Mass Extinction?

"Human beings are currently causing the greatest mass extinction of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. If present trends continue one half of all species of life on earth will be extinct in less than 100 years, as a result of habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, and climate change."
from massextinction.net

Did you know that:

• If current trends continue, one half of all species of life on Earth will be extinct in 100 years. (E.O. Wilson, The Future of Life, p. 102)

• One quarter of all mammal species face extinction in 30 years. (United Nations, http://news.bbc.co.uk/)

• For every person in the world to reach present U.S. levels of consumption we would need 4 more planet Earths. (Wilson, p. 23)

• Humans currently consume 50% of the Earth's available freshwater, leaving what's left over for all other species. (World Wildlife Fund, http://www.panda.org/)

• Humans currently consume 40% of all organic matter produced by photosynthesis on Earth, leaving what's left over for all other species. (Wilson, p. 33)

• Every species of great ape on the Earth (gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos) is in imminent danger of extiction. (United Nations, http://news.bbc.co.uk/)

• Every species of tiger on Earth is in imminent danger of extinction. (World Wildlife Fund, http://web.archive.org/)

• The number of lions left in Africa has fallen 90% in 20 years -- there are now only 20,000 remaining. (BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/)

• 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world's oceans in the past half century. (Nature Magazine, http://www.cnn.com/)

• Human population is expected to increase by at least 50% over the next 75 years. (United Nations Population Division, http://www.enviroliteracy.org/)

from speciesalliance.org

And what about Sharks?

"By 2017 it is anticipated that 20 species of shark could become extinct due to hunting, indiscriminate fishing techniques and, ultimately, man's greed."
from bite-back.com

Airing Right Now!

That would be "South Pacific" on BBC Two!

Yes, with some footage from The Best Shark Dive in the World!
Producer Jonathan Clay and cameraman Richard were with us last year and despite of some very foul weather, they were blessed with a visit by our VIP-enamored Scarface who turned up on both dives and presented Richard with a golden opportunity when she glided in and closely inspected his domeport.

Can't wait to see it!
Entirely filmed in Hi Def, it's once again a production by the BBC Natural History Unit and will undoubtedly contain some epic footage as always! I went on YouTube but so far, there's only this one teaser of a monster wave in slo-mo (and the BBC iPlayer only works in the UK) but judging from that, we're once again in for a real treat!



Apparently, the video versions are due shortly, with the US release renamed into Wild Pacific because of the musical. The funny hing being that after all the recent drama, it's due to air on Discovery! It obviously takes the Brits to show them how to do some decent pro-Nature programs! Isn't life just funny!
And there's another trailer here - featuring a Tiger Shark!
Is it her?

As I read somewhere, Jon is responsible for Part 5 and 6 and I sure hope that we feature in Fragile Paradise! But wherever we are, it's again quite a milestone for our small dive shop.

May many more such great productions follow!
(Oh they will they will!)

PS: "flesh-eating caterpillars"?

Some news from France on Aqua-web from Denis Jeant

Le World Challenge de BBC World a pour objectif de récompenser les projets qui font une réelle différence en matière de communautés locales.

Le World Challenge de BBC World 2006 est organisé par BBC World et le magazine généraliste américain (Usa) Newsweek, en partenariat avec la société Shell, dont les objectifs sont de trouver des individus ou des groupes dans le monde qui ont développé des projets innovants dans le domaine.

(photo by Michael O'Neill)

Voter vous permet de soutenir un des douze projets qualifiés (voir ci-dessous). La cloture des votes aura lieu à 17h00 GMT le 19 novembre 2006.

Le gagnant recevra de la compagnie Shell un premier prix de 20 000 dollars US pour développer son projet.

Les deux prix suivants seront de 10 000 dollars US. Un représentant de chacun des trois projets finalistes sera envoyé à la Haye, aux Pays-Bas pour assister à la cérémonie de remise des prix.

Thank you BBC!

World champion Tanya Streeter with Caribbean Reefs.

Same location, completely different vibe and message!

Yes once again this is Tiger Beach, the scene of unspeakable stupidities performed by martial artists and wannabee Shark wranglers. But this time, it's not some cheap and self serving media stunt, this time it's a piece by the good people from the BBC - who do not use the Dolphin Dream but, I believe, Jimmy's Shear Water.

This is as pro-Shark as it gets. Kudos to everybody involved!
Enjoy!



