Byron Conroy: Iceland

Sir Richard Branson is set to sink an artificial reef in the British Virgin Islands, close to Necker Island, his well known vacation island in the BVI’s. The Kodiak Queen, one of the five ships that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, has been prepared and outfitted with a giant Kraken sculpture to be sunk to become the B.V.I. Art Reef. The artificial reef will be sunk just south of Mountain Point in Virgin Gorda.
A new species of shrimp has been named after prog rock group Pink Floyd. Described in the journal Zootaxa, Synalpheus pinkfloydi is a new pistol shrimp species from the tropical eastern Pacific. It uses its outsized pink claw to generate sounds that exceed 210 decibels to stun prey. According to the scientists that made the discovery, the name is based on the shrimp’s claw color, rather than the noise it creates.
Sam’s Tours, Palau joined Wetpixel and Scubacam as a sponsor for the 2017 Imaging party at ADEX, Singapore. Held at Nuri’s in the Capitol Plaza, image makers from all over the globe gathered to socialise and party. Rumor has it that it carried on into the small hours.
Nikon has announced their D7500 DX SLR camera. It features the same 20.9-megapixel image sensor and EXPEED 5 processor as the D500. Native ISO range is 100-51,200 and it utilises the 51 point AF phase detection module from the D7200. Video is 4K UHD, with uncompressed output via HDMI.
The clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay could nearly be eliminated by the proposed budget cuts from the Trump administration. This 360 degree video from the New York Times visits the places that could be affected by these proposed cuts including an oyster restoration center and a cattle farm.
GoPro has announced their “TradeUp” scheme. This allows existing GoPro owners to get a $100 reduction on a new HERO5 Black, or $50 off a HERO5 Session when they trade in any older GoPro HERO model. The trade-in can be in any condition, including non-functional. The old cameras will be recycled responsibly.
Boxfish Research has announced the Boxfish 360 immersive 360° camera. It has three frame-synced MFT cameras, with images from each combining to create single immersive, 5K 360-degree video and DNG RAW photo. Runtime is around 90 minutes and the anodized aluminum housing is rated to a depth of 300m (1000ft).
Scientists from the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia have recorded more bad news for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It is undergoing a further bleaching episode, primarily in the previously unaffected middle third of the reef. The northern end was bleached in 2016, so this leaves only the southern third unaffected.