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Comment on Bay of Islands – letter to home by RWC closes one door, summer opens another « From Gap Year to Gap Uni

RWC closes one door, summer opens another « From Gap Year to Gap Uni — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:14:23 +0000

[...] The weekend of 1st October I was extremely fortunate to go on a small dive trip to the Bay of Islands with two friends from my flats and only two others from the club. As it was a massive weekend for both International and National rugby,I think the Kiwis skipped the trip due to this factor..anyhoo it was an unbelievable trip and to save me writing out a convoluted anecdote, here is the link to a trip report (actually an email that Ali the president sent to her mum) about the trip. Her photos are great too. Highlights of the trip included sitting in the bridge of the shipwreck and swimming with a beautiful seal! http://akunidive.com/2011/10/bay-of-islands-letter-to-home/ [...]

Comment on Underwater Festival 2011 – and the winners are… by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:11:53 +0000

Check out the top 10 video entries from the festival: http://vimeo.com/album/1718011

Comment on Flotsam by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:45:48 +0000

Thanks to Leif Pigott for finding issues from 1992, 1993 and 1994!

Comment on Tawharanui Marine Reserve by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 19:30:29 +0000

Proposed West Coast Marine Protected Areas.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/marine-and-coastal/marine-protected-areas/other-protected-areas/proposed-west-coast-marine-protected-areas/

Comment on Underwater Photographer’s Code of Practice by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:32:23 +0000

Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlands.
http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_nicklen_tales_of_ice_bound_wonderlands.html

Paul Nicklen takes stunning images in challenging conditions. We will never forget his shots of a leopard seal that tried to feed him penguins.

Comment on Sea of trouble by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:13:03 +0000

Vast reserves of vital rare earths found in ocean bed.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20650-vast-reserves-of-vital-rare-earths-found-in-ocean-bed.html

Comment on Health of gulf in danger of collapsing by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:19:19 +0000

Hand-wringing won’t cure marine park’s sickness.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10734668

In 2009, Environment Waikato soil scientist Dr Peter Singleton warned the forum that it was not just the Waikato cows, who en masse, produce the same amount of faecal bacteria as 15 million humans, which were a concern. It was also the explosion in the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers on their pastures. Since 1990, nitrogen use on Waikato farms had increased five-fold.

In the five years to 2009, nitrogen levels in leachates into the gulf catchment had increased 25 per cent.

Dr Singleton added there was a 20- to 30-year delay in nitrates leaching through the ground to the sea and warned of the possibility of a 100sq km oxygen-starved, lifeless anoxic zone stretching out into the gulf.

Comment on Annual whale search encounters first hump by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:52:11 +0000

Cook Strait Whale Survey.
Former whalers have teamed up with Department of Conservation researchers for the Cook Strait Whale Survey. The four-week survey is timed for the peak period for whales migrating north from Antarctic waters to South Pacific breeding grounds. Marine ecologist Nadine Bott is the survey leader. (12’40″)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/20110624

Comment on Big jellyfish swarms a threat to oceans by Graham Harris

Graham Harris — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:10:28 +0000

Blooms (whether of algae or jellyfish) are a response to an imbalance in the ocean system.
I guess they have occurred throughout history- for example when a flash flood washes nutrients down a river into the sea, you will probably get an algal bloom. Certainly blooms of toxic algae were common enough in pre-Columbian America that the native indians would post watchers by the shore to warn inlanders away from consuming shellfish (Rachel Carson, from either “The Sea around us”, 1952 or “The Edge of the Sea”, 1955.

Jellyfish reproduce so fast that they may well be the first consumers on the scene, in very sheltered waters.

Blooms like this are typically followed by busts, where the predator exhausts the prey species and the predator population collapses. If we’re lucky then more mobile, higher-level predators will come in and eat the first lot of predators. I know turtles eat a lot of jellyfish, but I’m not sure what else does. Sharks and tuna don’t sound likely.

If you are already scared of jellyfish you probably should not read http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090130-immortal-jellyfish-swarm_2.html

Comment on Blue Water at Wakulla Springs by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Sun, 15 May 2011 19:37:19 +0000

DiveFilm HD Video has released Rusty Sanoian’s Florida cave and cavern scooter dive video, “Ginnie Springs, Diving with the Devil” as a high-definition podcast on iTunes. The film was shot entirely with a Canon 5DMkII mounted onto a DiveX Cuda scooter. Original soundtrack music is by Jim Decker.

DiveFilm HD Video podcasts are available as FREE downloads on iTunes and are produced in association with Wetpixel.com.