DIVER NEWS
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Sub-RugbyBritish men and women are set to do battle for the
first time at the Underwater Rugby World Championships in Graz,
Austria from 27 July. Looks not unlike certain u/water photo contests!Golden Needle Congratulations to Weymouth & Portland SAC
for recovering a boat-owner’s wedding ring from the silt of Weymouth
Harbour. “Dorset’s Friendliest Dive Club” apparently made it look
easy, though they had anticipated a “needle-in-a-haystack” mission.Trust DeptherapyThe scuba rehab dive-team says it has
become the first volunteer-managed and run charity ever to receive
the “Trusted Charity Mark” from the National Council for Voluntary
Organisations. This honour is usually reserved for bigger charities.The Equator It seems to be where we’ll all be heading in future,
as the part of the world where healthy coral reefs make their last
stand, according to a new scientific study into climate-change effects.
Book early for Indonesia, the Maldives, Kenya and the rest...this month
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MORE EVIDENCEhas emerged that
it’s the killer whale, not the great
white shark, that is the ocean’s apex
predator. When orcas put in an
appearance, white sharks have
learnt to beat a discreet retreat.
New research led by California’s
Monterey Bay Aquarium also
indicates that this fear-factor can
be good news for common prey of
the two predators, elephant seals.
“When confronted by orcas,
white sharks will immediately
vacate their preferred hunting
ground and will not return for up to
a year, even though the orcas are
only passing through,” said lead
author of the study Dr Salvador
Jorgensen, a senior research
scientist at the aquarium.
The researchers analysed four
encounters between the predators
at South-east Farallon Island in the
Greater Farallones National MarineSanctuary off San Francisco, using
data from 165 sharks tagged in the
seven years to 2013, plus 27 years
of seal, orca and shark surveys in
the area. In every case the sharks
fled when orcas arrived and didn’t
return until the following season.
The data also revealed 4-7 times
fewer “predation events” on
elephant seals in the years when
the orcas turned up.
From September to December
white sharks gather at the
Farallones to hunt for young seals,
and typically spend more than a
month circling South-east Farallon.
Orcas also prey on elephant
seals, but showed up only
occasionally at the island. When
they did, instead of the average of
40 shark attacks observed each
season there would be none.
Electronic tags showed that all
the sharks, some as long as 5.5m,When orcas strike
into great white