink, DVD of Pro Training couses Edited by announce alliance 10-11 may 2008 and 04-05 october 2008 Peter Symes and the American chapter of the Technical Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS Diving Pro Trainer AMERICAS) recently announced a new training alliance. As part of the alliance, CMAS AMERICAS now incorporates DAN training Conference Training manager programs into its own training. The alliance begins with the train- OWD Instructor NSS Convention ing of CMAS AMERICAS Instructors and the requirement that all Given the enthusiastic CMAS Instructors also carry DAN Instructor credentials. From there, reaction to the tech- With over 12,000 members provider-level DAN programs will be taught from the CMAS Two- nical diving confer- and 200 grottos, the National Star Diver courses through all subsequent levels of training. ■ ence DAN convened 36% Instructor Speleological Society does in January, DAN has Assistant Instuctor more than any other organi- placed a weblink of the zation to study, explore, and “The focus of this particular alliance on information conference on its web- site. conserve cave and karst DAN has also created a resources; protect access to and education reinforces one of the core tenets of DAN’s Conference DVD for viewing on a PC or Mac computer. It is caves; encourage responsi- mission—the promotion of dive safety through educa- available free from DAN. ble management of caves tion. We applaud CMAS’s dedication to this end, and and their unique environ- The weblink and the DVD are opportunities to share with the www.iahd.org ments; and promote respon- we deeply appreciate its support of DAN through the use entire diving world the collective expertise of all the confer- sible caving. of our programs.” ence’s exceptional speakers. More than 165 divers, scientists and physicians attended the two-day conference in Durham, In August, NSS-CDC will —Dan Orr, DAN president and CEO N.C. Participants came from across the United States and hold its convention in Lake from Finland, the United Kingdom, Canada, American Samoa, City, Florida. Besides cav- Australia, New Zealand and Grand Cayman. , ing and , there M.D., one of four workshop chair- are many things to do in the SDI/TDI/ERDI opens new men and a fellow in anesthesia What is learned from area, including canoeing, at the Auckland City Hospital in tubing, open water diving, Auckland, New Zealand, said extreme dives helps all and exploring state parks. regional office in Hong Kong the technical diving conference divers because risks that Florida is especially famous via: DiveNewsWire was the first such opportunity for are understood can be for its springs. Be sure to visit technical divers to meet with Floridasprings.org to learn “We feel that our close association with the SDI / TDI Hong Kong experts in the field of dive medi- managed. more about them. Prevent team—all of whom are accomplished divers and successful busi- cine and dive physiology. WNS! Please bring clean cav- ness people—offers exciting potential for growth, both for SDI / —Richard D. Vann, ing gear! TDI and for our newest regional partner,” said Brian Carney, presi- “The information on the DAN Ph.D., vice president of For further info email dent of International Training to DiveNewsWire. “Obviously, the website and tech DVD is fl[email protected] Please note that the NSS- expansion of our organization into the hugely promising Chinese designed to communicate what DAN Research CDS Mini Workshop overlaps market is wonderful news. Hong Kong already has a thriving div- we know about technical diving. Phone +45 3880 9290 the 2008 Convention at the ing community and is a vibrant member of the South Asia diving It is also designed to encourage the tech diving community Cell +45 4050 8585 fairgrounds—you can attend industry.” to improve this knowledge by recording information from their both. nss2008.com ■ International (SDI) is the certification dives and reporting it to DAN,” said Richard D. Vann, Ph.D. branch of the world’s largest technical diving agency, Technical and vice president of DAN Research. Diving International (TDI). Also included is Emergency Response Diving International (ERDI), the only global public safety certifica- The weblink offers both PowerPoint and video (MP4) presenta- tion agency. tions of the conference proceedings. To download, visit: www. to find out more about International Training’s educational DiversAlertNetwork.org. To receive the free Technical Diving programs, how you can join their team, and other dive business Conference DVD, contact DAN at 1-800-446-2671 ext. 295, WWW.2DIVE.DK opportunities visit: www.tdisdi.com ■ (+1) 919 684 2948 ext. 295 or email: [email protected] ■

15 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED The oceans are Oceanographers have uncov- the Scripps Institution of This is slower than most known ered a regular pattern of mys- Oceanography in San Diego currents, which is possibly why terious stripes stretching across looked at the data across they have remained hidden until every ocean on the planet. The the time span of a decade, it now. strange phenomenon was only became apparent that some- the researchers also found discovered after scientists took thing else had also been subtly the striations extend below the a closer look at data collected changing their path. They found surface to at least depths of 700 from a global network of 3,000 narrow lines of current called meters, and the eastward bands free-floating buoys that measure “striations” running eastwards or are slightly hotter than west- the temperature and salinity of westwards, which they couldn’t ward ones. This could turn out the oceans and are tracked by explain. to play a role in the circulation satellites. the scientists found the 93 of nutrients, and it is hoped that the main influences on the mile-wide bands covered almost the new data could help scien- paths of the buoys are known every ocean basin. They record- tists significantly improve high- global currents fuelled by wind ed the striations flowing in oppo- resolution models that help them and differences in the tempera- site directions at about 0.022 understand trends in climate and ture and saltiness of seawater. mph, says the study published in marine ecosystems. ■ but when the team at Geophysical Research Letters. Hawa ii. N i k o la M ax i m en k o, rs it y Unive o f

A worldwide crisscrossing pattern of striations has been revealed through measurements of ocean velocity made by drifting buoys over a period of more than 20 years. Blue bands represent westward-flowing cur- rents and red bands indicate eastward-flowing currents that move at roughly 1 centimeter per second.

Scientists Discover New Ocean Current in the North Pacific Scientists at the Georgia also finding that as the tem- few decades. This newly found Institute of Technology have perature of the Earth is warm- climate pattern may help scien- discovered a new climate pat- ing, large fluctuations in these tists predict how the ecosystem tern called the North Pacific factors could help climatologists of the Pacific Ocean is likely to Gyre Oscillation. This new pat- predict how the oceans will change if the world continues tern explains, for the first time, respond in a warmer world. to warm, as predicted by the changes in the water that are the data suggest that this cur- Intergovernmental Panel on important in helping commer- rent is undergoing intensifica- Climate Change. ■ cial fishermen understand fluc- tion as the temperature of the Source: Geophysical Research Letters tuations in the fish stock. They’re Earth has risen over the past

16 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Bacteria could be Enjoy pure ease a red tide killer Red tides and related phenomena, in which mi- croscopic algae accumulate rapidly in dense con- centrations, have been on the rise in recent years, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in worldwide losses to fisheries and beach tourism activities. De- spite their wide-ranging impacts, such phenomena, more broadly referred to as “harmful algal blooms,” remain unpredictable in not only where they ap- pear, but how long they persist.

New research at Scripps has identified a little-under- stood but common marine microbe as a red tide killer, and implicates the microbe in the termination of a red tide in Southern California waters in the sum- mer of 2005.

While not all algal outbreaks are harmful, some blooms carry toxins that have been known to threat- en marine ecosystems and even kill marine mammals, fish and birds. Red tide Using a series of new ap- proaches, Scripps Oceanogra- cal point of view, if these RCA bacteria really do kill phy’s Xavier Mayali investigated dinoflagellates and potentially other harmful algae the inner workings of a bloom that form dense blooms, down the road, there may of dinoflagellates, single-celled be a possibility of using them to mitigate their harmful plankton, known by the species effects.” RAPTOR “It’s possible name Lingulodinium polyedrum. The highest performance Split Fin in its class. technology Franks said he found it a bizarre concept of scale and design is applied to Raptor in order to deliver the maximum energy transfer resulting in the best thrust and effi ciency in a Split Fin. that bacte- The techniques revealed that that Lingulodinium dinoflagellates, which at 25 to 30 ria of this so-called Roseobacter-Clade microns in diameter, are known to swim through the NATURE’S WING Affiliated bacteria—several at a ocean with long appendages known as flagella, are A short kick stroke is all you need to activate the channel effect and move with a reduced effort. type play an time—attacked individual dino- attacked by bacteria that are about one micron in important role flagellates by attaching directly size and can’t swim. WHALE TAIL POWER to the plankton’s cells, slow- Seamless transmission of thrust through in terminating the entire kick cycle. Demonstrated by Nature. ing their swimming speed and “It’s somewhat shocking to think of something like algal blooms eventually killing them. three chipmunks attaching ABS PLUS BUCKLES themselves to an elephant Buckles open and close with ease. and regulating Unique, patented and user friendly. “Our understanding of harm- and taking it down,” said ful algal blooms and red tides Franks. ■ Visit mares.com has been fairly primitive. For dynamics in the most part, we don’t know temperate how they start, for example,” Algal blooms has also marine waters said Peter Franks, a professor of been linked to epileptic biological oceanography in the seizures and behav- all over the Integrative Oceanography Divi- ioural abnormalities in world,” sion at Scripps. “From a practi- Californian sea lions

17 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Scientists have found that This may represent the rocks beneath the seafloor largest surface area on are teeming with microbial life Earth for microbes to sity on ocean-bottom rocks compared Did life begin on the seafloor? colonize favorably with other life-rich places in Many scientists believe that shallow wa- the oceans, such as hydrothermal vents. ter, not deep water, is better suited for These findings raise the question of where cradling the planet’s first life forms. Up un- these bacteria find their energy, Santelli til now, dark, carbon-poor ocean depths said. appeared to offer little energy, and rich environments like hydrothermal vents “We scratched our heads about what were thought to be relatively sparse. was supporting this high level of growth,” but the newfound abundance of Edwards said. With evidence that the seafloor microbes makes it possible that oceanic crust supports more bacte- early life thrived—and perhaps began— ria than overlying water, the scientists on the seafloor. hypothesized that reactions with the “If we can really nail down what’s go- rocks themselves might offer fuel for life. ing on, there are significant implications,” In the lab, they calculated how much Edwards said. “I hope that people turn biomass could be supported by chemi- their heads and notice: there’s life down cal reactions with the rocky basalt. They there.” ■ then compared this figure to the actual biomass measured. “It was completely In addition to Santelli and Edwards, the consistent,” Edwards said. paper’s co-authors are: Beth Orcutt of USC; Erin Banning of WHOI; Wolfgang Bach of This discovery lends support to the idea WHOI and Universität Bremen; Craig Moyer that bacteria survive on energy from of Western Washington University; Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory; Earth’s crust, a process that could add and Hubert Staudigel of the Scripps Institu- to our knowledge about the deep-sea tion of Oceanography. carbon cycle and the evolution of life.

N icolle R ager -F uller /N ational cience S F oundation Rocks made of basalt on and under the ocean bottom harbor surprising numbers of bacteria. Bacteria Feed on Ocean Bottom Crust Rocks on and under seafloor offer feast for microbes. Seafloor bacteria on ocean-bottom rocks are more abundant and diverse than previously thought, appearing to “feed” on the planet’s oceanic crust, according to results of a study reported in the journal Nature.

The findings pose intriguing ques- Institution (WHOI), Katrina Edwards Surprised by this diversity, the scien- tions about ocean chemistry and of University of Southern California tists tested more than one site and the co-evolution of Earth and life. (USC), and colleagues found three arrived at consistent results, making Once considered a barren plain to four times more bacteria living it likely, according to Santelli and dotted with hydrothermal vents, on exposed rock than in the waters Edwards, that rich microbial life ex- the seafloor’s rocky regions appear above. tends across the ocean floor. “This to be teeming with microbial life. may represent the largest surface While seafloor microbes have been “Initial research predicted that life area on Earth for microbes to colo- detected before, this is the first could in fact exist in such a cold, nize,” said Edwards. time they have been quantified. dark, rocky environment,” said Santelli. “But we really didn’t ex- Head scratcher Using genetic analysis, Cara San- pect to find it thriving at the levels Santelli and Edwards also found telli of Woods Hole Oceanographic we observed.” that the higher microbial diver- NO AA/W HOI 18 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED news Wooden Helmet Diver A new dive training course in Scandinavia Text and photos by Andrey Bizyukin & Jouko Moisala

The diving seminar, presentations, to compe- During the event some people less or amused. Some of them just Lennart and “: titions in rope-pulling for were given the opportunity to smiled and laughed and asked to Sten Ekholm, four-person divers’ teams try on and dive in take a picture. I decided, on the aged 12 to From bottom to surface”, gear, a very unique two bolt other hand, to take a closer look 15 years. The was a part of the 50-year with fins. In addition, a Danish helmet. A select few divers and to interview Jouko Moisala brothers used celebration of Swedish Swedish coast guard ves- were also given the chance to and Harri Jylhä about the helmet to spend diving, which was held sel was present to dem- dive with a wooden helmet—a and the museum where it is usu- their summer replica of a unique helmet from ally exhibited. holidays at in Lysekil on the Swedish onstrate original profes- the Stockholm museum. Most the Tisnare westcoast. Events on the sional and historical diving people, even professional divers, Inspired by lake about schedule ranged from equipmentin liaison with a had only to look at this wooden “No, this is not just a museum rep- 200 kilom- interesting lectures and historical . helmet to render them speech- lica, it is a real working example,” eters from explains Jouko. Stockholm. the whole story The water actually begins with of the the American marine Tisnare biologist and scien- was very tist William Beebe clear. One who researched the can eas- marine life in Haiti ily see the around the end of bottom at 5 tion the 1920s. During his to 6 meters. The of the research under the boys wanted to see what Swedish Diving sea, he dived with was under the surface of the lake. Historical Society an open helmet, They all had read the book by museum, Dyktank huset, in which he had built William Beebe, Beneath Tropic Stockholm. himself. The helmet Seas, and so, they began making was surface-supplied their own open . Making a wooden with the air pumped “They didn’t have the means diving helmet down to him by a to make it out of metal, so they Jouko Moisala, Jean Finnberg, hand pump, which decided to make it out of wood. Harri Jylhä and myself visited the was originally con- The air pump, they got from their Dyktank huset in the spring of structed to inflate fathers car,” explains Moisala. 2006. I asked Harri, who is a tech- car tires with air. With their helmet and diving adven- nical science teacher and very his helmet, he dove tures were presented in an article good with his hands, too, “How down to ten meters. in the Swedish magazine, Teknik about making a helmet of our in Stockholm, för alla (Technical Science for own?” Sweden, there were Everyone) in 1944. In 2005, the hel- he liked the idea and made three brothers, Lars, met was included in the collec- a replica. I got a copy of the original article from the library at Helsinki University, which featured “You have to trust me on this. We can pump enough air the original drawings made by to the helmet with our manual bicycle pump, and you the Ekholm brothers. The first dive should breathe well underwater,” Jouko assured me 19 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Wooden Helmet Diver

possible by swallowing hard and wiggling my jaw. From here, my support team lowered me very slowly, in the beginning. Communication with the surface support team was done by pulling (jerking) the air hose: one pull meant “OK”, two pulls meant “down”, three pulls meant “up” and many erratic pulls meant “emergency situation, go up very quickly!” i confirmed that I was OK and concentrated on my . I didn’t have any and could see very little through the small window. I tried to feel what depth I was at by feeling the pressure to my eardrums and seeing how quickly I needed to equalize. I wanted to have a look around me, so I tried

that as the air was released from to turn my body and to bend my head the helmet, so was the carbon diox- a little. The water very quickly started ide. to enter the helmet. In order to keep After having a lot of fun with the my nose and mouth out of the water, I wooden helmet diving in lakes, I immediately stopped these movements. asked about the possibility of div- the brilliant green colored water out- ing with the helmet in the Atlantic side my small wooden helmet was a Ocean. Jouko Moisala was very delightful sight. The smell inside was a happy to organize a real test for bit rubbery—this was probably a good this gear, and he even was so kind confirmation that the bicycle pump was to bring me his own and working correctly. everything. I started to measure the the dive was amazing enough, but helmet. short. Moisala decided not to spoil “You have to trust me on this. We the novice wooden helmet diver and can pump enough air to the hel- gave the order to bring me back up met with our manual bicycle pump, onto the coast guard vessel. Everyone and you should breathe well under- was happy, and I heard the clicking of water,” Jouko assured me. cameras as soon as I arrived back on i nodded eagerly inside my deck. I took off the wooden helmet and wooden helmet as much as it was relayed my thanks to Jouko Moisala and possible. They helped me onto all the historical diving society team for we made with the helmet was in a swimming pool, the diving platform held by the diving vessel’s this unique opportunity to experience and we encountered the same problem as the hoisting crane. Then attached to my front and just a touch of diving history. Now, I am brothers had encountered. Diving with a wooden back, two very heavy lead with a total the very proud owner of the extremely helmet demands a lot of . The brothers didn’t about 25 kg. I was ready to try the wooden hel- expensive and, for me important div- have lead, so they got their hands on a beak iron, met in the ocean. ing certificate—North Atlantic Wooden which was made of cast iron. Its weight was about Helmet Diver. I want to send a special 25 kg, so we used approximately the same weight Bicycle pump thanks to everyone at the historical div- as well, but in lead. The crane on the Swedish coast guard started ing society team and all the crew mem- i dived with the helmet ten times in open water, lowering me into the green Atlantic water. bers of the Swedish coast guard vessel but never deeper than eight meters. The brothers The water splashed around me, outside the who made this historical dive possible. ■ wrote in their article that they dove to 15 meters helmet and inside as well. I tried to keep my with the helmet. At eight meters, supplying air with face upright and to breathe with my nose. THIS PAGE: Scenes from X-RAY the hand pump was acceptable, and we hoped Equalizing inside the diving helmet was only MAG’s editor Andrey Bizyukin’s wooden helmet dive in Sweden 20 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED wreck Robert Ballard: Titanic search Were weak rivets rap responsible for was a cover for secret cold war Titanic’s doom? For a decade, the scientists submarine mission have argued that the storied liner went down fast after hit- ting an iceberg because the Finding the Titanic was not were nuclear subs, and their his work with finding the two lost ship’s builder used his main goal during his locations had never really been submarines also gave him valu- substandard rivets that expedition in the Atlantic mapped. able lessons in how to search for in 1985. The well-known the sinkings of the United States the Titanic. “I couldn’t tell any- oceanographer, Robert Navy vessels killed more than 200 “Because the Titanic when it body. There was a lot Ballard, recently revealed men. The Navy’s interest in Ballard broke up—just like the Scorpion that he was actually hired expedition plans came after Dr and Thresher when they implod- of pressure on me. It to use his advanced Robert Ballard had developed ed—all this material, thousands was a secret mission.” robotic sub to check on a robotic submarine craft in the of objects began falling to the the status of two nuclear early 1980s. He approached the ocean floor. Now, you would think submarines, the US Navy in 1982 for funding to they would just land in a clump. popped USS Thresher and search for the Titanic, which sank But they didn’t. When we saw the their heads and let the USS Scorpion, in 1912 with the loss of 1,500 lives Thresher and Scorpion stretched tons of icy seawater rush which sank in the after hitting an iceberg. out over a mile, we realized it was in. The builder’s own archive, Atlantic in the the Navy made a deal with much easier to find that than the the two scientists say, harbors 1960s. He wasn’t Ballard. After his submarine search ships or the subs themselves, “ evidence of a deadly mix of allowed to look for was concluded, it would fund an Ballard said. low-quality rivets and lofty the Titanic before expedition to find the Titanic. When he was finished with the ambition as the builder lab- he had compelted “I couldn’t tell anybody. There task for the Navy, he had just ored to construct the world’s his task for the US was a lot of pressure on me. It 12 days to go searching for the three biggest ships at once: Navy. was a secret mission. I felt it was Titanic in the vast North Atlantic. ■ the Titanic and two sister “The Navy didn’t a fair exchange for getting a ships, Olympic and Britannic. want the Soviets chance to the scientists studied 48 to know they were look for the rivets that divers recovered looking for these Titanic”, over two decades from the subs,” Ballard Ballard Titanic’s resting place, two said on an inter- said after miles down in the North view with “Good having Atlantic and found many rid- Morning America”. kept the dled with high the Thresher secret for of slag. Slag, a glassy residue went down in 1963, more than of smelting, can make rivets and the Scorpion two dec- brittle and prone to fracture. sank in 1968. Both ades. For its part, Harland and Archive photo of USS Scorpion Wolff shipyard, after its long silence, now rejects the charge. “There was noth- ing wrong with the materi- als,” Joris Minne, a company spokesman, said. Minne also Stern section of the noted that one of the sister sunken American nuclear ships, the Olympic, sailed submarine USS Scorpion, without incident for 24 years, photographed in 1986, until retirement. (The Britannic just prior to the discovery sank in 1916 after hitting a of the Titanic wreck mine.) ■

21 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED wreck Rare gold coins found in Louisiana wreck A steamship that sank off the Some of these are in uncircu- chemical compound that does rap Louisiana coast during an 1846 lated or mint condition, and the not affect the metal. The silver storm has produced a trove of best could bring US$50,000 to coins are etched by the seawa- rare gold coins. Avery Munson US$100,000 a piece at auction, ter, giving them a “shipwreck and Gary Hebert discovered according to David Bowers, co- effect” that is popular with col- the sunken wreckage of a side- chairman of New York-based lectors, Bowers also said. wheel steamship 60 miles off the Stack’s Rare Coins. the steamship SS New York was coast of Cameron in July 1990. of particular interest to coin making regular commercial runs The first time Munson found any experts are gold pieces known between Galveston, Texas, and coins was in 1994, when he took as quarter eagles and half New Orleans before up five coins worth a US$ 80. It eagles, which carried face val- a storm took the Santa Margarita wreck would take them more than 16 ues of $2.50 and $5 in the ship to the bot- yields more treasure years before they really could days before the United tom, killing start to recover some of their States printed paper cur- 17 of the Florida divers have found finds. By a February 2007 mari- rency. These coins are 53 people golden artifacts and pearls time judge’s decision, the group relatively rare, accord- aboard. at the wrecksite of the Santa Treasure found on Namibian coast today has ownership of more ing to specialists. The rest Margarita, a Spanish gal- De Beers geologists stumbled the Portuguese government than a hundred gold coins and Gold resists saltwater were res- leon which sunk off the Florida on the wreck on April 1 as they was alerted to the find, and a a thousand silver coins, including corrosion, and mud that cued. ■ Key’s in 1622. At only 22 feet prospected for diamonds off team of experts were expected some produced at two mostly had collected on the (7 meters) depth, the divers Namibia’s south-west coast. to be dispatched to the site for forgotten U.S. mints. coins was removed with a American Gold came across a tiny gold com- Judging from the notables further investigations, said Hilifa Eagle coin bined toothpick and earwax depicted on the hoard of Spanish Mbako, company spokesman for spoon, ceramics and pieces and Portuguese coins as well as Namdeb Diamond Corp., a joint off the ship itself. The Santa the type of cannon and crude venture of the government of Medival Wreck in the Baltic looted and damaged Margarita was, in fact, the sister navigational equipment, the ship Namibia and De Beers. ship to the well known Atocha. went down in the late 1400s or the coast of Namibia is famed The Swedish Coastguard and the Swedish maritime museums have discovered that a 16th century wreck Both were lost during a hurri- early 1500s. for it’s treacherous waters. It is has been damaged, and that objects have been removed. The so-called “Dalarö wreck” was discov- cane near the Florida Keys on Additionally, the ship was laden called the Skeleton Coast. The ered by divers in 2003. The wreck was unusually well 6 September 1622 and were with tonnes of copper ingots and coast is named for the bleached preserved and was kept a secret from the public salvaged by Mel Fisher and his elephant tusks. The archeologists whale and seal bones that cov- until 2007. In the meantime, the museum did a com- company, Treasure Salvors Inc. believe that the coppers were for ered the shore when the whaling prehensive documentation of the wreck. This is one This is not the first time that arti- making cannons. There were also industry was still active, as well as of the reasons why they are able to say with certain- facts from the Santa Margarita human remains and navigational the skeletal shipwrecks caused by ty that the wreck has been disturbed and looted. have been found since the sal- instruments. Excavations in the rocks offshore in the fog. ■ There is a general prohobitation for diving on the vaging 25 years ago. About a area were halted immediately. wreck. This didn’t deter divers from looting the wreck year ago, gold bars and a lead sometime between October 2007 and April 2008. ■ box containing thousands of pearls carried by the Margarita SS Laurentic gold share sales ship were found. It was esti- mated to be US$2 million worth For GB£49 you can now buy the remaining bars are esti- had been lost of items. ■ the so-called SS Laurentic Share mated to be worth GB£10m. in the five thou- Pack, which includes amongst Of the 3,211 ingots, a diving sand dives that other things, a legal share cer- team under Commander had taken place. tificate of Laurentic Limited. The Guybon Damant recovered SS Laurentic real attraction of this package is all but 25 between 1917 and was sunk by a supposed to be the 20 remaining 1923. German mine on gold bullions, which still are bur- Under the worst conditions 25 January 1917 ied in the shipwreck. The majority possible, the SS Laurentic, with a huge loss of life of some been en-route from Liverpool to of the 43 tons of gold the ship which had sunk at a depth 350 people and with gold bul- Canada with the gold bullion to was carrying when it sank has of 40 meters, had been lion on board worth US$3 billion pay for munitions in WWI. already been recovered, but salvaged and not one life at today’s prices. The ship had www.laurentic.com ■

22 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED wreck Odyssey Marine Exploration to star in new rap Discovery series about shipwrecks

