Undercurrent Online Update
for Subscribers

We've long been fans of Seacology and its efforts to save endangered species worldwide. It has created its first Caribbean-focused excursion, a liveaboard trip to the Bahamas on May 5-12, and Undercurrent subscribers can help this nonprofit out, have a good time -- and get a discount. Stay aboard the M/V Turks & Caicos Explorer while diving at Mayaguana, Samana Cays, San Salvador (where you'll also stop to visit a Seacology-funded "nursery" for the island's endangered iguana) and Conception Island. Seacology will give a $100 discount to anyone who mentions Undercurrent when making a reservation. The price is $2,500 per person, double occupancy. For details, go here

By far, the best book written about man's relationship with sharks. Juliet Eilperin, the Washington Post's national environment reporter, exposes the depths of the shark fin trade, from the fishermen to the consumers, to the investigators trying to end it; the efforts (not always successful) at protecting whale sharks; sourcing by DNA testing and selling naming rights to new discoveries; Miami's macho shark hunter; the shark callers from Papua New Guinea, diving and surfing with sharks, and the risks inherent; and much more. After traveling the globe with her keen reporter's eye, Eilperin creates a fascinating story by investigating the lives of sharks, both above and below the surface. It's bound to hook every diver. Just published, this hardbound, 296-page book is available is available on our website Undercurrent . You will get the best price Amazon.com offers, and our profits will go to saving coral reefs.

What do you do when dive operators mishandle your dive gear, asks Undercurrent subscriber Harley Piltingsurd (Cincinnati, OH). "I have had several instances of having my equipment damaged by liveaboard crews. All of these have been when they throw equipment (tanks, with BCs and regulators attached) into a pile while picking up divers in pangas at the end of dives. I have had second stages crushed, compasses broken, etc. The dive operators don't seem to take any responsibility for this, yet you can't dive without putting your equipment in their hands." For a potential story in an upcoming issue, let us know if you've experienced the same. How did you handle this? What should one say to the operator? Did you feel you had to - or were you required to - prove the damage was the crew's fault? And what should you expect in return? E-mail me your replies at EditorBenD@undercurrent.org

On your next dive, keep an eye on these two types of fish. Swiss researcher Redouan Bshary has been tracking how they hunt their prey, and his interesting findings are detailed in this blog post from Discover magazine. The goatfish are one of the few examples of fish that hunt in groups, but they do so only when they're hunting among coral. The grouper's hunting buddy is the moray eel. Bshary saw that groupers visit the morays in their resting places and vigorously shake their heads as a call to arms. The groupers then lead the eels to a place where prey are hidden, and signal the right spot with more head shaking so the moray can slither in to investigate. The fish has two options: stay and be eaten by the eel, or flee and be picked off by the grouper. Click on the Discover blog link to watch a video of the hunting team in action.

Sport diving is laden with unspoken rules. We've published most of them over the years, but there is no single resource where the new diver, the first-time liveaboard diver, or the spouse of a longtime diver can turn to find them. At least, not until now. Dennis Jacobson has been diving for nearly 15 years, his wife Debbie for 10. Hooked on diving, they've traveled extensively, they've learned the rules, and they have observed too many of their fellow divers ignore the social rules that maintain order and composure in our sport. We published a few humorous but too-true excerpts in our November 2011 issue, read the rest by buying the book through us here

While on Crescent Beach near St. Augustine, FL, Mike Golubovich found an encrusted camera washed ashore. "I took the housing back to my workshop, pried it open with a screwdriver, and was astonished when the housing revealed a bone-dry camera," Golubovich told the Caymanian Compass. "After I changed the batteries, the camera turned on and 153 photos were available for review." Many seemed to have been shot at the U.S.S. Kittiwake wreck near Grand Cayman, 1,000 miles south of St. Augustine. As the camera had run out of battery power, the time and date defaulted to zero, so there's no record of when the photos were taken or the camera lost, but because the Kittiwake was sunk last January, the photos were taken this year. Some of the photos are posted on the Kittiwakes Facebook page as well as a St. Augustine Record story about the lost camera. Check them out and if you know who took them, put a post on the Facebook page or e-mail the Record reporter who wrote the story.

In the November issue of Undercurrent, we reported on a knee-jerk reaction by Western Australian officials, who began to cull great white sharks after a fatal October attack on a diver near Perth. We reported that David McGuire, director of the California-based nonprofit Shark Stewards, put up an online petition calling for an end to the cull, and suggested alternate policies to make the nearby waters safer for people as well as sharks. After receiving the petition and letters of protest from all over the world, the Western Australia government ceased culling and instead announced it would spend nearly $14 million to reduce the risk of shark attacks; $2 million will be spent establishing a Shark Response Unit, while another $2 million will be spent annually on helicopter and beach patrols. The existing satellite-linked shark-monitoring project will be extended by two years, and additional monitoring equipment will be installed at locations in the southwest waters to help improve knowledge of shark movements. Score one for the sharks . . . and for common sense.

The San Francisco Ocean Film Festival is calling for entries to be shown during its next festival March 8-11 festival. The focus is ocean-related topics: ocean exploration, conservation, marine wildlife, marine protected areas, coastal and island cultures, ocean sports like surfing and kayaking, and seafaring adventures. You have until December 15 to submit your short film, documentary, animation, feature, narrative, montage, or other traditional and experimental work. For more info, visit www.oceanfilmfest.org

All Undercurrent subscribers will be able to download the 600+ page online 2012 Travelin' Diver's Chapbook in early December -- we will email you the link to download it. This compendium of hundreds of reader reports from dive sites around the world by the world's most discriminating divers will be available online to all subscribers. And of course all subscribers can make their own Mini Chapbook of selected reports from any diving region in the world, including those filed that same day.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben

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