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Shark fever reaches new levels with claimed sighting of Bull Shark.

The Shark Trust is surprised at the recent reporting of a supposed sighting of a bull shark by two surfers in Sennen Cove, Cornwall.

Despite the best efforts of global warming it would take a huge expansion in the range of the bull shark to see one in UK waters. The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is a tropical and subtropical species that favours stable water temperatures between 21 and 30 degrees Celsius. The Caribbean or the West African coasts represent the closest populations to the UK.

Identification of any shark through the water column requires a high degree of experience and more so if you are engaged in another activity. Sennen Cove is one of the country’s key sites for basking shark activity and it is far more likely that the shark sighted by the surfers, as with the first ‘mako’ sighting, was a basking shark.

British waters contain an exciting diversity of sharks none of which have been responsible for an attack on beach-goers but it is far from likely that we can add the bull shark to our list of seasonal visitors.

Atlantis Rising - Mythology meets reality in new Cayman Island dive site

One of the greatest mythological cities in history is now the newest dive site in the Cayman Islands. Just off Cayman Brac the city first spoken of by Plato is being assembled by a local artist, creating one of the most exciting new dive options in the world, now offered by Brac Reef Beach Resort (BRBR).

Guided tours to the underwater creation are available Oct. 1 – Nov. 15. “Diving Atlantis” includes 7 night’s accommodation, 6 days of 2 tank dives, all meals, airport ground transfers, taxes and the first opportunity to dive Atlantis. A visit to renowned Bloody Bay Wall is also included. Visit www.bracreef.com for more information.

Plato spoke of the alluvial seaport of Atlantis that the Gods had destroyed when its inhabitants had become corrupt and greedy. Ancient mythology has met with modern day fantasy however in a visioning project by Cayman artist Foots in the waters off Cayman Brac he has begun assembling his vision of the ruins of Atlantis. The 51 year-old artist who recently became a citizen of the Cayman Islands, said he first envisioned the project as a child.

“I've always been fascinated with ruins, history and mythology and this project is a vision in my mind, not from any other drawings or renditions, but simply from my own fantasy – my own expression,” he says. “I am very, very thankful to the local government for allowing me to fulfill my dream, and I hope this will be my legacy – my gift to the world.”

The size and scope of the project are a divers dream. His plans involve over 150,000 lbs of sculptures, which have started to be placed off the north shore of Cayman Brac in a large sandy area, at a dive site called Radar Reef.

Phase one consists of the Archway of Atlantis and the Elders’ Way - - a pathway lined with eleven 5-foot temple columns leading to the Inner Circle of Light, itself an enormous Sundial and base weighing nearly 10,000 lbs. And on schedule for late June to early July this year is the 18 ft tall Pyramid of Atlantis in excess of 40,000 lbs. Nature has starting moving into the Lost City already which Foots says adds to the mystery and mood of the dive site.

“Things are already covered in moss and are getting fleshed out, “ he says. “There are cleaner shrimp everywhere and they in turn will bring other forms of life to the site. There are also an abundance of Sting Rays and Eagle Rays that are in the area,” Foots says.

Brac Reef Beach resort manager Trudy Viers, says she's pleased that the resort will be able to offer its visitors yet another dynamic diving option.

“Foots really had a vision and he's doing a remarkable job and this will provide a very unique and memorable dive - - its a real tribute to Cayman Brac,” she says.

As the sculptures are in about 40 to 50 feet of water, Viers says the dive will be accessible for all certified divers.

“This is a novice dive site so it will be quite accessible,” she says. “On any given day you will see an abundance of marine life – you could see just about anything.”

Brac Reef and Reef Divers II offer guests a choice of 120 dive sites dotting all 26 miles of the Caribbean Sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. World-renowned Bloody Bay Wall, the Russian Frigate wreck dive “MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts” and numerous little-known pristine dive sites of Cayman Brac await.

Other diving highlights at Brac Reef Beach Resort and Reef Divers II include: three boat dives per day, two night dives weekly, PADI, NAUI and SSI instruction, unlimited use of tanks for shore dives (with a buddy), the only full Nitrox station on the island and 80 degree water with unlimited visibility.


