Scuba Divers Rescue 30-Ton Humpback Whale Trapped in Fishing Nets

Dramatic video off the beach resort of Los Cabos, as three Mexican Navy divers teamed up with three local divers to free a tangled humpback whale.


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"The whale had a net attached to its tail. We went to provide support and discovered civilians were also helping out," said naval officer Santos Guzman.

The navy cordoned off the area and a team of six divers - three locals and three navy divers - used ropes and hooks attached to three buoys to hold the whale in place while they tried to unravel and cut the netting.

After about 30 minutes, during which time one of the divers also became entangled in the net, the whale was freed.

"She (the whale) was stressed. She was throwing her tail about and was moving quite a lot. You could tell she was asking for help," said diver Marco Morales.

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The Inspirational Jacques Cousteau

If this video doesn't make your heart race, we're not sure what will.


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The Magic and Horrors of Encounters at Sea

An awe-inspiring, tragic, must-see presentation by Brian Skerry.


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Visit Brian on the Web at www.brianskerry.com

Beluga Whales Meet Divers at Arctic Rehab Farm

Oh my. It doesn't get much colder or more beautiful than this.

They don’t get visitors in these parts that often.

That’s because these beluga whales live under three feet of ice in the freezing waters of northern Russia’s White Sea.

But when some underwater photographers arrived, they certainly weren’t shy - as these stunning images show. The whales are not endangered but under threat from pollution and loss of habitat.

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We don't know about you, but these photos give us the chills.



And there's more where that came from. Be sure to read the entire article.

Beluga Whale Saves Drowning Diver

This story has certainly made a splash in the underwater community, with good reason.

A beluga whale saved a drowning diver by hoisting her to the surface, carrying her leg in its mouth.

Terrified Yang Yun thought she was going to die when her legs were paralysed by crippling cramps in arctic temperatures.

She had been taking part in a free diving contest WITHOUT any breathing equipment.

Competitors had to sink to the bottom of an aquarium's 20ft arctic pool and stay there for as long as possible amid the beluga whales at Polar Land in Harbin, north east China.

But when Yun, 26, tried to head to the surface she struggled to move her legs.

Lucky Yun said: "I began to choke and sank even lower and I thought that was it for me - I was dead. Until I felt this incredible force under me driving me to the surface."

Beluga whale Mila had spotted her difficulties and using her sensitive dolphin-like nose guided Yun safely to the surface.

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A heart-warming story, to be sure. But surprising? Our friend David Ulloa had an interesting question for readers when he posted the story via Facebook:

This story is incredible - yes, but is it that remarkable to find that animals are intelligent, perceptive and look for opportunities to help others?

Aerial Escape

From Daily Mail:

With the predator lurking close behind, the intended prey takes flight - quite literally.

This flying stingray was trying to avoid the attentions of the aptly-named killer whale, which was ready to take a bite out of the fish when the stingray made its leap for safety.

While stingrays seem most content to spend their days lying at the bottom of the sea-bed, occasionally sticking their stingers into unassuming human feet, this one proved they can be moved to flights of fancy when needed.

The encounter was captured in calm waters just off St. Heliers beach in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday.

Five or six orcas gathered in the morning sun to feast on the stingrays resting near the shore, while another 30 orcas hung around at the back of the harbour.

Aquarium Diver Swallows Tiny Camera as a Test

The good news? Tiny camera-pills doctors use to see the digestive tracks of humans may be used to peek at the innards of sick whales and dolphins.

When big animals like belugas and whale sharks become ill, veterinarians have to catch them and sedate them to do the blood work, take stool samples and do other invasive procedures to diagnose their illness, said Greg Bossart, the aquarium’s chief veterinary officer.

That can stress the animals, he said.

If, however, they could swallow a pill that would allow veterinarians to see inside their systems, they could be helped without being bothered, he said.

“This is supposed to be non-invasive,” Bossart said. “That’s the beauty of this, it does not hurt the animal at all.”

The test is a first for aquariums, Bossart said, and the cutting-edge technology could change the way big animals like dolphins, grouper and whales are managed.

The bad news? It's expensive.

The camera-pills costs about $500 each and an accompanying receiver that records the images costs about $5,000, said Greg Seitz, marketing product manger of Given Imaging, maker of the pill. The pill, which has been used on humans since 2001, can be used only one time.

