Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

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October 13, 2020

A Novel Life-Saving Idea. It's a huge challenge to save the lives of people floating in open waters without risking the responders’ lives. A new flotation device may solve that problem. U SAFE, a self-propelled lifebuoy, which travels at 15 knots, can be sent to floating victims via remote control. With an inbuilt navigation and guidance system, and range of about three miles, it's been extensively tested and proven to overcome difficult waves, providing assurance that could reach the diver in danger. It's still being developed, but you can get an advance look at here.

Dan Orr Reports on Closing Recompression Chambers. There are so few cases of divers needing therapeutic recompression these days that many U.S. chambers are no longer available 24/7 or have been shut down entirely. In fact, an injured diver may need to be transported to a different state in an emergency. Dan Orr, the former CEO of Divers Alert Network (DAN), has been working with the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) to address hyperbaric chamber availability and has asked Undercurrent to publish his important story on chamber availability. Every U.S. diver and dive operation needs to read it: www.undercurrent.org/blog.

David Attenborough Issues a Warning. As the United Nations convened a one-day summit last week to galvanize action to protect wildlife, David Attenborough issued a news release, stating, “Our natural world is under greater pressure now than at any time in human history, and the future of the entire planet – on which every single one of us depends – is in grave jeopardy. We still have an opportunity to reverse catastrophic biodiversity loss, but time is running out.” Attenborough's new film, A Life on Our Planet, documents the dangers posed by climate change and species extinction. The world spends an estimated $80-$90 billion on conservation each year, but hundreds of billions of dollars may be needed to prevent ecosystems from collapsing. The Shark Research Institute

Still Undecided about November? If you're still an undecided voter, caught on the cusp of COVID and other issues, then as a diver, why not make the environment your deciding issue? When asked about the environment, the incumbent president says we must have clean air and clean water, which were campaign issues 50 years ago. The other candidate looks to the future by addressing global warming, how it is disrupting the seas and therefore killing reefs, destroying polar bear habitat, forcing fish and lobster into cooler waters, flooding Miami's streets, increasing the strength of hurricanes, creating droughts that kill trees and make tinder … well it's an endless list, and 97 percent of the world's climate scientists say global warming and its concomitant problems are caused by human activity. We must take real and immediate action to reverse it, or we're all in deep trouble. On November 3rd, your vote says what you believe.

The NTSB Report on MV. Conception: Ken Kurtis of Reef Seekers Dive Co. reminds us that the NTSB will give their final report and recommendations resulting from the Conception fire on Tuesday, October 20. This will be a Zoom-style webinar. The good news is that while these normally start at 6:30AM PDT, since they know there will be a large West Coast viewership, they've pushed it back and will start at 10AM PDT. It likely runs three hours or so. And it will be archived, so if you can't watch the live-stream, you'll be able to view it later. There will NOT be an opportunity for viewers to comment or ask questions. But if you'd like to hear what they say, you should tune in. NTSB staff will present their finding to the NTSB Board, who will eventually vote on accepting, modifying, or rejecting those recommendations. Here's the link to the live-stream starting Oct 20, 10AM PDT: NTSB CONCEPTION REPORT.

Hurricane Delta Does Little Damage in the Yucatan. Hurricane Delta hit just south of Cancun last week, toppling trees and cutting power to residents of the resort-studded coast. Matt Bunce of the Tank-Ha dive center in Playa del Carmen tells us damage there and in Cozumel was not as bad as first feared, with minimal structural damage and no boats lost. Cancan and the Isla Mujeres had more damage, but business should be back to normal by the time you read this email.

Be Careful What You Write in a Review. An American could be jailed in Thailand for posting a critical on-line review of a local resort. Yes, you read that right. Wesley Barnes, who works in Thailand, faces up to two years in jail for trashing the Sea View Resort on Koh Chang island on both Google Maps and Trip Advisor. If a company files a complaint against your postings in Thailand, under Thai defamation laws, you can get in serious trouble. Barnes was arrested by police, then released on bail. Meanwhile, businesses on tourist islands such as Phuket remain closed due to COVID restrictions and are in dire commercial straits. TMZ

Don't Miss Amos Nachoum's Movie. Amos Nachoum's semi-autobiographical movie, Picture of His Life, details the efforts he made to get in-water photographs of polar bears. Not only has it been accepted for the prestigious Banff Center Mountain Film Festival, but also it will show at the UN Film Festival. You can rent or buy it here.