Discovery Channel and JWM “We have the most experienced offshore environment, and for a long Productions team up to film the search- team of shipwreck explorers in the world time, we’ve been looking for the right es of Odyssey Marine Expeditions as manning our ships, and on a regular format to share the excitement of our part of a new series for the network. basis, they make amazing discoveries expeditions with viewers around the The Discovery Channel will accompany in the deep ocean—things that have world,” stated Greg Stemm, Odyssey’s Odyssey on its 2008 Atlas Search expe- never before been seen by human chief executive officer. ■ ditions as it uses state-of-the-art equip- eyes. We’re proud of the explora- ment to locate and recover artifacts tion and Spain and Egypt to from the ocean’s depth. The series will archaeo- investigate 19th century also cover the political red tape and logical courtroom clashes that come with work our shipwreck in search of exploring shipwrecks, as well as the his- team mummy Divers find oldest known tory of the ships being explored. The accom- bust of Caesar in river production is already under way. The plishes in Spain and Egypt will start a project planned 11 programs will be aired in the chal- later this year to investigate the 19th Divers in France have found the old- 2009. lenging century sinking of a ship that some est known bust of Roman dictator believe contained the mummy of Julius Caesar at the bottom of the a Fourth Dynasty pharaoh, news River Rhone near Arles according Odyssey Marine claims two agency MENA said. MENA cited french officials. The life-sized bust new shipwreck discoveries Egyptian Ambassador to Spain, showing the Roman ruler with wrin- Yasser Murad, as saying the coun- kles and hollows in his face is tenta- Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. is telling tries would first hold consultations tively dated to 46 B.C. This could be the world it has found two more ship- and compare historical records, the oldest know bust of the Roman wrecks. But, as is typical in the top secret and attempt to establish the loca- emperor. world of treasure hunters, the Tampa tion of the shipwreck. Khafre, who “I suspect the bust was thrown in company isn’t saying much more. ruled Egypt more than 2,500 years the river after he was assassinated, Odyssey filed papers May 29 at the U.S. ago, is known for building the because it would not have been District Court in Tampa, saying it has dis- second largest of the three great good at that time to be consid- covered a pair of shipwreck sites in the pyramids at Giza, and may have ered a follower of his,” said French region of the English Channel. Court fil- overseen the creation of the near- archaeologist Luc Long, who direct- ings indicate the newly discovered ship- by Sphinx. A ship carrying ancient ed excavations at the underwater wreck sites to be in about 200 meters of artifacts from Egypt to Britain, which site. water, between 25 and 40 miles from sank off the Spanish coast in the first Among other items in the river, the coast of England. While the exact half of the 19th cen- there was a 5.9 foot marble statue locations of the sites were not disclosed, tury, is believed of Neptune, dated to the first dec- Odyssey said they are “outside the ter- by some ade of the third century after Christ. ritorial waters or contiguous zone of any Egyptologists Additionally two smaller statues, sovereign nation.” The deep-sea explo- to have both in bronze and measuring 27.5 ration company said it has conducted contained inches each also were found. It is preliminary surveys at the wreck sites Khafre’s “doubtless” that one of them—a and found cannons and other artifacts mummy. satyr with his hands tied behind believed to date from the colonial peri- Odyssey’s co- ■ his back—originated in Hellenic od. It has not yet confirmed the vessels’ founder, Greg Source: Greece, the French cultural identities. Odyssey’s court filing, called an Stemm, holds an RIA Novosti ministry said. The divers made Admiralty Arrest Complaint, is intended artifact his compa- the discoveries during an to protect the company’s legal interests ny recovered from a 17th-century archaeological excavation and give it exclusive salvage rights. Once Spanish shipwreck made between September the sites are identified, the company said nearly 1500 feet and October 2007. ■ any potential claimants will be notified. ■ deep

23 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED place rising up over 70 feet from the bot- on the stern deck of the ship. A few wreck tom. A portion of the bowsprit remains, deadeyes and pulley blocks can be seen and just below it, there is a beautifully lying about in the wreckage. Many of the rap carved scroll bow stem. Two of the can- belaying pins that were used to secure nons are visible in the bow area, but lines are still located on the rails of the they have come loose from their original ship. All of the hatch covers and skylights positions. Two of the large anchors are are gone leaving a slight opening to the clearly visible. One anchor is still secure deck below, however, the ROV was not in its original position and the other has able to penetrate into the lower deck dropped off to the side of the ship. due to the silt that has been deposited the most characteristic feature of this over the years. ship are the quarter galleries that are located on either side of the stern area War Grave Site of the HMS Ontario. A quarter gallery is The shipwreck of the HMS Ontario is still a kind of balcony with windows that are considered to be British Admiralty prop- typically placed on the sides of the stern- erty. The official record of the number castle—a high, tower-like structure at the of people on board the Ontario when back of a ship that housed the officers’ she sank included: 74 military personnel, quarters. Both quarter galleries are there nine women and children, four native with some of the window glass still in Americans, and one civilian. There were place. no prisoners-of-war officially listed by the Under the ship’s tiller rests one of the British, however, private correspondence small cannons that had been mounted by an individual living at Fort Niagara indicated that there may have been a total of 120 people on board the ship including about 30 American prisoners. 18th century British warship HMS The shipwreck site of the Ontario is con- sidered to be a British war grave and therefore should remain forever undis- Ontario found intact in Great Lakes turbed. ■ Shipwreck enthusiasts, Jim Kennard and Shipwreck enthusiasts or—rather—finders, Dan Scoville and Jim Dan Scoville, located the ship utilizing side Kennard, have done it again, and this time, exceeded themselves scanning sonar and an ROV with the extraordinary find of HMS Ontario, the oldest confirmed Photos by Dan Scoville shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship to have ever and Jim Kennard been found in the Great Lakes.

The HMS Ontario, a British partially resting on one side, warship that was built in with two masts still in place. 1780, was discovered utiliz- The remains of two crow’s ing side scan in deep waters nests on each mast pro- off the southern shore of vided good confirmation Lake Ontario after an exten- that the sunken ship would sive search, which took be the brig-sloop Ontario. three years and covered A remote operated vehicle over 200 square miles of the with on-board cameras and lake. high intensity lighting was the HMS Ontario was deployed to bring back considered to be one of images of the sunken ship- the few “Holy Grail” ship- wreck. The schooner was wrecks in the Great Lakes. found sitting upright on the The sonar imagery clearly bottom leaning over to one shows a large sailing ship side. The masts are still in

24 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED The last global act of colonisation Text by Arnold Weisz of those is the so-called “Loop Hole” in the future as more and more Maritime states are entitled to the Barents Sea, which for many years of, virtually all pacific nations The international race to estab- claim an exclusive economic zone has been subject to a dispute with Russia. are so called maritime lish sovereignty over underwater of 200 nautical miles (370.4 kil- nations race for their share The quest of the poles of the seafloor. Fiji along territories is gaining momentum. ometers) The ocean beneath the North Pole has with Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Claims are being processed been subject to the most intensive race Palau, the Federated States by the New York-based UN seabed is part of a continuous continen- lately. In August this year, Russia sparked of Micronesia, Tonga and Commission on the Limits of the tal shelf adjoining their coastline. Often what has been widely described as a Papua New Guinea have a these claims are made based on territory “race” for the North Pole, by sending credible claim to more than Continental Shelf. States may far from the main land. Ascension Island a mini-submarine to plant a flag at the 1.5 million km2 of additional extend their territorial rights over is situated in the mid Atlantic, between North Pole sea floor at a depth of 4,261 space beyond their current the seabed beyond the 200-mile South-America and Africa. The island meters (13,980 feet) as featured in X-RAY 200 mile Exclusive Economic Australia has extended its continental shelf, 2 limit and up to 350 miles from an has a land area of just around 100 km MAG #22. Zone. For many of these island states, under an agreement with the United Nations, but, due to its isolated location, it gener- Many of the nations around the North obtaining new wealth from the seafloor and increased its territory by 2.5 million adjacent coastline. ates an exclusive economic zone with Pole are driven by a lust for Arctic Ocean may be their only way to elevate their square kilometers an area of more than 440,000 km2. If the oil, as global warming makes this part of economies, as As mineral and energy prices soar, there submission is approved by the commis- the planet increasingly accessible due their homelands is growing international interest in explor- sion, Great Britain will gain nearly 200,000 to the melting polar ice cap. The US, are sinking into ing the seabed for increasingly scarce km2 of additional seabed in which it will Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia the very sea they reserves. Countries like Great Britain, have sovereign rights to exploit living and are all part of this race. claim. Russia, Mexico, Norway, France, Brazil, non-living resources. on the other side of the planet, there the deadline to New Zealand and Australia have already France has made similar claims to the aren’t going to be any cessions made submit the claims staked out claims. The two lastest sub- continantal shelf off the coast of French easily either. Both Argentina and Chile for the 122 coun- missions made in 2008 came from Great Guiana (South-America) and the island have announced that they plan to tries involved, is Britain, which has formally laid claim to of New Caledonia (Western Pacific). In make rival submissions for the seabed off May 13, 2009. ■ 200,000 km2 of the Atlantic seabed sur- their submission to the UN Commission, the icy southern continent. Most of this rounding Ascension Island. This area is France stated that there were non dus- continent—and there of, the continental as large as the country itself. The small putes between France or any other state shelf—is also seen by many countries Caribbean island state of Barbados regarding their claim off the coast of as a political quest to gain more ter- submitted a claim this month to a wide Frenc Guiana, but their claim off New ritory and the right for any natural swath of underwater territory on the Caledonia was subject to informal dis- resources in them. outer rim of the Caribbean. Its documen- putes with New Zealand and Australia. tation was assembled with the help of Norway has made claims on three sepa- Mare Pacificum the National Oceanography Centre in rate areas in the North East Atlantic. One The vast Pacific Ocean Southampton, one of the units that may just contain helped the UK to plot its territorial a handful of tiny claim. island nations. This doesn’t mean that these tropi- Far from home Na v y photo

As a rule, all maritime states are enti- cal paradises are U.S. tled to claim an exclusive economic going to miss out zone of 200 nautical miles (370.4 kil- on the race for natural Three polar bears approach the star- ometers). They have to prove that the resources. The peaceful board bow of the Los Angeles-class fast sea may not be so peaceful in attack submarine USS Honolulu (SSN 718) Great Britain has formally while surfaced 280 miles from the North Pole 2 laid claim to 200,000 km Isla n d Gove r n m ent Ascension Island, a seemingly of the Atlantic seabed sur- tiny speck in the middle of the vast ocean, has all of a sudden become rounding Ascension Island. A s cen ion a piece of prime real estate

25 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED news

Edited by Catherine GS Lim New hyperbaric chamber in Singapore One of Southeast Asia’s largest municate with patients in the At the launch, which was multiplace hyperbaric chambers chamber using an intercom. If graced by Speaker of Parliament, was launched in Singapore in necessary, a doctor or nurse can Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, a S$300,000 April 2008. Housed at the premises access the chamber during treat- cheque was presented to Mercy of Hyperbaric & Occupational ment through a larger porthole at Relief. Said Dr Chan: “We believe Medicine (HOM) Pte Ltd, in asso- the other end. that while we are attending to ciation of Flinders Practice Pte “The nurses are trained to look the sick and needy in Singapore, Ltd, the chamber is the nation’s for complications such as oxy- at the same time, we should not third hyperbaric chamber. gen toxicity. If oxygen-toxic signs ignore the sick and needy in the and symptoms develop, we are region. We found in Mercy Relief Text by Catherine GS Lim able to modify the treatment or the conduit to express our care stop the treatment,” said Dr Kevin and address those needs.” ■ As a multiplace hyperbaric cham- Chan, the Medical Director of ber, the facility can treat as many HOM. as 18 people (20 if necessary!) at any one time, the highest number of patients possible Hyperbaric facilities along Turkey’s Medi- among the existing two other hyperbaric chambers oper- terranean coast: inoperative or lacking ating in Singapore. It offers hyperbaric The lack of a medical doctor in the only (HBOT) to treat dive-related chamber in Turkey’s internationally known resort town of medical conditions, as well as other conditions like the Bodrum in the Aegean, where about 100,000 tourists go scuba management of chronic non- diving every year, has troubled tourism agents in the region. healing wounds or ulcers and tissue rejuvenation. The US$300,000 decompression cham- tor to intervene in cases of decom- hbot involves the adminis- ber in Bodrum is currently not in use pression sickness. Consequently, the tering of 100 percent pure oxy- and in the 750-kilometer coastal approximately 500 professional scuba gen to someone in an environ- stretch from Kuşadası to Antalya, divers and about 100,000 tourists that ment of increased atmospher- there are no other decompression go diving every summer have been ic pressure. chambers. The Aquatic Products left without any access to hyper- this provides a high concen- Research Institute in Bodrum was baric facilities in case of decompres- tration of oxygen to the body, closed four years ago, and as the sion sickness. Bodrum Underwater and serves as the primary institute’s only decompression cham- Association Chairman Erman Akarsu treatment in cases of decom- ber, was then transferred to the said Turkey has only very few decom- pression illness. Bodrum State Hospital; the hospital’s pression chamber medical doctors, During treatment, cameras only medical specialist in decom- and that many of those are appoint- monitor the patients within the pression sickness was appointed to ed by the state to landlocked prov- chamber through portholes. a different province. Since then, the inces in eastern Anatolia. ■ The medical team can com- hospital has not had a medical doc- Source: Doğan News Agency

26 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel news Swimming With Tuna the Next Trend in Edited by Scott Bennett Dive Travel? We’ve all heard about swimming with ming alongside them as dolphins, but how about swimming they dart around eating pil- with bluefin tuna? Off the coast of Port chards. Measuring a meter Lincoln in South Australia, a local char- in length, the muscular, ter company is offering a world first: black fish are capable of the chance for tourists and locals alike swimming in bursts of up to to swim with one of the ocean’s most 70 kilometers an hour. highly prized fish. Port Lincoln is home While the tuna fishermen to Australia’s lucrative southern blue- have been supportive in the fin tuna fishery and boasts the highest venture, Waller says they number of millionaires per capita in the have little interest in showing entire country. But the times are chang- tourists around their farms, ing, and the other locals are fishing for considering it a distraction Solmar V YouTube the lucrative tourist dollars. where hundreds of tuna can be seen from the big business of export- VIDEO CONTEST Matt Waller, a former skipper on the swimming below. The fish are originally ing sashimi-grade tuna to the tuna fleet, has set up his bluefin pen caught in the open ocean and are then Japanese. “That leaves it open This year Solmar V is in Boston Bay, off Port Lincoln. After a carefully towed back to port in nets. for people like us to show tourists sponsoring a YouTube video con- tour of the marina, the tour boat settles While the tuna are worth about $1100 what the industry is about,” he test, and the winner gets a free trip and pulls up to a pontoon at one of the each, these aren’t destined for the din- said. ists to swim with. “Why would you want to Socorro. tuna farms. Here, a big circular-mesh ner table. Instead, Waller takes tourists Running into one old tuna fisherman, to do that when you can catch them?” All you have to do is create a enclosure is secured to the sea floor, to ogle the great fish up close, swim- Waller said he had tuna in pens for tour- was the baffled reply. ■ video (using pictures or video foot- age taken on the Solmar V) and post it on the popular YouTube website. Remember, you can cre- Jean-Michel Cousteau Signs 10-Year Agreement with Ritz-Carlton ate a “video” using still photos, titles and captions, as well as regu- The Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Jean- From the current location at The Ritz- at Grand Cayman, and with Ocean lar video clips. There’s more com- Michel Cousteau have signed a ten Carlton, Grand Cayman, the company Futures Society, to make certain our plete information on exactly how year agreement to further develop will expand the program to some of its new locations, on land and sea, are in to do this on their web site. and expand the award-winning other resort and urban hotel destinations concert with the local community and please make sure to mention “Ambassadors of the Environment” around the world, including Kapalua, culture,” Cousteau said. Solmar V in the YouTube title and (AOTE) program. Emphasizing education Maui and Sanya, which opened 24 April With the motto, “Protect the ocean description so that viewers will and respect for ecosystem sustainability 2008. and you protect yourself”, Cousteau is be able to find and vote on your through “hands-on” activities, the inno- “We are very excited to continue our carrying on the legacy of his renowned video. After all the videos are vative program was recently named highly successful relationship with a man father through the work of his non-profit posted, the public will then vote on “Best Children’s Program for 2007” by whose entire life has been spent dedi- Ocean Futures Society. Based in Santa their favorites and decide the win- Virtuoso, the consortium of travel profes- cated to preservation of the environ- Barbara, California, USA, the OFS also ner. sionals specializing in ultra-luxurious busi- ment, with particular attention to marine has offices in Paris; Lucca, Italy; and the contest will run thoughout ness and leisure destinations. Through conservation and education,” said Sao Paulo, Brazil. For more information, 2008, and Solmar V will be post- the program, children have snorkeled to Simon F. Cooper, president and chief visit www.oceanfutures.org. ing updates regularly. For more explore coral reefs, discovered the criti- operating officer of The Ritz-Carlton For more information or reservations, complete details, and to see vid- cal role of mangrove trees in the eco- Hotel Company. contact The Ritz-Carlton U.S. toll free res- eos already entered for this year, system and participated in the breeding “As we join in this new and expanded ervations line at 1 (800) 241-3333, or visit please visit: www.solmarv.com/ programs of rare species like the endan- collaboration with The Ritz-Carlton, the company web site at www.ritzcarl- videocontest_2008.html ■ gered Grand Cayman blue iguana. we will look to what has been done ton.com. ■

27 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED US airlines: Cancellations and new charges for checking bags Continental’s fuel bill will be US$2.3 billion more this year than US carrier to charge passengers to check in a first bag. Several travel in 2007, with ticket price increases not enough to offset the others, including Qantas, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, massive 75 percent hike in jet fuel. In addition, the company have also increased their fuel surcharg- es. The will implement job cuts, representing roughly 6.5 percent of International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned Edited by the carrier’s total staff. “These actions are among many steps that the airline industry faces a “grim” Scott Bennett Continental is taking to respond to record-high fuel prices as outlook, as soaring fuel costs coupled the industry faces its worst crisis since 9/11,” the company said. with a global Oil prices recently hit an all-time record of more than $135 a economic slow- Airlines: Mixed response barrel, before receding to trade around the $120-a-barrel mark. down will seriously to in-flight mobile Many airlines are starting to take drastic steps to cut overhead impact passen- and increase revenue, including grounding planes and cance- ger numbers. ■ phone calls ling less-lucrative routes. One of the last refuges from the Meanwhile, American Airlines has become the first major mobile phone will be breached before the end of the year after the European Commission has set US to tighten both entry and exit rules out the rules for in-flight mobile use. The formal agreement covers First came finger printing on the way in. Now comes finger- legal and technological condi- printing on the way out. The US Department of Homeland Bikini Atoll Divers closes tions for all 27 EU nations to Security (DHS) has sparked fresh indignation by ordering permit mobile use in their airlines and cruise lines to collect the digital fingerprints After 13 years of operation, escalating financial losses have airspace. of all foreigners before they leave the country. With forced closure of scuba diving at Bikini Atoll, the Marshall Ryanair is plan- more than 33 million travellers to be fingerprinted Islands’ premier tourist destination. Skyrocketing fuel prices, ning mobile use on all annually as part of the “air-exit program”, crit- combined with a national airline plagued with mechani- European flights while ics have warned that this new scheme will cal problems has undermined the once profitable scuba Air France, bmi and the result in worldwide airline pandemonium. diving business that lured visitors from Europe, America and Portuguese carrier TAP are “The 9/11 Commission called for Australia. running six-month trials to biometric entry and exit records, be- Although heavily booked in advance for both 2008 and gauge passenger reaction. cause biometrics confirm that trave- 2009, the persistent airline disruptions have resulted in a other European airlines are not lers are who they say they are, and wave of cancellations by divers wary of being stranded. planning to allow calls. Lufthansa that the purpose of their travel is as Although Bikini has been open since February, the national said yesterday that it would allow they claim it to be,” stated DHS chief airline did not resume flights until early May. As a result, only only internet usage after research Michael Chertoff. The International Air two groups of divers have managed to get to Bikini this year. showed that a large majority of Transport Association sees the situation “After 13 great-though-challenging years as one of the passengers were opposed to the dif- ferently, proclaiming that the fingerprinting premier wreck diving and fishing tourism sites in the Pacific, use of mobile phones. of every departing passenger will lead to “delayed de- Bikini Atoll will be closed to tourists as of June 11,” stated emirates allows passengers partures and missed connections around the world”. Bikini Atoll Divers manager Jack Niedenthal. With a reces- to use mobile phones in-flight “It’s incredibly ill-conceived,” said Paul Charles, of Virgin sion-bound U.S. economy on the horizon, the prospect of a while Qatar will only allow texting Atlantic. “Our check-in staff aren’t 2009 opening remains doubtful. ■ and internet use. According to immigration officers, and they’re not “It’s incredibly ill- Qatar’s chief executive Akbar trained to decide whether or not conceived. Our al Baker, “We will have the facil- someone should be allowed to leave ity on board—it’s just a question the country.” check-in staff aren’t of flicking a switch. But we have however, there is a glimmer of immigration of- decided not to allow mobile hope. As a political appointee, Cher- calls on planes for a very simple toff may be out of a job when the ficers, and they’re reason—comfort. We don’t want new American administration takes not trained to de- people to start speaking loudly charge in January, but not before the in the cabin on a night flight,” set-up of one final hurdle. Come au- cide whether or not he added. However, the airline tumn, anyone visiting America will be someone should be will allow text messaging and is obliged to seek an online pre-travel providing WiFi and high-speed authorization at least 48 hours prior to allowed to leave the broadband access for laptops. ■ departure. ■ country.”