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Swimming with Sharks Helps Veterans Feel Whole Again

Another terrific story about veterans finding solace underwater.

Retired Army Spc. Scott Winkler had many scary encounters while serving in Iraq, but they were nothing compared with his recent experience at the world's largest aquarium: swimming alongside a massive whale shark.

The fact that Winkler, 35, of Augusta, Georgia, is a paraplegic made the once-in-a-lifetime experience even more challenging.

"It's like you're in space," Winkler said. "It's like you're an able body again. It makes you feel so free."

Winkler was paralyzed five years ago during an accident while unloading ammunition in Tikrit, Iraq.

He is one of more than two dozen disabled veterans who have participated in the Fish Wish program at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta during the past two months.

A separate swim and dive program is open to the public, but the waiting list is nearly full until the end of the year.

The experience isn't cheap. A half-hour dive costs $290. The veterans swam for free.

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Also, be sure to check out these related Scuba Diving Blog posts:

- Limbless Veterans Experience the Thrill of Scuba Diving
- Paralyzed Vietnam Veteran Finds Freedom in Scuba Diving
- Wounded Vets Find Strength Beneath the Waves

WHOA! Kiteboarder Swatted by Whale's Tail

Talk about jumping the shark whale!

It's a whale tale only Jonah could match.

But for kiteboarder David Sheridan, the proof of his amazing brush with a southern right whale is there for the world to see, as this amazing photograph shows.

Skimming across the whitecaps 100m from shore, the North Coast school teacher passes within centimetres of the giant mammal, oblivious to the shadow beneath.

Picture: Incredible whale flails caught on camera

But just moments after this close encounter was captured by his sail-mounted camera, the whale flicked its tail and lashed him in the back of the head.

"It all happened so fast that all I could do was crouch down as the whale swam under me," Mr Sheridan, 42, said yesterday.

"Next thing I felt was its tail come up and hit me on the back of the head.

"I thought I was gone, but the force eased off and I sailed away with shaking legs."

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Brian Skerry: Dreamer, Diver, Underwater Photographer Extraordinaire

We just had to post this stunning photo from underwater and ocean wildlife photojournalist Brian Skerry, as well as the article it accompanied.

When he was a child, Brian Skerry spent a lot of time on the floor of his parents' living room, in Uxbridge, refining a very specific daydream. He would sit there, pore over the pages of National Geographic, and resolve that, when he grew up, he would lead an adventurous life.

A lot of kids have big daydreams; Skerry's gotten to live his.

Skerry is a National Geographic photographer - something that he says he can still barely believe himself.

And his dream job has turned out to be just as magical as he imagined. For the October issue of the magazine, Skerry shot a feature story on the plight of right whales, which were hunted to the brink of extinction. In the course of the shoot, he was standing on the ocean floor off New Zealand when a bus-sized whale came in close to gently inspect his assistant, who was standing just a few feet away. "My heart was beating out of my chest," Skerry said. But he got the shot; the photo of that encounter has since become an Internet sensation.

When people - especially children - ask Skerry about his job, he is happy to share his story, knowing, he says, that it is an important testament to what happens when you dedicate yourself to a dream.

The first milestone in his dream came at age 15, when he first tried scuba gear in his backyard pool. With regulator on, he sat in the shallow end of the pool, relishing the fact that he didn't have to come up for air - and the realization that he didn't want to.

He got his scuba certification, started diving all over New England and, a couple years later, went to the annual conference of the Boston Sea Rovers, a prestigious underwater exploration club, and heard lectures from many of the stars in the field. That night, he told his girlfriend (now his wife) that he settled on the way to live his dream: he would become an underwater photographer for National Geographic.

The big problem with that dream was the odds: there are only two or three underwater photographers at National Geographic, and they stay on for 25 or 30 years. He was 18 years old when he made this resolution; for the next 18 years, he pursued that dream,with his family making a lot of sacrifices along the way.

He worked in a textile mill; he made corrugated boxes; he sold corrugated boxes. Underwater photography, with all of its equipment and travel, is an expensive hobby, and there were plenty of years where he spent more money taking photos than he made selling them. "There were many, many times when I almost gave up," he said.

