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The 2020 edition of DEMA Show turned out to be a sinker

DEMA Show 2020 … what a bellyflop!

This review comes on the coat tails of the other virtual dive show, Scuba.Digital, which we attended a few weeks prior and the conclusions are just about the same; The conference component in which attendees can listen into a range of webinar-style presentations worked reasonably well.

The rest of it, however, such as networking activities which is an essential part and, to entities like ourselves, the most important aspect of taking part in dive shows, absolutely did not.

Branding Videos & Digital Media Marketing

Social media and influencer promotion is becoming a larger part of the digital marketing mix each year.

Branding videos, sponsored posts, social media marketing... confused? We interviewed digital media marketing consultant and underwater photographer Brent Durand to get the scoop on what these services are and how they can benefit your dive business and increase your sales.

Palaeontologist and PhD student James Rule inspects the fossil skull of the newly identified monk seal species.
Palaeontologist and PhD student James Rule inspects the fossil skull of the newly identified monk seal species.

Discovery of seal fossils leads to new revelations

The discovery of the extinct monk seal species came about after an international team of biologists examined seven fossil specimens (including a complete skull) found on south Taranaki beaches in New Zealand between 2009 and 2016.

Named Eomonachus belegaerensis, the new species was about 2.5m long and weighed around 200 to 250kg. It is believed to have lived in the waters around New Zealand three million years ago.

Coral larvae being collected at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. This allows researchers to enumerate the number of baby corals settling on a reef.

Corals seek cooler pastures in subtropical waters

Coral reefs have been seeking new pastures, as rising temperatures heat up their natural habitats.

Over the last four decades, coral reefs have been progressively shifting their homes from equatorial waters to more temperate regions.

The reason? Climate change.

“Climate change seems to be redistributing coral reefs, the same way it is shifting many other marine species,” said Nichole Price, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and lead author of the paper on the topic.

Failure to ensure that a roving patrol was maintained allowed a fire of unknown cause to grow and ultimately consume the vessel

Last Year’s Deadly Fire Accident Aboard The Conception Dive Boat Has Consequences For All

In September 2019, off the coast of California, a fire aboard the MV Conception, a 23-meter (75-foot) scuba diving liveaboard, broke out during the night, killing 33 passengers and one crew member. The captain and four crew members barely escaped. After more than a year of speculations and rumors, the NTSB (the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board) published the results of its investigation and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a new policy on a few topics, including the charging of lithium-ion batteries aboard small vessels and liveaboards.

Appeal to Shark Lovers!

The paper presents the reasons why large predators of great ecological importance cannot supply the rising demand for shark fins, which is driven by profits that rival the drug trade and involves the fisheries of nations around the globe. They have essentially run out of fish so are targeting sharks now that the shark fin trade has made them valuable.

This pair of epaulettes was discovered in its box, within what is believed to be the 3rd Lieutenant’s Cabin, on the lower deck.

Artifacts recovered from the HMS ‘Erebus’ Shipwreck

In one of the largest, most complex underwater archeological undertakings in Canadian history, Parks Canada and Inuit are working in collaboration to explore the wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror―the storied ships of the 1845 Franklin Expedition that set sail from England on a quest to find the sea route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific through the Arctic Ocean―across what is now Canada's Arctic and Nunavut.

The staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) is a branching, stony coral with cylindrical branches ranging from a few centimetres to over two metres in length and height.

Coral restoration projects show promise in Florida Keys

Reef-building staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) was abundant and widespread throughout the Caribbean and Florida until the late 1970s.  The fast-growing coral formed dense thickets in forereef, backreef, and patch-reef environments to depths over 20 m.