28 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Airline opts to fly slower travel to save fuel and cut costs Belgium’s Brussels Airlines has announced it is slowing speeds and Edited by reducing weight on some of its aircraft in order to reduce fuel costs. Scott Bennett The airline said slowing its planes by about 10km/h would cut its annu- al fuel bill by 1m euros (US$1.6m; GB£800,000) but only add a minute or two to flight times. The measures will also reduce the airline’s emis- Tawali Adventures IATA ends paper sions of global warming greenhouse gases, a spokesman said. Other ticket system in shift options to cut down on fuel use and reduce weight are carrying less PAPUA NEW GUINEA PREMIER PROPERTIES water, getting rid of built-in stairways on planes and adding angled to 100 percent tips (winglets) to wings to reduce drag on take-off. Brussels Airlines is Tawali || Spirit of Niugini MV Chertan electronic tickets also putting pressure on the EU to adapt a harmonised air system. The current system often forces planes to fly a zigzag route over Europe as they pass over different countries’ airspaces. This measure alone The International Air Transport would result in a significant savings of aviation fuel. ■ Association has ended its pa- per ticketing system in a shift TuckedTucked away in a pristine rain forestforest accessible only by boat, Tawali is Papua to a 100 percent electronic New Guinea’s premier resort. Scuba dive, , kayak or explore the localocall ticketing system. At a cer- culturel on guidedid d bbushh walkslk to remote villages,ill skullk ll caves andd waterfalls.f ll emony on June 1 in Istanbul, 2,681 airports with Wi-Fi locations IATA Director General Gio- Located on a volcanic bluff overlooking the clear water and coral reefs of USA today has posted an extensive list of airports worldwide that vanni Bisignani announced, Milne Bay, Tawali offers travelers a unique location to relax and enjoy the have Wi-Fi. See http://usatoday.jiwire.com/hotspots-hot-spot-airport- “the beginning of a new, unspoiled wonders of this magnifi cent part of the world. directory-browse-by-country.htm ■ more convenient and more efficient era for air travel.” Stay in touch worldwide with the Bluefire Global In addition, airlines will now Roaming SIM Card avail- be able to reissue electronic able from Singapore tickets more easily in the Airlines’ inflight KrisShop. event that passengers lose With one global phone their electronic tickets. The number, save up to 80 new system will also enable percent on international the global airline industry to calls and receive incom- save US$3 billion a year in ing calls almost anywhere costs associated with paper without contracts, con- nection or activation fees. ticket issuance. Compatible with 99 per- cent of unlocked GSM, mobile phones, the card As of April 30, 95 percent of features voicemail, text and call divert and 24/7 global tickets were electron- global customer support. The price S$102.00 price ic with the percentage for tag also includes US$10 worth of initial talk time. North America, Europe and northeastern Asia, includ- Don’t you just hate those cheap earphones with ing Japan, being nearly 100 itchy foam rubber pads that get handed percent. out on flights? Despair not. For 5-6 Euros or dollars you can buy a little converter The first electronic ticket was plug at an electronics’ store. This little issued in 1994 and by 2005, thingy allows you to plug in your a total of 285 million paper own headset. That way you tickets had been issued. The also avoid having to hand IATA made a decision to back the headset before www.tawali.com phase out paper tickets in the movie is over. 2004. ■

29 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED A Percent for the Ocean travel Carlos Hiller is a painter of ocean light and life

Rising fuel prices a threat to diveT exttravel by Arnold Weisz The spiking price of staple foods is tourist destinations eventually have to sumers…yet. Facing bankruptcy, they good news for environment. Fewer affecting all our lives, the price hike of charge more, as their profit margins will. airplanes in the sky means less carbon oil in the recent months even more so. evaporate. Divers who love to travel Within the dive travel industry, the emissions. Price induced energy con- carlos hiller The airline industry is in turmoil. Service can be in for a rough ride ahead, skyrocketing prices on fuel and food servation to fight global warming is not providers so will the people whose livelihoods will take effect soon. The ripple effects a new thought. However, there are at depend on diving tourists. are many. Out of the way resorts, some ugly side effects to this scenario. the leisure travel industry faces one which rely on land or sea transport for Divers traveling to far flung cor- of its worst shocks since 9/11 or the their goods and rely on diesel genera- ners of the planet have given many SARS epidemic in 2003. Airlines tors for electricity, will have to raise island nations much needed income are struggling with soaring fuel their prices. Liveaboard’s and dive and created invaluable jobs, as in prices. British Airways for boats will have to increase their prices the Maldives. On other hand, the example, set in motion as diesel becomes more expensive. increased use of fossil fuels, which evi- new fuel surcharges one live-aboard owner in Indonesia dently keeps airplanes in the air, is also on June 3. On a long- told me that they would have to look a part of the global warming problem, haul flight lasting less closer at their itineraries, if the diesel which is threatening the very same than nine hours fees prices continue to climb, e.g. travel to island paradises.

will increase from less distant reefs and stay longer at the the divers that don’t fly off to tropi- carlos hiller US$29 each way same dive sites. cal islands for their vacation will not to $153, while in the last few months, the price of stop diving. Many local dive centers the surcharge on diesel in Indonesia has risen 20 per- could therefore look forward to this longer journeys will cent. Even the local restaurant at a trend. In the US, divers swapping their increase by $59 to Thai resort will up your holiday spend- gasoline gulping pick-up trucks to $214 a flight. ing, as the price of rice has jumped 48 more fuel efficient cars will take to the they haven’t percent just this year. nearest ocean instead, to get their fully unloaded A falling US dollar has cushioned fins wet. A downturn in dive travel to their increasing those price hikes somewhat, but not the might bring more busi- fuel bills on the nearly enough. For US consumers, who ness to dry-suit manufacturers in Britain con- are the largest consumer group or more local divers to resorts on the for the diving industry, the weak Norwegian coast. dollar has made travel abroad You probably won’t see any dive carlos hiller more expensive. boats lining up in ports on fuel strikes, Find more awe-inspiring images and but the dive industry has to bring ocean art by fine artists and underwater out their voices as well. Many coun- Saving the planet photographers from around the world. Divers have been a great tries and territories like the Maldives, T-shirts, prints, cards & gifts. A percent of support to ocean conserva- Belize, Fiji, and many other all sales goes to ocean conservation. tion. The demand for pristine Caribbean islands where aquatic tour- coral reefs has saved many reefs ism is a major source of income, will from destruction. Many countries have feel the changing trends in travel, if realized that they need to take care of the oil and commodity prices continue The X-RAY MAG Store their natural assets, like a clean ocean. to eat up profit margins. ■ the slow down in world travel is www.cafepress.com/xraymag

30 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED SulawesiNorth unplugged

Wolgang pölzer

Text by Wolfgang Pölzer the Minahasa, and the inhabitants, reference to the historical export of Photos by Wolfgang Pölzer the Minahasan. Originally inhabited iron from the rich iron deposits at Lake and Andy Ferrari by Malay-speaking peoples, the Matano in the Southern end of the region was first colonized in the 16th island. century by the Portuguese. It was the the Portuguese were soon followed I can’t help likening this Portuguese who first to referred to by the Dutch who left the most island to a chromosome. It’s significant imprint on the area. contorted shape not only Manado, the looks like one, but also has its regional capital different features spread out and cultural along different points even center of the Minahasa people when you zoom in. Our focal is a former Dutch point is the northern region. stronghold and On the western side of the tip, the center of the we find national park Dutch settlement in colonial times with its majestic drop-offs, on for which reason the top of the area around North Sulawesi Gangga Island, and on the still retains many traces of Western eastern side, Lembeh, famous influence. The for its critter diving. Minahasa identify

Wolgang pölzer themselves Previously known as Celebes, Sulawesi strongly with is Indonesia’s fourth largest island, and the Dutch it is at its northeastern tip where we Sulawesi as ‘Celebes’. The meaning of language and with 97 percent of find the region famous for having a this name is unclear, but originally, it the population being denominated number of the best dive spots in the did not refer to the entire island as the as Christian—most are protestant, world. It can only be the most ignorant Portuguese thought Sulawesi was not Lutheran—North Sulawesi stands out or newly minted divers who haven’t one island but an archipelago. as a Christian enclave in an otherwise heard the names Manado, Bunaken the modern name, ‘Sulawesi’, predominantly Muslim Indonesia. It or Lembeh uttered somewhere. Lesser possibly comes from the words is said to have the highest density of known is it that this region is called sula (‘island’) and besi (‘iron’) with church buildings in Indonesia, with

andy ferrari CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Red coral and diver at Bunaken; Sunset over North Sulawesi; Clownfish guarding their sea anemone home 31 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel Sulawesi

andy ferrari Wolgang pölzer

approximately one church for every On the outer side of the reef, the pelagics. doesn’t 100m of road. water seems clear as crystal, and As we slide in, we marvel at the even For a long time, Manado suddenly, we realise that our fins are protruding fan corals, huge sponges seem to prospered through trade with the dangling over an endless dropoff. and big bushes of black corals that nearby Philippines and the spice I find myself longing for having my are covering the wall. At 30 metres, trade with the rest of the world, but own twin tank, wing jacket and we stop our descent. The current acknowledge my was badly damaged by bombing deco tank with me here—that gently pushes us along the wall. presence with a during the Second World War. In would have been ideal. Fans of i suddenly note a large green blink of an eye any case, most divers would head deeper diving will be thrilled at this turtle sleeping right next to me —what an amazingly directly from the airport to the spot. under an overhang on the reef. She relaxed turtle. nearby resorts along the coast and Since there is no continental shelf does not seem to be the slightest Suddenly, Monica, the on the surrounding islands, so let’s here, the depth rapidly reaches perturbed by my presence. Right diveguide, is trying to grab get on with it, and dive right in... more than 200 metres where here in the heart of the national my attention by waving her there is a small plateau before it park, she appears to be neither hands vigourously. It turns out continues down into the deep blue afraid of intrusive divers trying to that she has spotted quite a

andy ferrari The boat stops right in front of the of the open ocean. This unique grab, or touch her, or of fishermen rare nudibranch on the wall. reef. The surface is as smooth as topography is the cause behind trying to catch her. Patiently, she It is a really nice specimen, but CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Harlequin pipefish at glass, and the top of the reef is the often strong currents and bears with the repetitive flashes as unfortunately, I have chosen to Lembeh; White sandy beach and blue waters densely covered by hard corals. good options for encountering big I take series of turtle portraits. She bring my wide angle setup today. at Walea; Anthia school on the reef; Seahorse Wolgang pölzer 32 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel Sulawesi

instead, I focus in the hanging to remedy the damage, gardens of soft corals, blazing structures have been red whip corals, huge gorgonians set down to encourage new and pretty barrel sponges—one growth of coral in the region. motif is followed by the next. And, These three dimensional structures fortunately for me, it is apparent are made from a special open- that is not the first time Monica pored ceramic that doesn’t react has worked as an underwater chemically with sea water and model. She not only guides me in serves as an optimum substrate a very professional manner but is for the coral larvae. An ingenious also a perfect model. but rather costly fix. Wherever I turn my gaze, there is some sort of action. While Conservation two sharks on patrol glide past Environmental protection, underneath us, we watch as an especially as regards to the understandably apprehensive reefs, goes back a long time on school of tunas hurry in the Sulawesi. The highly regarded opposite direction. Bunaken National Park was As our air reserves drops created 17 years ago as one of towards the 50 bar mark, the current push gently into a shallow bay. It is a region where in former year’s invasions of the predatory starfish Crown of Thorns laid waste to huge swathes of coral leaving the reef dotted with white patches of dead coral half a meter across.

Jump out of bed and dive right in

all photos this page by Wolgang pölzer 33 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel

Gangga

* bastiano’s Resort & Diving * bunaken Cha Cha Nature Resort * bunaken Divers Seabreeze Resort & Sea Dancer Live-aboard Bunaken * celebes Divers Dive the best of * eco Divers North Sulawesi With * Gangga Island Resort * Kungkungan Bay Resort Manado “Gangga Divers” * Lembeh Divers Gangga - Bangka - Lembeh - Bunaken * Living Colours Dive Resort Lembeh * LumbaLumba Divers Bitung www.ganggaisland.com * Minahasa Lagoon Resort * north Sulawesi Aggressor * Siladen Resort & Spa * Dive Center Thalassa * two Fish Divers

doesn’t feel quite right to highlight only speak warmly about the dives, many green turtles can be just a few, but on any given trip, following sites... seen here. In the blue water along you can only pick out so many the drop-off, schools of mackarel, sites from the huge buffet of Bunaken – Lekuan 2 tuna, fusiliers can be seen passing great locations on offer here. At the southwestern corner by as well as napoleon wrasses, Nonetheless, on the basis of my of Bunaken, we find the most and from time to time, stingrays own restricted experience, I can frequented and best dive sites of and blacktip reefsharks. This is a the island. good place for lazy drift dives as The dives the current is mostly slight. During here lead ascent, you can enjoy huge fields you along of hard corals in the shallows. a fantastic covered Bunaken – Muka Kampung drop off This spot is in many ways similar to

Wolgang pölzer from shallow Lekuan, but due to its position at water the southern cape of Bunaken, the first protected marine areas in over 2000 species down to a it is exposed to strong currents, Indonesia. of fish with many maximum which you have to be able to this unique area of 790 more awaiting depth of 50 handle safely. The drop-off, which km2 includes Bunaken, four discovery. It was, metres. In a is absolutely vertical, boast a neighbouring islands and two for example, here depth of 20 selection of all kinds of huge fan larger parts of the Sulawesi that the pygmy to 30 metres, corals and soft corals. Visibility is coastline. At the center lies the seahorses were you will find usually in excess of 30 metres. Lots horseshoe-shaped island of first discovered. some nice of turtles and schools jackfish tend Bunaken. It is also here we find overhanging to hang around here. most of the divespots. Diving reef and this part of Sulawesi boasts an With so many crevices. Manado Tua – Pangulingan amazing bio-diversity. More than great spots to on Situated between Bunaken and 70 genera (families) of coral and choose from, it morning the volcano islands of Manado, Wolgang pölzer

34 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel Sulawesi

Wolgang pölzer

Pangulinga is a tricky but very rewarding site Ria Resort Manado on the western side to the for those who can handle the extreme and Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR) at the Lembeh descending currents on this location... Tua. The Strait took two hours by mini bus. After that dive starts in the slight current at the dropoff. ordeal, it only took us ten minutes after reaching Past the wall the current gets stronger, heading this well known resort built in traditional style, to down and away from the wall towards the get into the and enter the water. big blue. Those able to maintain position at The first impressions were a bit of a let about 20 meters depth will be rewarded by down. All we saw was a muddy bottom masses of fish. Barracudas, mackarels, big with no growth. The visibility was not snappers and hundreds of batfishes seem very impressive either; at best, it to congregate here. was not more than Occassionally, mantas ten meters. will be passing by, and but suddenly, predators as black tip everything sharks and hammerheads are sprang hunting here. The dive boat is into going with the current, taking action. everybody on board in the The open water. three Critter capital dive of the world Transferring all the participants of the photo- shootout and their equipment across the peninsula from Tasik

Spot the fish... if you can

andy ferrari Wolgang pölzer 35 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Making friends travel Sulawesi

were able to present throughout every dive I did on this trip, I was an impressive constantly fascinated by what this hotspot of palette of first class biodiversity could throw at me. subject—there was Divers who have no eye or sense for small hardly enough parts of life and who prefer drifting and passing time to take all the colourful reefs and drop-offs looking for the pictures. Which big aminals, would have come to the wrong brings me straight place. Also, you should not complain about to the main point... the various items of human civilisation you Those who love may encounter on the sea bottom. There nudibranchs, crabs, are some dive spots where old car tires, soda rare cephalopods cans, bottles and plastic cups are the most and fishes will find a remarkable structures on the sandy bottom. paradise here. ironically, these artefacts have been the region around welcomed as shelters for fishes, crabs and Lembeh Strait at the other animals. The pollution stems from the all photos this page by Wolgang pölzer northern coast of more than 200,000 inhabitants of the nearby Sulawesi became city of Bitung, the most important harbour guides had disappeared in different directions, famous because of the huge concentrations city of North and now they each signalled vigorously with of rare and bizarre creatures, or “critters”, Sulawesi. To their metal shakers to draw our attention to attracting photographers from all over the what them. A little orange frogfish was sitting on a planet looking for spectacular sponge and seeming wanting to pose for our macro motives. It is difficult to cameras. A perfect subject and a patient write about the model! Two photos later, I heard another next diving in this region signal: Wow, this time it was a couple of the without rare Halimeda Ghostpipefish. I wasn’t done getting with this subject when we heard the next carried signal. And so it went on all through the dive. away—for the dive guides were clearly accustomed to working with underwater photographers and

The walls are dra- matic

Cuttlefish

36 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel Sulawesi

degree the marine population working closely together because there is no region in is influenced or negative to designate the area a the world where you will find impacted by this city, has not “Protected Marine Area”. The so many poisonous animals as been documented, and I am regional diving centers are in on the bottom of the straits of not sure what to make of it. a continuous dialogue and Lembeh. On the other hand, Due to the strong tidal currents, working close together. you will rarely find other dive the daily water exchange in those days are over when the regions, were it is as easy as Lembeh Strait is very significant. local dive guides, in hope for a here to obtain perfect photo In any case, the diving centers good tip, presenting the critters results. in this area are to the clients by taking them out back on the diving ship, of their habitats holding them everybody seemed pleased up in front of the cameras. with their resulting photographs. This led to the decision to The participants of the photo disallow the use of diving competition were given three gloves. Touching things days to take the pictures for can be dangerous, their competition portfolio. and even the All along the way, the all photos this page by Wolgang pölzer casual touch professional photographers on of a random the jury offered their support The colours and shapes you can find is here are unsurpassed. Cuttlefish have object might and generously shared their a remarkable ability to rapidly alter their skin color at will. This color-changing cause extensive experience and function is produced by groups of red, yellow, brown, and black pigmented chromato- difficulties, knowledge. ■ phores with up to 200 of these specialized pigment cells per square millimeter.

37 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Biorock Text by Sebastian Ferse Photos by Sebastian Ferse Electrifying Sulawesi and Wolfgang Pölzer

The northernmost tip of the Philippines in the North to the researchers were baffled by the excep- cultures mixes in the capital of North creatures, such as the mimic octopus, a odd-shaped island of Sulawesi, island of Borneo in the west, and tionally high diversity at single locations Sulawesi, the bustling city of Manado. species of pygmy seahorse and another over to Papua and the Solomon throughout the park. This amazing diversi- Visitors to the area immediately notice related minute critter, apparently a new an area aptly named “land ty underwater is matched by a confusing the coexistence of several cultures and genus, which was discovered in Lembeh of the waving coconut trees”, Islands in the east, and is home mix of human cultures in North Sulawesi, religions—although Christian churches Strait in 2006. lies in the heart of the region to over 700 species of hard were sea-faring Bajau sea gypsies have dominate the city, picturesque mosques Arguably, the most widely publicized with the highest marine biodi- coral and more than 2000 spe- settled to build their stilt homes on some and even some colorful Chinese temples discovery was that of a local popula- of the smaller islands that dot the waters can be found in Manado. tion of Coelacanths, an ancient group versity found anywhere on this cies of fishes. north of the peninsula, while more agri- the marine realm of North Sulawesi has of fishes that has been around for over planet. This so-called South-East A recent survey in Bunaken National cultural peoples such as the Bolaang made headlines a number of times in 400 million years. Don’t get too excited w o lfga n g pö lz e r Asian Triangle of Biodiversity Park found 390 species of stony corals, Mongondow or Minahasans inhabit the recent years with the discovery of sev- about meeting one spans from the a diversity similar to that of famed loca- rich highlands, farming spices like cloves eral very unusual tions like Wakatobi and Milne Bay and vanilla. This host of in Papua New Guinea. The

38 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED The Colubrine sea krait or yellow-lipped sea krait Laticauda colubrina is a species of sea snake found in tropical oceanic waters. It is extremely poisonous, but not aggressive and its mouth not big enough to bite a Biorock travel human except perhaps on the hand.

est has not been able front of the palm-fringed beaches and to guarantee the well- thick stretches of mangroves, several pri- being of the coral-cov- vate initiatives have sprung up. ered walls, gentle turtles, multi-hued swarms of Restoring and building reefs fishes, intricate nudi- On Bunaken Island, dive operators have branchs, bizarre sand- worked together with NGOs and scien- inhabiting critters, and tists to restore damaged reef area with other marine creatures snow-flake shaped ceramic modules. wolfgang pölzer that people come from These ‘EcoReefs’ mimic the branches of all over the world to see. staghorn corals and provide habitat for the region: the enormous Part of the problem is that a large fish to live in and substrate for corals to potential for marine tour- part of the local population traditionally grow on. A lot of the local dive guides ism. comprises farmers rather than fisher folk, were involved in the construction, learn- north Sulawesi has firmly and that an appreciation for the unique ing a great deal about the importance diversity and of the coral habitat—and about the vulnerability of amount of work needed to restore a reef the submarine once it has been damaged. But Bunaken realm has not is not the only place where dedicated been firmly people are working to preserve the reefs. established About 50km to the north of Manado yet. In order lays Gangga, smallest of a group of to address this three islands that form the beginning issue, increase of the Sangihe-Talaud island chain, environmen- which stretches all the way north to tal literacy, the Philippines. Gangga Island Resort & and foster the Spa, perched on the southern tip of the

wolfgang pölzer

on your dives—these gentle oldtimers live covery... Even the non-divers can catch established at depths between 100 and 1000 meters. a glimpse of the richness of the local its reputa- The Coelacanth was ‘discovered’ by reefs. tion as one mere coincidence—a marine biologist of the prime living in Manado took a stroll over one of Cyanide and dynamite dive desti- the crowded fish markets when he spot- Unfortunately, the markets also give a nations in ted the unusual specimen. pretty good impression of the problems the world— the fish markets of Manado (the two these reefs are facing. Colorful small the breath- biggest markets are the one next to the coral fishes are testimony to the fact that taking walls harbor basin at Calaca and the mar- indiscriminate fishing among the fragile of Bunaken

ket at Karombasan bus terminal) are an coral branches is still widespread, utilizing and the wolfgang pölzer exhilarating experience, albeit not for explosives, cyanide, or fine-meshed nylon fables muck the faint-hearted. The mix of high tem- nets. In either case, damage to the cor- dives in peratures under the tarpaulin roofing, als is inevitable. Lembeh Strait are well known in the div- appreciation of the the intensive smells of fresh fish and other otherOther items for sale are similarly disqui-disqui- ing world and feature in countless arti- treasure trove right in produce, and the excitement of vendors eting: humphead wrasses are sold along- cles, documentaries and photo books. and visitors alike certainly are not every- side large sea turtles. Although illegal, inIn the last two decades, a large num-num- body’s cup of tea, but they make for a the trade in these animals still continues. ber of hotels and resorts have appeared truly memorable experience. Who knows, These activities pose a considerable on the scene, most of them particularly Healthy natural soft corals you may even make an unexpected dis- threat to one of the biggest assets of catering to divers. Alas, this surge in inter- as we like to see them

wolfgang pölzer 39 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED M I N Biorock A travel H A S Dive Building reefs. Coral settle- & Tours A Club ment and growth are being LAGOON catalyzed through sending a weak current through the metal grid

Davi have agreed to give a controversial restora- tion method a try. In the so-called ‘BioRock’ tech- nology, a low electrical current is sent through Sebastian Ferse a metal construction submerged in the reef. munity are gladly accepted, and a Similar to industrial electrolysis, a tita- selection of literature on the environ- nium anode is placed close to an iron ment together with knowledgeable staff cathode, and both are connected by M We don't just want ensure adequate information and edu- sealed cables to a regular car battery to welcome you, cation about the environment for those charger in a small shack on the beach. seeking it. The electrical current causes a rise in A we want to enchant you... pH at the cathode, making the water MINAHASA LAGOON is a N unique and intimate boutique Trying a new approach around the surface slightly more alka- Resort encapsulated in a Not afraid of unconventional approach- line, and results in the slow but steady secluded bay consisting of only es, Hanne and her husband Gaspare precipitation of calcium carbonate (sim- A 15 oceanview villas. A Sea Spa with heated Jacuzzi D for rejuvenating your mind, body and soul, a fresh water pool, 2 restaurants for fine dining and O an own diving center.

Sebastian Ferse island amidst a grove of coconut trees Involving the locals I swaying gently in the tropical breeze, Many villagers from Gangga Satu, just appears worlds apart from the busy a short stroll to the north, are employed N hectic of Manado City. However, exces- in the resort, and the children from the sive fishing and increased pollution have village frequently are invited for sessions D begun to make their mark on the reefs of environmental education, drawing around this paradise island as well. contests, and the like. When diving in O hanneHanne Darb�ø�����������������������l, the Danish-born man- front of the village, a site frequently used ager of the resort, is determined to stem for dive training, a shimmering forest of N the tide of reef degradation and to try TV antennas mounted on bamboo poles and preserve the coral reefs in the vicin- shows the guests that their money spent ity. An avid diver herself, she has lived at the resort is helping to increase the E and worked in other exotic places such well-being of the local community. S as Nepal and Bali. She knows well that On the other hand, guests at the © Michael AW people will only preserve what they resort are kindly reminded of the role value—and so she is working to install a they play in this mutualistic relationship. I sense of ownership and an appreciation Collection of shells and use of gloves [email protected] of the intrinsic value of the local reefs are discouraged, small donations for the A www.minahasalagoon.com in the people from the neighboring vil- local lages. com- A new reef is being created Sebastian Ferse 40 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Corals attached to these structures have been observed to grow and survive better than other Biorock travel corals in the vicinity Thousand Islands, Lombok, soon, but that there is some- hood Christmas competition, Makassar, and, since 2005, in thing about these structures one effect should not be for- North Sulawesi. that makes them attractive gotten. theThe method itself is not with-with- for corals is obvious to anyone out controversy among scien- diving around them. A more Any shape you like tists, partly because of a lack detailed study on photosynthe- Similar to other artificial reefs, of published studies, and partly sis, growth and survival rates of the BioRock structures serve to because the mechanisms that corals grown on and around attract a rich host of marine could be responsible for bet- one of the BioRock structures life, especially in reef areas ter coral growth are not really at Gangga has shown that two that have already lost a lot understood. corals that look almost identical of their natural coral cover. Are corals able to tap into to the untrained eye respond Compared to old cars, scrap the energy of the electrical very different to the method. tires and other pieces of junk field, or is it easier for them to While we do not yet know sometimes sunk in the water form their skeleton in the water what exactly is happening under the guise of ‘artificial layer with elevated pH that to the hot-wired corals and reefs’, these structures have surrounds the surface of the whether we can save our coral a unique adventure: they BioRock structures? The mystery reefs by wiring them up like a can be made into almost any is not likely to be solved very garden in a frenzied neighbor- shape and size! This is especially

Sebastian Ferse

ilar to natural limestone) on the iron cathode structure. If electrocuting a reef doesn’t sound like a good idea to you, you may be surprised to learn that corals attached to these structures have been observed to grow and survive better than other corals in the vicinity. Tried elsewhere too Dr. Thomas Goreau, one of the inventors of the method, enthusiasti- cally envisioned this technology as a means of helping stressed corals to cope with increased tempera- tures caused by climate change. In Pemuteran on the north coast of Bali, local resorts have teamed up with Goreau to create a huge Sebastian Ferse assortment of oddly shaped iron structures, covering an area of sev- fishes, and have become a new tive fishing a decade ago. Since eral hectares. After several years in attraction for divers and snorkel- the success of Pemuteran, BioRock the water, the structures are home ers in the bay, which was almost structures have been built in a num- to a colorful array of corals and completely destroyed by destruc- ber of places in Indonesia—the Sebastian Ferse 41 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Creating small oasis’s of life travel Biorock directly from the and the resort has helped to beach and pro- set up a recycling scheme viding some nice for plastic bottles from the photo opportuni- village. ties for the patient For Gangga Island, this observer. concept is beginning to hanne Darbol is bear fruits: people from quite fond of the nearby villages have small habitats the already approached the resort has been resort, asking for possible able to create in co-operations to sustainably its house reef, but use their coastal resources. she is also aware of the grim future Governent support the local reefs However, the future of the may be facing. reefs in North Sulawesi also Yet, she remains depends on the course the hopeful. “We have local government is set- to do what we ting. Manado is slated to can do for both become a ‘World Tourism the people and City’ by 2010, and there the reef if we’re are ambitious plans to host

Sebastian Ferse

appealing for dive resorts, as they can create an underwater trail customized to cater to the need of their guests, e.g. with large swim-throughs or domes for training, or provide artificial habitat for certain kinds of reef fauna that would otherwise be rare in the area. Additionally, coral larvae seem to love this human-made substrate, and after several months in the water, the struc- tures have become dotted with a ������color- ful mix of small corals. the artificial reefs at Gangga Island have become small oases of life, teem- ing with juvenile wrasses and damself-

ish, and frequently visited by cuttlefish Sebastian Ferse Sebastian Ferse and batfish. While other tiny gems such as pygmy seahorses, blue-ringed octo- here to stay,” she explains, her eyes shin- a global conference on rebuilt, streets are being improved, and tion of ever new shopping malls appears puses, nudibranchs and frogfishes are at ing with joyful determination. marine and ocean issues in 2009. The waste removal has been made a priority. to be more important to some decision home in the reefs of Gangga as well, the thus, fish for the restaurant (no reef fish, government has begun a number of however, it sometimes seems that makers than, say, increased environmen- BioRock structures have added another of course) are bought from local fisher- measures to enhance the tourism value there is confusion about what draws most tal education to reduce the ongoing attraction to the house reef, accessible men rather than the markets in Manado, of the city: the harbor area has been visitors to Manado. The rapid construc- degradation of the local reefs.

