August 10 2008 UK Bogus bends nets Divers £250,000  A pair of divers swindled £250,000 (US$500,000) from the National Health Service for treating bogus cases of the bends.  David Welsh, 49, and diving instructor Michael Brass, 43, are facing prison sentences after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the NHS and perverting the course of justice. Welsh ran the Fort Bovisand diving centre, which had its own recompression chamber.  They paid strangers they met in pubs up to £200 to pose as divers who needed recompression treatment, they only needed only the real names, addresses, dates of birth and national insurance numbers of the supposed victims to work the fraud. Most had never been underwater and some could barely swim.  Welsh billed National Health Trusts from all over the UK £6,500 a time for treating the 37 fake victims.  The fraud was discovered when police investigated two cases of divers from Liverpool who were supposedly treated for the bends at the recompression chamber.    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...

Dive ThailandSGAP2OZTek Dive ShowWater World Asiapadi
Join ScubaGlobe Privilege Club and save on diving and dive training!
New species of manta ray discovered

After five years of study a marine biologist has confirmed that a larger and migratory manta ray is in fact a distinct species. Until now it was thought that there was only one manta ray species.  

Andrea Marshall, a PhD marine biologist sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF), studied rays in southern Mozambique. She soon realized that there were two distinct manta ray populations, with subsequent genetic and morphological analyses confirming that these groups were in fact two distinct species. Further research in Indonesia, Australia & Mexico revealed that both species were present across the globe. 

The new species of manta ray has large triangular pectoral fins that can span almost 8m in width and can weigh more than 2,000 kg. There may even be a third manta ray species across temperate, tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. 

Unlike the more normally encountered manta ray, this one swims away from divers rather than seeking interaction. 

There are other differences between the two species in colour, skin texture and reproductive biology. The manta rays normally encountered by divers frequent coral reefs and are cleaned by parasite-eating fish in locations such as Hawaii, the Maldives, Mozambique, Australia, Japan, Sudan, Philippines and Yap. 

The larger manta rays are migratory so in the open ocean they are victims of bycatch.

 
Next >

Site Search

Back Issues

Dive Magazines

Philippine Diver
Thai Diver

Book Your Tickets

Site Advertising

ScubaGlobe RSS