Bruce Carlson video.
[taxonomy:binomial=Laticauda colubrina]
Thursday, 31 October 2019
Tuesday, 20 August 2019
Wednesday, 14 August 2019
Namena Marine Reserve photo competition for 2020 tags closes tomorrow
Individuals from around the world are invited to enter an underwater photo from the Namena Marine Reserve, in Fiji that contains a solitary animal or fish (see examples attached). You may submit up to five original photos along with a signed photography license agreement (see attached). All entries submitted on or before August 15, 2019 will have a chance to be featured on the 2020 Namena Marine Reserve Dive Tag with clear credit given to the photographer.People come from around the globe, at great expense, to dive in the Namena Marine Reserve with exclusive dive operators. Our photo contest is a great opportunity to highlight your art to an international audience on a memorable token from their travels to Fiji. The dive tag program has been very successful over the past ten years and continues to show people from around the world that Namena is a special site where the native people of Kubulau have invested and take pride in the long-term protection of their resources.We acknowledge and appreciate your commitment to the Namena Marine Reserve and kindly request that you submit a photo for consideration. To submit a photo for the contest, please email your submissions to Peni Were at namenamarinereserve@gmail.com any time before August 15, 2019. If your photo is chosen, we will contact you to request a high-resolution version to be submitted by September 15, 2019. The winner will receive a dive tag featuring their winning photo.Thank you in advance for your interest and participation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing your spectacular photos.Vinaka vakalevuPeni Were
Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Monday, 5 August 2019
FIJI Nominated for DIVE Travel Awards 2019
FIJI has been shortlisted in the DIVE Travel Awards 2019 for top diving destination in the world. Click here to preview the Top 25 in each category.
The DIVE Travel Awards are Industry awards voted for by DIVE Magazine readers. The 2019 DIVE Travel Awards has seen 78 destinations, 470 dive centres or resorts, and 215 liveaboards nominated for the awards. The Top 25 in each category are now through to the final vote, which will remain open until 31 October and the overall winners will be announced at this year's DEMA show on 14th November 2019 in Orlando, Florida.
We would like to encourage all our Dive Members to click this link for the voting page:
The 2019 DIVE Travel Awards has seen 78 destinations, 470 dive centres or resorts, and 215 liveaboards nominated for the awards. The Top 25 in each category are now through to the final vote, which will remain open until 31 October. The overall winners will be announced at this year's DEMA show, held between 13 - 16 November in Orlando, Florida
As an added bonus, we have 50 free subscriptions to the digital issue of DIVE Magazine to give away for voting in the 2019 DIVE Travel Awards (terms and conditions apply). We've also changed the format this year to prevent spammers from meddling in our election - it's still pretty straightforward to enter but just in case you have any questions:
How to enter:
- Go to the box below and enter a valid e-mail address.
- If you are using a shared computer and someone has already voted, you may need to click the 'logout' button underneath the picture in the voting module - gleam logout button.
- Select your favourites from each category (you can vote for all 25 or just one if you wish) and press 'continue' to cast your vote. Select the next category and again pick your favourites.
- If you are using a shared computer or iPad remember to 'logout' at the end so the next person can vote.
The winners of the free digital subscriptions will be selected randomly from all those who voted after the voting is closed.
Monday, 17 June 2019
2020 Namena Annual Dive Tag Photo Contest
Bula vinaka once again,
It’s time for our annual Dive Tag Photo Contest, and we would like to invite you to participate for a chance to have your photograph featured on the 2020 Namena Marine Reserve Dive Tag!
Individuals from around the world are invited to enter an underwater photo from the Namena Marine Reserve, in Fiji that contains a solitary animal or fish (see examples attached).
You may submit up to five original photos along with a signed photography license agreement (see attached).
All entries submitted on or before August 15, 2019 will have a chance to be featured on the 2020 Namena Marine Reserve Dive Tag with clear credit given to the photographer.
People come from around the globe, at great expense, to dive in the Namena Marine Reserve with exclusive dive operators. Our photo contest is a great opportunity to highlight your art to an international audience on a memorable token from their travels to Fiji.
The dive tag program has been very successful over the past ten years and continues to show people from around the world that Namena is a special site where the native people of Kubulau have invested and take pride in the long-term protection of their resources.
We acknowledge and appreciate your commitment to the Namena Marine Reserve and kindly request that you submit a photo for consideration. To submit a photo for the contest, please email your submissions to Peni Were at namenamarinereserve@gmail.comany time before August 15, 2019.
If your photo is chosen, we will contact you to request a high-resolution version to be submitted by September 15, 2019. The winner will receive a dive tag featuring their winning photo.
Thank you in advance for your interest and participation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing your spectacular photos.