42 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Pillow stars travel Biorock approach chosen now, and it is up to the visitors to the region to let local decision makers know where this focus should be. North Sulawesi deservedly ranks among the world’s top dive spots, but only if this potential is fully appre- ciated and protected will the dives in that area continue to be what they are now—truly electrify- ing. ■

What can be more rewarding than restoring or creating coral reefs to

wolfgang pölzer their colourful natural beauty?

Spending the money wisely A few strange plans have surfaced as well. Rumours of a 200,000 US$ coral transplantation scheme circu- lated the city—such an enormous amount of money would be much better spent on environmental edu- cation or waste water treatment, given the negative impact that large-scale removal of corals from one reef area has on that reef, together with the poor performance of transplanted coral in many cases. Another idea, fortunately abandoned, was to con- nect the lush island of Bunaken with the mainland by a huge bridge for automobiles (never mind that there aren’t even streets on Bunaken). Not aban- doned and still very much alive is the plan to build a bridge connecting Lembeh Island with the city of Bitung, which is certainly going to spell disaster for the unique underwater wonders of Lembeh Strait. thus, the future of North Sulawesi currently is on a knife’s edge. The next few years will decide whether a harmonic balance can be struck between an intact ecosystem, sustainable tourism and a lasting opportunity to utilize the coastal resources, or wheth- er a priceless natural asset will be sacrificed for the sake of short-term shopping mall tourism. Many of the local resorts, dive operators and oth- ers working in the tourism sector are committed to operating sustainably and educating guests, staff and neighbors����������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������about the value of an intact environ- ment, because they understand that their own future depends on it. Sometimes this effort takes unusual forms, like wiring up corals to create a new habitat where the old one has been lost. in the end, the future of North Sulawesi’s marine environment will be decided by the focus and

wolfgang pölzer wolfgang pölzer 43 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Asian Diver´s Ocean 1. Maria one week CATEGORY: WIDE-ANGLE Rivarola (from Liveaboard- 1. Maria Rivarola (aus Paraguay, Odyssey Digital Paraguay, Safari with residency in Jakarta) – prize: Shoot Out 2007 residency in South Pacific Citizen Promaster Dive Watch Jakarta) – Aggressor 2. Kim Jenkins (South Africa prize: Mares Fleet plus OVERALL WINNERS Proton Ice- one Oceanic CATEGORY: MACRO (PORTFOLIO). Joint judgment Atomic Dive Torch 1. Maria Rivarola (aus Paraguay, Regulator 2. Michael residency in Jakarta) – prize: One of 6 competition photos from 2. Chris Doyle McEvoy Woche im KBR all inclusive with both Tasik Ria and KBR. (USA) (Australia, diving plus roundtrip flights to residency in Singapore 1. Brad Cox (Australia) – prize: CATEGORY: Jakarta) 2. Michael McEvoy (Australia, Nikon D80 Camera plus UW WIDE-ANGLE wohnhaft in Jakarta) housing by Ikelite 1. Michael Kungkungan 2. Maria Rivarola (from Paraguay, McEvoy Bay Resort: CATEGORY: BEST SHOT residency in Jakarta) (Australia, with diving plus roundtrip flights to CATEGORY: MACRO „VERHALTEN” 1. Chris Doyle (USA) – prize: One 3. Chris Doyle (USA) residency Singapore 1. Michael McEvoy (Australia, week Liveaboard-Safari with in Jakarta) 2. Caroline Lim (Brunei) residency in Jakarta) – prize: Emperor Divers Fleet on Roten Tasik Ria Resort: – prize: Citizen Promaster Dive CATEGORY: MACRO Mares Proton Metal Atomic Meer plus one Oceanic Dive CATEGORY: WIDE-ANGLE “MARINE Watch 1. Brad Cox (Australia) – prize: CATEGORY: BEST SHOT Regulator Torch LIFE” 2. Chris Doyle (USA) One week all inklusive on Tasik Ria 1. Caroline Lim (Brunei) – prize: 2. Annaka Persson (Sweden) 2. Kim Jenkins (South Africa)

44 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED CELEBES SEA BANGKA RIGHT: Detail map of Sulawesi BUNAKEN Manado BELOW: Global map with loca- Bitung tion in Indonesia of Sulawesi high- Marissa Gorontalo lighted TOGIAN LEMBEH STRAIT Tomini ISLANDS Bay MOLUCCA Luwuk SEA fact file Palu Bunta Sulawesi, Indonesia MAKASSAR STRAIT Poso Lake Poso Tolo Bay BANGGAI S U L A W E S I ISLANDS M O L U C C A S

Kendari sources: andy ferrari, US cia world WOMANI fact book, cityseahourse.com Bone Bay BUTUNG Makassar MUNA WANGI KABAENA KALEDUPA TUMEA SALAYAR BINONGKI FLORES WAKATOBI History In the early 17th century, the Dutch forest fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, SEA began to colonize Indonesia. From 1942 to volcanoes. Enivonmental issues: defor- BANDA SEA 1945, the islands were occupied by Japan. estation; water pollution from sewage After Japan’s surrender in World War II, Indo- and industrial wastes, urban air pollution nesia declared its independence, but four in, smog from forest fires. Indonesia is party Health Be prepared and get your shots more years passed mired by recurring hos- to the following international environmental strength- before you go to Indonesia. There is a high tilities and intermittent negotiations before agreements: Biodiversity, Climate Change, en the fi- degree of risk for food or waterborne dis- the Dutch relinquished its colony. Indonesia Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Deserti- nancial sector. eases including bacterial and protozoal is the largest archipelagic state in the world. fication, Endangered Species, Hazardous There has been progress in re- diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid It is home to the world’s largest Muslim Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conser- building Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. Aceh fever. There is also a risk for vectorborne population. Current issues include: poverty, vation, Layer Protection, Ship Pollu- now shows more economic activity than diseases in some locations. These diseases terrorism, strengthening democracy after 40 tion, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, before the disaster. Unfortunately, Indonesia include dengue fever, malaria and chikun- years of authoritarian rule, financial reforms, Wetlands suffered another tsunami in South Java and gunya. Bird flue, or highly pathogenic H5N1 corruption, human rights violations by mili- major flooding in Jakarta in 2006-7 causing avian influenza, has been identified among tary and police personnel, and avian influ- Economy Indonesia is a vast polyglot billions of additional dollars in damages. birds in Indonesia. It poses a very low risk, enza. Indonesia reached a historic peace nation and has struggled to overcome the but check with your doctor before you go. agreement in 2005 with armed separatists Asian financial crisis. It still struggles with Climate tropical; hot, humid; highlands in Aceh. It led to democratic elections in persistent unemployment and poverty. It are more moderate in climate Decompression Chambers December 2006. Indonesia must contintue has inadequate infrastructure, corruption, a Manado (Sulawesi): to confront a low intensity separatist guerilla weak financial sector, poor investment, and Population 245,452,739 (July 2006 est.) In- Malalayang Hospital movement in Papua. Government: repub- unbalanced resource distribution among ternet users: 16 million (2005). Ethnic groups: Phone: +62-0812-4302970 lic. Capital: Jakarta regions. The country continues to gradually Javanese 45%, Sundanese 14%, Madurese recover and rebuild after the devastating 7.5%, coastal Malays 7.5%, other ethnic Makassar (Sulawesi): Geography Indonesia is located in December 2004 tsunami as well as from an groups 26%. Religions: Muslim 88%, Protes- Rumah Sakit Umum Wahidin Sudirohusodo Southeastern Asia. It is an archipelago earthquake in central Java in May 2006 tant 5%, Roman Catholic 3%, Hindu 2%, Bud- Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km. 11 between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific that caused damages and losses over $3 dhist 1%, other religions 1% (1998) Tamalanrea Kampus UNHAS Indonesia Ocean, which consists of 17,508 islands, of billion. The current administration faces Phone: +62-0411-584677 which 6,000 are inhabited. Indonesia strad- declining oil production, lack of new explo- Currency Indonesian rupiah (IDR). dles the equator. It has a strategic loca- ration investment, subsidized domestic fuel Exchange rates: 1EUR=12,125.85 IDR, Web sites tion along major sea lanes from the Indian straining the budget in 2005, weak mon- 1USD=9,087.04 IDR, 1GBP=17,850.90 IDR, Indonesia Tourism Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Terrain is most- etary policy, a run on the currency, a 126% 1AUD=7,354.02 IDR, 1SGD=5,988.11 IDR www.indonesia-tourism.com ly coastal lowlands with interior mountains average fuel price hike, lack-luster growth Indonesia Tourism on the larger islands. Lowest point: Indian through mid-2006, heavy increases in rice Language Bahasa Indonesia is the official my-indonesia.info/indexpromo.php Ocean, 0 m. Highest point: Puncak Jaya prices, increase in people under the pov- language and is a modified form of Malay. Tourism Indonesia ,5,030 m. Coastline: 54,716 km. Natural haz- erty line. Economic reforms aim to improve Other languages spoken: English, Dutch, lo- www.tourismindonesia.com ■ ards: floods occasionally, severe droughts, the investment climate, infrastructure, and cal dialects (Javanese is most common)

45 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED The FActs and viewpoints in this section ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE VIEWS OF x-ray mag. EQUIPMENT PRESENTED IN THIS SECTION HAve NOT BEEN tested BY x-ray MAG STAFF, NOR ARE THE ITEMS warranteEd. information PROVIDED IS CONDENSED from manufacturers’ DESCRIPTIONS. Texts are usually edited for length, clarity and style. Links are active at the time of publication Reactor Gamma point & click Reactor has re-issued it’s Gamma on bold links timepiece. Now with a massive 45.5 mm diameter case for easy viewing, and a application of Superluminova for extreme low-light performance. Other key features Kowabunga include a 10-year power supply, 300 metres depth rating and an anti-reflective coated Edited by crystal for easy viewing under water and Arnold Weisz a unidirectional rotating timing bezel. Weight: 200 grams. Equipment www.reactorwatch.com

VR Technology VR3 A brand new VR3 model for 2008 has been released, armed with High Definition (HD) software giving enhanced screen visibility and some exciting new options as standard. In addition to the existing features that VR3 owners have enjoyed to date, the new 2008 model also has amongst others: backlit white screen, PIN upgradeability from single colour to multi colour, a faster and more user-friendly screen navigation process, mini-screen pre-dive check feature, and user friendly new and Body Glove look ahead graphic feature on the dive screen. www.vr3.co.uk ECO The ECO is made of stretch rubber and ECO Flex exterior. Both materials are non-petroleum based and 100% environmentally friendly. The combination of HOLLIS these two materials is the purest form of non-toxic stretch material on the Gear 212 planet. Not to mention the production Reg kit of these eco-friendly materials Breathe with confidence only consumes 1/10th the amount knowing you have the peak of 30 years of regulator design of energy normally used in the experience in the 212 Regulator. The 212 2nd stage with manufacturing of standard petroleum Diaphragm Swivel first stage is designed to be the best in based . The Body Glove ECO world performance. Patented Dynamic Adjustment once set men’s fullsuit comes in 4/3 mm and 3/2 automatically maintains inhalation effort throughout the dive mm and the exterior is 100% ECO Flex by compensating for depth changes. The DC1 First Stage is throughout. All the graphics are printed designed to withstand the rigorous CE standard for coldwater with organic water ink, and the zipper on performance. High performance over-balanced first stage the exterior pocket key holder is made provides progressively greater intermediate pressure as depth from recycled plastic. The Vaporlock and gas density increases for superior gas delivery under the seams minimize water seepage and the most extreme conditions. www.hollisgear.com interior floodgate helps keep the rider dry. www.bodyglove.com

46 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED equipment

DIVE RIGHT IN WITH OUR FREE MAGAZINE & WEBSITE Apollo Bio-Metal • Shipwrecks • Meet Singles • Ask An Expert • Monthly Prizes Pro • Dive Medicine • Scuba Forums The new mask comes with a polished stainless steel frame with ceramic coating to provide resistance to corrosion. • Dive Fitness • Weekly Blog Designed to easily accommodate optional LED light systems • Reader Photos • Photo Galleries and Flip-up magnification lens. The volume is almost half that of the standard aluminum version. The result is a nearly 180 degree • Diver Profiles • Local Dive Sites horizontal viewing area. The slight angle adjustment maximizes Divers’ boost center and lower vision for 102 degree vertical field. Further This offer of a supplement for divers www.midwestscubadiving.com …and more! features: push button strap adjustment and soft surgical silicone of an herbal blend which is said to and twin-curved rim, and provides a comfortable face hugging help reduce congestion and improve seal. www.apollosportsusa.com respiratory function. It contains vitamin E to improve oxygen efficiency of the Markus Courtial, founder of iQ-Company. cardiovascular system. Vitamin B complex Announcements iQ company strategy is to be active on the is claimed to improve oxygen carrying Egyptian market. Especially the “iQ-Stores” capacity of the , and it is Beware of copycats in Hurghada (Sea Gull Mall), El Gouna, and stated that the vitamin C help counteract Makaadi Bay do not sell original iQ-products, the stress and ill effects of diving on the body Not every t-shirt with an iQ-fish on it has the even though they look like the real thing. With and circulatory system. For more details on the quality divers are used to seeing from iQ- immediate effect, original iQ-products can product. www.diversboost.com Company. A big portion of the t-shirts with be purchased at selected shops and resorts iQ-designs sold in Egypt are forged. Thus along the Egyptian Red Sea coast. A list of all many divers have been disappointed by their authorised stores can be viewed at cheap holiday purchases. ”On one hand, www.iqcompany.com/egypt it is a compliment, that SeaCure custom made people like our designs mouthpiece. The ”Hi-Flow” version so much that they copy of SeaCURE Custom Mouthpiece them. But on the other replaces the previous ”Sport” model. hand, the customer has It has been improved and offers an the damage, because expanded port for increased air flow. It of the bad quality. Most also includes a new one-piece molding and people are not even sealing attachment. This device allows for aware that they are easier molding and is then used to protect buying copies that do the regulator from debris and unwelcome not comply with our guests during storage. Available in three level of quality. This is sizes. The mouthpiece fits most regulators on why we wanted to the market, except ATX and XTX and take action,” explains Poseidon. www.seacure1.com

47 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED 48 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED GirlDiver

Edited by Cindy Ross Text by Cindy Ross ALL product Photos courtesy of the manufacturers Where the Girls Are… GirlDiver.com GirlDiver has taken over Mermaid Matters! We are way, to encourage women to become more pleased to introduce X-RAY MAG’s new editor for active with scuba and maybe introduce the issues and stories related to women and diving: boys to a different view under the waves. Cindy Ross is a certified specializing in scuba diving education for women and girls. She GirlDiver is the founder and director of GirlDiver.com and Seattle—Dedicated to promoting the sport DiveForTheCure.com (an organization committed to raising awareness and funds for breast cancer of scuba for women of all ages, all over the research through national diving events in the U.S.). globe. This site has articles created for women GirlDiver will appear as a regular column in X-RAY to help with everything from gear selection MAG. Please send your comments, suggestions for to dealing with the effects of the sea salts on stories and inquiries to Cindy Ross at: cindy@girl- hair. GirlDiver has a line of clothing and bou- diver.com. tique items, with fresh, new inventory on the near horizon. Believing that proper training and Gorgeous neoprene clad GirlDivers education is what creates lifelong divers, the have long graced the covers of the GirlDiver focus is on creating a fun environment with an emphasis on education. scuba periodicals, gear catalogues With the goal of catering to the fast emerg- and dive shop posters, but lately, ing female diving market, GirlDiver made the there seems to be an increasing decision to bring a full line of gear into rental trend of GirlDivers actually showing designed specifically for the female physique. The She Dives line from Mares was chosen as up at the dive sites. the official gear of GirlDiver. As the first head to Women in scuba are some of the strongest, toe scuba kit designed for women, by women, most confident women in the world. Our sport it matched the mission of GirlDiver. “Our clients draws women who are willing to explore a part are thrilled with the fit of the gear. A lot of of the planet most will never see, in an environ- women are intimidated by the gear considera- ment not designed for human habitation. The tions necessary for our cold water diving envi- gear is intensive, both in weight and storage ronment, but with the improved fit and function considerations, as well as initial entry cost into kathy Kongelbak of gear designed for their shorter torsos, and the sport. To the women of scuba, it is but a Funky Fins—fun fins with creative imagination allowing for some feminine curves, the fit of the small price to pay to be witness to the deeper gear is more comfortable right from the start. arenas of life around the world. women to actively stay with the sport, not just We find that with proper fitting gear in a gear According to PADI—the world’s largest cer- get certified. What does it take? Fun colors? intensive sport, the process of learning to dive tification organization—the ratio of females to Better fitting gear? A more zen-like experience has become much easier,” says GirlDiver team- males in Open Water certification classes is on in the underwater realm? mate Leigh Ann Boswell. www.girldiver.com the rise. There is close to a 50/50 ratio in begin- ning classes. However, according to DEMA So where are the girls? Funky Fins (Diving Equipment and Marketing Association), Here’s a list of just a few of the females pro- UK—While on holiday, Michelle Lewis came up the “active” divers are still predominantly male moting the sport of scuba in a manner which with a better design for fins. Funky Fins sport (86 percent). encourages other women to come on board. brilliant graphic designs that seem to float in coming into the pool, however, are women Women dedicated to building our sport, not the water. ith Hibiscus and Water Droplets who want to make diving easier for other specifically for women, but simply in a softer set on a warm water fin platform, these are Cortney Soland 49 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED GirlDiver

says you have to have neon yellow always loved beautiful colors in all paddles on your feet anymore? aspects of my life. Creating bright www.funkyfins .com beautiful wetsuits has brought great joy to my life.” www.liquidfit.com Miss Scuba California—Szilvia Gogh has Diversitea launched a new website providing Texas—Janine Davis, an herbalist an online dive travel resource just since 1989, blended her passion for for women. Szilvia says she noticed diving and her expertise in herbal divers in California are predomi- medicine in 2001 to support the nantly men, so she created a site health of fellow divers. This herbal with the help of her friends that tea blend containing molybdenum allows women divers to interact with as its driving nutrient is reported to each other. On this website, scuba help divers not only with their hydra- girls can find journeys, photos, travel tion needs, but also with Nitrogen tips and gear reviews coming from absorption in the blood stream. fellow scuba girls. Scuba Girls from More information on testing meth- over a dozen countries are profiled ods can be found on her website. on this site. www.miss-scuba.com www.diversitea.com

Liquid Fit Eighth Element Yoga Seattle— Florida—This GirlDiver creates wet- Kimberlee Stedl has combined suits that fit like they were POURED her passion for yoga with her love on you. In her quest to find a of diving to develop a series of great fitting for herself, a exercises specifically designed to company was launched. She has enhance diving. Her new book, helped handicapped divers, irregu- Yoga for Scuba Divers, teaches the lar shaped divers (what’s regular fundamental philosophies of yoga anyway???) and specialty divers in relation to scuba, as well as land with the right suit... based exercises that will increase the right fit. Carolyn your breath control and build Tomes, founder, the core muscle groups says, “The first time we use for hauling heavy I ever snorkeled, tanks and carrying scuba I knew I was gear over uneven terrain. Cortney Soland hooked. I knew I They will be holding the Equipment manufacturers, like Mares, are had to get clos- first ever dive/yoga week recognizing the fit and function necessary er. I got into the in Dominica in early 2009. for female dive gear. It’s more than just wetsuit industry www.8thelementyoga.com going pink because I saw ■ that there was gracing the feet of female divers a great need Editor’s note: This is not a on all continents. But it’s not just for divers to complete list of organizations the look of the fin that the female have well- devoted to women in diving. divers love, it’s the function. The foot fitting suits, If you know of a dive business pocket is comfortable, and the fin especially or organization committed to material allows the fin to be just flex- women divers. For women and girls in diving or run ible enough for comfort, while stiff many years, women divers have by women divers, please forward enough to provide the quick accel- been forced to wear suits that were the information to the editor at: eration you need underwater. Who not anatomically correct. I have [email protected]

50 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED turtle tales We need your help Sea turtles are being hunted

Edited by Peter Symes in Wakatobi National Park You can help stop it

About 600 out of a total of 1,115 sea turtles from south-east Sulawesi were The Indonesian hunting boats and dealers started to take A battle is won, but not the war caught at Wakatobi archipelago is place. Profauna activists were also able It is, however, too early to speak of a vic- home to six out to build up an information network in or- tory against Bali’s “turtle mafia” yet, but National Park. of the seven species der to be updated at all times about any the achievements so far are impressive. of sea turtle that exists movements in the turtle trade. However, the question remains whether it Text and photos today. According to is the police or the poachers that will per- by Kurt Amsler Indonesian law, sea turtles Initial successes severe. SOS-Seaturtles is going to provide are protected nationwide, The good news is that it made a differ- continuous support to Profauna, as well and the trade in both live ence. The number of turtles killed within as to Heinz von Holzen’s “Turtle Rescue animals or parts of them is for- the past seven years has dropped from Team” wherever possible. We will also bidden. However, it is a public 25,000 to approximately 3,000 annually— take care of photography and making secret that these regulations a number that still continues to decrease. documentaries on the spot. have neither been adhered to, There hasn’t been a public trade for a nor have violators been pros- long time, although some trade has con- Beauty is only skin-deep in ecuted. During the past decade, tinued in private. Constant police patrols Wakatobi national park in Bali alone, 25,000 turtles have are now making the lives of poachers The turtles being processed in Bali have been slaughtered in the most bru- and dealers steadily more difficult. (Police not been caught elsewhere simply tal of ways, with the silent consent reports can be found at www.sos-seatur- because sea turtles don’t exist around of the public as well as the police. tles.ch) Bali anymore. They are being delivered

It was only following the fall of the Suharto Regime, that activists of Profauna—a national environmental and animal conservation organisa- tion—has been able to intervene. Wakatobi Together with SOS-Seaturtles and National other organisations, they have made Park the massacre public—a massacre of a Bali species threatened with extinction. With the help of numerous publications all over the world, TV documentaries, petitions, letters of protest, media conferences, public announcements and various talks with government officials, regulations for the protection of sea turtles were finally There is 1,000 km (640 miles) from Wakatobi National Park—where sea turtles are being implemented. As a result, sud- illegally hunted—to Bali, where they are landed. During this lengthy transport the den regular police investigations against turtles are stored below deck in squalid conditions with no food or water

51 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Their front legs are pierced and tied up as they are This is how you can help stacked on top of each other, and they are These campaigns and activities to shipped in the hull and free and protect the sea turtles cost given no food nor money. You can help by donat- water for weeks ing. Every couple of dollar or Euros counts.

