Hungry rays thwart river oyster restoration effort June 1, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Conservation , add a comment
Despite their efforts to help revive the Chesapeake Bay’s declining shellfish population, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and The Nature Conservancy have reported that Cow-nosed rays have eaten about 90% of the 775,000 oysters they placed on an artificial reef in the Piankatank states the DailyPress.com
The loss was discovered by scuba divers and it is a serious blow to the conservation efforts. Historically, the rays had arrived later in the season but this year they arrived to soon for the oysters to hide beneath a bed of 30,000 bushels of empty oyster shells, foundation oyster grower Tommy Leggett said.
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Sabah Tourism Officials and WWF Issue Reef Assessments from Sipadan May 31, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Conservation, News , add a comment
I think this story is about done to death now but here is a final snippet delivered to me this morning by DiveNewswire. An assessment has been made to the damaged area of Sipadan and a report has been prepared by the Director of Sabah Parks to WWF-Malaysia’s Vice-President Emeritus Tengku Dato’ Seri Zainal Adlin who is also the Chairman of the Sabah Tourism Board. The report states that the area damaged covers 372.2 sq. metres ( 3,984 sq. feet ), representing less than 1% of Sipadan’s total reef area. Looking at the photo I doubt that many people would really dive that, as it would be an area where I imagine any boat traffic, no matter how light, would disturb the scuba divers.
The construction work on the island has now been suspended, and the scope and specifications of the basic facilities project are being reviewed. From this report by DiveNewswire;
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Divers carry pathogens in their wetsuits carrying coral disease May 30, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Conservation , add a commentI saw this article at nature.com, which states that around 60% of the world’s corals are thought to be under threat from warming seas, overfishing, pollution and coral diseases. Researchers have wondered whether ocean-hopping divers are playing a part by shipping disease-causing bacteria from an infected spot to a pristine one.
Apparently, if a diver picks up a pathogen from diseased coral, then they can pass it from one reef to the next, as the bugs stick to wetsuits like glue.
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Diving ban proposed in South Africa to help curb perlemoen poaching May 26, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Conservation, Travel , add a commentTHE Eastern Cape legislature has called for an interim ban on all scuba diving to help authorities curb perlemoen poaching, which has reached “preposterous proportions”.
Reaction to the call has been mixed, as diving companies have questioned whether the ban would work and how effective it would be. From an article in The Herald Online
In a notice of motion unanimously passed by all the political parties in the Bhisho legislature on Tuesday, DA provincial leader Athol Trollip said “scarce, ecologically sensitive marine reserves that are a natural heritage to this province‘s coastline are being irrevocably destroyed in complete contempt of all existing legislation and policing initiatives”.
Japanese Researchers trying to save coral with ceramic plates May 26, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Conservation , add a commentI recently spoke about a successful idea which was being implemented to rejuvenate coral using concrete blocks as a base for corals to grow.
I saw this article on kansas.com which tells how Japanese researchers are using ceramic plates to provide a safe haven for fertilised coral eggs. This is all taking place on the 105 square mile coral reef, which lies between Ishigakijima and Iriomotejima islands.
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Stop exaggerating the Sipadan incident, says Deputy Chief Minister May 25, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Conservation, Travel , 2commentsUnderwater Times have copied an article from bernama.com (Don’t you just hate it when there is no link to the source) regarding the recent incident at Sipadan when a construction company used a large barge to transport building materials to the island rather then a smaller ‘kompit’ boat originally granted in their application.
There was an uproar and many news organisations and websites condemning the whole thing talking about the destruction of the reef and the Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat has finally asked the media to stop exaggerating.
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