ScubaGlobe Asia Pacific - Pulau Sipadan reprieve

February 3 2009 AustraliaAre YOU the Face of Australia?The Underwater Channel (UWC) in association with PADI is looking for you! The Underwater Channel (www.theunderwaterchannel.tv) in association with PADI (www.PADI.com) are looking to light up diving in Australia for UWC’s viewers around the world! To do so we have launched an international competition to find an experienced and knowledgeable Aussie diver with bags of confidence and charisma to join The Underwater Channel’s team of presenters (aka Faces!) around the world to become the Face of Australia. After an initial pre-selection of 6 semi-finalists a series of TV programs will be broadcast on UWC with a UWC/PADI judging panel who will feature the videos and comment (in a friendly fashion) upon the applications! The viewing public will then be invited to vote, first for the semi-finalists and finally for the winner! The Face of Australia will be chosen by our viewers!more... Full story...

August 25 2008 HawaiiArchaeologists have located British whaler sunk by bad weather in 1837 off Kure Atoll Artefacts from the remains of a wreck believed to be of the British whaling vessel Gledstanes lost for 171 years have been found off Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The artefacts include four large anchors, cannons and cannonballs. The Gledstanes is the fourth whaling vessel found in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, evidence of the area's significance as a 19th-century whaling area. The divers who found the shipwreck were taking part in the 2008 Maritime Heritage Expedition, sponsored by NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries. Full story...

February 18 2009 Cayman IslandsNew International scuba Diving Hall Of Fame Inductees The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISDHF) has recognized four international pioneers and two Cayman Island honorees for their contributions to the recreational scuba diving industry. In a ceremony held on Grand Cayman Island on January 29, 2009, awards for the Inductees and local Ministry of Tourism Honorees were presented by the Hon. Charles E. Clifford, JP, Minister for Tourism, Environment, Investment & Commerce in Cayman. The Honorable Minister praised the newest Inductees as dedicated and professional individuals who have taken their love for diving and applied it through various disciplines to promote awareness of the aquatic environment, maintain the admirable safety record of diving, and establish a foundation for the worldwide development of the sport. The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was Leslie Leaney, President of the Historical Diving Society in the US. Leslie is a NOGI award winner and member of the Board of Directors for the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. International Inductees for 2009 are: more.. Full story...

Pulau Sipadan reprieve

The government of Sabah has decided to cancel all infrastructure projects on Pulau Sipadan.

This includes the RM4.5 million clubhouse and seafood restaurant whose construction barge incident caused outrage among conservationists worldwide.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said only "environmental-friendly" infrastructure projects would be allowed on the world's premier diving spot in the future.

"We will come up with a new development concept that is environmental- friendly and suits (the island's) ecosystem. We will announce it two or three months from now," he said at a press conference.

Musa said the new concept would be presented to the Prime Minister and the Joint Committee on Managing and Monitoring Sipadan Island headed by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsuddin Osman.

He also promised to personally monitor future development projects carried out on the island.
"I will be fully responsible in monitoring all projects on the island under the new development concept," he added.

Musa said among the new projects being conceptualised were basic resting facilities for divers and an eco-friendly sewerage system.

On May 14, a barge laden with building materials for the clubhouse had damaged some 324.94sq metres of coral reefs at Pulau Sipadan. Outraged by the damage to corals, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rebuked Musa on July 27 for defying his advice not to build a clubhouse on the island.

The go-ahead for the controversial RM4.5mil clubhouse project on was given the go-ahead by the Federal Cabinet on July 2, 2003, said State Tourism, Culture and Environment assistant minister Datuk Karim Bujang. The approval was for Sabah Parks to implement the project after the Joint Management and Supervisory Committee of Pulau Sipadan and Pulau Ligitan adopted the Federal decision on Aug 2, 2005.

He said a committee of 17 people from the federal and state governments agreed on the setting up of a clubhouse, a sanitation system and toilets.

The committee decided to implement the project immediately without waiting for allocations under the 9th Malaysia Plan, Karim told Tan Sri Joseph Kurup at the state assembly sitting.

Kurup wanted to know why the state approved heavy works on the island when it had ordered all of the chalets to be removed in 2005.

Karim explained that the use of stones, cement and iron was only for the flooring, pillars and walls for the toilets that covered less than 10% of the whole proposed structure.

He said the project had now been scrapped and any decision on a new environmentally friendly structure would be handled by the Chief Minister.

On July 26 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berated Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman for going ahead with the project.

Asked by Kurup why the state government had decided to go ahead with the project, Karim said the decision to build structures on Sipadan was done in good faith by the joint committee, which has seven members from Sabah.

He said maintaining the old structures used by the diving resorts on the island was damaging to the island as a study found that the toilets and even soap used for bathing was affecting the island’s environment.