Vinaka vakalevu
Peni Were
Friday, 17 May 2019
Saturday, 20 April 2019
New Zealand Mag Dive Pacific - Taveuni Rainbow reef
Our latest edition of Dive Pacific features Fiji's silky sharks phenomenon, an interview with Jean-Michel Cousteau, a visit to the Rainbow Reef, and where to find the good spots for spearfishing. Plus lots of dive news from all over.
Thursday, 11 April 2019
Reef Conditions, Somosomo Straits, Taveuni from 2002 onwards – Fiji Coral Reef Monitoring Network (FCRMN)
Background
Reef Surveys have been carried out at two sites (the Great White Wall on the outer face, and the back of Blue Ribbon Eel Reef / Jerry’s Jelly on the inside of the Rainbow Reef) in the Somosomo Straits since 2002, with the exception of 2005 (Rainbow Reef only), 2008 (no surveys), and 2015 – 2017 (no surveys due to poor weather and time constraints).
Surveys have been carried out under the Fiji Coral Reef Monitoring Network(FCRMN) and supported by Coconut Grove Beachfront Cottages, Rainbow Reef Divers at Garden Island Resort and Taveuni Ocean Sports at Nakia Resort.
In 2000 and 2002 Fiji reefs suffered extensive hard coral death from coral bleaching due to exceptionally high water temperatures.
However, coral cover recovered to pre-bleaching levels by 2005, much faster than originally predicted. In the Somosomo Straits, cyclones had some impact around 2006 and 2007, but once more the corals recovered very quickly.
High water temperatures threatened coral health in shallow waters in parts of Fiji in 2014 – 2016, but the Rainbow Reef was unaffected.
A Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS) outbreak in 2014 caused widespread coral death but stopped after Cyclone Winston in February 2016.
The cyclone caused extensive coral breakage on exposed sites, while others were relatively unscathed, and large numbers of new coral colonies were seen on damaged sites in 2018.
Full report:
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
Strengthening Fiji's laws to protect sharks and other important species
Sharks that are alive and healthy in Fiji's oceans are worth a great deal of money to Fiji's economy. In 2012, the Pew Foundation calculated that shark diving alone generated US$42.2 million for Fiji's economy
Early this year, dead baby sharks hit the headlines when around 10 juvenile hammerhead sharks were found dumped in a culvert near Suva. These endangered animals may have been caught illegally in nets set across a nearby river mouth where scientists at the Marine School, USP have undertaken a detailed and celebrated study and found a significant and important breeding ground.
Fortunately, the newly created Inshore Fisheries Management Division (IFMD) within the Ministry of Fisheries is currently looking to strengthen a variety of fisheries laws and regulations and their implementation including, but not limited to, the laws that protect sharks. In this bulletin, we consider the existing relevant laws on netting around rivers and discuss additional measures to ensure that sharks are better protected. We also briefly consider other initiatives that are currently being led by the IFMD to make Fiji's inshore fisheries more sustainable for the benefit of all Fijians. For more information regarding other shark conservation measures in Fiji, please see our previous bulletin: “A Legal Policy Discussion of Shark Conservation in Fiji”.
A scientific study conducted by leading marine scientists Amandine Marie, Celso Cawich, Tom Vierus, Susanna Piovano and Ciro Rico of USP and Cara Miller presented empirical evidence for the existence of a Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (SHS, Sphyrna lewini) nursery in the Rewa Delta in Fiji.
This study focused on developing a more detailed understanding of the reproductive biology and critical habitat of the SHS in the Rewa Delta.
Amongst other things, the research suggested that good information regarding shark species’ biology, ecology and habitat use is essential for developing sustainable management plans. Such information includes:
- coastal sharks species being known to aggregate at discrete sites
- the tendency of some sharks to return to their birthplace to breed (including the scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini) making nursing areas critical habitats
- the expectation that newborn sharks of coastal shark species use more sheltered areas to reduce their vulnerability to predation and compensate for their limited foraging skills.
Taking those factors into consideration, the researchers recommended the following in order of importance:
- Complete ban of gillnet fishing in the Rewa Delta throughout the year
- Partial ban of gillnet fishing in the Rewa Delta from sunset to sunrise throughout the year
- Partial ban of gillnet fishing in the Rewa Delta from sunset to sunrise during the parturition period (October-April)
- Partial ban of gillnet fishing in the Rewa Delta from sunset to sunrise during the peak of the parturition period (December-March).
James Sloan and Emily Samuela
Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Send us your best pictures for 2020 NatureFiji-MareqetiViti Calendar “Amazing Fiji Wildlife and Wild Places” Submission Deadline 7 April, 2019
The 2019 NatureFiji-MareqetiViti calendar was a great success, thanks to the contribution of stunning photographs from members and the public.