Red Tide ‘damaging fish life’ on west coast of Ireland.

An algal bloom called Red Tide continues to be a threat to fish and shellfish in the Galway coastal area.

Satellite images show that the bloom, which began off the Donegal coast in mid June, has now extended to areas of the Galway coast.

In large concentrations Red Tide can lead to the death of shellfish such as Pacific oysters, cockles, crabs and fish that live near the sea-bed, such as plaice.

“Various species of fish and shellfish have been affected by it,” said Kevin Rogers of the Western Fisheries Board. “Word is that it has caused damage to fish life - there were dead fish in Killary Harbour one month ago. However there haven’t been any reports of kills of oysters in the Galway region so far, but the potential for all kinds of shellfish to be affected is there,” he added.

The bloom has lead to major fish and shellfish kills in Dingle Bay this summer, and an absence of prawns along the Donegal Coast. There have been some reports of killings of pacific oysters, cockles and lugworms along the west and northwest coast, according the Marine Institute.

Red Tide, or Karenia Mikimotoi, is a microscopic plankton species which was first identified on the east coast of the US in 1957, with blooms being recorded in various parts of the world during the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was first reported on the Irish coast in 1976 in the South East. The last serious outbreak was in 1995, but the Marine Institute said that marine life mortalities due to Red Tide in 2005 were on a scale not previously seen. The bloom diminishes oxygen supply and is mildly toxic to marine life.

Red Tide is not harmful to humans, although Marine officials have warned the public not to pick or handle wild shellfish in an affected area.

The Marine Institute is continuously monitoring the outbreak and regular updates on Red Tide are available at the Marine Institute website: www.marine.ie.

Diver loses leg in boat incident

A 40-year-old diver is in a stable condition in hospital after losing a leg when he was hit by the propeller of a boat off the Northumberland coast.
The man, who was with a diving club from Leicester, had to have one of his legs amputated at the knee and suffered injuries to his other leg.

The man, who was diving near Seahouses, was flown by air ambulance to Newcastle General Hospital on Saturday afternoon.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch and police are investigating.

Man charged for baiting sharks with fake seal

A Constantia man has been charged with harassing great white sharks in False Bay.

The man, who may not be named until he has pleaded in court, was seen towing a rubber decoy designed to look like a baby seal behind his catamaran, apparently to attract great whites.

Two tour operators working on boats around Seal Island saw the man and alerted Marine and Coastal Management (MCM).

Pat Stacey, chief MCM inspector for False Bay, said he had waited for the man to return to the yacht club in Simon's Town.

'It has a nice bite mark on it'
"He and his son were on board. The guy came off carrying a bag and when I searched it, I found the decoy. It was made of pink rubber and cut out to look like a seal. It was about the same size as a baby seal. It has a nice bite mark on it.

"It is illegal to harass great white sharks, the same as it is illegal to harass whales and dolphins, but there is no distance one is required to stay away from white sharks," Stacey said.

He said MCM had had several complaints recently about people harassing sharks in False Bay.

"Because of the complaints we had to take action against this guy. He claimed he did not know it was illegal.

"The two tour operators who saw the incident said the catamaran had come whizzing past them dragging the decoy and they both saw great whites leaping out of the water trying to get the decoy. I suppose people do this to show their friends the big sharks, or to take photos, I don't know," Stacey said.

Stacey said there were operators licensed to take tourists to see sharks. These operators had to abide by strict permit conditions. In this way, the public could see sharks, but in a controlled manner.

MCM is conducting research on the impact of the shark tourist industry on shark behaviour. The incident happened on August 6.




Tigers in Africa - sure, and Great White's too!!!!

Combine Great White cage diving and free diving (no cage) with Tiger Sharks. This is something divers only dream about, but in South Africa dreams come true!

We have been baiting areas to the south of the main Aliwal Shoal for over the last four years and the success rates have been as follows:

How do they dive with the Tigers?

