Marine Wildlife Trust Launched
Launched in Auckland, New Zealand, on 25 January at an event celebrating Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter/Underwater World 25th anniversary, the primary objective of the Trust is the rescue and rehabilitation of sick or injured marine wildlife - and their eventual release back into the wild. Over the past 25 years Kelly Tarlton's has facilitated the rescue, rehabilitation and release of hundreds of marine wildlife. The establishment of the Trust is imperative to ensure this kind of work continues and advances says Mr Horne, CEO of Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Undersea World.
Historical Artefact Raised
The sea anchor was first discovered in Wellington Harbour (New Zealand) in 1995, and believed to be more than a century old. Its origin remains a mystery. The anchor weighs between eight and 10 tonnes, and is 5.1 metres long. 'It's of a style made for a very large battle ship in the 1890s, called the Orlando Class Battle Ships,' said the project manager Malcolm McGregor. It is believed that there was a very large Russian battleship of that class in the Wellington Harbour in the1890s. The lifting of the anchor was the first step in its restoration.
Baby capers thrill dolphin watchers
Dolphin watchers in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty had some of the best encounters with baby dolphins anywhere in the world recently. Dolphin Seafaris skipper Stuart Arnold said he had seen more dolphins and marine life this season than ever before. Some days they have pods of dolphins around them as far as can be seen. 'What makes the Bay of Plenty off Tauranga probably the most unique location is that we get maternity pods, which means lots of babies.' Baby dolphins three or four weeks old put on a show with their mothers - whatever the mothers do, the babies do the same thing.
Keep off Poor Knights or else
New Zealand's Poor Knights marine reserve is 'look but don't touch'. An Auckland couple who clambered on to the Poor Knights Islands may face prosecution by the Department of Conservation (DoC). The department also warns visitors to stop feeding fish or face massive fines. Over the holiday season, the rangers busted 'boaties' flouting the rules in the Whangarei Harbour and Poor Knights marine reserves. The Poor Knights Islands, the Hen and Chickens and Bream Islands are all nature reserves. It is illegal to land on any of them without a permit.
OZTeK '11
Receiving high praise since its inception in 1999 and now widely acclaimed as one of the world's most dynamic diving events, the seventh Australasian Diving Technologies Conference and Exhibition (OZTeK'11)will be held 12-13 March 2011, at Australian Technology Park, in Sydney, Australia. Details will be added to the website during the coming months, but meantime companies and organisations with an interest in exhibiting or individuals with an interest in presenting talks at the conference are invited to contact the organisers. www.diveoztek.com.au
Centaur Identified
Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was positively identified with high definition video footage. Shipwreck hunter David Mearns found the Centaur wreck 48km east of the southern tip of Moreton Island at a depth of 2,059 metres. Mr Mearns positively identified the ship's red cross, a distinctive star on the bow, and a corroded identification number 47.
Rare Stingray
Researchers from Australia's University of Newcastle and the Batemans Marine Park discovered a species of stingray never before seen in Wagonga Inlet. The estuary stingray (Dasyatis fluviorum) has never been recorded further south than Botany Bay and disappeared from the Sydney region by the 1880s. The stingray was discovered using baited underwater video cameras which film marine life attracted to the bait. The estuary stingray have dramatically decreased in number over the past century probably due to the impact of commercial fishing which would have caught the stingray as by catch. The estuary stingray is distinguished by its extra long tail, the white marking along the edge of its body and 'tubercules' or bumps along the top of its body.
Historic Shipwreck Site
Maritime archaeologists made the claim of discovering a ship's cannon embedded in a reef in the Coral Sea off Australia's North Queensland. It is thought to belong to the Cato, which sank in the area after running aground in 1803 en route to India. Kieran Hosty, of the National Maritime Museum, said it was significant to Australia's maritime history. The 450-tonne vessel and HMS Porpoise were both wrecked after hitting an uncharted coral reef 17 August 1803. The two were reported lost by a third ship.
Shark 'Pingers' on Coast by Mid-2010
New acoustic alarms designed to warn whales about shark nets could be fitted on Australia's Gold Coast in time for the whale migration. The alarms have been developed with a stronger frequency known to be audible to whales. Every year dozens of turtles, dugongs, dolphins and rays fall victim to the Gold Coast's shark nets, prompting opponents to call for their removal.
'Swarms' Of Robotic Ocean Explorers
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, were awarded $1 million from the National Science Foundation to develop a new breed of ocean-probing instruments. Scripps researchers Jules Jaffe and Peter Franks will spearhead an effort to design and deploy autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs) to trace fine details of fundamental oceanographic mechanisms.
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