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Computers decide when to stop searches at sea
Researchers at Portsmouth University and the US Coast Guard are working together to develop a computer model that will predict how long someone will survive when lost at sea. The Search and Rescue Survival Model has been designed to take the pressure off rescuers making difficult decisions about when a search and rescue mission should be stopped.

Why a speeding shark is like a golf ball
Shortfin mako sharks can shoot through the ocean at up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometres an hour). Now a trick that helps them to reach such speeds has been discovered - the sharks can raise their scales to create tiny wells across the surface of their skin, reducing drag like the dimples on a golf ball. Tiny vortices or whirlpools formed within the cavities between the scales. These vortices form a kind of "buffer layer" between the skin's surface and the fast moving fluid, preventing a turbulent wake from forming behind the shark.

Japan's whaling fleet sets out for Antarctic
The main ship in Japan's whaling fleet set out for the Antarctic on Monday for its first hunt in the region since limping home with just over half its planned catch in April following clashes with militant anti-whaling activists, environmentalist group Greenpeace said.

Sea snakes drink only freshwater
It has been the long-standing dogma that the roughly 60 species of venomous sea snakes worldwide satisfy their drinking needs by drinking seawater, with internal salt glands filtering and excreting the salt. Experiments published this month with three species of captive sea kraits captured near Taiwan, however, found that the snakes refused to drink saltwater even if thirsty - and then would drink only freshwater or heavily diluted saltwater.

Update: Diving in the Maldives
More dive sites and dive companies in the Maldives are now listed on the SCUBA Travel guide to diving around the world.

Oceans predict climate change
In a November special issue of the journal Ecology, a group of scientists report that if current patterns of change in the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans continue, alterations of ocean circulation could occur on a global scale, with potentially dramatic implications for the world's climate and biosphere.

Recipe for rescuing our reefs
If current emission trends continue, we could see a doubling of atmospheric CO2 in as little as 50 years. This would lead to an unprecedented acidification of our oceans that coral reefs would be unlikely to survive. That would lead to the death of countless marine species as well as the devastation of economies dependent on ocean health and productivity. It would also mean the end of an era for coral reef and scuba diving aficionados around the world. So says Rod Salm writing on the BBC web site. He adds a list of practical measures that can be taken to protect the reefs. "We need to find ways to convince people to take action, but that is a major challenge."

A million tonnes of North Sea fish discarded every year
A million tonnes of fish and other sea creatures caught in the North Sea are thrown overboard every year, according to a new report from WWF-Germany. The study, Sea Creatures Are Not Rubbish, shows that one-third of North Sea catch is discarded and calls for a gradual ban on the practice of discarding in the European Union.

UN chief urges climate change help despite slowdown
United Nations Secretary-General urged developed countries not to neglect climate change as they tend to a global economic slowdown and called on rich nations to help poor countries prone to global warming. "The leaders of the developed countries should not neglect the issue of global warming," he said.

Update: Diving the Cook Islands
"There's something very cool about knowing you're the only divers in the ocean for 2000 miles." Just one of the comments on the diving in the Cook Islands now on the SCUBA Travel guide. "Good reefs, warm water, huge viz, some big life"...Diving was fantastic in the blue ocean."