Filed under: Ali Perkins, Conservation | No Comments »

Filed under: Ali Perkins, Conservation | No Comments »

This is a club social outing to the 2009 New Zealand International Film Festival. We’re going to see The Cove at the Civic Theatre on Saturday 11th July at 10:45am. Visit their website to find out about purchasing tickets, then let Ali know, flotsam@akunidive.com, and we’ll meet up on the day.

“Dolphins are the only wild animals known to rescue humans. With this film, we’d like to come to their rescue and, in the process, save ourselves.” — Louie Psihoyos, Japan Times

Director: Louie Psihoyos
Year: 2008
Running time: 94 mins

As gripping as a D-day assault movie, this spectacular film from National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos surely spells the end of business for a business few of us even suspected existed: the capture of dolphins to populate the world’s dolphinariums. The grotesque by-product of this already questionable trade is that surplus dolphins are slaughtered and passed off as whale meat in the supermarkets of Japan. The film follows US conservation group Oceanic Preservation Society – equipped and financed to the tune of $5 million by Netscape founder Jim Clark – as it penetrates the massive wall of security around the operation in order to capture the footage that should blow this operation out of the water. Former Flipper trainer Ric O’Barry, painfully aware of the role that TV series had in popularising performing dolphin shows, is an eloquent and moving exponent of dolphin rights and a clued-up commentator on the intransigence of the Japanese and the ineffectiveness of the International Whaling Commission.

Filed under: Ali Perkins, Conservation, Social Events, Upcoming Events | No Comments »

10:11AM Wednesday Jun 24, 2009

Have you been watching the orca?
Send us your photos and video

About 200 onlookers have gathered on Auckland’s Tamaki Drive to watch a pod of orca hunting close to the shore.

Five or six killer whales have been chasing stingrays within five to ten metres of the shore – moving from Okahu Bay, past Kohimarama and towards St Heliers.

Onlookers have been watching what appear to be two adult and three or four juvenile orca throwing stingrays into the air and eating them.

Read full article from The New Zealand Herald.

Filed under: Ali Perkins, News/Current Affairs | No Comments »

Filed under: Ali Perkins, Conservation | No Comments »

Purse Seine boats encircling school of fish

The main way that tuna is caught is through purse seines in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Basically, after a large group of tuna is located, a miles-across purse seine net is closed around them via a group of small boats associated with a large factory ship.

This technique is pretty standard- the main variation lies in how the large group of tuna is located. There are basically three ways to do this:

1) Get lucky and happen to stumble across a large group of tuna visible from the surface in the middle of an enormous ocean. Obviously, this isn’t terribly practical.

2) Attract tuna using floating objects. Stay tuned, we’ll come back to #2.

3) Follow dolphins, because dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific are often associated with large schools of tuna. Dolphins are easy to follow because, unlike tuna, they have to come up for air.

As a result of pressure from environmental activist groups like Greenpeace, it became illegal to fish using method #3, and we now have what is called “dolphin safe tuna”. Technically this means only that the tuna isn’t harvested by searching for dolphins associated with a school of tuna, something that many environmental groups think isn’t a strong enough definition.

“Ten thousand sets of purse seine nets around immature tuna swimming under logs and other debris will cause the deaths of 25 dolphins; 130 million small tunas; 513,870 mahi mahi; 139,580 sharks; 118,660 wahoo; 30,050 rainbow runners; 12,680 other small fish; 6540 billfish; 2980 yellowtail; 200 other large fish; 1020 sea turtles; and 50 triggerfish.”

“Ten thousand sets of purse seine nets around mature yellowfin swimming in association with dolphins, will cause the deaths of 4000 dolphins (0.04 percent of a population that replenishes itself at the rate of two to six percent per year); 70,000 small tunas; 100 mahi mahi; 3 other small fish; 520 billfish; 30 other large fish; and 100 sea turtles. No sharks, no wahoo, no rainbow runners, no yellowtail, and no triggerfish and dramatic reductions in all other species but dolphins.”