Option one, which is not their preferred option, is to set up baits on the seabed at 15/17m and then observe the sharks as they come to the baits to feed. As many as 8 tigers at once may be expected but typically two or three are the norm at any one time. The animals tend to arrive around 09h00 and stay until the divers leave the site. The group of no more than 8 divers conducts either one or two dives. The most number of passes (a pass is measured to within 1 metre of the diver) in a single dive is 68 by Betty (a 4.5m female) in 2000.

The most number of continuous days without a tiger sighting whilst working on the bottom is five, although we had a White Shark, Hammerheads, Zambezi and Blacktips to take up the slack during this period.

Option two and the most recommended option is sub surface drifting. Over the last two years (2002/3), we started the surface work a la’ the Great White Shark cage diving, but without a cage, and it has been very successful, other than breaching we are getting all the other behavioural stuff that they get with the Great Whites.

Once we arrive at the dive site we start chumming so as to attract the Tigers and pot out a buoy with the bait. When the first Tigers appear the dive master assesses the situation and if he is of the opinion that the Tigers are going to stay around a while and that they are not aggressive the divers may enter the water. Either you can view the action from the “safety” of the boat, or for non-certified divers, on snorkel, and certified divers can drop down to about 5 meters and follow the action from below. This is a drift dive as the boat, chum and bait is drifting with the wind and surface current, as are the divers at 5 meters. Should the sharks disappear the snorkellers and divers climb back onto the boat and we move to another location and start all over again.

Typical visibility is from 5 to 40m and water temperature between 22 and 28 Celsius depending of the time of year. Daytime temperatures range from 20 to 38 Celsius.

This method has delivered 100% success over the past two years. 2003 offered the best animal interaction year so far. 17 sharks presented themselves. Made up of 3 males and 14 females. The biggest animal was a return female, Marion, at 4.0m. Barbara-Ann arrived back after a year’s absence and was a major player. One of the animals tagged in the 2002 acoustic study (Ashleigh 3.5m pcl) returned and was one of the nine regulars. The longest surface wait at one site was 40 min and the shortest wait was 7 min. 2004 delivered 20 identifiable animals and of these two were males.

So far 2005 has continued with a 100% sighting success per day per dive. We have identified 18 sharks and new ones are entering the area on a weekly basis. One animal has returned from the 2004 tagging study and many new faces have been documented this year.

Join Dive The Big 5 on a three day Great White Encounter and then fly to sub-tropical Durban for 3 days free diving with Tiger Sharks.Contact www.divethebig5.com for more details.


Chepstow Quarry gains New Name, and Management Ethos

Exhibitor Limited are proud to announce that they have expanded their operations with the purchase of The National Diving Centre. With plans to develop the site into one of the UK’s finest diving and activity centres, it is only natural that there has been a name change to reflect this. Please welcome the ‘National Diving & Activity Centre’, www.ndac.co.uk

“For those of you unfamiliar with the NDAC, the quarry offers divers some of the finest inland dive opportunities in the country with depths ranging from 6 metres – 80 metres”, stated Neil Brock, Diving Manager of the NDAC. “Safety is important to us, so we have been liasing closely with RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents www.rospa.org.uk) as we develop the site. We’ve worked hard to make divers aware of the deep water with permanent signage both above and below the water, and this has included painting one of the pontoons bright red, to indicate to divers the deep end of the quarry. Additionally we have ‘30 Metre Rules’ in place to help guide divers to err on the side of safety. These include no diving beyond 30 metres in a semi dry due to water temperature, and no diving beyond 30 metres without a torch or a redundant self carried reserve supply of gas. Naturally we advocate that all divers dive within their qualification limits and experience. We take all safety issues very seriously so we are due to start a tagging trial using pop concert multi-coloured tags shortly.

Exhibitor Limited formally took the reins in February, and we have been delighted with the backing that the new Owners have given us. There are major plans for the 55 acre site including new hotel accommodation, access entrance and road, log cabins and of course more outdoor activities. These include abseiling, zip sliding, and 4x4 Off Road weekends under the guidance of Richard Hopkins. (A revered character on the offroad driving circuit who has competed numerous international events including the Dakar – Paris Race). Incidentally speaking of driving, we are only 2.15 hours drive from the Hammersmith Fly Over in London.

