Undercurrent Online Update
for Subscribers

For Subscriber David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi' exp: 2024-08-20', at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
June 21, 2014

We're gathering reader reports for the 2015 edition of Travelin' Divers' Chapbook. To send us your reviews of dive operators, liveaboards and resorts, complete the online form here. You can also follow the link "File a Report" on the left side of our homepage; or after logging in, follow the "Reader Report" link in the top navigation bar. Your report will be available immediately on our website and will appear in the 2015 Chapbook.

Starting on September 1, owners of Aeris dive gear will need to take it to an Oceanic dealer for servicing and repairs starting September 1. American Underwater Products, which owns both Aeris and Oceanic, decided to merge the two companies, and now both lines will be sold exclusively under the Oceanic brand. Aeris customer service responsibilities and warranties will be accepted by Oceanic.

Our undercover travelin' divers review diving in Indonesia's Lembeh, St. Vincent and the Red Sea . . . how to trim the weight and cut the costs of dive travel . . . Part II of "Why Divers Die": more real-life examples of dive deaths that could have been avoided . . . a new device to make freediving safer . . . John Bantin's advice on picking the right liveaboard for your needs . . . and much more.

Project Seahorse has just launched a new "citizen science" website and app called iSeahorse. Data collected by individuals around the world will help scientists globally in assessing seahorse populations and distribution. Project Seahorse assistant (and Undercurrent subscriber) Katelyn Dick told us that they will provide crucial conservation management plans. Report any observations or send in your photos of seahorses to be entered into the worldwide database. Do so via iSeahorse's website or its free iPhone app

They both recently announced big efforts to save ocean life. During a video address to the international Our Oceans summit on June 16-17, Obama announced the creation of the world's largest marine reserve, where a crackdown on illegal fishing will be a big focus. The 800,000 square-mile reserve in the south-central Pacific contains U.S. territories like Kingman Reef, Kiribati and the Gilbert Islands, and it expands the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Obama also announced a new task force to stamp out illegal fishing and the black market trade in seafood. Later at the conference, DiCaprio pledged another $7 million to marine conservation (he has already donated at least $2 million this year), saying, "This is the most important issue of our time."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) just approved a number of regulations to combat invasive lionfish. Rebreather divers can now harvest lionfish, and divers in tournaments and other organized events can spear lionfish in areas where spearfishing is otherwise not allowed. The FWC also recently released its Report Lionfish smartphone app to allow fishermen and divers to report lionfish sightings in Florida waters.; available for the iPhone and the Android

The project is called Kan-Kanan, which means "the guarding serpent," and according to the Yucatan Times, it's currently under construction near Puerto Morelos. The artificial reef will comprise more than 800 hollow concrete pyramids, each weighing 10 tons, and they'll be placed on a concrete base. The goal is for the reef to reduce coastline erosion and, once finished, builders say it will be longer than the Brooklyn Bridge and offer a home to more than 13,000 marine species.

The great white shark population is in good health along the California coast, and the numbers likely are growing. George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, led a team that reanalyzed 3-year-old research indicating white shark numbers in the Eastern North Pacific were alarmingly low, with only 219 counted at two sites. They visited top shark-aggregation sites in Northern California- the Farallon Islands and Tomales Point -- and other popular shark hangouts between Mexico and Alaska, and found that the total population is likely well over 2,000. The National Marine Fisheries Service was recently petitioned to add great whites to the endangered species list but declined, based on its own research (it estimates 3,000 sharks), and Burgess's study, just published in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben

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