Sharm El Sheikh voted World’s Leading Dive Destination 

At the 14th annual World Travel Awards ceremony held on the Turks and Caicos islands on the December 12. Some 167.000 tourism professionals in over 190 countries voted for the awards which have been described by the Wall Street Journal as “the travel industry’s equivalent of the Oscars”.

A second pup is on the way for a virgin white-spotted bamboo shark at Carl Hayden Community High School - USA.

Teacher Fredi Lajvardi, programme manager for the Carl Hayden Center for Marine Science, again explained parthenogenesis. This type of birth occurs when an unfertilized egg develops into a new pup.

White House Plans to Address Trash in the Ocean Boosts Project AWARE’s International Cleanup Efforts

Beaches across Asia Pacific saw record numbers of volunteers cleaning up underwater and on shore for International Cleanup Day 2007 and now The White House unveils its plans to address trash in the ocean.

The White House decision is welcomed by Project AWARE who already spearheads thousands of clean ups every year in a bid to conserve underwater environments worldwide. 

The former HMNZS Canterbury has been scuttled as the Bay of Islands' newest tourist attraction and now lies under about 30m of water in Deep Water Cove. The resulting artificial reef is expected to boost tourism by 15-20 per cent and become a divers' playground.

Pacific Rubbish Tip

Spain

Second Vessel Seized 
A second ship belonging to the Florida treasure hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., which is embroiled in a court battle with Spain over a US$500-million sunken treasure has been seized by Spanish police.

PADI

A children’s bicycle peddled its way to top of the list for most unusual rubbish collected on one small island whilst divers throughout Asia Pacific inspired children to keep beaches clean.  Dive centres made a massive splash for trash for International Cleanup Day with over 1000 Project AWARE banners flying high for the biggest worldwide cleanup on record.

Australia

The Australian government has launched an anti-whaling message aimed at Japanese children on the video-sharing internet site YouTube.