With our Five Year plan just starting I know that we are in for an exciting time at the NDAC. Why not come and see what we are all about. For further details check out www.ndac.co.uk.

Chepstow Quarry

10,000 mm Under the Sea – The Cross Channel Scuba Challenge
World Record Attempt on behalf of Orchid Cancer Appeal

At the end of September, founder and President of men’s cancer charity – the Orchid Cancer Appeal – Colin Osborne, and six other highly experienced scuba divers are aiming to be the first to relay dive the English Channel.

Colin Osborne stated, “Why do the event? For two reasons. Firstly it has never been done before, and whilst it will be cold and the logistics involved are immense, we are not just looking to achieve a World Record. We are looking to help the battle against male cancers, as it is far from won.

Secondly, 2005 is my tenth year in remission. This is not a day I thought I’d see when I was told I had three months to live ten years ago”. Colin nearly lost the fight in 1996 due to his delay in seeking medical attention for a lump. What had begun as testicular cancer (which has a cure rate of over 97% if caught early enough) ended up with his chances of survival being less than 20% and 18 months of debilitating and distressing treatment. Due to the skill and research of his Oncologist – Professor Tim Oliver, and his fantastic team at Bart’s Hospital, Colin’s life was saved. He set up The Orchid Cancer Appeal with Professor Oliver in 1996 and we were the 1st registered charity dedicated to funding research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of male cancers – prostate and testicular – and raising awareness of these potentially fatal diseases.

Colin observed, “the first ever fundraising event I ever undertook for The Orchid Cancer Appeal was a sponsored dive in the lake at Ilford Gold Club to see how many golf balls I could retrieve. This Cross Channel Scuba Challenge may be a bit more challenging than the lake at Ilford, but the reasons are the same, to make everyone more aware of male cancers, so that we can all fight the battle together. We are aiming to dive the week starting 24th September but this is dependent on weather conditions, however we have a six day window of Neap Tides”.

Angus Somerville, Chief Executive of The Orchid Cancer Charity Appeal stated, “Colin’s idea of a Cross Channel Scuba Challenge is characteristic of the approach he has taken to raising the visibility of male cancer, since he founded Orchid back in 1996. It’s novel, exciting, dependent on team effort, and makes people stop and take notice. 10,000 Millimetres Under the Sea (with apologies to Jules Verne) seeks to increase awareness of male cancer and raise funds for the charity’s work into prevention diagnosis and treatment of testicular, prostate and penile cancers. A group of experienced BSAC, IANTD, PADI, TDI and Royal Navy qualified divers will swim at a depth of 10 metres all the way from England to France. This demands technical competence, physical stamina and of course the good old British weather to be kind to us. When they complete this, they will land a place in the record books!

Please take time to support these divers as they attempt the first ever relay dive of the Channel, by buying a raffle ticket, making a donation, or even turning up to wave them off – although, you could do all three! What is great news for divers is that the raffle is a diving one, with a top prize of a week’s holiday for two to the Red Sea. If you can dive, there’s also a dive pack, and if you don’t then you can learn on an Open Water Course courtesy of Longwood Holidays and the Red Sea Diving College. (Conditions apply).

We would like to take this opportunity of thanking our Sponsors, without whom 10,000 mm Under the Sea would still be a dream;

• Vivaldi Potato by Naturally Best (main sponsor)
• Active Scuba
• Charterhouse
• Datum Press
• Goodman Baylis
• IST Proline
• Longwood Holidays
• Mindon Tiling
• Ocean Reef
• PADI
• Royal Navy Diver Training School
• Sport Diver Magazine
• Sea & Sea
• St X Design
• Suunto
• Timunta Sea
• Virgin United

For further details of other great diving raffle prizes or the Orchid Cancer Charity, check out www.orchid-cancer.org.uk “We are hugely delighted that a number of dive shops, inland sites and diving clubs from all agencies have said they will support us by selling these diving raffle tickets. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking everyone who is helping us with this event”, stated Colin Osborne.

