I did my first trial dive on the Great Barrier Reef during a vacation on Magnetic Island in Queensland, Australia.
Courtesy of Pink Tank Scuba
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Author Kathryn Curzon
Kathryn Curzon
Kathryn has lived in the UK, Egypt, South Africa and New Zealand and is a trained scuba diving instructor and Great White shark safari guide. She is the author of No Damage (December 2014), the Managing Editor of The Scuba News New Zealand, a freelance writer, public speaker and co-founder of the marine conservation cause Friends for Sharks (August 2014). In 2015 she organised and completed a 10-month global speaking tour in aid of shark conservation: 87 events, 8 countries, 7000 people. Learn more about Kathryn’s book, No Damage at: http://www.kathrynhodgsonauthor.com/books/no-damage/
There was a time when putting my face underwater brought on panic attacks and the feeling I would die, which is why I decided to train as a scuba instructor. Go big right?! As Mark Twain so elegantly put it… ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the one you did do. So, throw off the bowline. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’ I certainly threw off my bowline and dug deep, and frankly, I scared the life out of myself for the next three…
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With a growing media focus on the plight of our oceans, it is easier than ever to learn about marine conservation issues and get involved. There are many dedicated organizations out there, from worldwide charities to smaller, community-based initiatives. No matter what your preference or ability, there is a way to pitch in and help. Here are our picks for five top shark charities that working to preserve our oceans.
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Jacques do Vos is an underwater photographer who regularly gets into the water with these magnificent creatures, most recently in Norway. Enjoy the stunning video of his experiences above.
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A group of Australian divers are changing the world of tankless diving by introducing the AirBuddy. This portable system offers up to 45 minutes of dive time for one diver up to 12 metres of depth and is both lightweight and small; consisting of just a battery-powered air compressor, a regulator and hose. The 12-volt battery takes 3.5 hours to charge using a standard electrical socket.
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A Spanish biologist and amateur beekeeper, Federica Bertocchini, has discovered a plastic-eating caterpillar that could be the solution to global plastic pollution. The caterpillar’s ability to consume plastic was accidentally discovered during routine bee hive maintenance and it’s has since been studied by Bertocchini and her peers at the University of Cambridge. Their findings have been published in Current Biology in April 2017.
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Image Courtesy of Nick Curzon
Greenpeace dumped a 2.5 tonne ocean plastic sculpture outside Coca-Cola’s headquarters in London during April 2017. The sculpture, made from sand and waste Coca-Cola bottles, was created in protest of the company’s role in ocean plastic pollution.
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China’s largest airline, China Southern, has banned the carriage of shark fin on all its cargo and passenger flights.
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A Virgin StartUp-backed company, ARC Marine, is creating an artificial reef at premier UK diving site Vobster Quay in 2017. They aim to protect the globally endangered white-clawed crayfish, which is threatened with extinction in the next twenty to thirty years.
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Image by Kathryn Curzon
Researchers working in Queensland, Australia have discovered humpback whales breach to communicate with other pods of whales over 4 km (2.5 miles) apart. Wanting to know why these whales breach when migrating, researchers observed 94 different groups of whales during their migration to Antarctica. Their findings were published in Marine Mammal Science in November 2016.
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