And how about this! Notice the soundtrack?
Just beautiful!



PS Shark Week: watch & learn!

The World Challenge 2006

The World Challenge is back and looking to reward projects that make a real difference to local communities. World Challenge 2006, brought to you by BBC World and Newsweek, in association with Shell, aims to find individuals or groups from around the world who have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level.

World Challenge 2006 is all about global involvement, casting a net for ideas from individuals or groups deserving recognition....more

To all of our customers, past, present and future, from the team at Beqa Adventure Divers, all involved with Shark Reef Marine Reserve and The Bull Shark Tagging Programme; we would like to say a huge thank you for helping to support the work that is happening here in Fiji.
If you feel that Shark Reef Marine Reserve and The Fiji Shark Project are worthy causes, please take a moment and register your vote in The World Challenge 2006 and help raise the awareness of the sharks struggle for survival.

The World Challenge 2006 starts airing on BBC World from the 8th October. The Shark Park documentary airs on the 28th October at 0930 & 1630 GMT and again on the 29th October at 0330, 1330 & 2130 GMT. The coverage in Newsweek begins in issue 16 October with The Shark Park featured in the 06 November edition (on sale from 30th October).

The BBC Clip!

Ηὕρηκα - literally!

I didn't believe that I would ever find it online - but here it is!
Jon has posted the Fiji clip of Fragile Paradise, his contribution to South Pacific by the BBC.
I must say, this has been one of the highlights in the short history of our company, the more as Jon and cameraman Richard were as nice and humble as they come and a real pleasure to work with!
Epic stuff!

Enjoy!

Fiji Shark Dive from Jonathan Clay on Vimeo.

BBC Shark Videos - simply fantastic!

I really did like this alot - take a look.



See?
This could have been about any other animal and its habitat.
For once, a Shark video featuring no stupid host, no fabricated hype, no gore - but also no romantic stereotypes, no scenes of finning, no doomsday scenarios, no wagnerian drama!

Instead, the clip contains all the ingredients of truly professional nature programming: excellent story line, excellent images, excellent editing, excellent commentary, excellent sound track. With Shark Week looming and increasing indications that this year's lineup will once again feature plenty of Shark porn, the BBC once again shows everybody how to produce fantastic documentaries featuring Sharks.

This is the way forward, this is how one gets the message across.
It has been successfully done with the terrestrial predators and I cannot tell you how glad I am to see that the same rules are now finally being applied to the Marine ecosystems.

More of the same below, capitalizing on the amazing insights of TOPP.
Enjoy!

About Oceanic Whitetips on BBC Radio 4!

The BBC have done it again!
Yes I confess, I'm a huge fan, especially of the National History Unit in Bristol!

This is podcast #33 of Saving Species presented by Brett Westwood.
It features Sarah Fowler of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (of which I'm a big fan, too) with some truly unexpected and probably, and equally frighteningly totally correct comments about how some Shark fisheries have become so small that they have basically become irrelevant to the regional fisheries management bodies tasked with preserving them.

And then, there's one Steve Castle (?) with some remarkable statements about the Red Sea attacks. Bravo for putting things into perspective!
Steve I hear studies Shark Behavior - not to be confused with Applied Shark-Human Interaction, which as I understand it is a sub-discipline of Eco-Behavior! Talking of which, boy do I have a treat for you!!!
Keep watching this space! :)

Anyway, the link is here.
Enjoy!

Awesome Video!

Forget the detractors - this is what is happening!

Once again, excellent work by the BBC!

This, I believe, is a must-see.
It is about the recently completed Census of Marine Life, Climate Change and Ocean Acidification, and Overfishing - all the stuff anybody interested in marine conservation needs to know about.
This could have very easily precipitated into utter gloom and doom but as always with the BBC, it is a compelling presentation featuring the usual amazing footage and fantastic editing.

Lean back, relax and enjoy!

Please vote for Blue Ventures!

Having been a finalist, we remain keenly interested in the BBC Challenge.

This year, one of the finalists is Blue Ventures’ project in Madagascar.
Along with harboring a plethora of endemic species, that country is one of the most biodiverse on the planet – and at the same time, it is a poster child for catastrophic habitat degradation (especially soil erosion due to the unchecked destruction of its forests) leading to rampant extinction and needs all the assistance it can possibly get.