New UK management for Tasik Ria Resort, Manado

Eco Divers has appointed new UK managers to run their dive centre at Tasik Ria Resort, Manado.

Steve and Janet Prior, Course Director and Staff Instructor respectively, have been involved in the diving industry for over 18 years. For the past four years, they have been conducting Instructor Development courses for UK dive centres as well as teaching instructor level training in Specialties and Emergency First Response.

As founder of Chelmsford–based Adventures in Diving, which Steve took to a five star IDC centre, and as manager of Emperor Divers in Hurghada, Steve is highly qualified to understand, and deliver, just what a diver wants from their holiday.

“Janet and I work well as a team and our satisfaction comes from being good at what we do. Dive centres find our enthusiasm for the sport is infectious and leaves divers with a real feel-good factor,” said Steve.

Steve and Janet have dived in many places around the world and have logged more dives than either can remember! Manado, though, is different, with lots of everything from small Macro stuff to large pelagics and the incredible sights to be enjoyed with muck diving.

The couple are passionate about their sport and thoroughly enjoy teaching and guiding all levels of diver and educating them to enjoy and respect what nature has provided with Speciality Courses being a particular interest.

“We don't do bravado. We don't do daring. We don't do ‘let’s see how deep we can go’. We don't do ‘let's kill the fish by feeding them’. What we do well is observe and instil excitement about the fascinating, and often strange, habits of the fish that are right in front of us on every dive. Whilst we take our role as instructors seriously, we are always light-hearted and enthusiastic about our diving,” explained Janet.

Their philosophy can be summed up by Steve’s favourite Latin phrase, ‘docendo discimus’, which means ‘by teaching, we learn’!

For full information go to www.eco-divers.com.

The ‘Aberdeen connection’ makes Scapa Flow Long Weekends accessible to all divers

Divers seeking an alternative Scottish Weekend will be delighted to hear that North Link Ferries have made the option of a long weekend in Scapa Flow viable. Traditionally Scapa Flow diving has been a week’s event. After receiving many requests from loyal divers who use the Aberdeen connection, John Thornton has launched four day ‘long weekend’ charters on the Karin. This is proving popular with the latest invaders of Scapa Flow.

“We’ve noticed that with more demands on leisure time, more of our divers are giving Scrabster a miss and driving straight to Aberdeen instead”, stated John Thornton, Skipper of the Karin. “Having talked to them, it does make sense because of the distance and time saved. You can drive from Birmingham to Aberdeen in 7.5 hours and for divers north of the Border, Glasgow is 3.15 hours and Edinburgh a mere 1.5 hour drive, so divers are laughing at the reduced travelling times. We’ve found that the Thursday night sailing at 17:00 from Aberdeen on North Link Ferries www.northlinkferries.com is proving especially popular with divers, as they are in Kirkwall by 23:00. This means that on Friday you go diving”.

The beauty of the Karin is that it is driven by a man who has been sailing and diving the Orcadian waters for over twenty years. In fact John also teaches diving, making him one of the most experienced and qualified Skippers to work Scapa. Therefore on the Karin divers get all the important things in life, like big wide benches to kit up on, a range of exotic gases on tap which are blended to a ‘T’, slack when it should be (more or less), a good Scottish Breakfast (when requested), and a skipper who understands what divers need.

“I’m very lucky that I’ve a consistent, loyal customer base that keeps on coming back because they know what they are going to get, so I do a lot of day charters and liveaboards. Obviously”, John grinned, “there is more flexibility with a liveaboard, for instance on the four day charters we can sleep over at Long Hope or Burray. But that is where the beauty of the Flow comes into it’s own. Where else can you find Blockships, Cruisers and Battleships right on your door step, and it doesn’t really matter too much what the weather is doing. With it being so protected you can get out diving pretty much all year around up here”.

