General Discussion

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A huge swath of stunning corals on one of the most popular and profitable reefs in Palm Beach County has been shaved from the ocean floor - a crime almost impossible to solve and repair.

Capt. Van Blakeman of the Riviera Beach dive boat Narcosis learned of the damage from his dive guides on Oct. 28. Blakeman assumed it was just another reckless boater who dragged an anchor across the reef.

"You need to see this," Blakeman recalled his guides saying.

Has anyone else noticed a huge increase in Sharp nose puffers? We cover about 18 miles of coastline from the Mexico Belize border and north and in every dive site there is a huge number of these puffers. Nearly every other fish you see here now is a puffer. Anyone else seen this?

Steve

Images: 

There are only a few days left in the public comment period for the
Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary's management plan review
process. The comment period ends on Friday, November 14, 2008.

Please consider submitting comments similar to:

That
portion of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary within the
Strait of Juan De Fuca is the only portion of the Sanctuary that is
easily accessible by scuba divers. This is one of the few places in all

Just got my November issue in the mail today, and on pages 88-92 is a nice, detailed article about REEF! However, as most articles on Dive Training and other dive publications go, there's no mention of the surveying and AAT projects that go on out on the West Coast and Pacific NW. All just warm water stuff...but it's better than nothing!

- Janna

HI All!

REEF is working with NOAA and the USGS on a field guide to non-native
species in Florida and we are having trouble finding good images for
the brownbanded bambooshark (Chiloscyllium punctatutum). 
These sharks are native to the Indo-Asian Pacific, but have been
sighted in SE Florida.  We are looking for both adult and juvenile
images as these lifestages look quite different.

Not so long ago on a night dive I followed a spotted Moray Eel hunting along the seafloor, the eel came at a stop not far from where a smaller spotted moray was hiding inside some wreckage pieces. The question raised of course was if a spotted moray eel would eat another moray eel and every time the bigger eel made an attempt to get in the smaller would block the entrance by opening it's mouth. I thought I would never get the answer as the divers I was guiding came to have a look at what was going on and disturbed the bigger eel.

HI ALL,

I just want to u guys your opinion if a under water hotel will be build at sipadan island's water,what do you think?

i know it sounds like destroying the corals there,but what if the under water hotel will be build not until the seabeds but perhaps 10m-30m from the surface?

i hope u guys can give me your opinion on this and if you agree with have some ideas to contribute towards this under water hotel development,PLS KINDLY POST IT AND LET ME KNOW!

 THERE'S A NEW PET STORE OPENING IN GREEN BAY. THEY WILL HAVE SALTWATER, FRESHWATER, REPTILES, SMALL ANIMALS, BIRDS AND SUPPLIES. BOTH THE GIRLS THAT ARE RUNNING THE STORE ARE VERY EXPERIENCED WITH SALTWATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!