Diver UK – August 2019

(C. Jardin) #1

DIVER NEWS


divEr 16 divErNEt.com


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WO US SCUBA-DIVERSwho
found a barrel in a mountain
lake labelled to indicate that it
contained the notorious Vietnam War
chemical weapon Agent Orange had
their report put aside by health
agencies for 10 months – before a
media outcry spurred the authorities
to take action.
The 450-litre barrel was spotted last
August by Lisa Anderson and William
Lambert, volunteers with Blue
Mountain Divers, an organisation that
searches for objects of historical
interest in US inland waters. They were
diving in Wallowa Lake in Oregon
when they discovered the container
lying in silt at a depth of 25m.
The barrel, which appeared to be
intact, was marked: “Read Label!
Contains 2,4-D or 2,4,5-T Weed Killer”.
Combined, the two defoliants were
the ingredients of Agent Orange,
which was sprayed from helicopters
and aircraft over Vietnam during the
1960s as part of the US military’s
Operation Ranch Hand campaign.
The toxic herbicides are considered
to be carcinogenic and connected to
health problems among millions of
victims who were exposed to them.
They also caused widespread

deforestation in Vietnam.
Aware that Wallowa Lake acts as a
drinking-water reservoir for the 1000
inhabitants of the nearby town of
Joseph, Blue Mountain Divers
reported the discovery of the original
and another similar barrel to the
Oregon Department of Environmental

Quality, and also posted the finds on
social media to alert local residents.
The health department found no
signs of water contamination after
examining earlier routine tests of the
lake. It notified the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), but not until
two months after receiving the divers’

report. It then took the EPA another
five months to contact Blue
Mountain Divers.
When it did so, it learnt that there
could be as many as 12 of the barrels
near a marina in one corner of the
lake. Another 25 smaller 250-litre
barrels, some rusted out, had also
been discovered.
Regional press reports reflecting
Joseph residents’ complaints about
the authorities’ inaction finally appear
to have prompted the EPA to take
action this June. It was reported to
have hired a professional dive-team
to check the site using an ROV, and to
be preparing to have all the barrels
removed by October.
The agency pointed out in its
defence that it gets many reports
from divers of submerged containers,
and lacked the resources to follow
them all up. n

DIVERS ARE BEING ASKEDto back
a campaign to fund a memorial to
British military mine-clearance divers.
“These are often unsung and unseen
heroes who undergo some of the
most arduous military training there
is,” say Paul Guiver and Tony Sexton,
who came up with the initiative.
“On average just 40% make it through
the course.”
The two ex-clearance divers are
members of the Royal Navy Clearance
Divers Association (RNCDA) which,
with the British Army Divers
Association, is behind the project to
recognise the work of military divers
past, present and future.
They plan to erect a 3m bronze
statue of a diver wearing Admiralty
Pattern Siebe Gorman Standard dress
in the grounds of the National
Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas,
Staffordshire – funded by selling 300
miniature bronze versions.
The world wars saw the biggest
period of maritime mining in history,
and clearance divers have worked
ever since to combat the continuing
threat, say Guiver and Sexton, most
recently in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Libya. Units operate permanently in
the Middle East and have provided
an Underwater Force Protection
element since 2001.

To fund the memorial, the RNCDA
commissioned sculptor Greg
Polutanovich to create a 54cm clay
version from which a strictly limited
edition of 300 individually numbered
bronze statuettes would be cast.
More than 120 have already been
sold, each one priced at £2995.
Each 21kg statuette comes on a
black granite base with a numbered
commemorative coin and a piece of
the ceramic mould. The buyer’s name
will be engraved on a plaque on the
base of the full-size Military Diver
Memorial when it is unveiled in 2021.
Owners will be invited to attend the
unveiling and celebratory banquet. Go
to rncda.com/cave-rescue-collection n

Dragon’s TeethHard to love, you might think, yet new research
in Matteron deep-sea dragonfish dentistry proved fascinating. Seems
the unusually crystalline nanostructure of their needle-like gnashers
and black bodies render them virtually invisible to prey. The boffins
are now studying how they can cash in on Nature’s handiwork.

Dead Manta Swimming Cheering news from the
Maldives, where a well-known male reef manta called Babaganoush,
which vanished last year after being apparently fatally cut open by a
speedboat prop, reappeared in Hanifaru Bay looking fit and healthy.

£77 Down Sometimes we read a fresh divErTestsreport just in
and think yes, that might do very well. Would you expect much from
a £77 underwater action-cam? The Akaso EK7000 Pro could surprise.

Halfway ThereMission 2020, the two-year dive-industry
conservation initiative, reached its midway point on World Oceans Day
in June, with 150 organisations (includingdivEr) pledged to reduce
our environmental impact. Will we all make it? See mission2020.org

Beach Parties If you’re a good organiser, why not adopt a
previously ignored beach to clean this year? See p8 and mcsuk.org

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month


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likes...


Authorities chill as divers


report Agent Orange find


What lurks beneath placid Wallowa Lake?

KURT MOHS

In honour of mine-clearance divers

Free download pdf