John’s experience of leading expeditions as far afield as Singapore has given him a huge insight into trip planning. “We want everyone to have a good time and one of the better ways of ensuring this is prior planning. When divers are not sure of something, the best thing they can do is hop onto the website (www.scapaflow.com) and drop me a line. We can organise B&B’s, tanks, equipment hire, nitrox, trimix, an onboard cook, and of course training. Please get in touch if you have any questions”.

The Thursday sailings from Aberdeen now mean that a long weekend in Scapa is easily achievable for all divers. For those of you who have not yet experienced the magic of The Great Harbour, a four day long weekend charter (sailing from Aberdeen) is a perfect way to introduce you to the renowned wrecks and legendary landscapes that is Scapa Flow.

Images from Scapa Flow (c) Ian Potten

UK wreck diver missing off Dorset coast

The UK Coastguard has deployed a helicopter and boats to search for a scuba diver who went missing off the Dorset coast on the 5th August.

The missing diver, a 48-year-old female, was scuba diving with Divers Down on the wreck of the Kyarra.

The Divers Down crew called the UK Coastguard after the victim's buddy surfaced and alerted them of a missing diver emergency. In addition to Coastguard helicopters and boats, the Swanage-based dive boat "Killer Prawn", police and privately owned vessels joined in the search. Divers also searched the wreck site.

Despite fair weather, searchers have found no trace of the missing diver.

Gentle giants swimming into danger

Scientists monitoring the movement of whale sharks from Western Australia's Ningaloo reef, off the state's north-west, say the giant fish often swim into areas where they are in danger of being slaughtered for their fins.

Scientists from the CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) began tagging six whale sharks in May and have been tracking their movements over the Internet.

One of the sharks has already reached Jakarta while others have headed off into the Indian Ocean.

All are still alive but AIMS scientist Dr Mark Meakin says they are swimming into danger.

"Whale shark flesh is the world's most expensive shark product that you can buy," Dr Meakin said.

"It's expensive because people in places like Taiwan have a particular liking for it. "

Dr Meakin says most of the sharks headed off quickly after being tagged.

"One's been hanging around the bottom of Java in Indonesian waters for about a couple of weeks," he said.

"A couple of others have swum up towards Christmas Island now seem to be headed out, out into the open Indian ocean somewhere.

"A couple of other sharks on the other hand seem to be quite happy at Ningaloo and have only just left there after we tagged them a couple of months ago in May."

Dr Meakin says the satellite tags are yielding new information about the shark's behaviour.

"They not only give the shark's position, they also tell you about the water temperature it's been swimming in and the depth it's been diving to," Dr Meakin said.

"Now these sharks are pretty champion divers. Some of them are getting over a kilometre down into the inky blue and cold water. What they're doing down there we have absolutely no idea."

New PC scuba diving game!

Biart Company informs of development of the most trustworthy diving simulator 'Diver: Deep Water Adventures'. Click all screenshots to enlarge.

The depths of world ocean have been always attracting a man, as if embraces of a fatal beauty. Thousands dare-devils sent on a meeting to adventures. Attracted by treasures of the sunken ships, the mysterious nature, and the legends.

In the game you should plunge into underwater life and accomplish the enormous quantity of unforgettable tasks. Nevertheless, to earn for living with diving, you'll be able just after graduating from the courses and becoming the professional diver. Special attention in game is given to the reality. Any underwater mission represents a real place and event. For example, in one task you will have to moor in passage Kattegat for searching and rising of the documents from the sunken submarine of the Second World War.

Game is positioned as trustworthy diving simulator which will be interesting not only for fans of immersion to the depths of the seas and the ocean, but also for the people who have little in common with this pastime.

Features:

  • Complex diving simulator
  • Mix of strategy / action
  • Dive worldwide
  • 2 types of game: arcade and simulator
  • System of training and video courses
  • Opportunity of research of the real sunken ships
  • More than 15 real dive-sites
  • Unlimited number of locations
  • Real equipment
  • Treasures lifting
  • Hunting for huge sea predators
  • Clever and heartless competitors
  • Opportunity of an underwater photo
  • Night and day time diving

Appearance of the project on PC is planned for the end of 2005. Click here to view the website. We hope to review this software as soon as it is available.