It is this easy Donating to SOS- Seaturtles is just a few mouse-clicks away. Click on this link to donate via PayPal or by credit card.

all Payments, also by credit card, are PROCESSED ENTIRELY by PayPal’s secure systems. All Payments go DiRECTLY to the non-profit organisation SOS- SEATURTLES. BY CLICKING the BUTTon, you will be taken to a donation page UNDER PAYPAL’S WEBSITES.

there from Boat transporting turtles many different spotted by investigators in locations, but pri- Benoa harbour, Bali. The marily from south- other images speak for east Sulawesi, a region themselves. This meaning- less slaughter and cruelty which by many connois- has to be stopped! seurs is considered to be the home of some of the best div- ing in the world. cultural disparity, bureaucracy Legs are pierced government officials. Meanwhile, Long investigation and lack of motivation. Their front legs are pierced and SOS Seaturtles is going to act as the Profauna has been investigating tied up, as they are stacked on mouthpiece outside Indonesia to the matter for many months and Cruelty top of each other, and they are spread the word to media organisa- is now able to supply evidence We are not only talking about the shipped in the hull and given no tions throughout the world. This gives with numbers and names of deal- protection of a species, it is also food nor water for weeks. They everyone the opportunity to take ers. Detailed information can be a matter of animal welfare. These are only put out of their misery part and support petitions and pro- found at www.sos-seaturtles.ch. animals undergo unbelievable when their lives come to a horrify- test letters worldwide. the area of Wakatobi is located suffering when they are disem- ing end in Bali. between the Banda and Flores bowelled alive! profauna and SOS-Seaturles You can help Sea and, at 1.39 million hectares, the animals are being caught now want to put an end to the Needless to say, all these cam- is the second largest national park with nets, wires or harpoons, sea turtle trade once and for all. paigns and activities cost money. in Indonesia. Sadly, the impres- or captured when they come The point is to put pressure on SOS-Seaturtles is a non-profit organi- sion of tranquility that greets the ashore to nest. Without food, they authorities as well as organising sation and all donations (100 per- visitors is misleading, because the are put into small pools filled with activities for the public. These cent) will go to sea turtle conserva- park is where not only sea turtles, brackish water, most of them not strategies worked very well on tion projects. Besides private donors, but also sharks, napoleonfish and deep enough for them to cool the island of Bali where the turtle we have also been getting support jewfish are being caught for the down or get protection from the trade decreased by 90 percent. from the dive and travel industries. Asian market. The problem is not sun: Under these squalid condi- We urge the police to attend to All supporters are acknowledged lack of money—each tourist and tions, they sometimes have to their duties in south-east Sulawesi, on the SOS-Seaturtles website www. diver has to pay a fee. The prob- wait for months until a boat ships especially in Wakatobi National seaturtles.ch. lem is corruption, bad or no cen- them to Bali. We have seen hor- Park. Profauna is going to use —Kurt Amsler tralised planning, lack of interest, rible injuries and skin lesions. its contacts among high-ranked

52 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Many, many divers, underwater photographers and filmmakers, when asked about the origin of their passion to go underwater, say that they were inspired by the films and books of Hans Hass. He must be a very remarkable person, interesting to listen to, not to mention, Dr Hass is the greatest celebrity in the diving world today. Is it possible to meet him, to talk?

I call. On the other end of the telephone line, I hear a very pleasant man’s voice: “Interview? Oh, here, in … Yes, of course, but I am leaving for a week tomorrow.” Deep in my mind, I bless the good fortune that I also planned to stay in for some time, and we agree about our meeting. Dr Hass was born in 1919. I know this fact and am enthusiastic about meeting him. He is the megastar in the diving research constellation. He gave thousands of interviews... i wondered, would it will be interesting for him to tell his stories once more?

Text by Svetlana Murashkina Photos courtesy of Michael Jung at the Hans Hass Archive HIST. Alexander Axenov and Svetlana Murashkina A talk with

Hans Hass A l e xa n d r x enov 53 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Hans Hass talks with X-RAY MAG’s editor, Svetlana Murashkina, at his profile office in Vienna Hans Hass

there was great articulation. then I went to Juan-les-Pins the most frequent phrase again, where we went always, in the Hass biography is “the and I fell in love with a very first”—“the first to dive”, “the nice French girl… but she then first to research”, “the first to decided that a French man apply...” was better (Hass laughed)... he his fame in Europe and knows better how to behave. America and the whole world So, one morning, I went out is great, but not widespread to Cape Antibes and thought in Russia. Only one book, of about my life. the 25 by Hass, is published in Russia. His films were not The Turn. I was sitting at shown. This was the case most Eden Rock. In the cliffs, I was likely because his pioneering sitting and thinking about my research was made during future… and this nice girl… WWII, and mostly before the And suddenly something 1960s. There were happened to me that probably some changed my life other reasons as I always liked completely. I saw well. It’s not fair. a man swimming that’s why we to experiment. around. He was are sitting here — Hans Hass an American, Guy with Hans Hass, Gilpatric from The to listen... just dates, Saturday Evening Post. just thoughts, just ideas. Here he was, the inventor of this new sport—spear fishing— Interview with Dr Hass in his with a long spear and small office in Vienna, 17 August goggles, and so, I observed 2007 him. i was very good in sports— Youth. “Let me go…” diving. So, I joined him. And I am Viennese, my father was when I came back, I told a lawyer, quite famous. My many stories about the father went hunting, and we adventures I had, diving down had hunting grounds just here, to fish, and nobody believed not very far from Vienna. We me. went there. And I also liked to then, I decided to make

A l e xa n d r x enov fish at the Old Danube. pictures to show everybody My mother was pretty. I how it really was. So, I found the long awaited date, 17 The achievement was still in the that come first from his tongue spoke about the fear that Cousteau loved my mother! She took me a black smith, and he helped August, comes. Dr Hass’ office is limelight of the world’s media. here and there. (These Europeans, and his companions had taken to France, so that I learned me to make a case, the first situated in the center of Vienna. In Dr Hass was very interested in switching easily from one language the idea of the oxygen breathing French. And when I was 18 one for my photo camera. the room, there are book shelves, the story, and that’s how our to another…) We looked at the old apparatus. and finished with my studies, And already by the next year, I a bureau with a green table cloth, meeting began—not questions picture books, and Dr Hass told me it was a great pleasure not just my first studies, she said: “Now went on a little expedition with a lot of books and albums, pictures and answers, but just friendly about his life. All the key points of to talk, listen and converse with this summer, you go on your several friends of mine, four and magazines. conversation about current events. his bright career are well known, Dr Hass, but also to decode the own to Paris,” and in German or six of them. We went to the Just before our meeting, the Dr Hass just returned from but the details! interview (a very rare case). All they say it differently, “to cut Dalmatian coast, and we had Russians had made the first dive Monaco with his Italian friends, so very cordially, he spoke about the words and sounds were clear, off your horns”. a nice time. So, I wrote about expedition at the North Pole. he apologised for the Italian words Lotta Hass, his wife and partner. He nothing like “eee”, “well”, etc— I spent five days in Paris, and all that in my first book.

54 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE Hans Hass 1919 January 23. Hans Hass (Hans Heinrich Romulus Hass) was born profile in Vienna (Austria) to the family of a well known attorney. 1937. Hans graduated from school and did his first trip to France without his parents. There he met Guy Gilpatric, and was grabbed by a strong passion for spear fishing. On return, he entered the Law Department of the .

1938. During the first expedition to Dalmatia, the first underwater photos were made with the assistance of a self-made underwater box. During the same period, Hans constructed an open diving helmet with an air pump.

1939. Expedition to the Caribbean, to Curacao and Bonaire (The Netherland Antilles Islands) with university friends, Alfred von Wurzian and Jörg Böhler. Publication of the first book,Jagd unter Wasser mit Harpune und Kamera (Hunting under the water with harpoon and camera).

1940. Beginning of the WWII made the three friends stay in Curacao longer than they had planned. They were away from home for nine months and managed to get back via the United States, China and Russia. After returning to Vienna, Hans, contrary to his father’s wish, stopped his studies in law and went into biology and . At that time, he realized the advantages of being a “fish among fish” when studying fishes and presented new research methods for marine sciences. Production of the first film, Pirsch unter Wasser (Stalking beneath the sea).

1941. Meeting with Hermann Stelzner, technical director of the Dräger company (Lubec, Germany). Together they modernized “Dräger-Gegenlunge”, an oxygen rebreather, and made alterations to the breathing bag and the oxygen supply valve. The continuous flow regulator fitted to the Gegenlunge was replaced by a simple push-button valve, allowing to manually admit oxygen to the breathing bag according to his varying consumption and to control his buoyancy. To produce an advantageous center of gravity in all swimming positions, the breathing bag was moved to the back. Hass replaced the original Hass with wife, Lotte—who also became an astute underwater photographer goggles he had been using up until this time, with a circular and diver—during the production of one of their underwater films in the 1950s that enclosed the eyes and nose. The use of flippers turned the self-contained oxygen rebreather into a swimdiving From spear fishing to equipment, pure oxygen, and apparatus, which Hass used constantly on all his expeditions from 1942 on. Publication of the book, Unter Korallen und Haien (Diving making underwater pic- then, already in ‘39, I went to the to Adventure). tures to the study of fish with my friends, Jorg and Alfred. 1942. Expedition to . On 12 June, Hass for the first behavior... We were the first to dive the time acted as a “swimdiver” (he swam underwater and did not I began spear fishing in 1937. coral reefs. In those days, nobody walk like a heavy diver). It happened near a small Greek island, But very soon, I changed to dared to go in the water, because close to the western tip of Euböa Island. Production of the film, photography. It was very everyone was afraid of sharks. Menschen unter Haien (Man amongst sharks). fascinating to photograph all these And we soon found out that these 1943. Study of the immobile animalcule called “Reteporiden”, colorful fish, and to film, and study sharks were—as every diver today which he began during this expedition, is regarded today as a them. Then, I realized that if you knows—very interesting, beautiful milestone in research and the first marine biology want to find out what fish are, how animals, but not interested in project carried out with the swimdiving method. they live, and what their behavior human beings, with some very rare is, one must oneself behave like exceptions. And I loved it, and I still 1945. Hans Hass married (their marriage lasted a fish-like creature. So, I invented love the sharks today. until 1949). TOP TO BOTTOM: Hans Hass with underwater camera in 1938; Hass in action under the the first underwater breathing waves in 1939; INSET: Hass with a wooden helmet in 1939 1946. The son, named also Hans, was born. 55 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Hans Hass

WWII. When we came back from the Caribbean (1940), the military found out that when I marched, my toes became absolutely black. So, they did not let me go. i made hundreds of lectures in Germany, because I was not allowed to be with the army on the front lines. I was lucky to be able to make all these lectures, because I earned a lot of money through the lectures and was able to get enough money for my own ship, Seeteufel (The Sea Devil). but after the war, the Russians took it. And now, we have found out that it is somewhere in Saint- Petersburg, not in the museum. It is standing somewhere, and everyone can see it. But we were not interested in getting it back; it’s too small.

Lotte. After the war, I went to the Red Sea. I was the first to dive the Red Sea, and took Lotti, my future wife. We have now been married for 57 years, and we still feel very well with each other. The reason for the great success of our films

was partly Lotti, because a woman A l e xa n d r x enov underwater was more interesting. Lotta was not only very beautiful, Hass shows the title page of Jagd unter Wasser, one of his many published books but also brave. It is nice to have a mate for your life. started making money by selling practical piece of equipment. But now, I do not lecture, no, no. fish—which I harpooned—to hotels. when the Cousteau team heard Lotti said, “Well, after all, you Then, I published my first book, about it—they were thinking about taught all those years... now it Hunting Underwater. the danger of pure oxygen—they is time for family.” We have a After our expedition to the Red said that after three minutes, I am very nice daughter with two Sea, there came the film,Red Sea dead…. Not at all. You can go grandchildren. We take them Adventure. That was our first world 20 meters deep and stay an hour always to Venice. We first go to success. You can see that at the underwater. Venice and then to the Greek end, my diving was limited. But islands… Lotta is happy now that I certainly after 1960, I was doing The boat Xarifa. Now, I’ve seen am with her more. many films, because I had to make my ship again. I spent a week in money for some time during my Monaco, on board Xarifa, I was Money. I financed every bit life. hosted by Mr. Carlo Talio. I sold the of what I did. I never wanted boat to him over 50 years ago. Oh, to accept any money from the Equipment. it’s so beautiful! government or anybody. So, I The rebreather was such a but imagine: he bought the ship,

56 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Hans Hass profile A l e xa n d r x enov and for 50 years, he lived on the Evolution of ship without using it! Is this not human beings fantastic? I would not do that. Later, in 1960, my interest was but I enjoyed so much to not so much the sea anymore, see my own ship again, and I but this mystery of our existence. mean, it hasn’t changed much What is behind it? What does it on deck... nothing. Certainly, mean? I was interested in the in between, they had put a evolution of man. I changed my lot of money in it. It is now very life. And that was my Energon luxurious, and I was staying there Theory. My first book. But nobody with Carlo Talio, and it was so was happy now—they all much joy. So, we met again, wanted me to make more films and during the last week, we about sharks, and all that. So, discussed his life, and my life. my scientific works became less interesting. Back to Umbria. In the i think I have beginning of the year, we went to a port in Sudan, and we went down to the Umbria—a very lovely ship, a tremendous wreck, tremendous wreck! From the time we first went there to now, it has changed quite a bit. It’s overgrown with all these colors—it’s like a fairy tale. It’s as beautiful as ever. it was little cold. It was February, and there was a Dr Hans Hass signs a photograph in his office in Vienna strong wind, but it was only LEFT: The 2007 DVD of Hass’ underwater adventures during the 1950s 1947. The first showing of the film,Menschen unter Haien (Man amongst six days. We were invited on sharks) took place, a production that began in 1942 by the Ufa-Kulturfilm a very beautiful new ship for Concern the ability to put into raising her studio. After The Second World War, Hans Hass turned to anthropology and evolutionary biology. He founded in Liechtenstein his International Institute for divers, and really, five days is And only now, I try my child, she can have a fourth one, Submarine Research (IISF). very little. Every one of the five last book. I am under the yes, because there are enough days I went diving with a lot of impression that we are in a women who do not have children 1948. Xarifa. Hans Hass acquired a three-masted schooner, hired a crew, German divers going down and very difficult time. And that and do not want to have children. gathered a team of scientists around him and set off, with himself as loved the sea… no, it hasn’t the human—mankind— In this case, we would not increase expeditionary leader, to explore the various oceanic coral reefs in great style. changed. Not many people go grows too fast, and they anymore. diving there, as it is difficult to want too much. And it is But that certainly is very difficult, 1949. The book, Menschen und Haie (Men and Sharks), was published. go—fortunately! very, very, very important because everyone wants more 1950. Hans Hass married Lotte Baierl. She approached Dr Hass as his secretary in the Egyptian part, there are within the next 20 years, that they money, more pleasure, new things, and very soon became a competent member of the expedition and so many hundreds of thousands made do not increase anymore. new ideas, and more and more shooting team, a talented cameraman, and also the first charming and very of people, in many hotels. But some advances, but it is so simple. What to do is just and more and more... But I shall brave underwater film star. The film,Abenteuer im Roten Meer (Adventure the Red Sea is very beautiful. today everyone wants new three things, three sentences. Every give enough reasons, I hope, in the Red Sea), received first prize for long documentary films at the Venice But you must go down for the things and pleasure. In my woman in this world is permitted to help that change. I will do it. Bienniale. details. You must not hurry, this is importance... we must stop a two children, not more. If one of Whether I‘m successful or not, I not important, but just sit down little, stop, just stop. them dies under six years, she may do not know. I do not mind, I am 1952. Publication of book, Manta: Teufel im roten Meer (Under the Red Sea). and watch what they all do, have a third. And if she really wants unimportant. I have to address 1953-54. The Xarifa sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea and the how they interact. more, and if she has money and myself to the females on Earth. But Galapagos Islands of the Pacific.

57 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED 1957. Lotte Hass gave birth to their daughter, Meta. Publication of the book, Wir kommen aus dem Meer (We come from the Sea).

1957-58. Hans Hass sailed through the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean to the Nicobar Islands and, finally, to Singapore. During these expeditions, many exciting events took place, sensational data obtained, lots of research work done. For example, the first encounter of man and sperm whale under the water. Also, the new theory of the origin of the Maldives atolls was proposed.

1959. After African an Asian expeditions, new TV serials appeared (about 100 TV programs were created all in all). The film, Unternehmen Xarifa (Under the Caribbean), was awarded the “Underwater Oscar” from the Underwater Photographic Society for outstanding underwater cinematography.

1963-1966. Beginning of the Energon theory development.

1968. Monograph, Wir Menschen. Das Geheimnis unseres Verhaltens (Men: The mystery of our behavior).

1970. Monograph, Energon: Das verborgene Geheimnis (Energon: The hidden mystery).

1977. Hans Hass became a professor at the University of Vienna.

1983. He continues to do research, lecturing, and other THIS PAGE: Just a few of the posters of the many pioneering underwater films starring Hans Hass and his wife Lotte educational activities on the theme that interests him most of all, “The instinct of a predator in professional life”, where remember again, it’s a very fair thing if you say to But what can we do with the politicians? The marine biology, human behavior and management theory are a woman, you have a right to two. That is quite a politicians are uninterested… Every single person connected. The Energon theory was not accepted by Academic lot. on this earth, if there is no change, will go down science and was declared “pseudo-scientific”. oh, here it is not the problem anymore. But in in terrific wars. the other parts of the world... It’s so unfair to put We are happy, because we had so much 1988. Monograph, Der Hai im Management. Instinkte steuern und kontrollieren (Business . Instinct control). children in the world without any bit of money, success. But we are changing our wishes to want any thing… and if you go to Rio de Janeiro, there more and more and more. 1999. Dr Hass is awarded the Konrad-Lorenz-Preis by the Ministry for are 20,000-30,000 children running around trying Environment of Austria. to eat any food that they can find. It is unfair! I Satisfaction. I have been in so many places, mean you must have the help of your father and and the sea is so big. Half of the world is covered 2000. On 1 December, the Hans-Hass-Institut für Submarine your mother… and you must have enough food, with seas, which have been unknown. I’ve Forschung und Tauchtechnik (the Institute for Underwater and especially learn languages and learn other done what I wanted, I’ve been every where in Research and Diving Technology by Hans Hass) was created as a things. Only then, can you start to be a human the world, and had much success. We went to non-profit organization, originating from an amalgamation of the Hass Institute (IISF, 1947) with the Research Centre for Diving History being. So, I think, I should impress the women. the Galapagos Islands, Coco Island, the Red (Forschungsstelle fuer Tauchgeschichte, FTG, 1995). And we need the women more now. Men are Sea and the Indian Ocean and to the Great not important anymore. It is unimportant to go to Barrier Reef of Australia, and wherever I went, I 2004. Publication of the book, Erinnerungen und Abenteuer outer space, why? Keep the money first, and get had the luck to be the first. But I am careful, I go (Reminiscences and adventures). it good on the planet Earth. closely, and it went quite well, and I succeeded planet Earth has a certain size. But if we would in interesting people very much in diving. In the 2005. In January, Hans Hass dived the Maldives to witness tsunami stop—we’ve gone over six billion—then, after beginning, people did not like the sea. It was consequences. a while we can go back to five billion, and the dark, and there were dangerous things. Today, 2007. In January, the trip to Port Sudan was held, devoted to ideal would be four. If we go back to four billion there are millions of divers everywhere in the the 50 years of Xarifa journeys and diving the Umbria wreck. In or so, there would be no poor people at all, and world. And science is changing wherever you November, Dr Hass addresses us with “The letter to the women of if they are not so solid, then the world could go go. Now, all scientists go underwater. They are the world”. http://www.hans-hass.de/Englisch/index_english.htm on…for millions of years! not afraid of sharks. if not, I tell you, within 20 years or 30 or 40, we I’ve made many films, and I made many 2008. On 23 January, Dr Hass celebrated his 89th birthday, he will destroy, the human being will destroy the scientific works, and many lectures everywhere, received phone calls from all over the world. Today, Dr Hass whole evolution of life. Very simple. And there even in Japan you will meet a lot of people who together with his wife, live in the center of Vienna. Hans and Lotta are lots of people, who have the same idea. have heard about me and my first expeditions.■ keep traveling and visiting important dive events. ■

58 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED whale tales Right whales got their safe zone ...at last

Since June 1 endangered revealed that some vessels clearly the White House. The rule has right whales have a new modified their routes to avoid go- been awaiting clearance at The North Atlantic right whale is ing through the area. “I think it will the White House Office of Infor- a large, mostly black, whale with safe haven near Canadian take some time to get through the mation and Regulatory Affairs whitish patches on the head and shores. Ships have been system,” she says. “We think it will since February 2007. belly, no dorsal fin, and a grace- asked to make a detour make a big difference; it certainly ful, deeply notched “fluke,” or Edited by around a 3,000 km2 area, helped when the shipping lanes Hydrophones help sci- tail. Two blowholes on the top Peter Symes were shifted in the Bay of Fundy.” of its head give a distinctive about 64 km south of Cape entists pinpoint, protect Right whales V-shape to a right whale’s spout. Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Why don’t the whales just Whalers called the right get out of the way? Researchers at the Cornell whale – the “right” whale to kill The area has been declared an Bioacoustics Research Labora- because they were relatively “area to be avoided” by the In- Vanderlaan says while the whales tory and Woods Hole Oceano- easy to pursue, and their thick ternational Maritime Organization likely hear ship traffic, they’re so graphic Institute have teamed layer of valuable blubber kept in a move to protect pods of right used to the noise, it doesn’t serve up to use hydrophones to the dead whale conveniently NO AA whales that congregate there as a warning. At one time, for ex- protect endangered whales off afloat. from June to September. The ample, researchers experimented the coast of Massachusetts. there may be only 350 of these designation requires ships to by broadcasting alerts to the Using ten right whales left in the Atlantic voluntarily avoid the area. whales, but instead of scar- “We think it microphones Ocean. Without measures to Hunted to the brink of extinc- ing them away, it brought attached by a protect and grow their numbers, tion during the last century, the them to the surface where will make a big stretchy data they could be extinct by 2020, right whale continues to be un- there was a greater likeli- difference; it cable to buoys and the now protected area der threat from being struck and hood of a collision. A collision at the surface is a crucial habitat for the en- The population of the humpback whales is up to nearly 20,000 killed by a ship. The faster the ship with a ship’s propellers can certainly helped and special dangered whales. Once a year, animals in the Pacific after hitting a low of 1,400 in 1966. A 1996 ban on is travelling, the more likely the sheer off a whale’s tail, slice when the ship- software that pregnant females and a few hunting the mammals, as well as other conservation efforts, have contrib- whale will die. them apart, or cause huge picks out the other members of the population uted to their rebound. contusions. “It’s like living ping lanes were acoustic sig- migrate south along the coast to Initial successes beside a train track,” she shifted in the Bay nature of right Georgia and Florida. There the “In the first four days (since imple- says. “After a while, you stop of Fundy.” whales, the females give birth to calves that Back in business; mentation of new policy), we’ve hearing the trains go by.” scientists are are 10-15 feet long and weigh seen evidence of vessels comply- able to detect around 1.5 tons. Calves drink ing,” says Angelia Vanderlaan, a White House stone- the slow-mov- mother’s milk for 8 to 17 months Humpbacks rebound doctoral candidate studying bio- walls efforts in the US ing marine mammals. When a after they are born. logical oceanography at Dalhou- hydrophone hears a whale, their lifespan is up to 70 years, The number of humpback the new research reveals sie University. “Since this is new, There is it makes a cell or satellite call but whales born today have a whales in the North Pacific that the overall population of and it is a voluntary measure, I’m also a to researchers who contact life expectancy around 15 years, Ocean has increased since inter- humpbacks has rebounded to hoping it will work.” pro- owing in part to ship strikes and national and federal protections approximately 18,000 to 20,000 in her office at Dalhousie, posal to entanglements. ■ were enacted in the 1960s and animals. The population of Vanderlaan can track move- create an 70s, according to a new study humpback whales in the North ments of ships on her computer area to be avoid- funded primarily by NOAA and Pacific, at least half of whom via specialized tracking equip- ed in the Great South Chan- conducted by more than 400 migrate between Alaska and ment installed on cell towers near nel, near Cape Cod in the US. whale researchers throughout Hawaii, numbered less than Cape Sable Island. On June 1st, Vanderlaan says while the chang- the Pacific region. 1,500 in 1966 when interna- for example, about 20 vessels es they’ve proposed have been however, some isolated popu- tional whaling for this species travelled through the Roseway supported and embraced by Ca- lations of humpbacks, especially was banned. In the 1970s, fed- region, a thoroughfare for ships nadian companies, simillar efforts ship those in the Western Pacific eral laws including the Marine from Halifax to New York. Sixteen in the US by the National Oceanic cap- Ocean, have not recovered at Mammal Protection Act and the of those ships avoided the area, and Atmospheric Administration tains to tell the same rate and still suffer low Endangered Species Act provid- and another four could have, but to impose seasonal speed re- them to watch numbers. ed additional protection. ■ didn’t and went right through. strictions in areas frequented by out. Listenforwhales. On June 3 and June 4, tracking whales have been stonewalled by org. ■ NOAA 59 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Whale scam could mean the end of Japanese whaling Pilot whales are sprinters A Japanese public prosecutor misuse of public funds. corruption at the heart of at the Japanese taxpayer’s Short-finned pilot whales are the of clicks. According to Peter T announced on 19 May that it Stake outs, testimony from Japan’s government-backed, expense. The box, along with sprinters of deep-diving mammals. Madsen, Associate Professor was launching an investigation informers, hidden cameras sham scientific whaling opera- videotaped testimony and This is the conclusion reached in of Zoophysiology at into allegations that workers and tailing trucks full of stolen tion. other evidence, suggest wide- a study in which 23 short-finned Aarhus University in on whaling ships are embez- goods... it sounds like elements Greenpeace displayed spread embezzlement of whale pilot whales off the coast Denmark, this zling whale meat and selling taken out of a blockbuster a cardboard box filled with meat has been occuring for of the would it to restaurant owners. The movie plot, but that was all the best cuts of whale meat, decades under the noses of formal investigation follows on part of a four month investiga- smuggled ashore by the crew the public officials who run an undercover investigation by tion by the Greenpeace activ- of the Japanese whaling fac- the whaling program, and are Greenpeace, which revealed ists in Japan, who cracked tory ship, Nisshin Maru, for ille- allowing it to happen. ■ the alleged embezzlement and open a major conspiracy of gal trade and personal gain, Canary Islands were tagged to record the speed, depth and direction of their dives, allow as well as the sounds they made. them to ‘see’ their Narwhals More at Risk to Arctic Warming Than Polar Bears surroundings in much greater The tagged whales took just 15 detail. This could mean that the Unless something is done, climate change study co-author, Ian Stirling, an adjunct habitat to melt, it would be even more at minutes to dive to 800 to 1,000 whales were hunting at this point. will claim the narwhal as one of its victims. professor in the Department of Biological risk from predators like killer whales. metres (0.5 to 0.62 miles). What’s The medium-sized whale with the long spi- Sciences at the University of Alberta and more, they can chase after prey “It would seem that for whales ral tusk was named the most sensitive (and one of the world’s foremost polar bear “Since it’s so restricted to the migration at an amazing nine metres per using sonar, the deep sea is like thus vulnerable) to climatic change, in a researchers. “We’re talking about a whole routes it takes, it’s restricted to what it eats, second, maintaining this speed a plain, but for other animals, the listing of 11 Arctic sea mammals—even ecosystem. We’re talking about several dif- it makes it more vulnerable to the loss of for as long as 200 metres. dark water is like a jungle. If this more than the polar bear. ferent species that use ice extensively and those things,” said Kristin Laidre, a research is true, it is a unique combination are very vulnerable,” he added. scientist at the University of Washington. “As far as we know, no other of both environments rolled into The listing, published in volume 18 of whale has been recorded to one,” said Soto. Ecological Applications, took into account Although there are about 20,000 polar Also concerned about the narwhal’s sur- swim nearly as fast at depth,” said factors like population size, distribution, bears left—compared to narwhal num- vival was Stanford University biologist, Terry Natacha Aguilar Soto, a marine A possible prey is the giant squid. habitat specificity, diet diversity and bers of 50,000 to 80,000—the narwhal was Root. She is concerned that the biologist at the University of La In fact, Soto’s colleague, Pablo the species’ ability to cope with sea ice determined to be more at threat because species would be one of the first to Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. Aspas, recently took a photo of a changes. It was determined that the its diet, habitat and distribution were go extinct due to climatic change, pilot whale half-breaching with a narwhal would be the least adaptable more specific. It had evolved to reiterating that “there could be a She added, “It was completely giant squid in its mouth. In addi- and the least able to withstand climatic live in parts of the Arctic, which bazillion of them, but if the habitat or unexpected that short-finned pilot tion, body parts of the giant squid change. The polar bear and the hooded are 99 percent ice, and the things they need are not going whales sprint at depth with limited have been found in the vicinity of seal came in second and third respec- feeds on Greenland to be around, they’re oxygen reserves.” the pilot whale’s habitat. tively. halibut. And when not going to climatic change make it.” ■ This hunting strategy is similar to “We have imagined battles “What we wanted to do was look at the causes the icy that of the cheetah, which catch- between sperm whale and giant whole picture because there’s been a lot es their prey after high-speed, squid. But it may turn out that it is of attention on polar bears,” explained energetically expensive sprints. pilot whales, one-third the size of However, unlike the cheetah, the sperm whales, which are sprint- short-finned pilot whale does this ing for the giant squid!” quipped while holding its breath, and in Soto.