Interesting article. So although almost 4000 cute lil dolphins are saved, the cost in other more endangered species, and juvenile tuna (hurting the fishery itself) is very much higher! And if accurate, perhaps too high to justify.

Read the full the article here and discuss.

Filed under: Conservation, Ryan McCardle | No Comments »

The June / July issue of Dive New Zealand magazine is out in shops now. Dive New Zealand Magazine has features on diving in New Zealand and abroad. It is marketed overseas as Dive Pacific.

Articles in this issue:

• Shark cage diving in New Zealand
• Lady Diamantina Bowen
• Diving Tuna-Hastberg’s mine
• Magic touch
• My first ice dive
• The end of the last big chill
• Remember to breathe
• A buyer’s guide to rebreather diving
• Modelling at the extremes
• Boys and battles
• Strobilicous

Dive New Zealand Magazine is available in dive shops and newsagents for $8.50 and is published bi-monthly. You can subscribe online to receive 6 issues a year for $45.50 (posted in New Zealand).

The website of Dive New Zealand magazine is also an interesting resource, well worth surfing.

Filed under: Ali Perkins, Diving New Zealand | No Comments »

As of 5:30pm yesterday AUUC is the proud owner of a new boat!!! This is great news for the club and means that we will once again be able to run our own trips at a very reasonable price for our members. The success of us obtaining the new boat has come from a lot of hard work from committee members – so big thanks to everyone involved. The boat is a 7m Aquapro RIB, with a 130 HP Yamaha. The boat will be going through a series of cosmetic changes over the next few weeks to make it ready for all you diving monkeys.

But we can’t have a new boat without a new name!!! So here is your chance to leave your stamp on the boat.

COMPETITION:

Come up with a name for the new boat and be in to win one days free diving! What an awesome chance to get out on the water for free. All you need to do is email your idea for the new name to boat@akunidive.com before Friday 10th July 2009.

Some direction on what we are looking for:

The old boat’s name was “Sea Degree”. We obviously don’t want to reuse the same name because that would be boring (and because of the horrible memories the name conjures up in some members!). So perhaps some sort of play on words that is humorous and incorporates the fact that we are a University club. All ideas welcome. The shit ones will just be laughed at – at your expense!

Entries close Friday 10th July 2009.

Give it a go, and get on the water for free!!!

Filed under: Club Gear, Club News, Mike | No Comments »

June 14, 2009
Forest & Bird will be watching closely at the start next week of a court case challenging measures to protect endangered Hector’s dolphins.

The Federation of Commercial Fishermen and three regional fishing groups are taking the Ministry of Fisheries and previous Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton to court for protecting endangered Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins.

In a separate development, the Department of Conservation today announced that a Hector’s dolphin was reported killed in a commercial fishing net off the east coast of the South Island on May 8.

Forest & Bird Marine Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says this latest reported death illustrates the need to extend fishing restrictions rather than weaken them. “The death of another Hector’s dolphin in a fishing net demonstrates that current protection measures are inadequate and that fishing still poses a risk to our endangered dolphins.”

Read full article from Forest & Bird.

Filed under: Ali Perkins, Conservation, News/Current Affairs | No Comments »

By Berkley White, Jim Decker

We researched over 100 models and selected the best point & shoot camera and housing options for serious underwater photography on any budget.

The Backscatter team went on a quest to find the holy grail in underwater point & shoot cameras. Sometimes you just want to travel light. If you’re like us, you want a camera that is perfect for a pocket, beach party, and a quick after work dive.

Over a thousand waterproof camera options are now available and many would work well for general water sport activities, however we demand a camera that will also excel in the unique demands of underwater photography. The majority of cameras we screened were either disappointing or just not suitable for an inspiring underwater photographer. We first defined the target user groups and then hashed out a list of our minimum features.

Read article from Backscatter.

Filed under: Ali Perkins, Photography | No Comments »