Mind you, Blue Ventures comes across as just one of those volunteer travel orgs.
Too often, I believe, they are mere capitalistic ventures aimed at having kids pay a lot of money for traveling to remote destinations and do bullshit pseudo-research. But here, I get the impression that the volunteer program is genuine and that the cash flow does really go into conservation. What Alisdair Harris has put in place is truly impressive and actually very much reminds me of what we’re doing here.

In fact, it turns out that BV are actively trying to protect Sharks!
Watch this video – excellent stuff! Once again, this is to the point, highly informative and never strays into counter productive melodrama.
Way to go!

Shark Monitoring Madagascar from Jon Slayer on Vimeo.

Please go and vote for Blue Ventures at the BBC World Challenge!

Thresher Sharks at Cleaning Station!

Amazing pic by Jean-Mariel Ghislain of Shark Revolution!

Wonderful footage!
It is from the Monad Shoal off Malapascua and depicts Pelagic Threshers being cleaned by two species of Cleaner Wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus and Thalassoma lunare.
This behavior is the topic of the research by the good people of The Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project who have recently published their findings in this open source paper. Good stuff and very nice presentation, too - click on the various figures in light blue, or check out the entire layout here!
Should you not have the time to read it in its entirety, consult the nice recaps by the BBC and by Richard.

Enjoy!





The following footage is equally amazing.
It shows Threshers hunting small Fishes and trying to swat and stun them with their tail - e.g. at 1:27!

Great Stuff!

Having gone snooping (yes that would be me...), I've just discovered a new Fiji post by out talented friend Sasha.

And being my nosy self, I haven't allowed myself to be deterred by the Cyrillic hieroglyphs but have unabashedly thrown them at Yahoo's and Google's translation services, with interesting results - and this not only from a linguistic point of view!

Turns out that Alexander has been extraordinarily busy - and successful too!

I find the link to this killer "Portpholio" (I just love Ghostpipefish!) in Russia's Octopus Magazine (where we'll be featured shortly in another article by Sasha) and the information that the picture on top is gracing the iconic BBC Wildlife Magazine 2009 calendar - that would be 1 in 12 from thousands of submissions!
Great Stuff!!!

And I also learn that Alex and, of all people, my friend Chip share 6th place in the Color Print category at this year's Antibes Festival! And he's 21st in the Portfolio category!
That's a great place to be in so soon in his career, especially considering that the field features such seasoned and award-winning pros (and BAD friends) as the two Michaels, Aw and O'Neill!

Indeed, Sasha, "In these bad times it is desirable to sometimes warm itself and its friends by warm pictures from the edges of warm, good reef akulkami, as well as the portion of positive news."
Mission accomplished!

Third Party Endorsements!

Papa and Whitetip, stellar pic by Sasha

This why we love doing what we do!

We surfaced, cheering out loud from the adrenaline and then hop up into the boat fast since the tiger is still beneath us somewhere, and we know we are still in her realm.
On the way back the Divemaster tells us a story that went something like this: “One day the tiger shark, Scarface, showed up and she was agitated, angry, I could tell. She circled and circled above me and finally showed me the problem. There was a large metal hook in her mouth, right through the skin. She kept circling and so I knew what I needed to do. Scarface knows me, I’ve dove with her so many times, so I swam to her and put my hand on her mouth and stopped her, and I pulled out the hook.” The Divemaster goes to the front of the boat and pulls out a huge fishing hook, he keeps it in a box onboard as proof.

When deciding to go shark diving I had a lot of reservations, not only about the safety but about the fact that if I participated I was making a conscious decision to feed the sharks, to disrupt their natural patterns. In the end I’m glad I did the dive. I understand now more the power and beauty of these sharks. The divemasters say the sharks don’t come around every day, the tigers go missing for weeks at times, so they are still in their natural behavior, they still leave to mate and feed.

This opportunity has also provided the divemasters, all Fijians who believe they are protected from the sharks, the chance to intimately get to know these sharks and give us insight into their patterns. These divers can tell when a shark is pregnant; they know each shark by name. They have also started a tagging program for the bull sharks, to gain insight into their movement. While I didn’t feel the need to repeat the dive in Fiji, I think going once is a great experience. I don’t have a list of sharks to see and won’t be chasing them on a bunch of shark dives, but as our desire to see the world first hand and preserve the animals in it increases, we all need to decide where we stand on feeding or tracking or swimming with all animals. For me, seeing these animals once was enough to appreciate them more, I’ll never forget that dive – but from now on I will leave them to cruise the oceans on their own.

