Bermuda BREAM

10/9/2009 10:27:00 AM Renowned naturalist's voyage into Bermuda's waters A queen conch fish is not the kind of creature to get everyone's pulse racing. Compared to a hump back whale, a tiger shark or a manta ray, the tiny shell-dweller barely registers a blip on the interest level of most amateur ocean ­explorers. But when you've classified, described and photographed almost every known fish in the ocean, coming across something you haven't seen before is a genuine thrill. Ned de Loach wrote the book on scuba diving - literally. His encyclopedic 'fish identification' manuals, compiled along with Paul Humann, are bibles for divers everywhere. A soggy well-thumbed copy of the regional edition - a consultative manual that put a name and a face to the mysterious creatures that lie beneath the ocean's surface - can be found on most dive boats around the world. Mr. de Loach has been diving for forty years - taking pictures of sea creatures and documenting the...

From Royal Gazette, Oct. 1st 2009 [ link ] By Tricia Walters Photo by Tricia Walters Forward thinking: Director of the Department of Environmental Protection, Dr. Fred Ming and Marine Resource Officer, Dr. Tammy Trott. The sea is not a limitless resource, nor can it absorb any and everything we humans put in it. As the world's population grows so too does competition for limited marine resources, resulting in a cycle of adverse changes to our oceans. Some of the worst culprits are overfishing and pollution, together with emissions of excessive amounts of carbon diox...