Turtle Rescue by Lea Lee
As reported in the forums, the EU has closed a loophole that allowed crews with Special Fishing Permits (SFPs) to continue landing shark fins without the carcass. Up until now, EU vessels have been estimated to be responsible for 27% of the fins in the Hong Kong markets. (Image from Shutterstock)
The Journal of Fish Biology has published a paper listing 5 observations of oarfish (Regalecus glesne) that were filmed or recorded by deep diving remotely operated vehicles. Previously, the species had only been observed either dead or dying at the surface.
The winners of the 2013 University of Miami Marine Photography Contest have been announced. The prize for Best Overall goes to Kyle McBurnie of California for his shot of a harbor seal in a kelp forest off Cortes Bank.
Conservation International has reported that 26-year-old turtle conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval was abducted and shot by masked men whilst on his way to patrol the beach of Moin, Costa Rica. The purpose of their patrol was to protect leatherback turtle nests from poachers. (Leatherback turtle image from Shutterstock.)
Due to launch on 14 June is a new CompactFlash card that offers the option of an in-card “mirror” back-up similar to that of a RADI drive. The idea is that the card can be split into two partitions that each record information simultaneously. Of course, this halves the storage capacity and the read/write speeds.
The New Age reports that the Japanese government is to reject the CITES agreement to add the oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus), smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena), great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran), scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) porbeagle sharks (Lamna nasus) to Appendix II. The agreement would limit cross border trade in products that have been made using the animals but Japan is filing a “reservation”, which will allow them to continue as before.
Wetpixel Editor Adam Hanlon presents a review of Backscatter’s Airlock vacuum housing integrity check system. These, and similar devices from other brands, have been one of the most hotly discussed accessories over the past few months on the forum, with several active threads devoted to them.
Adobe’s announcement that it was to end the option of purchasing a “perpetual license” for its products in future, in favor of a subscription based monthly fee for its Creative Cloud has caused widespread discontent and threatened defections from its products. Perhaps in order to stem this, they Creative Cloud team has issues an update to the change on their blog.