More by Mariah Boyle here - about darn Damsels!

I sometimes just go and search the web for comments by our clients.
They are completely beyond our influence and as honest as it gets, and thus constitute excellent feedback. Of many I discovered for 2010, here's a nice one about us and the fabulous Uprising Beach Resort, a glowing endorsement (yes, Nani rocks!) but what is obviously a very happy customer and a short trip report with video.
Among more "editorial" stuff, I found a really good writeup about the Shark dive, a more general piece featuring the fabulous clip by the BBC, a very (!) insightful description by a travel agent and finally, a fantastic series of pics by Sasha on CNTV!

And then, there's this video clip.
It's actually got nothing to do with us but depicts BLR over on Beqa Island and irritates me because somebody has just ripped one of our DVDs and stolen the footage, like on 3:12ff. The man with the yellow cap is of course Rusi .
But then again, it shows some nice vistas of reef diving in Beqa Lagoon and above all, it features historical footage and audio on 4:00ff. Yes this is Manasa aka lucky man Papa, probably about 10 years ago! He truly is the friendliest, most goodhearted, most positive, most wonderful person, ever!
And before you ask: yes, he's doing great!

Enjoy!

Finger of Death!

Brinicle - yes this is a link!

Alistair is right - this is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
Comments by the BBC here.

And this is how it was filmed, equally ridiculously awesome!

Bird-eating GTs - Video!

Source.

This is beyond awesome.

Latest since that paper, I knew that those GTs are totally badass - but seeing this, along with the unbelievably spectacular footage and the awesome editing simply leaves me in total awe!

And yes this would obviously be the BBC - who else!

H/T Serena - enjoy!

Video by Hugh!

Hugh and David in one of our Mangrove restoration sites.

Cool stuff!
This is a small showreel of Hugh's Fiji footage for David's Of Man and Shark. Hugh Fairs is an accomplished underwater shooter with a lifetime of experience, and a real great guy on top of that. You may not know it but you've seen quite a bit of his work recently, this largely thanks to his development of the REDSEE housing allowing for super slo-mo captures underwater.

The technical aspects?
This was shot on a Canon D7 in a Nauticam housing and although extremely well shot, I must say that technically, I'm not at all convinced. Yes it's full 1080p and the camera's sensor is impressive, as is the housing: but this is still nothing more than a prosumer hybrid rig with limited functionality compared to a truly dedicated HD camcorder, and the results show. Having now seen quite a bit of D7 footage from Shark Reef, the limited image correction options and the white outs are rather glaring and will require quite a lot of hard work in post. Certainly nothing the BBC would ever remotely consider accepting for their programs!
Having said that, it's a great rig for traveling and if it's for shooting a nice hi quality home video, go for it! And, it's a GREAT stills camera!

Anyway, I'm digressing as usual.
Enjoy!

BBC - Atlantic Sailfish!

Fantastic pic by Reinhard!

As always, totally amazing!
Plus, I just learned that there are indeed two species - was I sleeping or is that something new?
Or maybe it's just one species, with two geographically separated morphs?

Anyway, enjoy.
Brilliant stuff!



H/T: Blogfish

BBC - Shark Reef segment!

Scarface by Jean-Marie Ghislain

Oldie but goodie!

This is the excerpt from South Pacific.

Producer Jonathan Clay, videographer Richard Wollocombe, both great guys - with cameo appearance by Scarface!

Enjoy!

Cookiecutter Bite - the Paper!

Cookiecutter Shark. Sure doesn't look like much - but if one examines the detail, see below...

Cookiecutter Shark bite on a Pilot Whale

Remember the attack two years ago?

Now Randy Honebrink et al have published the report.
Nothing spectacular but still worth reading, be it only because this is the first ever documented attack by a Cookiecutter Shark on a living person, as previously documented bites have all been post mortem.

Also, check out this nice BBC video: this would be the second Shark employing Aggressive Mimicry to hunt I've heard of - or may the possibly bioluminescent (or not) Greenland Shark be another one?
Anyway, how cool is that!



BTW Randy's name did ring a bell.
Yes that would be that Hawaiian anti Shark tour dude - good to see him doing something constructive instead of wasting taxpayer money on spouting his anti industry BS!

Flying Mobulas!

Click for detail - source below!

Watch - awesome stuff!





And here's the BBC - unmatched as always!



Enjoy!