The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland's lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban trade in shark fin. Bills introduced into both House and Senate would outlaw sale, trade, distribution or even possession of raw, dried or processed shark fins. Violations would be punishable by fines ranging from $5,000 for the first offense up to $50,000 for repeat infractions. One animal-welfare group has a list of 10 Asian eateries in Howard County and the Washington suburbs that serve shark fin and while U.S. Customs data show exports of shark products, mainly dogfish, from Washington and Norfolk, the broader mid-Atlantic region is a net importer of shark products, with 6155 kilos imported last year, valued at nearly $700,000. Some 800 kilos valued at $70,000 were exported over the same period.

HB 393 is set for hearing on 22 Feb. in House Environmental Matters Committee. Its cross-filed companion bill, SB465, has not been given a hearing date yet.

One of the Health and Safety Executives Principal Diving Inspector’s Peter Sieniewicz (Southern Region) announced he is resigning from the HSE’s Diving Inspectorate.  ”After 14 years with the HSE I’m looking for new challenges.  I will be taking up the role of a Diving Technical Advisor at the International Marine Contractors Association and will be joining the company in April”.  In his new role he will still be involved in furthering safety in the diving industry.

IMCA (www.imca-int.com) in an international association representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies.  They work through and on behalf of its members world-wide promoting offshore safety, addressing technical matters and on a variety of other issues.

Apple has released a global update for its OS X Lion operating system that incorporates additional RAW support. Version 10.7.3 adds native support for RAW files from: Canon PowerShot S100, Nikon 1 J1, Nikon 1 V1, Nikon COOLPIX P7100. Olympus PEN E-PL1s, Olympus PEN E-PL3, Olympus PEN E-PM1, Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ150, Sony Alpha NEX-5N, Sony Alpha SLT-A65 and Sony Alpha SLT-A77.

The update is available from the Apple support site or via software update. There is also a full list of supported RAW formats available on the support site.

Steve Douglas presents a review of the Drift HD POV camcorder. The camera itself appears robust and with acceptable image quality. In fact Steve finds that the "imaging is considerably better than almost any of the SD cams of the 1990's and are equal to many of the HDV cams that came out in the last decade". However, the unit's underwater housing seems somewhat limited and Steve discovered that getting support from the US importer seemed to be an issue.

Bookings are now being taken for the Wetpixel Vancouver Island Expedition. The trip will run from 27 August until 4 September, 2012 and is based at God’s Pocket Resort near the North end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. This remote location holds some of the worlds best cold water diving. The venue lends itself to swimming with giant pacific octopus, stellar sea lions, the rich colorful walls at the famous Browning Pass and more.

Spaces are very limited and demand is very high, so please contact trip leader Jason Bradley soon for more information or to book.

The February/March edition of African Diver magazine is now available to download. This issue is a tribute to the diving destination of Aliwal Shoal, situated off the eastern coast of South Africa and it offers detailed advice on dive sites, dive operators and when to visit the Shoal. It also features articles about saving the African Penguin, the Maldives and the featured photographer is Fiona Ayerst.

African Diver Issue 21 is available as a free pdf download.

Apple has announced an upgrade for its Final Cut Pro X video editing app. Version 10.0.3 introduces multicam editing, broadcast monitoring (as a beta), advanced chroma keying, media relink, the ability to work with layered files and an improvement to the way the program uses XML, allowing extended use of third-party software like DaVinci Resolve. These improvements go some way towards answering the criticism about the software's features when it was launched last year.

Apple has simultaneously announced updates to Compressor and Motion. All the updates are available from the Mac App store.

Lastly, as Wetpixel Moderator Drew Wong has posted in the forums, a third-party utility called 7toX has been launched which allows the transfer of projects from Final Cut Pro 7 to version X has been launched in the Mac App store.

Wetpixel has launched its 2011 Picture of the Year contest. This allows the public to vote for their favorites from all 51 winners of the Wetpixel (POTW) Picture of the Week contest for 2011. The POTW contest never ceases to amaze with the quality, diversity and talent that it produces. The public vote for the Picture of the Year will start today, and run through until 28 February 2012, after which the winners will be announced.

The contest has a fantastic selection of prizes available. Solmar V has offered a trip aboard their luxury liveaboard as first prize. Ikelite, who also kindly provide the prizes for each and every POTW competition, has donated a DS161 strobe for the entry voted into second place. Nauticam USA has provided a $1,000 gift voucher for the third placed image, and Reef Photo and Video of Fort Lauderdale, Florida has generously given gift vouchers for $500 and $250 for fourth and fifth placed images respectively.

The contest's voting page is open now so please head on over and cast a vote for your favorite images of 2011.

Following its successful introduction last year, BSAC will be repeating the online voting system for the forthcoming BSAC election.

This year’s election sees three council positions.  In addition the positions of Honorary Secretary and National Diving Officer will also available. If you fancy standing for BSAC Council you’ve got until the end of the month for nominations!  Contact BSAC Headquarters for more information.

