US based members of DAN will have the spring issue of Alert Diver winging its way to them in the post. Highlights in the magazine include The Galapagos by Brandon Cole and Hawaii by Doug Perrine, The Ocean Views 2010 photo contest winners, manatees, Ohio quarries, Greek sponge divers, and dive medicine and safety articles from DAN.

Interestingly, the cover shot was taken with an Olympus 5050 compact camera in an Olympus housing using available light whilst free diving. The magazine should arrive in people’s mailboxes late next week.

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Prowling the Suntec City Convention Center, Drew Wong gives his views on what happened to one of South East Asian’s biggest dive shows, Asia Dive Expo 2011. From housing manufacturers showing the latest and experimental 3D rigs that didn’t quite work as well to people serving panda meat; it wasn’t boring at all! There were video interviews with housing manufacturer Subal about their philosophies and future plans, manufacturers with carbon strobe arms and ingenious connectors that allow shooters to hook up many different configurations of lights/strobes and accessories etc. Read on as Drew rambles on about ADEX this year!

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Australian Geographic has published an except from a report from February 2008, conducted by an international team of scientists led by Dr Benjamin Halpern of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, USA. The study found that only 4% of the worlds oceans are now undamaged by human activity. Climate change, fishing, pollution, and other human factors have taken their toll in some way on all the other 96 per cent of the and a staggering forty-one per cent of the oceans are seriously damaged.

The article goes on to contrast this with the amazing biodiversity discovered more recently during the Census of Marine Life and the reality that this new discovery is already at threat due to the degradation of the oceans

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Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory are running a project for the Office of Naval Research to “to study and ultimately emulate the exquisite ability of some marine animals to instantly change their skin color and pattern to blend into their environment.” Researchers Roger Hanlon and Lydia Mäthger are studying the way longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) change color to mimic their environment with an aim of reproducing this in materials. The team has previously discovered that cephalopod skin contains opsins, the same type of light-sensing proteins that function in the eyes, and now plan to research how these sense light and the neural pathways involved. Previous research has suggested that the that as squid have polarized vision, it might be possible that they send concealed signals to one other while staying camouflaged to fish or mammalian predators, most of which do not have this ability.

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Submerge Camera has announced the release of a modified Amphibico Turtle HD housing. The modifications include the addition of a second handle and softening the push-buttons, making them easier to operate at shallow depths. It is also only available in one color. The housing accepts 15 Sony HD cameras, with plans in the pipeline to add support for Canon and Sony new models in late May to early June.

The “Submerge Turtle HD” is available now at a retail price of $1199.95.

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