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Felix Butschek, OWUSS Rolex European Rolex Scholar, Rosemary E Lunn
Felix Butschek: 2016 / 2017 OWUSS Rolex European Scholar

European Rolex OWUSS 2016 / 2017 Scholar Announced

This year's European Rolex OWUSS 2016 / 2017 Scholar is most enthusiastic about temperate and polar marine environments. And it all started because his school was located in the spectacular coastal waters of British Columbia. Vancouver Island is a mecca for temperate water diving and one of the world's top dive destinations.

The reef appears to sprawl across more than 3,600 square miles of ocean floor at the edge of the South American continental shelf, from the southern tip of French Guiana to Brazil’s Maranhão State.

Extensive reef system discovered at the Amazon River mouth

The existence of the reef have come as big surprise because many of the world’s great rivers produce major gaps in reef systems where no corals grow. There was little previous evidence because corals mostly thrive in clear, sunlit, salt water, and the equatorial waters near the mouth of the Amazon are some of the muddiest in the world, with vast quantities of sediment washed thousands of miles down the river and swept hundreds of miles out to sea.

U- Boat Worx Cruise Sub

Deepest-diving Tourist Submarines Unveiled

Cruise holidays are about to become far deeper experiences thanks to a new range of private submarines that can take travellers on tours to the ocean depths. Netherlands-based submersible manufacturer U-Boat Worx has launched a trio of new submarines designed for cruise ships and tourism, carrying up to five, seven or nine people per dive. Two of them, the Cruise Sub 5 and 7, are capable of descending to 1,140 metres, making them the deepest-diving tourist submersibles ever built.

The Royal Australian Navy Ship HMAS Tobruk in Pearl Harbor, 2008. It will be scuttled underwater as a dive wreck-

Australia to get a new artificial reef... or two

HMAS Tobruk was retired last year after 35 years of service, including many humanitarian missions. She was launched in 1980. During her 34-year operational history, Tobruk sailed over 947,000 nautical miles (1,754,000 km; 1,090,000 mi) and was deployed on 26 major operations. HMAS Sydney was laid down and launched in 1980.

Hammerhead, Bahamas
Hammerhead, Bahamas. The great hammerhead—considered endangered by the IUCN Red List—is the largest of the nine hammerhead shark species

Large sharks benefit from marine reserves

Current research has shown that waters off Florida and the Bahamas are important pupping and feeding grounds for several sharks, providing them with the critical habitat required for the conservation of these slow-to-mature ocean animals.

Researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science studied the core home range of 86 bull, great hammerhead and tiger sharks tagged in waters off south Florida and the northern Bahamas.

Divers and snorkellers enjoying a calm day in the Straits of Tiran

Egypt's dive industry fears over loss of Red Sea Islands

The proposed Saudi-Egypt Causeway would pass through Tiran Island. The bridge, to be named after King Salman of Saudi Arabia, will facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca and promote local industry. The announcement followed Egypt and Saudi Arabia signing an agreement on maritime border demarcation and marking the islands of Tiran and Sanafir within Saudi regional waters.

Great White Shark
Great White Shark

Stewart Island shark cage diving creates controversy

A New Zealand parliamentary select committee has raised concerns about the potential human risk from shark cage diving around Stewart Island. The Local Government and Environment Committee published a report considering a petition calling for the Department of Conservation (DOC) to immediately and permanently cease shark diving. The petition was created by Stewart Island resident Helen Cave and signed by 768 people.

Gas blender at work

NAUI Mixed Gas & Oxygen Service Technician

Upon successful completion of this course, graduates are considered competent to prepare oxygen-enriched air and helium-based breathing gases without direct supervision for use by divers, provided that the equipment used is the same or approximates that used in training; and to prepare scuba equipment for oxygen service, provided that they have been authorized by the manufacturer for servicing the particular brand of equipment being placed into oxygen service.

The skills you will accomplish during this NAUI course include:

Pebble Smartwatch

Dubai International launches smartwatch app

Passengers flying through Dubai International can now access vital travel information right on their smartwatch. Developed by Dubai Airports in conjunction with Amsterdam-based company M2Mobi, the app is being made available for iOS and Android software platforms. An extension of the Dubai Airports mobile app, the smartwatch app provides travellers quick access to the latest status of their bookmarked flight, including arrival or departure times, terminal, gate or baggage belt information.

Stern view of the shipwreck USS Conestoga colonized with white plumose sea anemones contrasting the water column.
Stern view of the shipwreck USS Conestoga colonized with white plumose sea anemones

U.S. Navy found a tug that was lost for nearly a century

When it left San Francisco on March 25, 1921, Conestoga was en route to Tutuila, American Samoa via Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When Conestoga failed to reach Hawaii by its anticipated arrival date the Navy mounted a massive air and sea search around the Hawaiian Islands, the tug's destination. Unable to locate the ship or wreckage, the Navy declared Conestoga and its crew lost on June 30, 1921, the last U.S. Navy ship to be lost in peacetime without a trace.