For more information click here

UK-based underwater photographer and British Society of Underwater Photographers member Linda Pitkin was invited to present a lecture on composition as a part of the Underwater Pixel Zone at the BOOT Show 2012. Her talk covers some of the key areas: Rule of thirds, color, perspective, background, framing, movement and patterns, and the talk is illustrated throughout by Linda's images.

Wetpixel was able to record the talk as a part of the coverage of the show.

Beneath the Sea (BTS) has announced that they have extended the deadline for applications for the BTS/Howard and Michelle Hall "Artist-in-Residence" Grant. The grant is to be awarded to an Artist-in-Residence currently developing an underwater video project and which the $1,000 additional funding on offer would aid in the completion of a final product. The completed video to be shown at appropriate venues throughout the Beneath the Sea weekend.

The new deadline is 15 February 2012.

The Diving and Resort Travel Expo has announced its venues and dates for 2012/13. The Singapore show will be held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition center from 1 to 3 June, 2012. The Hong Kong Show will be at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, between 15 and 17 December. Lastly, the Shanghai show will be held from 22 to 24 March 2013 at the Shanghai East Asia Exhibition Centre.

Full details of each show are available from the organizer's website.

Tokina Japan has announced a new version of its 11-16mm wide-angle lens. The AT-X 11-16 f/2.8 PRO DX II has an aspherical element, a new coating for improved performance and a SD-M (Silent Drive-Module) autofocus motor (AF-S equivalent) so it is usable with Nikon SLR cameras that don't have an integrated AF motor (D3100, D5100). The lens contains nine aperture blades, and is constructed of 13 elements in 11 groups with a filter size of 77mm. Minimum focus distance is 0.3m (11.8") so it will need a diopter for use with a dome port. The Nikon version is expected to start shipping in March with the Canon version to follow in July. The Japanese price is listed at 90,000 yen.

Three spaces have become available for the Wetpixel Sharks and Dolphins Trip 2012. The trip is on board Jim Abernethy's boat, the "Shearwater" and will be visiting Bahamian reefs in order to view and photograph tiger sharks, reef sharks, lemon sharks, and Atlantic spotted dolphins and runs from 21-27 June. This trip is an annual favorite, and there are numerous trip reports about it on the forums. It is usually heavily oversubscribed, but we have three spaces now available due to cancellations.

If you are interested, please contact trip leader, Jason Bradley as soon as possible.

The Liquid Capture: Masters of Underwater Photography exhibition is calling for entries to be submitted for their 2012 contest. The exhibition will be held at the Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, California and will feature the top 25 entries, along with 25 pictures selected by the jurors. Contest categories include: Ocean Environment Underwater, Macro, Diver, Ocean Environment Above Water, Marine Mammals and Submersion, which is a creative look at diving. Judges include Andrew Sallmon, Stuart Westmorland, Yoshi Hirata and Eric Hanauer.

Full details, rules and procedures for entry are on the contest's website and the deadline for entries is 4 March, 2012.

New World Publications has announced the release of their definitive Tropical Pacific Fish identification book as an eBook, suitable for download onto Android devices, iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and Windows PC computers. The eBook version of the guide allows for searching, annotating and highlighting specific species. It catalogs 2,000 species with over 2,500 photographs.

This new version requires the download of the free Blio app, and the eBook is available now at $29.95 from the Blio store.

Wetpixel wishes all those who celebrate the Lunar New Year a very happy new year of the Dragon (Eel!).

恭喜發財,萬事如意,主里蒙恩! 祝大家龍年進歩!
Cung hỉ phát tài, Sức khoẻ dồi dào,Vạn sự như ý
새해 복 많이 받으세요

The 2012 Our World Underwater competition's deadline for entries of videos and stills is 23 January. If you plan to enter, and haven't actually done so yet, please do so now! The contest offers over $60,000 worth of prizes with a €1,000 cash prize for the "Best in Show" and the winners will be announced live on stage at the Our World Underwater dive expo in Chicago.

To enter or to get further details, please head over to the UnderwaterCompetition.com site.

Wetpixel Editor Adam Hanlon presents coverage of the 2012 BOOT show. Held annually in Dusseldorf, Germany, it is the largest consumer watersports show in the world. Some of the exhibits are actually 30 meter (100 feet) yachts, complete with masts and rigging. Whilst the underwater imaging part of the show is comparatively small, it nevertheless offers European manufacturers the opportunity to showcase their products to a home audience.

Adam is attending the first three days of the show, and will be posting reports and updates throughout that time, so please check back often. UPDATED 01-22-2012.

Wetpixel Moderator Mike Veitch presents an article entitled "8 Ways to improve your photography on a single dive." Mike points out some simple techniques that will help people obtain more satisfying images. For example:

"One downfall of many new photographers is their eagerness to jump straight into the water without learning all the capabilities of their camera. In order to capitalize on capturing wildlife, you need to know how to change settings such as shutter speed, f-stops, EV compensation, and the macro button as quickly as possible. As the situation changes underwater, you don’t have time to fiddle too long trying to figure out where a particular button is. By practicing on land and reading the instruction manual, you will gain a great advantage underwater as it becomes second nature to change settings on the fly."