When he was 36, his chance finally arrived. Skerry had become a specialist in diving shipwrecks, some of the toughest diving around because of the threat of entanglement, and a National Geographic photographer recommended him for a tricky wreck shoot off the coast of New England. The photographer, Bill Curtsinger, had been to the wreck, knew the conditions, and was not eager to return. He told Skerry two things: because of the poor location, he had about a 98 percent chance of failure. And National Geographic would give him only one shot to prove himself.

Skerry thought about it for a few days, and went for it. The gamble paid off. Eleven years later, he is working on his 16th feature story for the magazine.

"I still can't believe I'm living the dream," he said with modest disbelief as he sat sitting in his home office in Uxbridge (where he still lives), surrounded by photos of his beloved ocean animals and souvenirs from his travels around the globe. "I get paid to swim with sharks and whales."

What sets Skerry apart from the many, many people that want his job, according to Greg Stone, the vice-president for global marine operations at the New England Aquarium, is that he does more than take pretty pictures. Skerry is not so much interested in photography - he does not even take pictures of his family; his wife handles the camera at birthday parties - but in ocean conservation. He specializes in stories that illustrate the destruction humans have had on the creatures of the oceans, whether through over-hunting, fishing-net entanglements, ship collisions or habitat loss due to global warming.

"He wants every picture, every story to make a difference for the oceans," Stone said. "He understands the power of the media, the power of images, and how those can influence what people think and feel. He's a storyteller. A journalist. He has incredible technical ability - and I can tell you that they work in very difficult situations - but on top of that he has an instinct, an ability to artistically interpret things in new ways that are compelling."

Skerry loves the stories that his photos tell, but no moment, he said, was more memorable than that day in New Zealand, when he captured the image of the curious right whale.

"It was something," he said, "that I don't think I could ever have dreamed of as a kid."

Ice Diving the White Sea

There was a terrific article and stunning video posted by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, entitled Beneath the Ice.

Every winter, hordes of divers head to the congested, overdeveloped scuba-diving destinations of the Caribbean and the Red Sea. But there's a less-traversed option: Fly to Moscow, take the railroad 27 hours north, and drive two hours along snow-covered dirt roads to a village almost on the Arctic Circle, along an inlet of the White Sea. Then, take a snowmobile to a small black triangle cut into the ice.

(Be sure to watch for the Beluga Whales 2 minutes and 39 seconds into the video.)



Hat tip: Two Tank

Debunked: Killer Whale Breaches onto Kayaker

The video we posted a few posts back - you know, the one with the killer whale breaching onto the kayaker - is actually fake.

Hats off to our friend Robert for bringing this to our attention.

Killer Whale Breaches onto Kayaker

Can you even imagine!?



Hat tip: Shark Divers

Australian Aerial Robot Joins Fight Against Whaling

It's not every day you find the news mega site Drudge Report highlighting a story pertaining to the struggle surrounding Antarctic whaling.

AUSTRALIA has flown its first whaling surveillance mission as forces opposing the Japanese fleet in the Antarctic are stepped up.

The flight by an extended range Airbus, along with the sighting of a Japanese fishing boat said to be shadowing Sea Shepherd, raise spying over the "scientific" whaling program to a new level.

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The Airbus A319, fitted with surveillance and imaging equipment, is being used by the Rudd Government, with the Customs patrol ship Oceanic Viking, to gather evidence for potential international legal action against the whaling.

The aircraft performed well on a six-hour low-level search out of Hobart on Sunday, locating two foreign fishing vessels in Antarctic seas, a spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Minister, Bob Debus, said yesterday.

Navy Resumes Sonar Training

In the latest chapter of a story we've been following here for some time now, the US Navy has resumed sonar training off the San Diego coast while the legal battle continues.

The Navy has resumed sonar training off the coast of Southern California as the government and environmentalists battle in court over how the exercises affect whales and other marine mammals.

The training by the carrier strike group of the USS Abraham Lincoln is part of a broader exercise to prepare the group for deployment, the Navy said in a news release.

During the exercises, which began Wednesday and were scheduled to last through February 1, sailors train in anti-submarine warfare, ocean security operations and other areas.

Commander Dora Lockwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Third Fleet in San Diego, said Sunday the operations were being conducted "within all the regulations."