T echno l o gy the total darkness of the deep

a n d ocean. Commenting on the study, Patrick Miller, a marine biologist at St The tags also reveal that once Andrew’s University in Scotland, the whales reached the deep- said, “This is an important finding est point of their dives, they that reveals a previously unde- changed from using slow echo- scribed foraging strategy in a I n s tit u te o f St a n dards location clicks to a fast series deep-diving whale.” ■ Na tion al 60 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED “We expected to see these populations begin their recovery years ago, because fishermen Prehistoric whales got the bends have been so successful at reducing The ancestors of modern whales

NO AA Westbury, US, examined 331 modern and dolphin deaths.” had an interesting medical prob- 996 ancient fossil whales, using x-rays and lem – some of them suffered fluoroscopy. Of these, only a handful of the 996 ancient fossil whales showed evi- from . dence of decompression syndrome. Evidence of this has been found “Maybe baleen whales and tooth in several different whale fossils whales independently arrived at the examined by a team of paleo- same conclusion — that going out into the open water and going deep was a biologists recently. good idea,” said Beatty.

Of course, it would have been natural Today, modern whales have developed The Eastern Spinner Dolphin is for the ancient whales to suffer from adaptions to counter — or at least man- distinguished by its triangular dor- the bends, way back in those prehis- age — the problem, which appears to sal fin and uniform gray colour. toric times when they first started diving be a natural part of a whale’s life. Some deeper into the oceans. With time, they whales exhale right before diving, so evolved and adapted, and decompres- that their lungs do not have any nitrogen Pacific Ocean Dolphin Populations Improving sion syndrome was no longer a big prob- gas. Others allow sufficient time to pass The numbers of northeastern are recovering, now that reported fish- were caught and died in tuna purse- lem. between dives. However, there have offshore spotted and eastern ery mortality has been dramatically seine nets. Since the early 1990s, how- however, it seems that not all whales been cases in which the bones of some reduced,” said Dr Lisa Ballance, director ever, the number of reported dolphin developed this ability at the same time. sperm whales showed evidence — more spinner dolphins in the east- of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science deaths has been very low because of The toothed whales, which comprises than usual — of the bends, and this is ern tropical Pacific Ocean are Center protected resources division. severe restrictions on the fishery. orcas and sperm whales, conquered the sometimes believed to be due to sonar increasing after being severely “However, we have to be careful not to condition very early in their evolution, as signals or submarine activity. Whether or jump to final conclusions. We need to “We expected to see these popula- shown by the signs of the condition being not this is true remains to be seen. depleted because of acciden- resolve the uncertainties around these tions begin their recovery years ago, tal death in the tuna purse- estimates before we can definitively say because fishermen have been so suc- seine fishery between 1960 and these stocks are recovering.” cessful at reducing dolphin deaths,” 1990, according to biologists said Tim Gerrodette of NOAA’s Fisheries Between 1960 and 1990, the northeast- Service. “The new data are the first from NOAA’s Fisheries Service. ern offshore spotted and eastern spin- to indicate the beginning of a recov- “These estimates are encouraging ner dolphin populations dropped to 20 ery, but these initial indications are not because they are consistent with what percent and 30 percent, respectively, enough to be confident that the popu- we would expect to see if these stocks of their pre-fishery levels when dolphins lations will continue to grow.” ■ V icto r i a Whales are more worth alive than dead A new report commis- will be used to bolster the spending AUS $1.5bn per year ments for whale conserva- C hoo / M us e um case for conservation at by 1998, with the figure fore- tion is strongly grounded in sioned by the Australian Br i a n the upcoming meeting of cast to grow by $3 to $4bn a science. We don’t think that Artists’ impression of an early whale hunting government shows that the International Whaling year over the next 20 years. scientific whaling is scientific. whales are worth more to Commission (IWC), outlines The number of whale-watch- What we do say is that we found only on the very ancient speci- Meanwhile, the research continues. the world alive than dead the economic benefits of ing visitors was also expected need to increase our col- mens. On the other hand, evidence of Said Nick Pyenson, a paleontologist at whale watching, summarises to increase by 10 million a laborative research with other decompression syndrome were found on the University of California, Berkeley; Australian Environment the global conservation status year. Garrett said he would countries, non-lethal research more recent baleen whale fossils, sug- “Tagging modern whales as they dive will Minister Peter Garrett used the of whales and dolphins, and be taking the report to the on whales, and recognise that gesting that their defences only devel- help researchers understand how their inaugural National Whale Day lists the main threats to their next meeting of the IWC, to whale-watching, as an eco- oped much later. ancestors evolved to cope. As our sam- to launch a progress report survival. be held in Chile on June 23. nomic activity, is a sustainable pling of living species gets better, these on the government-commis- the report found that visitors “Critically this progress business for us, not only here in These findings were uncovered after the data will better inform our expectations sioned Global Cetaceans to whale-watching areas in report shows that what we’ve Australia but right around the team, led by Brian Beatty of New York of what to find in the fossil record.” ■ Snapshot. The report, which high-income countries were been saying about the argu- world,” he said in Sydney. ■ College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old

61 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Black, red and pink corals have been prized as jew- elry for 5,000 years. Corals are actually living organ- isms which are being taken from the see to satiesfy the vanity of a few but wealthy individuals. This is a bil- lion dollar industry.

The exploitation of corals has Wealth creates demand coral jewelry. And their sales pitches are sec- depleted stocks all over the world. The United States is the largest importer of ond to none. At one website you could read coral reef species for food, jewelry and aquar- this: “Neptune’s Gift. The coral is a mysterious This is not only destroying the sea- iums. gem with magical powers attributed to it. The floor, but has a much wider impact. the US accounts for approximately 60 per- Indians believe wearing a Coral will ward off Corals are more valueable if they cent of the world demand for live reef orna- the negative effects . . . the red firestone will stay in the oceans rather than mental products, about 70-90 percent of the help protect them live coral, and 95 percent of the live rock (rock from evil. Even the around someone’s neck. Coral reefs with coralline algae growing on it). Seaweb Greeks and support more than 25 percent of all estimates the trade to be increasing between the known marine fish species. As one 10 percent and 20 percent per year. It’s not of the most complex ecosystems on only the US that buy coral produtcs. In Europe, this kind of artefacts are gaining popularity, the planet, coral reefs are home to as the populations gets wealthier. Not long more than 4,000 different species ago, British media rapported that hun- of fish, and almost 5,000 species of dreds of rare corals protected by inter- national conservation laws had been corals, in addition to thousands of intercepted at airports en route to aquar- other plants and animals. Scientists ium shops in Britain. Raw coral commands estimate that coral reefs provide an auction price ranging from US $150 to an economic benefit of US$ 375 bil- $900 per kilogram. Necklaces made of the red and pink corals, collectively known as lion each year to millions of people Corallium, can cost up to US$ around the world. Besides from indi- 20,000. A quick serch on rectly feeding people, corals also “red corals” on offer cures for illnesses. Add to that Google reveil- led a thriving that coral reefs protect our coast- industry lines. for

Text by Arnold Weisz Corals for sale

62 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED feature Coral Trade

Ban on trade ly passed on Wednesday, with 62 Coral in the red remain extremely important in the hampered countries voting in support of the The red coral trade , with annual After 5,000 years of trade listing. Later the same day whole is the most valu- harvests in the last years rang- in red and pink corals trade agreement went down the able and largest ing between 22 and 28 tonnes prized as jewelry, an drains. Delegates voted by secret in volume with an according to official data from attempt to restrict the ballot to overturn their initial deci- estimated 30-50 the FAO. Captured both dragging trade to try to help the sion to list these overfished spe- metric tons per the bottom with a wooden cross species recover after cies under the CITES, following year. Seven red provided with rope mops and by drastic over-exploitation a massive lobbying effort by the coral species are diving. The total catch reported was launched by USA. coral industry and some exporting traded worldwide for this species to FAO for 1999 Romans have used this stone to On June 15, 2007, at a United countries. Environmental organi- as jewelry and other was 26,5 t. The countries with the adorn rings, caskets, tiaras, etc. Nations wildlife conference, the zations were very disappointed decorative prod- largest catches were Spain 6,9 t Since the sixth century, corals Convention on International Trade over this suden turn in events. ucts. Many other and Italy 3,9 t. have fascinated humankind with in Endangered Species (CITES), - There are no international trade species of coral are their passionate red color.” they actually agreed on trade controls in place, nor any consist- - We started 800 years ago and already protected by CITES. Since For more info on the topic: precious corals have been used restrictions. “Corallium, the most ent management plan, TRAFFIC we want to continue. We are not deepwater reefs are not visible www.tooprecioustowear.org for the fabrication of items of valuable of the precious corals, and WWF say. an industry; this is our tradition, our to the general public, dissemina- www.seaweb.org jewellery and decoration since has been fished for over 5,000 opponents to the red coral pro- culture. Coral is our life, said Ciro tion of information through the www.traffic.org antiquity. Along with amber, pre- years,” the US proposal said, add- posal, amongst others are Japan, Condito of Assocoral, a lobbying media and the education system www.assocoral.it ■ cious coral may have also been ing that millions of items and thou- a major red coral trading nation, group representing the craftsmen is vital in order to create empathy used as currency for trade by sands of kilos a year were traded and the industry group Assocoral. in the Mediterranean town Torre for their protection. This will not Paleolithic man. internationally. The proposal initial- del Greco. be an easy task, as coral fisheries

63 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED shark tales Tagged basking shark swam 6000 AWI post lists over U.S. restaurants sell- miles—across the Atlantic and back ing shark fin soup

record dive depth for spring to England and Where do Britain’s bask- Basking sharks The Animal Welfare Institute tagged sharks, and up to Scotland, before ing sharks go in the winter? is leading a nationwide perhaps more impor- in Britain, North returning south in the effort to contact restaurants Canada it seems. For the tantly the first evi- autumn. Edited by America, southern in the US that currently serve first time, satellites have dence that the spe- Where exactly south Peter & Gunild Symes the highly controversial cies migrates across Africa and as far they moved was until tracked tagged sharks shark fin soup, asking that oceans or between now a mystery. Dr travelling for thousands of afield as New Zea- they consider the precarious hemispheres. Mauvis Gore, a marine miles from waters south- land could be part biologist with the Save status of many of the target- ed species and stop selling west of the Isle of Man to Research scientists are Our Seas Foundation, of one big family. the dish immediately. ■ not sure why the 26ft- who has been study- New Foundland. long female made ing these animals for Until now little was known about the incredible trip, speculating the past five years has shed new endangered basking sharks (Ce- she could have been looking for a light on their movement patterns. Weddings boost torhinus maximus) when they mate, for a better food supply, or With her discovery comes the real- consumption moved outside British waters. Then returning ‘home’ after a summer isation that, since this endangered two sharks got tagged off the in British waters. Another option is species is not protected outside of shark fin in Isle of Man and were tracked by that she was on a previously undis- Europe, it might be more vulner- Singapore satellite for 100 days. One shark covered migration route, prompt- able than previously thought. got no farther than the west coast ing debate among some experts Shark’s fin consumption of Scotland; the other stayed near that basking sharks in Britain, North “These results give the first link be- more than doubled in Cornwall for a short time, then America, southern Africa and as tween the European and Ameri- Singapore last year from went across the Atlantic, travel- far afield as New Zealand could can basking shark populations, 2006, with demand driven ling 9,589 km to the waters off be part of one big family. and what was once thought to be by an economic boom and the Newfoundland shelf. On her two discrete populations is very an increase in wedding journey across the ocean, she Little is known about this gentle gi- likely to be effectively a single one celebrations, AFP reports. reached a maximum depth of ant, whose humble diet consists of unit.” Dr Gore told the Times. ■ Singapore consumed more 1,264 metres. This is the first conclu- the microscopic organism plank- Sources: Save Our Seas Foundation, The Guardian UK, than 470 tonnes in 2007, up sive evidence for basking sharks’ ton, and until now, it was thought The Times from 182 tonnes the previ- F ilephoto : M ark W ebster use of the deep mid-ocean, a in Europe to migrate north in the ous year and reversing a four-year decline, the Straits Times reported. ■

Sharks are now ‘functionally extinct’ in the Mediterranean Warnings sought for Researchers going through two to play a signicant role in the eco- and large fish such as tuna, “had The team looked at the popu- areas. After 1995, we found shark fin dishes centuries worth of data have system. declined similarly” and that the lations of hammerheads, blue no more records,” it added. documented that shark numbers “The loss of sharks in the Atlan- entire ecosystem of the Mediter- sharks, thresher sharks and Taiwanese legislators urged have declined by as much as 99 tic has resulted in unpredictable ranean was at risk. Sharks help mackerel shark. “Many historical The authors concluded that the Department of Health percent in the last two hundred changes to the ecosystem. Given control the populations of various records show the Mediterranean sharks have been either (DOH) to require that res- years. The scientists who conduct- the decline in the Mediterranean, fish and keep the food chain bal- had an abundance of large legally or illegally fished taurants serving dishes with ed the study said that many of there is cause to be seriously anced. sharks, which were considered to extinction, as fishermen shark fins provide warn- the 47 species of sharks that live concerned about the effect that a pest by fishermen,” it says in sought to get rid of them. ings cautioning pregnant in the Mediterranean have not this could have,” said Francesco Many of the 47 species the report. “Hammerhead sharks Sharks are particularly vulner- women not to eat the been seen for decades. Ferretti, the head of the research declined the fastest. In the early able to fishing because they prized ingredient, which team who published their find- of sharks that live in the 1900s, catches and sightings were breed rarely and take a long can contain dangerous lev- To be “functionally extinct” means ings in the journal Conservation regular, although not common. time to grow to maturity. ■ els of mercury. ■ that there are so few individuals Biology. They added that other Mediterranean have not After 1963, no hammerheads left that the species have ceased predators, such as whales, turtles been seen for decades. were caught or seen in coastal

64 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Mexico to tag sharks Opposition to shark fishing in the Dive into X-RAY MAG’s following a string of grows Library of Issues! deadly attacks Shark Savers has launched a petition to harness growing internation- Download past issues FREE Researchers are trying al opposition against new proposals of the Queensland, Australia to understand why sharks government to license shark fishing in the Great Barrier Reef near the southwestern World Heritage Area. resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo killed two surfers and maimed another in the first fatal shark attacks along Mexico’s Pacific coast in 30 years.

Biologists in Mexico plan to tag hun- dreds of sharks off the Pacific Coast and ask fisherman to look out for Shark Savers has launched a peti- Asia. Shark Savers believes Shark Savers goal is to draw them and report back on their move- tion to harness growing interna- a moratorium should be international attention to the pro- ments. A smaller group of sharks will tional opposition against new pro- established on shark fish- posal, spurning a public outcry be tagged with electronic devices posals of the Queensland, Australia ing, rather than create new fishing and motivating other government that would transmit data on their government to license shark fishing rights in delicate marine protected agencies within Australia to get behavior and locations to biologists in the Great Barrier Reef World areas such as the Great Barrier involved. “Australia stands to lose via radio frequencies. Heritage Area. Reef. its precious shark population, jeop- “We need to get to the ‘why’ ardize its lucrative tourism industry these animals are coming so close An historical first, the Queensland, “The Great Barrier Reef should be a and forever tarnish its reputation to Guerrero’s shores, which is so unu- Australia government is creat- refuge for sharks. Developing coun- as an environmental leader,” said sual,” Guerrero state Environment ing a dedicated shark fishery. The tries such as Ecuador and Costa Julie Andersen, director of Shark Secretary Sabas Arturo de la Rosa measures would establish formal Rica have declared all sharks to be Savers. “We cannot afford to lose told Reuters. shark fishing in critically vital and off-limits to fishing in their marine one of the world’s most treasured currently protected shark habitats protected areas, Galapagos and ecosystems and one of the key Could La Nina Be to Blame? including the Great Barrier Reef. Cocos. Certainly Australia can, species that keeps it healthy.” Shark experts believe unusually cool Additionally, the proposal offers no as well,” said Michael Skoletsky, sea-surface temperatures could be firm catch limit to the number of director of Shark Savers. “The shark For more information about the partly responsible for the attacks, but sharks that can be fished. fishermen are getting new protec- petition and Shark Savers, go to they also note that a dearth of data tions—but it’s the sharks that need www.sharksavers.org about sharks in the region makes it Shark Savers, an organization dedi- protection the most.” The Shark Saver petition may be difficult to reach conclusions. cated to the grassroots conserva- found here: www.sharksavers.org/ According to George Burgess, tion of sharks, is calling for inter- “Research has repeatedly shown content/view/260/109/ ■ director of the Florida Program for national pressure to immediately that sharks play an especially vital Shark Research, La Nina usually results stop these measures. The organiza- role for ocean ecosystems. When Shark Savers (www.sharksavers.org) in cooler than normal waters in the tion notes that shark populations sharks are eliminated or decimat- is a non-profit membership organiza- Pacific, and may have moved the around the world are plummeting ed, severe problems are created tion dedicated to saving the sharks boundary between cold and warm due to down the food chain,” said Ellen through building awareness, educa- tion, and grassroots action. Shark water closer to the shore, taking fish relentless Pikitch, Executive Director of the and their shark predators along with Savers enables people to learn, take over fishing Pew Institute for Ocean Science. action, share information, and find it. for sharks, “As a consequence of losing each other around the mission of “One of the factors we’re investi- prima- sharks, other species might be elim- saving sharks. gating is if there are special oceano- rily to satisfy inated that are either important graphic conditions that might have demand foods for humans or upon which CONTACT: contributed to the attacks,” Burgess for shark the health of the reefs themselves is Michael Skoletsky told Reuters. ■ fin soup in dependent.” [email protected] www.xray-mag.com

65 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Brazil’s Ilha Grande

Laid back & lazy

There are a few places on No diving diving”, meaning hours of yadda this planet where things seem Diving is important. Otherwise, yadda, and wasn’t expecting I would have written this story for me so soon. So, we picked up to fall into place without any a food magazine. When I am on our beach stuff, my camera and hesitation. Ilha Grande, Brazil, a dive trip, I want to dive! But this found a lonely part of a nearby is one of these places. Even time, it was different. beach and enjoyed a heavenly on busy weekends, there is As usual, I headed for the dive afternoon of tranquility. centers shortly after checking in a no-stress atmosphere. On at the hotel, in order to set up Beach combing the beach, in the garden things. The conversation I had The next day, we stopped by the hammock, or at 20 metres with a guy from one of the dive dive center, but the owner had depth—it’s all laid back and centers was short. It went like this: left for business on the main land. “No diving today because the This meant we could spend a lazy. visibility is too bad.” whole day exploring the island. “OK, what do you mean by You basically have two choices: A couple of editions back, our bad?” either going by foot on some of magazine adopted the sub- “10-12 metres! Better wait for the dirt trails that criss-cross the heading “International lifestyle another day!” rugged island, or taking a much magazine for divers”. Well, spend- more relaxed tour on a so-called ing some days on Ilha Grande I know quite a few people who schooner. definitely felt more like a lifestyle would love to dive with 10-12 You often encounter the dark than work. All things connected— meters of visibility—anyday, any spotted snake eel along the the lush green forrests, tiny quiet where! This time, I didn’t really get Brazilian coast. villages on the water’s edge, upset for a cancelled dive trip. I deserted beaches, wooden just went back to our hotel, sur- schooners anchored in the bays, prising my wife with my sud- and the attractions of the deep den return. azur ocean. Arriving on the She is used to the island—after you have just trans- phrase, “set- ferred from either busy Rio de ting up Janeiro or São Paulo—is like step- things ping onto another planet as soon for Text by Arnold Weisz as you step off the boat. Topside photos by Arnold Weisz Underwater photos by Alcides Falanghe A piece of fruit in the water quickly attracts both Dog’s Tooth Snapper and Sergeant Majors’ 66 X-RAY MAG : 22 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED feature Ilha Grande We chose the latter option. food and drinks on board. Most of windward side of the island. the marine life is abundant. At These locally made wooden motor them make a snorkling and bath- open to the ocean, this area any dive site around Ilha Grande, yachts, whose riggings are fake, ing stop as well. Sailing around the offers the best diving, although there are some hefty rock forma- are pleasent ways of visiting other island gives you some spectacular there are many dive sites in the tions. The rocks and crevices are villages and beaches. views of it and the mainland. strait between the island and the hide-outs for a multitude of marine there is a wide choice of trips. main land as well. Having some life. There are many swim throughs, They all basically stop at a few dif- Finally diving newbee’s on board we opted for but stay away from the black sea ferent beaches and serve warm After a couple of days beach quieter water in a bay. Anchoring urchins, which can give you a few combing, it was good to be back up in a secluded bay at little São hours of pain. The underwater scenery around Ilha in the rumble and bumble on Jorge Island, we found some nice even though the dark grottos are Grande is fantastic with it’s variety. board a dive boat. With a mixed spots for diving. attractive, don’t forget the blue Boulders, canyons, walls and swim crowd of Scandinavians, Germans the coast of Rio de Janeiro isn’t water or the sandy bottom. There through are perfect for both divers and Brits, we steamed out of the tropical, so don’t expect vast col- are plenty of seaturtles around, and the marine life. Bay of Abrão, heading for the ourful coral reefs. That being said, and small groups of batfishes travel by. The wet desert isn’t really as deserted as one would think. Bottom dwellers use the sand to hide and wait for a suitable pray to swim by. As an ocean current pass- es the island, the water is nutrient rich. The outer rocks are often covered with cor- als. What sometimes lacks in visibility, is well made up for by the divers marine life. For those interested in wrecks, yes there are some good wreck dives to be made here as well, but we have to get back to you on this, for the next feature. Nature You can certainly find more beatiful beaches some- where else on the planet, and you can find more pic- turesque villages on other islands. But these 193 km² of paradise-on-earth aren’t weeks away on a sailboat, or hours in a plane away from civilization. It’s just a mere two hours south of Rio de Janeiro, or seven hours on the road from São Paulo. Whatever you do on this island, it’s very much con- Ocean currents makes the waters around Ilha Grande much clearer than nected to nature. for example than other islands a long this coast, like Ilhabela, further south

67 X-RAY MAG : 22 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED feature Ilha Grande

Most of the dive sites offer a diversity that satisfy everyone, from the UW-macro photographer to sea turtle lovers Even rowdy Scandinavians seem to notch down their cheerfulness after a few beers in one of the many bars and eateries here. Then you will hear the sound of the nature. Like birds and crickets. Accompanied by waves washing up onto the beach and the Ocean, beach, diving and food! wind sweeping through the vegetation... What more you you need? and sometimes, even a sigh of happiness can be heard. Diving Services The diving services on this trip were pro- Car free vided by Elite Dive Center in Vila Abrão, We opted to stay in the main village on Ilha Grande. They run a 40-foot custom the island of Abraõ. Here, you will find built dive boat, driven by a 2x300 hp most of the tourist infrastructure, shops Mercedez Benz. and accomodations. It is still a very low there is a small cabin and a toilet key setting. For those who want even availiable. Maximum capacity is 16 more tranquility, there are a few other divers, but the owner Daniel Gouvêa options around the island with lone says that they seldom go out with more resorts, or tiny villages with a pousada or than 12 divers. He speaks fluently English. two. So does his father who functions as a one of the most enjoyable things on dive guide on board. Ilha Grande was the lack of cars. The the boat usually departs around 9:00 only things that ran on petrol on land am and comes back around 4:00 pm. All here were the mayor’s car and a cou- divers get a lunch package and water ple of dirt bikes used by the local police. or softdrinks between the dives. Rental Even the local police car was an electric equipment and Nitrox are availiable. golf car. Just be aware of bikers and For more information, please visit: dogs, which are plentyful here. www.elitedivecenter.com.br ■

68 X-RAY MAG : 22 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED How many razorfish ecology can you spot?

Edited by Peter Symes

Is it mimicry, mimesis or camouflage?

