Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Shark fishing banned in Mexican waters

Fish Information and Services (FIS) has reported that the Mexican National Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries has decided to ban the fishing of all shark species in federal waters on both coasts in order to contribute to the conservation of the resource. The ban will be in place during the period of greatest reproductive intensity of the main species (between May and August) and in each region.

A spokesperson for the shark fishermen, Juan Campos Cárdenas, has stated that fishermen are willing to enforce the ban. The official figure of 30,000 tonnes of sharks caught annually in Mexican waters is considered a low estimate, with several organizations warning that overfishing has already reduced the numbers significantly.

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Trailer for Muck Madness film on YouTube

Steve Fish and the team at Critters@Lembeh/Lembeh Resort have released a trail for their upcoming “Muck Madness” film on YouTube. The trailer spoofs the theme of “are you a good diver?” It is a part of Critters@Lembeh and Lembeh Resort’s proactive approach to educating divers about protecting the environment and the upcoming video is geared toward making muck diving easier whilst minimizing diver impact.

The full film will be released soon, and will appear here on Wetpixel first.

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Report: Long Beach Scuba Show 2011

The 2011 Long Beach Scuba Show was held on 4 and 5 June, at the Long Beach Convention Center, California. The event is billed as the USA’s largest consumer dive expo. Amidst the stands were many suppliers with products and services that are of interest to underwater image makers. Wetpixel’s Abi Smigel Mullens was on-hand to capture the products and people at the show.

Monday, June 6th, 2011

David Doubilet and Hal Silverman complete an image of U352

Photographers David Doubilet and Hal Silverman have had a composite of thirty-three images showing the full hull of the German World War II U-boat, U352, published in the UK Daily Mail. The submarine was sunk off North Carolina on 9 May 1942, and was the first U-boat to be sunk by US forces. The images were all shot with Nikon D3 cameras in Seacam housings. The wreck sits at 110 feet (34 meters) and the pictures show the extent to which it has been colonized to provide a home for marine life over the past 67 years. (Image courtesy of David Doubilet and Hal Silverman/National Geographic)

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Lush Cosmetics launches anti-finning campaign

Lush Cosmetics will feature a week-long campaign at its twelve stores in Hong Kong and Maccau, which will include asking customers to sign postcards asking the Hong Kong government to ban shark fin soup from the municipality. On 14 June, Lush employee Alice Newstead will provide a photo opportunity by being suspended from scaffolding by hooks piercing her skin. On the same day a cast of international artists, including Wetpixel editor [Eric Cheng](http://www.echeng.com), will gather to express their concern about the plight of sharks and to emphasise their support for the campaign.

Lush have created a limited edition Shark Fin Soap, an seaweed and sea salt soap with a cardboard fin attached. All proceeds from sales of the soap will be donated to Sharksavers.

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Guy Harvey promotes catch and release fishing tournaments

Underwater Times reports that shark conservationist and artist, Dr. Guy Harvey, has persuaded and assisted the organizers of the Ocean City Shark Tournament’s fishing competition to increase the value of the prizes in the catch and release division of the contest. Although there will still be two divisions that allow anglers to bring sharks to the scales, competitors tend to pursue whatever division has the biggest payout and the tournament directors are looking to make the release division cash and prizes so attractive that, by their own choosing, fishermen will voluntarily opt to release more sharks. The current prizes for the catch and release division are over $15,000.

A similar event held last month, the Second Annual Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge, was a catch and release only tournament held on the West Coast of Florida in Punta Gorda. The tournament, created as a model for catch and release only shark tournament formats, drew some 3,000 competitors and spectators and paid out over $15,000 in cash and prizes.

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Change of ownership at NAD Lembeh

Wetpixel member, Simon Buxton has now taken sole ownership of the NAD-Lembeh Resort. He had previously been co-running the resort with Wetpixel Moderator Mike Veitch. Since him purchasing the resort, improvements have been steadily taking place, with 2 new generator sets installed and a couple of new boats purchased. NAD is a small family style resort in the Lembeh Strait, near Manado, North Sulawesi with both local-style bungalows and rooms.

Mike has moved on to work on the Damai liveaboard, but is often found propping up the bar at NAD during his time off.

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Nauticam releases housing for Panasonic Lumix GH2

Nauticam has announced the release of a new housing for the Panasonic Lumix GH2 EVIL camera. The NA-GH2 features the rotary locking latch from the NA-NEX5, a removable optical flash connector that allows switching between strobes and the built-in flash and a whole new range of ports. These add support for Panasonic, Olympus and Leica lenses that can be used with the GH2 including: Lumix 14-42mm, the Lumix 14mm/2.5, the Lumix 8mm Fisheye, the superb Lumix 7-14mm, the Leica 45mm macro, Olympus 14-42mm, and Olympus 9-18mm.

The housing is due to ship early this month and will retail for $2100.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

African Diver issue 17 available

Issue 17 of African Diver magazine is now available for download. The June/July issue features a celebration of African marine bio-diversity. Features include articles on Broadnose Sevengill Cowsharks in the waters off Cape Town, Bull sharks that travel from the Breede River to islands off the Mozambique coast, Sun Fish in Algoa Bay and Blacktip sharks off Durban. The featured photographer is Allen Walker.

The magazine is available as a free pdf download.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Results of Bodrum World Championship announced

The results of the thirteenth CMAS World Underwater Photography Championship have been announced. The event was held from 26-31 May at Bodrum, Turkey, and the Turkish National Team were the overall winners. Orhan Aytür, again of Turkey, was the individual winner and carries the title of CMAS World Champion. The awards were presented at a function in the amphitheater of Bodrum Castle on 30 May.

Many congratulations to all the participants.

Articles