The anti-submarine warfare exercises use mid-frequency active sonar. Critics say sonar has harmful effects on marine mammals, possibly by damaging their hearing. Some allege the sonar causes whales and other mammals to beach themselves.

A federal judge this month temporarily lifted certain measures designed to lessen the impact of sonar on whales.

The decision came a day after President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law in an effort to allow the service to continue anti-submarine warfare exercises. He said the exercises were in the interest of national security.

The Natural Resources Defense Council had sued to force the Navy to lessen the harm of its sonar exercises. In November, a federal appeals court said the sonar problem needed to be fixed.

See previous posts:

1) Court Orders Navy to Lessen Sonar Impact on Marine Life

2) Bush Exempts Navy From Court Order Limiting Sonar Exercises

Bush Exempts Navy From Court Order Limiting Sonar Exercises

President Bush - in response to a court order from earlier this month - has issued a waiver that exempts the United States Navy from limiting sonar exercises seen as harmful to whales.

Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said it will appeal an unprecedented waiver issued by President Bush Wednesday that overrides a federal court order requiring the U.S. Navy to minimize harm to whales and dolphins during sonar exercises off Southern California.

President Bush gave the Navy the waiver under the Coastal Zone Management Act and allowed the Navy a second "emergency" waiver under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Both waivers must survive court review for the Navy to legally ignore the injunction.

"The use of mid-frequency active sonar ... are in the paramount interest of the United States," said Bush in a memorandum to the Defense Department.

The U.S. District Court on Jan. 3 required the Navy, among other measures, to maintain a 12 nautical mile no-sonar buffer zone along the California coastline; to shut down sonar when marine mammals were spotted within 2,000 meters; and to monitor for marine mammals using various methods.

"This is not a national security issue. The Navy doesn't need to harm whales to train effectively with sonar. It simply chooses to for the sake of convenience," said Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at NRDC, which obtained the injunction against the Navy.

Japanese Eco-terrorists Take Marine Patrol Officers Hostage

There are some crazy people out there, folks.

Japanese eco-terrorists caught poaching in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary have taken two marine patrol officers hostage.

Japanese whalers assaulted marine sanctuary patrol officers Benjamin Potts, 28, from Australia, and Giles Lane, 35, from Britain, as they attempted to board the pirate whaling vessel and serve its captain with an arrest warrant for illegally killing marine mammals in the Australia-Antarctica Sanctuary some 4,000 kilometers south of Fremantle.

Witnesses said the Japanese poachers attempted to throw Officer Potts overboard and later tied both men to railings of the Yushin Maru No. 2, a commercial whaling vessel equipped with a powerful bow harpoon that fires exploding grenades into the backs of whales.

Captain Paul Watson aboard the Antarctica marine patrol vessel "Steve Irwin" confirmed that Japanese eco-terrorists had deliberately endangered the lives of his officers.

"They assaulted them, they tied them to the rails and actually at one point those rails went under water up to their waists," Captain Watson said.

"Then they came back and untied them and brought them up to the top deck and tied them for a couple of hours to the radar masts, and then they brought them inside the vessel and we haven't seen them since."

"I was a little surprised. I expected the Japanese to have treated them a little more decently.

"In fact, they tried to throw Benjamin overboard and he had to struggle to stop being thrown overboard because the boat was travelling at 17 knots (30 km/h) and it would have been extremely dangerous."

The Japanese pirate whalers denied all of the allegations stating that they were in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary to conduct "scientific research".

Japan's commercial whaling fleet can be easily recognized by huge letters on the hulls of their ships that read, "RESEARCH".

Court Orders Navy to Lessen Sonar Impact on Marine Life

From Fox News:

A U.S. District Court in Los Angeles has ordered the Navy to adopt a series of measures that would lessen the impact of sonar on whales and other marine life during exercises off Southern California.

The preliminary injunction issued Thursday requires the Navy to create a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast, have trained lookouts watch for marine mammals before and during exercises and shut down sonar when mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards.

The Natural Resources Defense Council filed the lawsuit to force the Navy to lessen the harm of its sonar exercises. In November, a federal appeals court said the sonar problem needed to be fixed and sent the matter to a trial judge in Los Angeles to hammer out the details.

The council's lawsuit alleges the Navy's sonar causes whales and other mammals to beach themselves. But the Navy has said the exercises are vital for training and claims it already minimizes the risk to marine life.