We are now calling for pictures for the production of 2020 calendars.
Send your photographs to Nunia Thomas at support@naturefiji.org
The image must be your own work and preferably low resolution for the selection, but you must be able to provide high resolution (above 1.5MB) if selected.
Please include your name and contact details (including postal address). Each photograph must have a caption story including the location.
All proceeds will directly support our conservation work in Fiji.
Photographers whose photos are selected will be acknowledged in the calendar and receive a free copy of the calendar. Thank you for supporting Fiji's wildlife conservation.
Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Another great guitarfish pic in Fiji - Rhynchobatus australiae
We know R australis is here from genetic testing, and we have several photos of guitarfish from the Coral Coast (see the Great Fiji Shark count poster)...
Rhynchobatus australiae
Sunday, 17 March 2019
Is Your Old Computer Still Safe? how to determine whether it’s time for an update
The algorithm, the mathematical calculation a dive computer uses to make real-time data measurements on time, depth and gas mix, cannot be seen behind the glass counter in the store, but it's the most important thing to understand about your computer. Just as the launch of a spacecraft is a spectacular thing to see, it's the navigation algorithm that sees the crew safely to its destination and back again to Earth. The same can be said of your dive computer's algorithm -- it's designed to keep you from getting hit with decompression sickness (DCS).
As we age, our bodies change, so it could be the dive computer you bought at age 55 may not have the more conservative algorithm suitable for you at age 70. So, how do you know if it's time to retire that old computer? And how do you decide which is the right one to purchase next?
 
The First Questions to Ask
To evaluate your current dive computer, ask these questions: Can it be set for nitrox? Does it allow you to set degrees of caution? Does it tell you how long your air will last? Can you read and understand the display easily?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, dump that anachronism and get a modern, more suitable computer. Your tired eyes will also enjoy your new computer's clearer display; many computers now have super-sharp dot matrix systems. If you choose one with an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) colored display, its main figures will change from green to amber if caution is required, and then to red if you've really outstayed your welcome. At night, and in poor visibility, such an illuminated display can be a godsend.
Aside from that feature, don't be misled by the shiny perfunctory knobs and buttons offered by manufacturers as sales bait. You need to ask about the algorithm and understand its ability to return you safely to the surface. After all, what good is a clearly visible display if you don't understand what it's telling you? Buying a diving computer without having a perfunctory understanding of what it does is buying blind.
So it's worth understanding a little bit about the development of the algorithm and diving decompression tables.
A Short, Important History of How Your Computer Works
Way back in 1908, a Scottish physiologist named John Scott Haldane was commissioned by the British Royal Navy to prepare the first proper decompression table. He based this on extensive experimentation with DCS in goats, saturating them with nitrogen to depths of 165 feet. Since then, other physiologists have modified Haldane's discoveries to try to theoretically improve things, but, by and large, they're still using the same basic information.
In the 1960s, Albert Bühlmann, a professor at the University of Zurich, came up with a decompression algorithm for use in an early Uwatec computer, and since it's now freely available in the public domain, most computer manufacturers use a modified version of that. (Look for the nomenclature "Bühlmann ZH-16" with varying suffixes in computer specs.)
Here in the U.S., Drs. Ray Rogers and Michael Powell designed the PADI recreational dive planner, and their work was then turned into the DSAT algorithm for no-deco-stop dives to a depth of less than 100 feet. This proved unsuitable for European divers, who habitually go deeper, so later Americanmade computers came with dual-algorithms -- DSAT and Pelagic+, a derivation of the ZH-16. It is important to know which of these algorithms your computer is set to.
There was a time when divers made a single dive or maybe two in a day, but the modern traveling diver now may make up to six dives in a day. With short surface intervals, an allowance should be made for residual nitrogen levels from previous dives.
The American physiologist Bruce Wienke came up with an algorithm taking into account asymptomatic microbubbles that may be present in a diver but will most likely be added to, making them larger and symptomatic, on a second dive. Many modern computer manufacturers have bought into Wienke's work, most notably, Suunto, Cressi, Atomic and Mares. Some divers complain about the punitive deco stops mandated on subsequent dives, but that is the algorithm writer attempting to keep you safe from harm. Older divers, with less efficient hearts, lungs and circulatory systems, are more vulnerable to an otherwise unwarranted attack of DCS on repeat dives.
Driven by the competition, other manufacturers, particularly Scubapro, have added adaptations to the ZH algorithm to account for these microbubbles.
The problem with all of this is that no algorithm writer can write one specifically tailored for you. It's all based on hypothesis and Haldane's original research from more than 100 years ago. Not enough divers get bent to provide sufficient data, so computer manufacturers tend to err on the side of safety, while insisting at the same time that none of their products can protect you from getting injured by DCS.