Text: Peter Symes Photo: Michael Find Wally Arvedlund Mimicry is one of several anti- true distinction between the two of which is armed with spines, predatory devices found in phenomena can be seen in ani- stingers, or toxic chemistry, nature. Specifically it is a situa- mals that resemble twigs, bark, while its apparent double lacks tion in which one species called leaves or flowers, in that they are these traits. The second spe- the mimic resembles in colour, often classified as camouflaged cies has no defense other than form, and/or behaviour another (a plant constitutes its “surround- resembling the unpalatable species called the model. In so ings”), but are sometimes classi- species and is afforded protec- doing, the mimic acquires some fied as mimics (a plant is also an tion from certain predators by survival advantage such as pro- organism) its resemblance to the unpalat- In between camouflage and able species, which the preda- Shrimpfish, also called razorfish, mimicry is mimesis, in which the tor associates with a certain are five small species of tropi- mimicking organism takes on the appearance and a bad experi- cal marine fish in the subfamily properties of a specific object or ence. Centriscinae of the family organism, but one to which the Centriscidae. They are found in dupe is indifferent. (The dupe is Muellerian mimicry refers to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. the ‘observing’ organism ie the two unpalatable species that Shrimpfish are nearly transpar- predator from which the mimics are mimics of each other with ent and flattened from side are trying to hide.) conspicuous warning coloura- to side with long snouts and a Though mimicry is most obvi- tion (also known as aposematic sharp-edged belly. A thin, dark ous to humans in visual mimics, colouration). Thus all mimics stripe runs along its body. It is others senses such as olfac- share the benefits of the col- from this and their shrimp-like tion (smell) or hearing may be oration since the predator will appearance that their name is derived. They swim in a syn- involved, and more than one recognize the coloration of an chronized manner with their type of signal may be em- unpalatable group after a few heads pointing downwards but ployed. Mimicry may involve bad experiences. swim horizontally when they morphology, behavior, and are hunting other properties. In any case, These fish swim horizontally the signal always functions to when they are hunting. At other deceive the receiver by pre- times they can be seen swim- tection from predation. Usually venting it from correctly identi- ming vertically with their heads mimicry refers to the similarities fying the mimic. down, although they are also between animal species whereas capable of swimming with their camouflage usually refers to an Batesian mimicry refers to two heads up. ■ animal species resembling an or more species that are similar inanimate object. The lack of a in appearance, but only one

69 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the mediterranean From high speed to slow down rutger geerling

Text by Harald Apelt Photos by Harald Apelt Kas, Turkey and Rutger Geerling Upon leaving the modern Antalya air- During the 210-kilometer taxi transfer from the airport port in Turkey, my Turkish adventure to Kas, there was no conversation with Mehmet— not a word—but I learned a lot about life here on began immediately. I was awaited by a the goose chase through Antalya’s metropolis of taxi driver—let’s call him Mehmet—who around 700,000 inhabitants. was hired for my transfer from the big What traffic! I’ve been a pretty keen driver for metropolis of Antalya to my final destina- more than 30 years, and I am used to driving in big cities such as Barcelona, Milano, London and tion, Kas. I met this guy, Mehment, who Paris, but the traffic in Turkey is something different. bravely held the sign board for identi- Mehmet just about flew me through the city. Only if fication into the air, “Mr. Apelt for Kas absolutely necessary, did he drive less than 100km Diving”, and our welcome was spartan per hour, and red traffic lights seemed to be only a recommendation—a useless illumination for him. and friendly. But there was one problem: to cut a long story short, the transfer was an Mehmet didn’t speak a word of English, adrenalin rush into a new and interesting and differ- or any other language, but Turkish. This is ent world that exists so close to Europe. McDonalds, shopping malls, big city architecture are nearly why I didn’t get his name. So, I call him the same here as in any other European city. On “Mehmet”, a very respectable Turkish the other hand, the culture and atmosphere here name. makes the place seem so far away from European

rutger geerling rutger geerling rutger geerling Spectacular caverns, interesting wrecks and colourful marine life can be discovered on the

rutger geerling diving trips with the comfortable diving ship Abyss (above right whilst leaving Kas harbour) 70 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the Kas mediterranean

which is close to the the hotels and only a few year. steps away from the sea. Hamburg was a I was welcomed by Arzu little bit warmer than 4°C Övünc. She had such a nice when I left in the beginning of March. German accent, that I The climate in south of Turkey was immediately felt at home. She is pleasant compared to the rainy and Turkish but has lived in Germany cold season some 2500 kilometres for many years, has perfect in all photos this page by rutger geerling north. English as well and knows all Colourful night life in the small alleys of Kas: Modern lifestyle in shops and restaurants right next to the mosque it is like early summertime in cen- about everything. She manages tral Europe, and that’s why Turkey is Kas Diving, the client life. To be honest, the mixture Bringing three fingers into his Mehmet was well known. We a very popular travel destination in relations, bookings and of East and West in Turkey is like mouth, Mehmet made me were welcomed and served at the early part of the season during accommoda- an amazing spice on a good understand that this would be once, and I ate one of the best March and April. tions, and meal. our dinner pause. trout dinners I have ever had in i stepped into Kas Diving, she is outside Antalya, we drove We entered the restaurant my life, plus an amazing fresh endless kilometers along the where salad and a Turkish “meze” coastal line. My nerves calmed antipasti plate. The compul- down. The road slid along the sory deep black Turkish coffee hills of the Taurus Mountains. completed the perfect transfer Little villages and picturesque break. port towns bordered vast for- Astonishingly, for this opulent ests. The fantastic view over the meal, I paid an amount that Lycia coast, the smooth light one would pay, in Germany, for of the nearby sunset and the a little more than a few French amazing colours of the sea, fries and a beer. which I would soon be explor- We finally reached Kas close ing, inspired a wonderful holi- to midnight, and the beauty of day feeling. this small historic port town was it was shortly after sunset already blanketed by the night. when Mehmet suddenly left the road and drove onto a small The resort path into the forest. “What’s The next day, bright sunshine going on now?” I wondered awoke me with deep blue skies and started getting a bit irritat- and temperatures of more ed when we suddenly stopped than 25°C, which is not high for in front of a small restaurant. Turkey, but hot for this time of

71 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the Kas mediterranean

a very professional guide for guests comfortable way of diving. Nobody who wish to discover the endless his- has to take care of equipment. That torical and tourist highlights on the job is done by the crew during your Lycia coastline, and she is, of course, entire stay on board the dive boat. a keen diver, too. Sometimes she is Nobody has to carry tanks or weight bothered a little by her position and belts—everything is perfectly organ- not having enough time to accom- ised by Levent and his crew. pany Levent, the owner of Kas Diving, and his two instructors, Murat Kas diving and Jeff, on their daily trips along So again, the question is, “What the Kas coastline. makes a ‘pearl’, a ‘pearl’, as we After one week of diving, I under- define it”? Well, Kas is a good exam- stood Arzu’s feelings, because ple of how a holiday destination my prejudices against eastern can be perfect in so many different Mediterranean diving where blown ways. away. There are about 30 dive spots it was not much more than 30 that are used for diving here. All the years ago, that Kas could only be trips start from the little harbour of reached by a narrow, impassable Kas. Kas Diving has an own space goat path. That’s why nowadays at harbour with an exclusive place Kas is far from the disastrous tour- for the dive boat. Right next to the ist development of many other No mass tourism will be found here: peer, there is a compressor station, Mediterranean destinations. There The picturesque harbour of Kas which Levent installed. are no hotel bunkers, no classical (left). Divers having lunch on the clients of Kas Diving enjoy the signs of mass tourism to be found Abyss while anchored in a small bay outside Kas (above) all photos this page by rutger geerling 72 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the Kas mediterranean

here. lization And Kas crawl is still an into attrac- one’s tive port head town with without many fail. historic being buildings and traces of more relaxed seems to be one of the than 20 centuries all around. most positive characteristics this nice little port town has the owner of a diving center exciting aspects as well, which could have. And Levent has each tourist might hardly be it. Although he grew up in a looking for such as small, narrow busy atmosphere in southwest alleys with a lot of little shops, Germany, he celebrates his days bars and restaurants, a port in an absolutely unusual man- region where fishing boats land ner in diving business. Maybe it is their fresh catch and palm gar- the mixture of German correct- den cafés where one can drink ness and reliability and the easy a refreshing tea (or even a more going relaxed Turkish way that refreshing Efes-Pilsen) and watch makes the special atmosphere the life around the central port in diving with Kas Diving. square with its impressive monu- As everyone knows, dive boats ment showing Kemal Atatür—the can be a story in themselves. I beloved and adored founder of cannot remember many boats the Turkish nation. that have been so well organ- Guests will meet some of the ised, offered so much space, 8000 inhabitants of Kas who were so clean and showed so are absolutely relaxed, atten- many nice details of perfect tive and have such an amazing planning and good craftsman- kindness that questions about ship like the Abyss! A visit to the the speed of life in modern civi- boat’s restrooms, for instance,

Diving at its best: Highlights are the wrecks outside Kas, the historical sites

all photos this page by rutger geerling with amphora’s, and the rare meetings with Hawksbill sea turtles 73 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the Kas mediterranean

Historical artefact are protected by law: Just look, don’t touch! Octopus, nudibranch, hermit crab and scorpion fish can be found easily

will surprise anyone with by Kas Diving, and there are their inspiring, artful flagging two you should absolutely see work. at “Olu Burun”, which means the Kas flagship dive “holy nose” and describes the boat, Abyss, is 19 meters small peninsula west of Kas. long and six meters wide. Here you can dive the replica The second ship, Barakuda, of a historic shipwreck, which is 16 by 5 meters. The daily was discovered by some fish- dive trips are made with the ermen in the early ‘80s. Abyss, which can transport the original wreck was 15 up to 35 equipped divers. metres long and transported During the main season, Kas amphoras and bronze. It was Diving offers two excursions in a good state and declared per day and day trips, with to be older than 3300 years. two dives and a common It was discovered in a depth meal at lunch time, three or of 60 meters. It took ten years four times per week. and more than 22,000 dives to compared to other ly rises up to 24°C in June, and in register all the ship’s details, sec- Mediterranean regions, diving at August and September reaches a tion by section, and recover the Kas has perfect visibility. The water peak of 29°C. numerous artifacts. The ship found is mostly crystal clear and bear- its final home in the Museum of able in temperature. In March, the Diving Bodrum. water is already 17°C, which quick- There are about 30 dive spots used in 2007, the local club decided to build and countersink a replica of this famous wreck at Olu Burun and reconstruct the recovered ampho- ra field with replicas for divers to enjoy. Within two months, the replica wreck was built and plunged to a depth that was good for sport div- ing activities. Later, heavy storms moved the wreck from 15 meters down to 30 meters. Now, it is tied with a sturdy rope to a rock, and the rope leads divers down from

all photos this page by rutger geerling the coastline from six meters direct-

74 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the Kas mediterranean

team gives you a hand wherever you information at: www.allaboutturkey.com/ need it. There is no hurry and a good patara.htm pot of tea is ready for you after the only a few minutes away towards the sea- good dive you had. side, travelers will reach the Patara beach. It is one of the most famous and longest Common life at Kas: The Turkish people are very Topside excursions beaches of Turkey. It’s more than 18 kilometers friendly and hospitable to foreigners. The pide baker If the historic “Olu Burun” wreck has long and is still the home of one of the last made a perfect ‘Lahmacun’ and ‘Pide’. inspired you to see more historic places Mediterranean populations of hawksbill turtles, and explore the beautiful landscape which come here to lay their eggs. ly down to the wreck and the amphora field. around Kas, you should tour the region Leaving the seaside heading north on the the second spot you should dive is the wreck by car. There is a nice day trip rec- road to Fethiye, one will reach Xanthos. It was of the Greek freight ship, Dimitrij. It sank in the ommended by early ‘60s carrying cot- Arzu, which will ton. It was hardly dam- show visitors a lot aged by numerous of what makes heavy winterstorms. the Kas region a the dive of the wreck real pearl of the starts unspectacularly Mediterranean. at six meters and leads About 40 kilom- one over a flat region eters west of Kas, where divers come up one should see against the first metal the ruins of Patara, leftovers of the Dimitrij. the birth place of But suddenly, it gets the god, Apollo. more exciting because During the reign of a deep canyon at 25 the Roman Empire, to 40 meter appears Patara was the next to the hull of the capital of Lycia. Dimitrij. Many ruins of this And finally, when important city can you get back to the be seen here. The dive boat, the relaxing amphitheatre is atmosphere topside especially worth goes on as usual. The a visit. (See more

The Kas team: Captain Sadik, Arzu Övünc, Jeff Dobson, Murat Ayildiz and all photos this page by rutger geerling owner Levent Aydogmus 75 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED pearls of the Kas mediterranean

harald apelt

harald apelt

What you should see when visiting Kas: The market place at Kas, the quiet atmosphere at the harbour, the canyon of Saklikent, the historical ruins at Patara and Xanthos, and the nice hilly alleys at Kas

only to be smashed again. Grave sites, sar- toric enemy, cophagus, monuments, ruins of ancient palac- Greece,

es and the former amphitheatre are witnesses right in front harald apelt to the long history of this place. of the Turkish Leaving the main road northeast into the door seems another car and a new fastest lap of hills, you’ll reach the canyon of Saklikent. The to make 2:40 hours. river Akdagi makes its way through this canyon, everybody When I got to the airplane, I was viv- which is 18 kilometers long. From the visitors a little bit idly day dreaming of my own car and point, you can explore 16 grottos and the deep nervous. being my own driver in my own slow- canyon that is bordered on both sides by the That’s why it paced city. But overall, the journey to 600-meter high Akdag Mountains. is not surpris- Turkey was a really great adventure, And if you want another great day trip, just ing, that the and the mad taxi rides were just minor visit Greece. Not much more than two kilom- Turkish Navy irritations to endure on the trip. ■ eters outside Kas is the most eastern Greek has a station island of Kastelorizo, which is called “Meis” in in the harbor Greek. It’s a small island, which occassion- of Kas. That ally has flights to its small regional airport. But of course, the picturesque little port town of Kastelorizo is has been absolutely beautiful and worth visiting. matched it’s just a 20-minute ferry ride from Kas, but it’s by the pres- not like crossing the river Thames. Although it’s ence of a only a day trip of a few hours, you will need an Greek frig- harald apelt harald apelt official visa for your re-entry into EC from Turkish ate in the Kas. The visa must be applied for at least one port of Kastelorizo. the capital of ancient Lycia, and the first fed- day before the trip. This can be taken care of As you can see, there are quite a lot eral republic in the world. During its long history by Arzu from Kas Diving. of exciting activities to be done during and many occupations, Xanthos experienced the whole immigration system is performed a holiday in Kas besides diving. And several wars and catastrophes. Wars destroyed very seriously and even customs control looks the very last adventure of the holiday and burnt down the city, which ten was recon- like it would appear if you were visiting the was—yep, that’s right—the taxi transfer structed and grew up to a metropolis again Soviet Union in former years. Having an his- back to Antalya airport. Another driver,

harald apelt 76 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED BULGARIA Black Sea AZER. THRACE Bosporus GR. Istanbul Ereğli Samsun Sea of Kocaeli Marmara Sakarya Trabzon fact file Bursa Turkey Eskişehir ANKARA Balikesir Sivas Erzurum Euphrates Aliaga ANATOLIA Lake Van Manisa Kayseri Izmir Elaziğ Aegean source: harald apelt, cia world fact book Malatya Sea Diyarbakir and scuba-doc.com Denizli Konya Kahramanmaraş Tigris GREECE Under the authoritar- 1980, have fractured Gaziantep History Antalya Adana Şanhurfa ian leadership of national hero democracy in the country. İçel Toros Mustafa Kemal, “Father of the After each coup, power IRAQ İskenderun Turks”, modern Turkey was found- was eventually returned to Euphrates ed in 1923 from the surviving civilians. The military assist- tion and Anatolian vestiges of the defeat- ed in a coup which ousted Mediterranean Sea SYRIA strong eco- nomic gains ed Ottoman Empire. Under the then Islamic-oriented from 2002-07, high external Kemal’s rule, the country adopt- government in 1997. In debt and current account def- ed wide-ranging political, social, 1974, Turkey’s military inter- icit still thwarts the economy. and legal reforms. An experiment vened on Cyprus to prevent the en its economy and democracy dary landing place of Noah’s ark, 12.284 million (2006) In 2006, oil began to flow through with multi-party politics followed takeover of the island by Greece. in order to qualify to begin acces- Mount Ararat, is located in the far the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, a period of one-party rule. In Turkey acts as the patron state to sion membership talks with the eastern region of the country. Language Turkish (official), leading to 1 million barrels per day 1950, the Democratic Pary won the island which is now dubbed European Union. Government: Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, from the Caspian entering the a victory and a peaceful trans- the Turkish Republic of Northern republican parliamentary democ- Climate temperate with hot, Kabardian. There is also a large market. fer of power. Political parties in Cyprus, recognized only by racy. Capital: Ankara dry summers and mild, wet win- Gagauz population in the Euro- Turkey have multiplied since then, Turkey. In 1984, a separatist insur- ters; harsher climate is found in the pean part of Turkey. Decompression chambers but periods of instability and gency began by the Geography Turkey is located interior Dept of Underwater and Hyper- occassional military Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Southeastern Europe and South- Economy Modern industry baric Medicine, Istanbul Medical coups in 1960, (PKK) known today as western Asia (the Turkish region Environmetnal issues The and commerce coinsides with a Faculty, Istanbul University, 34390 1971 and the People’s Congress west of the Bosporus is geographi- dumping of chemicals and deter- traditional agriculture sector that Çapa, Istanbul. Tel. +90 1 212 531 of Kurdistan or cally part of Europe). The country gents has led to water pollution. provides more than 35 percent of 3544 Kongra-Gel (KGK). borders the Black Sea between Urban areas experience air pol- employment. Strong and rapidly The conflict has Bulgaria and Georgia. It borders lution. Deforestation and oil spills growing private sector, is temper- Dept of Underwater and Hyper- taken all the Turkish the Aegean Sea and the Mediter- from increasing Bosporus ship traf- ed by the state still playing a large baric Medicine, GMMA Haydar- military’s attention and ranean Sea between Greece and fic challenge the country. Turkey role in basic industry, banking, pasa Teaching Hospital, Uskudar led to the deaths of more than Syria. Coastline: 7,200 km. Terrain: is party to agreements: Air Pollu- transport, and communication. 81010 Kadimathköy, Istanbul 30,000 people. In 1999, the high central plateau in Anatolia; tion, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Textile and clothing production Tel.: +90 216 345 02 95 group’s leader was captured several mountain ranges and nar- Climate Change, Desertification, accounts for 33 percent of indus- which led to the retreat of the row coastal plain. Lowest point: Endangered Species, Hazardous trial employment and faces stiff GATA Haydarpasa Military Hospi- insurgents to northern Iraq. The Mediterranean Sea 0 m. High- Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, competition in international mar- tal, 81327 Kadikoy, Istanbul year 2004 saw an end to the est point: Mount Ararat 5,166 m. Ship Pollution, Wetlands. Turkey kets. Automotive and electron- Tel.: +90 216 3462453 KGK’s ceasefire and an increase Natural : in northern Turkey has signed, but not ratified Envi- ics industries are rising. Real GNP in attacks attributed to the KGK. along an arc extending from the ronmental Modification. growth has exceeded 6 percent Websites In 1945, Turkey joined the UN and Sea of Marmara to Lake Van, in recent years, undermined by Turkey Tourism became a member of NATO in there are severe earthquakes. Population 71,892,807 (July sharp declines in output in 1994, www.turkeytourism.com 1952. Turkey became an associ- Note: Turkey holds a strategic 2008 est.) Ethnic groups: Turkish 1999, and 2001. Implementation Ankara University Medical Faculty ate member of the European location controlling the Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% (estimated). Reli- of economic reforms has turned Underwater Research and Diving Community in 1964. Within the last Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, gions: Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), the economy around leading to a Club, Ankara. English webpage: ten years, the country has under- Dardanelles) which links the Black other religions 0.2% (mostly Chris- peak GDP growth rate of 9 per- www.geocities.com/Colosseum/ l t a pe taken several reforms to strength- and Aegean Seas. The legen- tians and Jews). Internet users: cent in 2004. Despite falling infla- Loge/5795/englishversion.html ■ h arald 77 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED medical Understanding

Dr. Kevin U. Chan

Asthma is a respiratory condi- Two types asthma attack is based on non- ventricular hypertrophy) and tion that affects 3-8% of the gen- There are two types of asthma: specific hyperirritability of the lung (pulmonary hyperten- Extrinsic asthma and intrinsic Tracheobronchial tree but the sion) problems eral population, thus also divers asthma. Extrinsic asthma is when mechanisms are not entirely clear. or would-be divers. It is defined the asthmatic attack is triggered It has been postulated that the ini- Diving and Asthma as an increased responsiveness by an external cause. This form tiating stimuli activates a variety of Asthmatics account for to the lower airways to multiple of asthma occurs in individuals chemicals that takes effect on the about 1% of the popula- who are termed as atopic. They airway smooth muscle and blood tion of divers. But in coun- stimuli. This increased respon- also have associated eczema vessel (capillary) permeability tries where medical ques- siveness may be episodic and and hay fever. Intrinsic asthma resulting in an intense local reac- tionnaires and examina- during such asthma attacks is when no precipitating agents tion. This may then be followed by tions are required prior the brochi and brochioles will can be identified to bring on the a delayed (chronic) reaction. This to diving, the percent- attack. This form of asthma often latter response results in recruit- age of asthmatic become inflamed and constrict occurs in middle age and patients ment of more “inflammatory cells” divers are less. and lined with mucus. This air- may have negative allergic histo- to the site of injury. These then lib- way narrowing causes symp- ries but develop bronchospasm erate a variety of chemicals com- The ocean after a respiratory tract infection. pounds at the injured site which environ- toms such as wheezing, shortness However, at times, there may be then result in more damage to the ment of breath, chest tightness, and a history of childhood asthma in tissues. coughing. The effects may range these individuals. All of which produce a wide from mild without limitations of spread effect within the tracheo- Attacks bronchial tree resulting in bron- the patients’ activity to severe Asthma may be triggered by a choconstriction – constriction of and life threatening. At times this whole range of the airways. obstruction may persist for days different or weeks and it is called status fac- This bronchoconstriction results tors. in the patient’s entire pulmonary asthmaticus. An function being compromised. Such that the rate of forced Text by exhalation being lesser than the Dr Kevin U. Chan predicted level. Furthermore there will be an increased air trapped within the lung and this further compromises exposes Extrinsic lung function. Besides, in the diver asthma asthmatics there may be to a vari- is when the other associated ety of con- asthmatic attack changes like stantly chang- is triggered by an heart (right ing stressors many of external cause - pol- len for example

78 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Andreas Heinemann at Zeppelinzentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. www.rad-zep.de. GFDL Human Thorax medical and Lung, 3D reconstruction from CT-scans

which may trigger asthma. The diving deaths showed that asthmatics resulting bronchoconstriction accounted for 9% of diving deaths and increase in airway resis- while asthma being a contributory tance heightens the risk diving factor to the death was seen in 8% of related disorders - in particular the deaths. Most of the deaths were pulmonary barotraumas such in practically physically fit young as embolism. Also as asth- men Possible causes matics breathe with higher 1. Allergens than average lung volumes Risk points: 2. pharmacological stimuli (due to some degree of 1. Risk of air trapping predis- 3. environment (eg: cold, salty gas trapping), there is a posing to pulmonary water ) and air pollution theoretical increased risk 2. Risk of an acute bronchos- 4. occupational factors ( e.g.: of lung expansion injury pasm whilst diving and predispos- vapours, smoke) during ascent. Most asth- ing to pulmonary barotrauma 5. infections matics are also under and subsequent . 6. exercise treatment with medication 3. Risk of acute bronchospasm 7. emotional stress like bronchodilators. This whilst diving and reducing exer- provides relief to some but cise tolerance while on the surface not effect the entire airway. and underwater. Hence, they may enable the asth- hypertonic saline 4. Risk of in a diver matic diver to descend easily but challenge test on asthmatics is able who has recently taken a bronchodila- are less effective towards the end of the to within reasonable doubt rule out this tor drug. dive and also when a rapid emergency aspect of asthma provocation. ascend may be required. More impor- Can it be managed? tantly, bronchodilator medication has a Trigger factors in diving: Asthma is managed through drugs and potential of causing an arrhythmic effect 1. exertion – ie from swimming against an asthma management plan. There are on the heart and is a potentially - current, equipment drag or being over- 2 types of medication in the treatment ous medication in the undersea environ- weight of asthma - relievers and preventers. As ment. 2. breathing cold and dry hyperbaric air, their name implies, relievers are used to which increases dehydration of the air- treat the acute attack – so as to relax As diving takes place in a dynamic ways the smooth muscles. Some relievers also environment with changing weather, 3. hypertonic Saline. Inhalation of sea- reduce the swelling and the mucous pro- tides, currents etc all divers will inevi- spray or water (bubbling or leaking duction. Preventers on the other hand tably encounter situations requiring regulator) help to prevent symptoms from arising strenuous exercise at some point. Should 4. breathing resistance (increased gas thus stifling the degree of the allergic an asthmatic attack be precipitated density , regulator problems, and low response to the precipitating agent. at such a time it would be detrimen- air supply tal. Consequently it will be ill advised 5. hyper ventilation and Testing the severity of asthma and the for those with exercise induced likeliness of attacks includes a number asthma to enroll in or Can I dive or not? of physical tests to see how the lungs proceed with their div- A number of factors have to be weighed react to a number of stressors. First of ing course. Besides, and that can only be done in consul- all the patient is put on an exercise bike in some asthmatics, tancy with a doctor. While asthmatics for 5 mins at a load that corresponds to seawater itself may with normal airway function have similar swimming 1 knots. The lung functions are also provoke an asth- risk as non asthmatics, in general asth- measured before and after. It is also test- matic attack. Thus the matics do have a higher susceptibility to ed how the lungs reacts to inhaling saline procedure of doing a pulmonary barotrauma. A study done on and methacholine sprays. ■

79 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED He’s at it again! NEW!