 

South Florida Scientists Create Shark Repellent

Dr. Sonny Gruber, a University of Miami shark expert, heads up World Class Research in Bimini, Bahamas. His research team has proven that sharks hate or fear the smell of rotting shark carcass.

"And so we have been extracting certain chemicals out of these dead carcasses, purifying them and testing them on those Caribbean reef sharks," Gruber said. "And it worked. It worked very well."

Research video shows sleeping baby sharks thrash wildly after they're given a whiff of shark repellent. And bigger sharks blasted with repellent quickly flee.

The U.S. Navy wanted a repellent because sharks were chewing submarine equipment.

But with shark attacks back in the news this summer, the company marketing the repellent says it could be available as something lifeguards can throw in the water during an attack.

Eventually, they hope to make a bracelet for swimmers and divers -- maybe even a sun block mixed with shark repellent.

Shark repellent could be popular in protecting humans from sharks. But also, researchers say a repellent could save thousands of sharks at a time when shark populations are plummeting.

Studies show about 100 million sharks are killed every year, often by fishermen who are after tuna or swordfish but accidentally catch sharks instead.

Gruber says if fishermen put the shark repellent on the bait, the tuna and swordfish won't care, but sharks will stay away.

"If I can protect those baits from sharks biting them, but the fish bite them, then I can save 40 to 50,000 sharks a day," Gruber said. "That is what I'm all about with these shark repellents."

Gruber's scientists are testing the shark repellent around the clock. They soak some yellow sponges with the repellent and place the sponges on hooks. The bait attracts other fish but not sharks. On a hook without the repellents, Gruber's team reeled in a small shark and quickly released it.

The process is repeated many times because Gruber says there's no room for error when creating a shark repellent to protect humans and sharks. The shark repellent could be on the market as early as next year.

Diver breaks world record without realising

A scuba diver from Borehamwood has broken the world record for the longest ever open water dive, by staying underwater for more than 24 hours.

Diving instructor Will Goodman, 28, from Stapleton Road, broke the record just off the coast of Bali, Indonesia, while training for his ultimate goal of spending an entire week underwater, which he is planning to do next month.

But, as he emerged from the sea in Gili Trawangan on Monday last week, he was greeted by hundreds of cheering locals waving banners and screaming in the streets, and local television crews.

"I couldn't believe it. I came up and there were children screaming my name and press everywhere," he said.

"It was all very surreal and I was understandably very disorientated but the adrenalin was amazing."

When Will was under the water, he played games such as hangman and poker with other divers, read a book of short stories and managed to consume boiled eggs, potatoes, bananas and energy drinks — all of which were pushed through plastic straws.

"It wasn't easy," he said. "At one point, I got so cold, I had four people hanging onto each limb to warm me up and had to get some special massages while I was under there. I was in a semi-dry wet suit so the freezing cold water was touching every limb.

"I had to cover my entire body with vaseline before I went in to fend off any extreme wrinkling and protect my skin."

In order to qualify for the Guinness world record, Will had to stay at least ten meters below the surface at all times and none of his equipment was allowed to touch the surface of the sea.

"I managed to doze off for ten minutes here and there but didn't get any proper sleep.

"I had a brilliant support crew who were with me every step of the way and I just can't wait to do the full week. I have a lot more training to do but hopefully I can get my name in the record books twice this year, which will be amazing."

News archives :

July 22nd to Aug 9th2005.
May 22nd to July 21st 2005.
May 1st to May 21st 2005.
April 3rd to April 30th 2005.
March 1st to April 2nd 2005.
January 30th to February 27th 2005.
January 7th to January 30th 2005.
December 8th to January 7th 2004.
November 24th to December 8th 2004.
November 1st to November 24th 2004.
October 19th to October 31st 2004.
October 6th to October 19th 2004.
September 27th to October 6th 2004
September 13th to September 26th 2004.
August 28th to September 13th 2004.
August 11th to 27th 2004.
August 6th to 11th 2004.
August 1st to 5th 2004.
July 2004.
June 2004.

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