DIVER NEWS
divEr 12 divErNEt.comRescuers die in two Irish incidents
G
ALWAY-BASEDcave-diver
and rescuer Michal Marek
died on 12 May following an
open-water dive off Malin Head in
Co Donegal, in the north of Ireland.
He was airlifted from a boat in the
early afternoon and flown to
Letterkenny University Hospital,
where he was pronounced dead.
Marek’s death was reported by the
Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (ICRO),
of which he had been a team-
member since 2014.
Originally from Poland, the 36-year-
old diver was a long-term resident of
Ireland, and lived in the city of Galway.
ICRO described Marek as “an avid
explorer filling his life with
underground and underwater
adventures as a caver and cave-diver”.
It said that he had been involved in
significant feats that included the
discovery and exploration of thelongest marine cave in Ireland, Cliff
Cave in Fanore, Co Clare.
He had also continued exploration
begun by the late Artur Koslowski in
Pollatoomery, a cave in Co Mayo, and
managed to get 10m deeper than
Koslowski to set a new Irish cave-
diving depth record of 113m.
ICRO had appointed Marek a core-
team member “in acknowledgement
of the important role he played in,
and skills he brought to, the team”.
It stated that his death represented
“a huge loss to ICRO” and that he
would be missed by all who worked
with him.
Also in Ireland, a diver who had
saved many lives while working as an
officer with the Garda, the Irish police
force, died during a 70m-deep
wreck-dive off Ireland’s south-east
coast on 24 May.
Dave Hearne, described as in his40s, was boat-diving with members of
his club Hook SAC some nine miles off
Hook Head on the Wexford coast at
around midday.
He was reported to have shown
signs of decompression illness during
his ascent, and had to be brought
back to the boat by two fellow-divers.
Attempts to resuscitate Hearne
failed and he had been pronounced
dead by the time he was transferred
by Coast Guard helicopter to hospital
in Waterford. The helicopter, along
with a naval vessel and RNLI lifeboats,
had already been in the area while
searching for a missing fisherman.
Hearne lived in Waterford, was
married with four children and was
described as an experienced diver.
He had been working as a traffic
officer but had received numerous
awards for his own life-saving
achievements during his previouswork with the Garda Water Unit –
including rescuing seven people in
the space of three years.Scottish diver Philip Evans died
on 23 May, after being separated
from his dive-group off the Murcia
coast of south-east Spain.
He had been diving in the
northern part of the Hormigas
Islands marine reserve, 2.5 miles off
the mainland, with Club de Buceo
Islas Hormigas based in Cabo De
Palos near La Manga. He had dived
with the centre regularly before.
Rescue helicopters and vessels
combed the area, with an ROV also
deployed to search the dive-site,
but his body was found at 52m by
police divers two days later.
Evans, 69 was an ex-serviceman
from Balmedie in Aberdeenshire,
and an experienced diver. SHEER NUMBERS of juvenile manta
rays in the waters of Nusa Penida,
a small island off Bali’s south-eastern
coast, suggest that the area could be
a nursery for the threatened species.
Reef mantas (Mobula alfredi) are
present year-round at Nusa Penida,
a Marine Protected Area that is the
subject of a new study by the Marine
Megafauna Foundation (MMF) and
Murdoch University in Australia.
The report is based on evidence
gathered from ID photos submitted
to the mantamatcher.org database
over six years by divers and other
observers, enabling 624 rays to be
identified from almost 6000 sightings.
The scientists say that Manta Bay,
one of the most popular dive-sites, is
predominantly frequented by juvenile
male rays looking for food.
Some rays were as small as 1.5m
across on first sighting, indicating that
the site forms part of a nursery habitat
and foraging ground. Most individualswere sighted repeatedly over years.
“Where manta rays are born and
grow up still baffles us,” says lead
author Elitza Germanov. “It’s really
important for us to know where these
nurseries are. They provide a safe
space for young, vulnerable manta
rays to grow and develop away from
the reach of predators.”
Mature male and female mantas
seemed to prefer Manta Point, a
second dive-site seven miles from
Manta Bay. The rays there were seen
mainly visiting cleaning stations and
engaging in social activity, as well as
courtship display during the mating
season that peaks in May.
Of the 11 main Nusa Penida dive-
sites, Manta Bay and Manta Point are
the most visited by tourist boats.
Mantas are a protected species in
Indonesia, which is ranked second in
the world for manta tourism with an
estimated annual value of US $15m,
but no regulations govern numbers ofboats or interactions. “Large diving
groups and boat-engine noise can
cause chronic stress to these
vulnerable animals,” says Germanov.
The number of boats visiting the
two sites has increased by 60% since
2012, according to the report, peaking
during mating season. It suggestslimiting numbers of vessels allowed at
any one time and making codes of
conduct for diving and snorkelling
with mantas mandatory. Another
option is seasonal closure of Manta
Point during the mating period.
The study has been published in
Frontiers in Marine Science. Bali island Nusa Penida could be manta nursery
Baby manta ray at Nusa Penida.ANDREA MARSHALL / MMFBest of Above & Below Water TravelOcean Giant Encounters, Research, Coral Reefs & Photography
Tel: 01428 620012
Expert hosts include Dr Chris Rohner, Dr Simon Pierce & Dr Clare Prebble
Mafia Island – Madagascar - Komodo – Galapagos – Mexico – Silverbanks – Sri Lanka