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80 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Sharks of the Open Ocean The world’s sharks continue to be under serious Saving Luna media threat, and this new book documents just how seri- Should wild ous the population status of open-ocean sharks has animals be Books Film DVDs CDs become. Featuring the findings of more than 70 encouraged to Edited by shark scientists and experts, it presents a comprehen- live among and Catherine GS Lim sive review of the biology, threats and management interact solely outlook of these 11 open-ocean sharks and one with humans? point & click stingray. it shows how these sharks end up to be the Whatever your on bold links predominant species caught by commercial fishing opinion is on methods; how, being caught in international waters, this issue, we there are no limits to their slaughter. suggest that the book also discusses various conservation you temporarily methods that have been adopted by experts, thus cast them aside paving the way for others seeking effective man- while watching The Essential agement of these magnificent creatures. this documen- Underwater Guide tary. This film tells the story of Luna, a young to North Wales Edited by Ellen K. Pikitch and Elizabeth A. Babcock, killer whale who tried desperately (and suc- Volume 2: South with lead editor Merry D. Camhi ceeded in most cases) to befriend the resi- Stack to Colwyn Published by Blackwell Publishing dents of Nootka Sound (on the west coast of Bay Vancouver Island), when he was separated from his pod in 2001. If you’re planning to Reef Restoration Concepts and beneath this tale of inter-species interaction dive in North Wales, be Guidelines: Making Sensible were people in the different camps, each sure to get hold of the Management Choices in the Face hoping to get their way with the animal. second book in the of Uncertainty The indigenous people of the Mowachaht/ series The Essential This book is about new guidelines in reef restora- Muchalaht First Nation regarded Luna as a Underwater Guide tion. An introduction to reefs starts off the book, sacred animal and the representation of a to North Wales. If and is followed by the various methods of resto- deceased chief. The naturalists wanted Luna you’ve read the DDRC Underwater ration, including physical, biological and trans- to be returned to his pod, though efforts first book, which Diving Accident plantation. The costs of reef restoration are also to locate them were unsuccessful. Those covered the area from Barmouth Manual examined. In the later part of the book, five case charmed with his playful antics wanted him to South Stack, you’d probably want to add Whether you have just studies involving restoration and transplantation to stay on, while others threatened to harm to your knowledge with information about acquired your C-Card, are presented in detail, together with a descrip- him. And then there were those who wanted the areas from South Stack to Colwyn Bay. or you have decades tion of the lessons gained from them. As an intro- to put him in an aquarium. This information can be found in the second of diving experience duction, this book is comprehensive enough for And all Luna wanted was a pod to call his book, which continues to be jam-packed under your weight belt, coastal managers, technical advisors and own, no matter that its members happened with the local knowledge you can’t do this guide should be a those involved in reef restoration to live on land. without, from information about the marine regular com- efforts; yet it is written simply, with- For filmmakers Michael Parfit and Suzanne life, wrecks, reefs, caves and rocks to statistical panion on your out too much technical terms, Chisholm, what began as a routine assign- and geographical data about tides, legislations, dive trips. Accidents, injuries and so that anyone with an interest ment to cover the capture of the young orca GSP positions, cartographic locations and even medical emergencies do occur in the topic would be happy to in 2004 turned into a quest to document his Ordnance Survey references. In addition, it gives when one dives, unfortunately, and indulge his or her curiosity. story. The couple felt their journalistic objec- you the inside scoop on where to launch your it’s the wiser diver who knows what tivity melt and ended up producing Saving boat, the possible dangers, air stations and of to do when they happen. This book A soft copy of the book is Luna, a documentary with stunning underwa- course the dive shops and services in the area. even has a worksheet at the back to available at http://www.gefc- ter photography that has been named the Every chapter focuses on a few specific locations. aid medical technicians and doctors oral.org/. Written by Alasdair Best Picture at several film festivals around the who are unfamiliar with dive medicine. Edwards and Edgardo Gomez world. Published by Calgo Publications This fifth edition has been fully revised Published by Coral Reef Written by Chris Holden and updated, and is sturdy enough (it’s Targeted Research & 115 Minutes Underwater photos by Paul Kay waterproof!) to stash together with your Capacity Building for Directed by Suzanne Chisholm and Michael ISBN: 9780954506612, softback dive gear. Management Program Parfit ISBN: 978-1-921317-00-2 Written by Michael Parfit 54 pages, softback Produced by Mountainside Films in associa- tion with CBC Newsworld

81 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED photo & videography

Edited by Kurt Amsler & Peter Symes

In contrast to color photography, black and white photography requires that you work primarily with natural light instead of flash

Text and photos by Kurt Amsler there is shooting in black and white fully observe your chosen subject Translation by Arnold Weisz mode using an underwater digital from all sides and angles. Because camera; and fourthly, changing your different angles of incidence of a Even in the digital age, black digital color images into black and shadow in a photograph may have and white photographs are white with your image processing a completely different impact on the still viewed as art. In this edi- software. viewer. the difference between color and Also of importance is the choice of tion of my underwater pho- black and white photography lies subject. Subdued color tones, which tography series, I’ll give you less in what you are taking pictures work beautifully in a colour image, an introduction to contrast of, and more in how you take the will not have any effect in a black imaging. pictures. In contrast to color images and white image. The keyword here where you always have to primarily is contrast. For a black and white All those fantastic colors you find consider how to use your flash in image to work, you need sufficient underwater are still the main goal for combination with the sunlight, black contrast between the subject and underwater photographers. On other and white imagery requires that you the foreground or background. hand, the black and white medium work foremost with the natural light. in black and white photography, gives you an great opportunity to For example, if you have too much it is much easier to get the correct get creative. light, the foreground becomes too illumination by using the available the black and white photographer bright, the images too hard, and exposure margins. For this reason, has four different venues to explore. the faces of divers too pale. The you can confidently work with the First of all there is, obviously, using keywords for good black and white camera in auto mode. black and white film. Secondly, you photography are therefore: light and Another tip is to set the shutter can use color slide film and convert shadow. speed on automatic. The camera the images into black and white to be able to play with the light then chooses the correct speed after scanning. As a third option, and shadow, you need to care- according to the light conditions.

Black82 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS E&QUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCEWhite & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Practical tips for black & white photography Black and white photography demands that you are very precise in the relation- ship between light and shadow. silver Even though we see everything in color, you need to think black and white. Choose subjects that offer good con- trast between the dark and the light.

A subject with a well defined structure and intense side light, like a wreck, offers good contrast and makes a dramatic impression.

Depending on how you angle the shot, the effect from the light and shadows will also change.

In black and white photography, flash is redundant. It will certainly always affect the natural light and make the subjects appear too strong. If the contrast is too strong, then you don’t have any leeway when digitally processing your images. Workflow The result of your photography totally The wide range of natural light available depends on how you process your combined with the lack of flash, allows negatives or digital images. The sensi- you to work with different aperture set- tivity of a black and white film is in the tings. range of 100 and 200 ASA. A perfect negative is the basis for a good photo- In contrast to flash photography, the graphic enlargement. Therefore, you shutter speed decides if your subject is should always, if possible, develop your not sharp. I therefore recommend that cinema of dreams own images. The necessary technical you don’t go below 1/125 in shutter equipment is not very expensive and speed. can be easily obtained. To make your underwater black and whites better, In a low light environment, you should try to underexposure by a third, and set the camera at 300 ASA for 200 ASA prolong the developing time by a third film. Don’t forget to apply this when also. developing the film. On digital cameras, the digital photographer doesn’t set the ASA to 300 or 400. The better the need a photo print shop. Just preset camera, the higher you can go, e.g. 800 your camera to black and white mode ASA. or take the pictures in RGB. In con- trast to color images, you can now set Working with black and white digital files the sensetivity to 400 ASA without any demands the same as colour files (jpg). problems. The grains that often appear Change as little as possible in the image. in color images with this setting doesn’t Because every time you change a pixel, affect the black and white images in a the new data will diminish the quality. www.seacam.com negative way. Underexposing by a third and prolinging the developing to process your images, you should time by a third helps make your underwater black and If you don’t like black and white, you get software like Photoshop. Then, you whites better. LEFT COLUMN: Digital photographers can can always use sepia toning to change can apply a huge range of effects, preset cameras to black and white mode or take images the image into a classic brownish color. in RGB to be processed later using software like Photoshop

83 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED photo & Black & White

video comes from the name of an artists’ pigment made from the Sepia cuttlefish. toning can be simulat- ed digitally, either in-cam- era or in a later post-proc- ess. The in-camera effect, as well as beginner tutori- als given for software like Photoshop or The GIMP, use a simple tint, which is usually a poor imitation. More sophisticated soft- ware tends to implement sepia tones using the duo- tone feature. Especially wreck images are nice when sepia toned. For more information on Kurt Amsler and his photo workshops, please visit: www.photosub.com ■ which you can apply to your images such as grain size, contrast and resolution. try out different settings and combi- nations for the best result. Always work with copies and keep the original image untouched. Make notes of the settings you apply, for later use. When you have found your style, you then have all the necessary tools avali- able and ready for other images. Sepia toning For those who like the old classic look on their images, there is the possibility of applying sepia ton- ing. The term sepia Special effects such as Sepia toning can be accomplished in-camera or post process using computer software like Photoshop or GIMP 84 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED photo & Ikelite for Sony a350 video Ikelite has introduced a pair of affordable underwater housings for the Sony Alpha- Edited by series of Digital SLR Cameras. The clear Scott Bennett polycarbonate construction enables unhin- dered visibility of o-ring seals and can be used up to depths of 60m. Controls are provided for every camera func- tion and Ikelite’s unique Quad-Ring seals ensure watertight operation. A full range of dome and flat ports is available to accommodate most macro, wide-angle and zoom lenses. www.ikelite.com.

The Strobe Cover D/Z is made from neoprene for use on land and underwater to protect your INON strobe during diving and transportation. The Strobe Cover D/Z is exclusively designed for INON strobes. The side-slit design allows the strobe to maintain the same cooling characteristic as of a strobe without a cover. The Strobe Cover D/Z has approximately 96g/0.2lb buoyancy underwater (the deeper you dive the less buoyant the cover becomes due to compression under pressure)

INON S-2000 Inon INC has announced the release of its newest strobe, the S-2000. Billed as the world’s smallest, the compact size utilizes four AA size batteries and is an ideal match for compact digital cam- eras and SLR’s alike. The ultra sensi- tive slave sensor enables highly accu- rate wireless operation as well as wired capabilities using existing Inon optical cable connections. For further information, contact Inon America or an Inon America Authorized Dealer. INON America, Inc. Tel 763-559-1212 Fax 763-559-5236 Email: [email protected] www.inonamerica.com

85 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Hugyfot have announced their upcoming hous- ing for the Canon EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi. photo & Hugyfot housings are milled out of solid alu- minum blocks and can be video used to depths of 100 meters. The lightweight construction allows easy one-hand operation. Available in July 2008, the HFC 450D under- water housing without port will be priced around 2000 euro. PT-E05 housing for E-520 Customized for its new E-520 camera, the new Olympus PT-E05 housing is constructed from durable high quality polycarbonate and able to withstand depths of up to 40m. Underwater photographers will especially like the camera’s Live View function, utilizing a large 2.7”/6.9cm LCD. Flash connectors allow the use of two UFL-2 underwater flash units. Five interchangeable lens ports are available including 8mm Fisheye and 50mm Macro. The E-520 and PT-E05 and will be available in summer 2008. Email [email protected] Sealife DC800 SeaLife´s new DC800 8-megapixel camera comes with five new dive-specific color correction modes, Amphibico Phenom Z7LE the DC800 makes it easier than ever to take sharp, colorful underwater pictures. Set the camera to Sea housing for Sony HVR-Z7U mode to restore lost colors typical for underwater pic- The new Phenom Z7LE underwater video housing for the tures. www.sealife-cameras.com Sony HVR-Z7U HDV camcorder is now available from Amphibico. This electronic and mechanical combined housing allows complete camcorder control. Three port options are available, including a standard dome, flat port, and 94° wide-angle port. The introductory price, including a 2-year Amphibico warranty, is CAN$ 4795. Ports are not included. www.amphibico.com

Sea & Sea YS-17 The YS-17 strobe is the smallest of the YS-series of strobes. With the unique TTL circuitry, you Light & Motion’s Sunray can shoot TTL images without complicated operations. Your compact 2000 Now Shipping meters the brightness of your subject and the strobe, through the TTL function, automatically Light & Motion is proud to announce that the new Sunray controls the amount of light emitted for the 2000 LED Video Light System. Smaller and lighter than its clos- correct exposure. In addition, the strobe can est HID competitor, the Sunray 2000 is the brightest solid-state be switched from TTL to manual modes (full/ underwater lighting system available to the consumer market half) and vice versa. Guide Number (land, ISO with a remarkable burn time of 75 minutes on high. All Sunray 2000 100/m): 14. Beam Angle: 70°x 53° light systems ship with memory-free NiMH batteries enabling 65 minutes of run time on www.seaandsea.com high. The included charger can replenish discharged batteries in only 1.5 hours. Price: $3799.00. For more information, visit www.uwimaging.com or call (831) 645-1525.

86 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Eco-Divers-Ad.qxd 05.06.2008 9:56 Uhr Seite 1 ED_X-ray_61x110 09.11.2007 22:16 Uhr Se

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87 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Budapest

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Iceland’s

ThingvellirText and photos by Peter Symes 88 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Unique Dive Site

Where the world cracks open As I slide out of the shallow basin and drag We are in Lake Thingvellavatn on Iceland. In more myself past the top edge of the drop-off, than one sense this place is wondrous and mystic. Geologically, the Thingvellir area is part of a fissure I find myself hovering in an empty void. zone running through Iceland, being situated on the Between me and the rock plateau far tectonic plate boundaries of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. beneath me, I seem to have nothing but a The faults and fissures of the area make evident the clear space. It is almost disturbing. Aside rifting of the earth’s crust. In essence, we are diving in the part of the crack that opens up between America from the feeling of drag when moving, it is and Europe as the continents drifts apart. The cracks almost impossible to detect the water we and adjoining lake are filled by meltwater from gla- are in. Only the rising stream of bubbles ciers some distance away, which passes through the from the air we exhale, gives any indica- porous underground and gets further micro-filtrated in the process. Apparently, there is nothing left in the tion that we are indeed well submerged in water, but water. There is an almost magical blue hue some of the clearest water on the planet, over the scenery that could be taken out of science if not the clearest. Visibility just seems end- fiction movie. It looks like we are on some foreign moon. In our drysuits, our similarity with astronauts is not less, almost like air, making long distances too far off either. difficult to judge. cracks, crevices and holes are here and there—all

89 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED feature Thingvellir

over the place. States to stem changes to the natu- lake but these amazing canyons that historically, this place has special sig- ral environment there resulting from are the points of attraction for divers nificance. Major events in the history of encroachment by settlers. Iceland who come to Iceland. Why? I guess Iceland have taken place here. It was identified a similar need to preserve the images give the best answer. at Thingvellir—which literally means certain natural and historical sites for the first time I saw an image from “Parliament Plains”—that the Icelandic future generations to enjoy them in Thingvellir was when I was a young general assembly was established their original state. diver in the 1980s and saw a pro- around 930 and continued to convene in the last few decades, research motional poster from Waterproof there until 1798. Today, Thingvellir is a has made it clear that Thingvellir is by Göran Ehlmé, which featured protected national shrine. According a natural wonder with the geologi- Thingvellir. It was a classic dive poster to the law, passed in 1928, the protect- cal history and the biosystem of Lake that adorned walls in many dive clubs ed area shall always be the property Thingvallavatn forming a unique entity. around the country at that time, but it of the Icelandic nation, under the pres- Being able to witness the evolution and made a lasting impression. ervation of the Alting, the Icelandic formation of new species in a place in my case, it took me about 15 parliament. like Lake Thingvallavatn is of immense years. It was worth the wait. No div- thingvellir was declared a national value. ing career will be complete without at park in 1930. Preservation measures the cracks and canyons in which we least one visit to this magic place mid- at Thingvellir were modelled on the are diving, seem devoid of life almost way between Europe and America. ■ national parks that had been estab- sterile, though the lake body that they lished somewhat earlier in the United lead into seems different. It is not the

90 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Jens Poulsen

PORTFOLIO

91 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED portfolio Jens Poulsen

Untitled #2, Oil on canvas, 60 x 80. Original sold. Untitled #3, Oil on canvas, 195 x 195cm. Original sold.

Text edited by Gunild Symes. Since Danish painter, Jens that he is an autodidact, his website. X-RAY MAG Earth to explore, ponder and Rembrandt. I found out a lot of All paintings by Jens Poulsen. Poulsen was voted Artist or mostly self-taught, and caught up with Poulsen resonate in this field of work. secrets and hidden knowledge Photos of paintings courtesy of the Year in Helsinore, primarily works with oil on for an interview and some about what oil painting can be. of Jens Poulsen Is art your main occupation or Denmark, in 2003, he canvas. “I am attempting insights into his work. do you have another specialty? Why did you choose the medium has been active in the to capture a coherence Yes. Art, specifically oil painting, you use? PREVIOUS PAGE: Danish and international with my surroundings— What made you go into art? is my main occupation, and has Well, the oil based colors are Untitled #1, Oil on canvas I’ve always been fascinated by been so for the last ten years or good to work with because I 180 x 180cm. Original sold art scene, showing his fish a gathering of informa- forms and colors and the power so. In the last few years, I have don’t have to hurry. I decide the paintings “to all who dare tion and environment— of art, from as early as I can become a good technical length of drying and thickness All paintings were remember. So, I would say it’s a painter by studying Leonardo da of the medium. But I must say, created in 2007-2008 to jump into the deep and simplified in composi- explore”. Poulsen says tion,” states Poulsen on natural path for my life here on Vinci, Vermeer, Van Delft, and nowadays, with the advance of

92 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED portfolio Jens Poulsen

Untitled #4, Oil on canvas, 40 x 40cm. Original sold. Untitled #5, Oil on canvas, 155x 155cm. Original sold. Untitled #6, Oil on canvas, 140 x 140cm. Price: DKK16.000,- / US$ 3320

acrylics, I would think the same effects dictate my mood or thinking, and last Why did you choose fish as a subject and thus, we all can go under the name I had just gotten in the water and and finish are possible. But I’ll stick but not least, seeing the positive in life, matter? “Earthlings”? swam only about ten meters from the with the oil colors of old Holland and acknowledgement of love and the Oh, the fish...oh, the fish… When I was I feel we are all connected—whether coast of a little town called Snekkersten, Rembrandt. These colors are made for grander things in life. a child, I learned that fish could detect it be bird and dog or human and tad- and here—well hidden from the land artists, and that means a lot. each other’s movement with their pole. We all breathe the same air, and dwellers—I saw jewels before me. I went Tell us about your artistic statement, or sidelines, and this is how they school drink the same water. But somehow, into some trance-like state and just What is your creative process? mission... Well, wouldn’t it be nice if I together and swim as one. Wow, fasci- it has become a norm to exploit and floated on the surface while thousands To boil it down, I use a stick with ani- could help humanity—people—to look nating stuff! What makes people flock jade the animal kingdom just as much upon thousands of small herring made a mal hairs on it to transfer the color inwards once in a while? And no, I don’t together, I wondered. As I studied fish as humans have exploited and jaded four to five meter solid wall right in front from the palette to the canvas. I must mean that everybody should meditate more and more, I found out that, yes, themselves. This need not be so any- of me. say, my process is constantly ongoing, everyday, but maybe just think situa- different fish do have different personali- more! Sparkling like diamonds and very whether I’m behind a canvas or not. I tions through and put oneself in another ties. I did find this hard to believe, but Once, one cold late summer day, vibrant, they just never seemed to stop feel a great deal of my artistic expres- person’s place. Let’s build up a higher what I saw was what I saw, and after I decided to buy a mask and snorkel swimming by—only about one meter sion is about being open-minded, dar- moral together, and not lie and cheat this, the similarities between humans and and see what was under the surface from my joyful eyes, watching their ing to think uncommon thoughts, live eachother for paper that symbolizes fish seemed broad and plentiful. Could of Øresund—the sound that separates every move. They swam and swam, and an uncommon life, not letting others value. this be because we all live on this Earth, Denmark from Sweden. sparkled and sparkled.

93 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED portfolio Jens Poulsen LEFT TO RIIGHT: Untitled #7 Oil on canvas 120 x 180cm. Price: DKK 29.000,- / US$ 6018. Also available as a signed fine art print. Price: DKK 450,- / US$ 95

Untitled #9 Oil on canvas 140 x 140cm Original sold

Untitled #8 Oil on canvas 210 x 220cm Price: DKK 39.000,- / US$ 8094 Also available as a signed fine art print. Price: DKK 450,- / US$ 95

Untitled #10 Oil on canvas 80 x 80cm Original sold

After this, I was reborn, mentally... sible for me to take a dip during two and if I just could pass on a slight bit of to three summer months. I have flown my experience to others, maybe, just off to Thailand, Austalia and Turkey to maybe, they could start thinking more snorkle, but I must admit, not enough about how things work together and at all. I guess diving, whether it be not just how they work for their money scuba or snorkling, is addictive—very, and themselves to gather more and very addictive. So, can one ever get more material wealth. Let’s start gath- enough, I ask myself. ering moral and mental wealth also! Thank God, the tide turns every once Any future projects? in a while... I’ve just gathered ten young women Since my younger years, I’ve gone who are to pose in swirling dresses snorkling whenever I’ve gotten the underwater for me. A photographer chance. Unfortunately, the waters will collaborate on this, and the final of Denmark are quite cold most of paintings will be made from the the year, and as a snorkle diver with photos and the personalities of the minimum equipment, it’s only pos- women involved. This project is to start

94 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Jens Poulsen IN OUR NEXT ISSUE portfolio Detail of Untitled #11 South Africa Orcas Oil on canvas Weh, Indonesia 160 x 160cm Original sold Tamariu, Spain British Columbia, Canada

asther lau Seabass Oil on canvas 270 x 160cm Original sold

The artist, Jens Poulsen

in September, and these ten paint- ings will be viewable by the public in February 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the Copenhagen Art Fair 2009. Link: www.kunstmesse.dk So, why women and not fish asther lau underwater? Well, maybe some- day I’ll also paint fish on land... sur- viving but not fully living.

Signed fine art prints are available. They are personally printed by the artist on an Epson printer with Epson paper and color for maxi- mum quality. Print dimensions: 64 x 94cm.

For more information or to or- der originals or fine art prints, call asther lau the artist’s gallery in Denmark at: (+45)40 96 17 34, or visit the artist’s website at www.poulsen-arts.dk ■ COMING IN AUGUST Subscribe now FREE! www.xray-mag.com

95 X-RAY MAG : 24 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED