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A group from Sea Shepherd are currently at Taiji, Japan, scene of the annual dolphin hunt. The hunt, subject of the award winning documentary The Cove, is underway again this year. The Sea Shepherd team aims to ensure that the killing of dolphins that has taken place previously, will not take place this year. They intend to do so by publicizing and photographing the events that occur, despite threats of violence and intimidation made against them. In the past, groups bearing witness to the hunt have succeeded in curtailing the hunt and in some dolphins being released. Captain Paul Watson says Sea Shepherd's aim is:

"The key to saving the dolphins is for people to constantly be in Taiji so the slaughter is not allowed to go on out of sight of cameras and witnesses."

Dr John Alroy, writing in the international journal Science, predicts that we are on the brink of a major extinction episode so severe that there has only been three mass extinctions on the level of the current one in the last half billion years. Dr. Alroy also predicts a dramatic change to the accepted rules of evolution, due to human behaviors and activities combined with climate change:

"What's worrisome is that some groups permanently become dominant that otherwise wouldn't have. So by causing this extinction, we are taking a big gamble on what kind of species will be around in the future. We don't know how it will turn out. People don't realize that there will be very unpredictable consequences."

Rob Stewart of Sharkwater has posted a video of him free diving with a large group of whale sharks. The video was shot at Isla Mujeres, Mexico, during the annual whale shark aggregation also witnessed by the Wetpixel Cenotes and Whale Sharks trip this year. The footage will be used in his next documentary "Rise Again."

This is a reminder that submissions for the 2011 Raja Ampat Entrance Tag Design Contest must be sent in by end of day Monday, September 6, 2010. Enter your best images or graphic designs and have your image printed on the 5,000 park tags that will be attached to the BCDs of visiting divers. The author of the winning design also wins an all-inclusive 10-day dive holiday to Raja Ampat, Indonesia, for two.

Entering the contest is free, so there’s nothing to lose!

Ecuador has signed an agreement with the Inter America Development Bank to improve marine and coastal biodiversity conservation with a $4 million IDB-GEF grant. The aim is:

to advance marine and coastal biodiversity conservation in Ecuador by supporting a protected areas network and helping implement a national action plan for the protection of sharks.

The Ecuador government has contributed a further $4.3 million to the scheme and there is added financial support from U.S. Agency for International Development. Practically, the funding will introduce two new Marine Protected Areas (MPA), to strengthen the 13 existing MPA's and to cut annual landings of sharks from 39000 to 31000. In addition, it aims to reduce shark by-catch by involving local fisherman at a grass-roots level.

One of the biggest pain points in non-linear video editing workflow is the need to synchronize multiple video and audio tracks on a timeline. Many wildlife photographers I know now carry standalone video recording devices like the Zoom H4n to record ambient sounds, interviews, and other interesting audio.

PluralEyes is a small standalone application made by Singular Software used to synchronize audio and video clips directly on the timeline....

Nauticam has released renderings of their new NA-NEX5 housing for the Sony NEX-5 EVIL camera. The housing has been designed to complement the cameras small form factor, and to have a variety of lens port options. It will be made of aluminum, and will incorporate many standard Nauticam features like: A port locking system, rocker switch to control play/video functions, a super sensitive shutter release and the option of TTL via fiber optic cable.

The housings are expected to start shipping in two weeks.

As part of their conservation film series titled Last Oceans, Shawn Heinrichs of Blue Sphere Media and John Weller journeyed to Raja Ampat to capture a story about conservation in one of the most remote and bio-diverse places on earth. They describe this intimate manta encounter as one of the most moving and inspirational experiences of their lives.

The San Diego UnderSea Film Festival (SDUFEX) has posted a program of screenings for the event, which will be held over 17/18 September 2010. Thirty-two films, from a total of fifty-five entries, were selected by the judges for showing during the festival. What makes this exhibition unique is that there are no entry fees and no prizes, except for the prestige of having a film shown. Tickets are also now available and a portion of the proceeds will go to Birch Aquarium and San Diego Oceans Foundation.

The University of Cambridge’s "Naked Scientists" recently launched a new series of podcasts under the name "Naked Oceans". These monthly, half-hour podcasts, funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation, investigate various topics of ocean science and conservation. They're presented by Helen Scales and Sarah Castor-Perry, both members of the Naked Scientists team and alumni of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology. They aim, with the help of expert guests, to make people aware of the importance of vital ocean environments and the threats these are under.

The podcasts are designed to be interactive, with the ability for users to submit questions via email, Facebook or Twitter. The third show, due for September release, will look at the science of tracking sharks. Guests include Mahmood Shivji from the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center and the Guy Harvey Research Institute in Florida, who will talk about using genetic tools to track the shark fin trade. Future topics will include whaling, pollution in the oceans and overfishing.

The podcasts are available for free on iTunes as well as from the Naked Oceans website.