Last night, Hvalur 8 and 9, two whaling vessels owned by millionaire entrepreneur Kristjan Loftsson, left Reykjavik harbour in Iceland, bound on a north-westerly course for the open Atlantic. Hvalur 8 was last logged at 64 degrees latitude, 23 degrees longitude, seven hours ago, before it went out of range of commercially available data. Together with its sister ship, its mission is to resume the harpooning and killing of fin whales, the second largest animal (after the blue whale) on earth.

For two years Iceland’s fin whale hunt has been suspended – but only because the economic market for whale meat, Japan, was suffering the after-effects of its cataclysmic earthquake...

You’ve likely never heard of Danajon Bank in the Philippines, but this double barrier reef — one of only six in the world — has been called the “center of the center” of marine biodiversity in the Pacific. It’s also one of the most threatened reefs on Earth.

Danajon Bank is beset by climate change, overfishing, overdevelopment, pollution, and damaging fishing practices. The region’s fishermen rely on inexpensive, microfilament netting to make a living. And when these nets become unusable, the fishermen typically burn or toss them overboard. The remnant netting, of course, continues to catch fish and other wildlife as it drifts beneath the surface, and it can cause considerable damage to delicate coral reefs...

It’s no secret that London retailer Selfridges is passionate about marine conservation. For three years running, Project Ocean, the department store’s retail activism campaign has been reaching out worldwide raising awareness, helping consumers change habits, and rallying support around important issues impacting our seas.

This year at Selfridges, World Oceans Day (8 June) is all about sharks. The World’s Best Department Store is using its creative powers to help expose a dramatic threat to these important and often misunderstood creatures. In true Selfridges style it is exploding with shark themed windows, exhibitions, videos and 3D installations, telling the shark story to the millions of customers who visit the store and browse on Selfridges.com each week.

But a shark take-over in...

A foreign commercial vessel loaded with more than 1,600 pieces of lumber ran aground off Maripipi Island in Biliran province on Thursday night.

The Japan-bound MV Unicorn Logger, with a crew of 18 headed by Capt. Nguyen Anh Tuan, ran aground on Sambawan Islet at around 7:10 p.m., Maripipi town local government operations head Ritchie Peñaflor said in a phone interview. The 5,691-ton Panama-registered vessel was loaded with 1,607 pieces of lumber weighing 836.06 metric tons, Peñaflor said.

He identified the vessel’s operator as Wisdom Marine Lines, based in Panama. The vessel departed from Sandakan, Malaysia, on June 11 around 9 a.m. and was sailing to Japan when it ran aground on Sambawan islet off the island town of Maripipi.

Reef damage

The vessel hit about 270 square meters of cor...

The famous shadow reef – a cleaning station for big fish! Dropped onto the reef and immediately saw a Manta. It came in and swooped twice to pick its spot but too many divers chased it off.

I really wish people would be considerate – not of other divers but of the magnificent animal’s habit. It went away. Finned along reef left shoulder. Lovely hard and soft corals. Huge shoal of fusileers and top of the reef. Counted 3 large groupers over 30 mins at between 10 and 20m. Nice white tip reef shark under table coral.

Really nice dive!

At Aquanauts we are not just a dive training centre, we also have an active social life based around our Dive Club. Filled with members from all walks of life and all age groups, we dive together and welcome new comers. With monthly club meetings and events, we also run non diving activities ranging from expert talks to haunted walks. Our club meets once a month for these activities. We also organise regular shore and boat dives as well as ganging up with our Conservation and Archaeology team to get involved with local causes.

If you still haven’t had enough of us our club also ventures far away for exotic holidays to places such as the Red Sea, Gozo and North Cornwall. So not only can you join us in the water you can also top up your tans with us.

Taking a dive course or learning to d...

Scuba Nation is Cambodia’s first PADI 5 Star National Geographic Dive Centre and a dynamic dive company with the highest qualified and most experienced male and female Instructors in Cambodia. Join us on Cambodia’s only liveaboard dive boat or take a comfortable day trip with full on-board facilities.

As the longest established Dive Centre in Cambodia, we suit the needs of all divers, young or old, new or experienced, foreign or local. Fully PADI certified and Insured we can take you out for a memorable first or thousandth dive in Cambodia’s untouched and crystal clear waters.

Scuba Nation is Cambodia’s premier diving provider, safely satisfying the scuba diving needs of tourists, ex-patriots, embassy personnel and locals over the last 8 years...

Voted Best Dive Operator in the BVI!

Come Dive the Fabulous “Blue Water” of the British Virgin Islands! Let Blue Water Divers BVI make your scuba diving vacation a truly memorable experience!

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Click here to watch what it’s like to dive with Blue Water Divers

Scuba & Snorkeling Equipment Rentals

Scuba equipment is available for rent to certified divers who wish to take tanks along with them on their charter boat. Contact us ahead of time to have your scuba gear ready and waiting for you.
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P.A.D.I. Scuba Diving Certification

Those wishing to learn to scuba dive in a tropical paradise have come to the right place! Learn to dive at a number of prime, BVI dive sites!
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Welcome to Sydney’s friendliest and most active Scuba Diving training centre. Frog Dive Scuba Diving Centre has been conducting scuba diving lessons, advanced diver training and technical diver training since 1978. Due to our very popular “learn to Scuba dive” courses, we are one very few dive groups in Australia with a purpose built Scuba diver training pool at our Scuba Diving Centre.

At Frog Dive you will enjoy:

• Scuba Diving Lessonsto fit your busy schedule
• The Frog Dive Team, Sydney’s biggest and busiest Scuba dive club
• Frog Dive Team FREE shore dives
• The most active overseas dive calendar in Australia
• Omega II, a 7m rigid hull inflatable dive boat operating out of Sydney for your Scuba diving Trip pleasure every weekend
• Friendly advice

It is easy to learn to scuba dive in...

Scientists say they have solved the mystery of one of the most extreme adaptations in the animal kingdom: how marine mammals store enough oxygen to hold their breath for up to an hour.

The team studied myoglobin, an oxygen-storing protein in mammals’ muscles and found that, in whales and seals, it has special “non-stick” properties.

This allowed the animals to pack huge amounts of oxygen into their muscles without “clogging them up”.

The findings are published in Science.

Dr Michael Berenbrink from the Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool took part in the study.

He said that scientists had long wondered how marine mammals managed to pack so much of this vital protein into their bodies.

“At high enough concentrations, [proteins] tend to stick together, so we tried...