Carnage Among Mexican Megafauna. After 137 dead sealions were discovered earlier this year, 351 loggerhead turtles washed up along the same 75-mile coastline of northwest Mexico in September. These mass deaths are likely the result of net and line fishing off Baja California, and environmentalists are calling for the ban of such activities. Sealions migrate in packs between Canada and the south of Mexico.

More Divers Adrift. At the end of September, three New Zealand divers were rescued after strong winds drove their anchored kayaks out to sea. Large swells made searching difficult. One diver was found 500 yards from shore, while another was finally located nine miles out to sea. Tatapouri, New Zealand, police politely said it was a good reminder not to go diving in bad conditions. NZ City

The COVID Vaccine Will Kill Our Sharks. It may take a half-a-million dead sharks to make the COVID-19 vaccine. According to conservationists and wildlife experts, vaccinating the global population will have a devastating environmental impact, as one of the vaccine ingredients, squalene, is made from shark liver oil. At present, five vaccine candidates have squalene as an adjuvant to boost the recipient's immune response. Shark squalene is also used in flu vaccines. New Zealand Herald

Fish Form Social Networks. Even if they aren't a part of a school, scientists have discovered fish turn out to be habitual followers. By frequenting a particular reef area, they're unintentionally telegraphing important information to other fish, even of different species, suggesting ample food and safety from predators. Threatened ecosystems may be helped by this new discovery because, say researchers at the University of Colorado, UC Santa Cruz, and NOAA, if other fish are around, algae-grazers are more likely to stick around an area filling their bellies with the algae that might otherwise smother a reef. Wired

Nazi Loot Encountered in the Baltic Sea. At the end of September, Polish divers discovered the wreckage of the German liner Karlsruhe sunk in 1945 in the Baltic Sea, when it was suspected of carrying the contents of the legendary Amber Room. Containing more than six tons of amber, the fabulous treasure was formerly a gift from Friedrich-Wilhelm I of Prussia to Peter the Great in 1716. It was installed in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg before it was looted by the Nazis. Its current value would be around $300 million. The wreck lies at 290-feet, and in its holds, technical divers have so far discovered military vehicles, porcelain, and many crates with contents so far unknown. Mail Online

The Queen of the Ocean Tagged off Nova Scotia. So-named because of her size, a massive 17-foot 3,541-pound female great white shark has been caught and tagged by OCEARCH in the Northwest Atlantic. That makes her nearly twice the size of the average adult animals. Expedition leader Chris Fischer said the shark is more than 50 years old and is the largest white shark they have tagged. They named her “Nukumi,” in honor of a “legendary wise old grandmother” figure of the Native American Mi'kmaq people. OCEARCH is currently tracking 60 other great white sharks. McClatchy News

Orcas of the Caribbean. At the beginning of October, a group of divers from Ocean Frontiers Dive Shop, en-route to Little Cayman, were amazed to spot a pod of killer whales off Grand Cayman. Fisherman Chris Briggs confirmed the sighting independently with drone footage. Jaime Bolaños-Jiménez, one of the leading researchers on orcas in Caribbean waters, told the Cayman Compass there was little known about the presence, range, and family associations of the cetaceans in the region. It is only the eighth occasion that these animals have been officially recorded in these waters.

Rebreather Diver Suffers Oxygen Spike. In October, a coroner was told how an off-duty Irish police officer died when his oxygen supply inexplicably spiked in his closed-circuit rebreather, overdosing him so quickly he had no time to respond before he suffered convulsions, lost his mouthpiece, and inhaled seawater. David Hearne, 47, was diving a wreck 230-feet deep, eight miles offs Hook Head in the Irish sea when he was found unconscious on the seabed by fellow divers. Divernet.com

Whisky Galore 33 Years Later. An unlabelled bottle of 1923 Scotch whiskey from the British ship, the SS Politician, which ran aground off the Scottish island of Eriskay in the Hebrides in 1941, will soon join the Scottish Maritime Museum's collection. It was one of 264,000 bottles stowed on board the wartime cargo vessel that was recovered by hard-hat diver George Currie in June 1987. At 100 years, it is believed to be undrinkable. Regardless, in 2013, two bottles from the wreck sold for $15,000. The story of the SS Politician inspired the 1949 British comedy film Whisky Galore and its 2016 remake. The National Scot

Stay Safe,

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org