Eco

While some people worry that fish populations are being exploited at a dangerous pace, others are rejoicing at the small successes that are occurring. In Australia, for example, the red throat emperor has made a spectacular comeback in recent years. Once heavily overfished, the fish seem to have rebounded. Why?

The general consensus is that reef closures, high winds, and high fuel prices have all kept fisherman away, giving time for this species to revive. Moreover, it appears that the fish mature early and hide in deep water (or some other fisherman-unfriendly location) until they're much older, giving them ample ...

Some of Australia's beaches are protected by shark nets strung along the coast. These nets are intended to keep "dangerous" sharks away from beach-goers, but they frequently ensnare other marine creatures by accident. Peter Reimann, a scuba diver with SurfWatch, a volunteer organization that monitors the coastline for marine animals caught in nets, claims he's getting used to seeing marine life tangled in the nets. He believes contractors are not erecting the nets properly, allowing them to drag on the ocean floor and catch creatures that should be able to go beneath them, like eagle rays, Port Jackson sharks, and ...
This weekend, my wife, dog and I went for a walk on the beach.

Although there weren't many people there, the beach was filled with Portuguese Man of Wars, also known as blue bottle jellyfish. Last week, lifeguards were flying the purple warning flags, indicating the sea was filled with the creatures. Evidently, during the week, many washed ashore and died in the wrack line.

On the other hand, many Man of Wars were just sitting in the middle of the sand.The Portuguese Man of War is a jellyfish made up of many zooids. In other words, the Man of War ...
While cruising down the beach looking at the man of wars, we noticed a seagull on the beach that seemed unable to fly. Noting that it had something reflective on its flank, we decided to approach it and see if we could help. We were shocked to see a giant fishing lure attached to the poor bird.
The lure had three barbed hooks on it. Two of the hooks had lodged in the right wing of the gull, and apparently, as it had tried to remove the lure, a third hook had caught on the bird's nares, literally joining its wing ...
About a year ago, researchers discovered that two kinds of octopuses were able to use two of their arms to walk around the sea floor. One of the species, Abdopus aculeatus, is shown walking over rugged terrain in today's Dive Video of the Day. It's very cool -- and only 8 seconds long, so watch ...
Beginners / Experts

Much like scientists can read the rings of trees to determine climate changes that tree has endured, researchers can "read" coral. For example, by analyzing the coral's strontium-calcium ratio, scientists can measure how much rain fell as much as 6500 years ago. In a recent study, in fact, researchers with ...

Health
Recently, we told you about blue bottle jellyfish -- a.k.a., Portuguese Man-of-Wars -- washing up on Florida's beaches. This weekend, more than 160 beach-goers in southern Australia were stung after the jellies washed ashore on seven different beaches.

According to Gold Coast Duty Officer Kevin Dunn, "They are an amazing little ...
Learning
How do you donate air? There's more than one way to do it. That random dive buddy you ended up with at the boat dock might do something unexpected in an out of air situation. SCUBA Theory is back again. Today, it's all about sharing air.
How do you share? Divers naturally share air ...
Organizations
Researchers in Madagascar recently concluded that closing marine areas to fishing for even short periods of time can significantly restore depleted fish stocks. The researchers found that after an area off the coast of the island was closed to fishermen for seven months, the number of octopuses caught later rose ...