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Tourists in Bali have carved name into coral

Bali coral deliberately vandalised

Photographic evidence has been posted on Facebook showing that names have been carved into coral at Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, and it has enraged social media users.

What’s wrong with some people? Seriously, do they need to scratch their name on this beautiful coral. Unbelievable!

It is thought that tourists are responsible. The Bali Sun stated that one post observed “how can you be so stupid?”

The two hermit crab species (Coenobita rugosus on the top left and C. perlatus on the top right), with the four shell types used in the research

Why two hermit crab species on same beach don't fight over shells

Researchers from the University of Bayreuth, Germany discovered how two hermit crab species co-exist on the same beach without fighting over limited resources like food or shelter.

Sebastian Steibl and Prof Dr. Christian Laforsch sought to investigate how resource partitioning occurs and whether it may be a driver of coexistence between competing species. (Resource partitioning involves similar species in the same environment utilising different subsets of the same resource (or using it in a different way), so they are not in direct competition with one another.)

Professor Doctor Franz Brümmer (right), former President of the Association of German Sports Divers (VDST) was honoured on 7 December 2019, when he received the DOSB Badge of Honor from DOSB President Alfons Hörmann (left)

Franz Brümmer to receive EUF Lavanchy Award At Boot 2020

The EUF Lavanchy Award is presented annually to an individual whom EUF members feel "has made a significant and sustained contribution towards the responsible development of the European diving community."

This year, Franz Brümmer, a 63-year-old diver and German scientist, who has always been keen to introduce marine biology to a broad audience (with the aim of encouraging wide and active environmental protection) will receive the Lavanchy Award.

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EUF Lavanchy Award Winners

OWUSS Rolex Scholarship, Rolex Watch, scuba diving, watch, dive scholarships, Rosemary E Lunn, Roz Lunn, The Underwater Marketing Company, XRay Mag, X-Ray Magazine, scuba diving news
Each OWUSS Rolex Scholar is given a Rolex Watch

48 hours to apply for 2020 OWUSS Rolex Scholarships

Each year, a Rolex scholar is selected from North America, Europe and Australasia and they get to work with leaders in marine-related fields. The scholars spend a year travelling around the globe, gaining invaluable hands-on experiences in various aspects of diving. These can include scientific, media, biology, hyperbaric medicine, tourism, journalism, dive management, education and publishing.

Andrew A Shantz places an enclosure over corals on the sea floor at Florida Keys.

Selective fishing of larger parrotfish lets algae flourish

Scientists at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that when fishermen selectively catch large and medium-sized parrotfish at coral reefs facing decline due to climate change, algae has a better chance of growing and overtaking the corals.

Nonetheless, according to the research, the reef’s biomass is maintained. This is because even with less of the large and medium-sized parrotfish, there would be many smaller parrotfish that would take their place.

WhiBal G7 Grey-Card

Whilst nowadays most underwater shooters do their white balance correction during postproduction of images, there are still many shooting situations (such as several different light sources present in one shot) in which doing it “old school” comes with clear advantages and optimized workflow.

The Three Gorges section of the Yangtze River.

Commercial fishing banned in Yangtze River for 10 years

The Chinese government has imposed a 10-year commercial fishing ban in the Yangtze River to combat "across-the-board" declines in the populations of rare species like the Chinese sturgeon.

As it came into effect on 1 January 2020, it is hoped that the ban will tackle the problems of dwindling fish stocks and declining biodiversity in the 6,300m river. It will be applied at 332 conservation sites along the river and be extended to cover the main river course and key tributaries by 1 January 2021.

Considered an essential resource by many in the field, Diving and Subaquatic Medicine remains the leading text on diving medicine

Diving docs warn using scuba when freediving can be fatal

The Australian authors—Dr Neil Banham (lead) and Dr John Lippmann—reported that a 26-year-old healthy male freediver dived to 10m (32.8ft) where he met a friend who was diving on scuba. The freediver breathed from a scuba regulator before ascending.

It may have been that he held much of his breath during ascent, which would have been his usual and generally safe practice with normal breath hold diving. — Banham, Lippmann

A curious shark

The Year of the Shark 2019 Ends

What we see is that sharks are being targeted by international factory fleets around the world who trail millions upon millions of baited hooks through their realm, trawl the sea floors for rays, skates and other bottom dwellers to 4,000 metres, and slaughter them by the millions. Sharks are the only profitable prey remaining, now that ninety percent of the original (fish) fisheries are fished out.

Record numbers of marine mammals, like bottlenose dolphins, have been recorded in the United Kingdom.

UK sees record sightings of whales, dolphins and seals

The Wildlife Trusts, which comprises 46 individual wildlife trusts around the country, reports record numbers of more than 800 sightings of whales, dolphins and seals in the waters of the United Kingdom in 2019.

Its Yorkshire project reported hundreds of individual sightings by trained citizen scientists. Among these were a pod of bottlenose dolphins making their way from Scotland to Flamborough Head in East Yorkshire-the farthest south they had been officially identified.

Humpback whale breaching

Hungry humpbacks get sneaky on speedy fish

Lunge-feeding humpback whales plunge into dense schools of small fish to feed on them. However, these small fish tend to be pretty fast. So, just how do huge whales sneak up on such speedy prey if they are as huge and overbearing as a ... well, whale?

This question became the focus of a study at Stanford University. Its findings was subsequently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.