Then Dick Rutowski, formerly the deputy diving coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, proposed that leisure divers could be safer if they reduced the amount of nitrogen they breathed by increasing the percentage of oxygen -- i.e., breathing nitrox.
At first, Rutkowski was pilloried for his suggestion, but now nitrox use is commonplace among recreational divers. It still amazes me that so many older divers cling to the use of air, but remember that it's actually nitrox 21 because it contains 21 percent oxygen.
 Setting Your Computer Straight
Modern computers can all be set for nitrox, and if you are getting longer in the tooth, you should certainly breathe that. However, setting the computer to match the nitrox mix does not add safety, it merely increases your no-deco-stop diving time. If you want to add safety, either set a less oxygen-rich mix or add a level of caution, which most modern computers allow you to do.
You might set your computer to air (nitrox 21) when using nitrox 32 -- always bearing in mind the maximum operating depth of the mix you are actually breathing. In this way, it calculates for a higher level of nitrogen absorption. Many divers just use the computer straight out of the box at its factory settings. Wrong!
It's always worth reading the manual. For example, if you buy a Scubapro computer for its microbubble settings but leave it set at MB0, you are not allowing for any micro bubbles whatsoever. Set it at a micro-bubble setting (MB1 To MB3). Other dive computers allow you to set Safety Factors (SF) or Gradient Factors that, provided you follow your computer's advice on the way up, decrease the calculated rate at which you off-gas the nitrogen that you've absorbed during the dive, making your ascent slower.
Many computers can be operated in conjunction with a transmitter that plugs into your regulator first-stage. If you think this sounds too complicated, let me offer you an appropriate analogy: There was a time when we only had a gas gauge to go by in our cars. Nowadays when you drive, which do you refer to first on the dashboard, the gas gauge or the "remaining miles left" indicator? It's the same with gas-integrated computers. They tell you not only the pressure of gas in your tank, but how long it will last you at the depth you're at considering the rate at which you've been breathing. Like the miles-left indicator, you'll soon get used to watching the remaining air time. Keep that longer than the remaining no-stop time and you shouldn't get into trouble.
Modern diving computers can be adjusted to accommodate the fact that we are not as fit as we were. They now give better information regarding nitrogen absorption, especially considering that we now typically make repetitive dives, and that info is displayed in a much-improved way.
The mantra still applies: There are old divers and bold divers, but few old, bold divers.
Be one of the latter by evaluating your current computer, and if it doesn't meet the criteria I listed above, then be smart enough to know what facets are required in the new one you'll buy -- and understand how it works.
-- John Bantin
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https://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/dive_magazine/2019/OldDiveComputer201903.html
Thursday, 14 March 2019
Do One Thing to Protect Coral Reefs!
Coral reefs support 25% of all marine life with more than one million animal and plant species living in these complex ecosystems. But coral reefs are under serious threat and need your help! This is where YOU come in.
Join Earth Day Network to protect corals and Protect Our Species across the globe.
Today, we are asking you to do one thing to help protect coral reefs. Buy only oxybenzone and octinoxate-free sunscreens and send your comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging them to remove these chemicals from sunscreens.
The FDA has issued a proposed rule that would update regulatory requirements for most sunscreen products in the United States and is seeking public comment until May 28, 2019. A draft letter is available here to use or modify to send to the Administration. Read some suggestions here about submitting effective comments.
Do one thing to help protect coral reefs!
Oxybenzone and octinoxate have both been linked to hormone disruption and allergic skin reactions while posing a significant threat to coral reefs including bleaching and death. In response, Hawaii has become the first state to pass legislation banning sunscreens containing these ingredients and other governments and nations are following suit. These growing efforts are inspiring, and we must encourage more action to protect these habitats which are irreplaceable parts of ecosystems around the planet. Learn more here about the current threats facing corals and why we need to protect them.
As we approach Earth Day (April 22), we ask you to protect corals and Protect Our Species across the globe.
- Download our Protect Our Species Primer and Action Toolkit to learn everything you need to know about the species loss crisis and the steps you can take to help reverse it.
- Download our resources to organize for Earth Day 2019.
- Use hashtags #EarthDay2019 and #ProtectOurSpecies.
- Got ideas? Please share your plans to Protect Our Species.
Together we can slow the pace of extinction!
Thank you for being part of our global movement to Protect Our Species.
Sincerely,
Earth Day Network
Sunday, 10 March 2019
Amazing shots from one of our guests while scuba diving at Manta Reef in Kadavu FIJI 🐠 .
Amazing shots from one of our guests while scuba diving at Manta Reef 🐠
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Wednesday, 6 March 2019
Tuesday, 26 February 2019
7 ways to dive Fiji - soft coral and shark diving capital of the world!
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Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Wednesday, 9 January 2019
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