What you should know about great white sharks

Phil Kemp's shark booklet "What you should know about Great White Sharks" can now be viewed online at http://www.adam.com.au/sdfsa/WHAT%20YOU%20SHOULD%20KNOW%20ABOUT%20GREAT%20WHITE%20SHARKSabc.pdf

UNDERWATER TRAIL PLAQUES NEEDS CLEANING

(Photo of Port Noarlunga jetty (top) taken by Peter Gower. Photo (bottom) of Mitchell Busbridge by one of the underwater trail plaques taken by Steve Reynolds)
The Port Noarlunga Underwater Trail plaques may need some cleaning work done on them. If you are planning to do a dive in the vicinity of any of the plinths, please think to take a plastic brush along with you on your dive so that you can give the face of the plaques a bit of a scrub to remove any growth on them (but please leave edges alone).

Scuba diver drowns during 1st accredited dive

According to MICHAEL MILNES, POLICE REPORTER for The Advertiser, "A MAN who was believed to be on his first diving trip has drowned in waters near Encounter Bay.It is understood the man, 35 from Ingle Farm was scuba diving with another person at a spot referred to by locals as "Shark Alley'' between the Bluff and Wright Island this morning (December 21, 2008). Witnesses have told The Advertiser the man's diving companion was forced to inflate his safety vest underwater to get him to the surface when he lost consciousness. The man was able to attract the attention of a nearyby boat - by "waving furiously'' - that picked up the two men about 10.30am. A witness told The Advertiser the crew on the boat initially thought the man was a seal waving its flipper and almost went passed him. The crew of the boat tried to revive the man, but they were unable to. Ambulance officers were also unable to revive the man. A report will now be prepared by the coroner."

E-BOOK ON SOUTHERN AUSTRALIAN FISHES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN

Janine Baker says that 55 chapters of the e-book on southern Australian fishes of conservation concern are now available on the SA Reef Watch website (www.reefwatch.asn.au ) including synopses for approximately 220 species. The home page for the e-book is available at http://www.reefwatch.asn.au/pages/bin/view/Publications/SamsccHome . The chapters themselves are listed at http://www.reefwatch.asn.au/pages/bin/view/Publications/SamsccBonyFamilies. There are links to the full Bibliography (3,600+ refs, to November 2008) at http://www.reefwatch.asn.au/pages/bin/view/Publications/SamsccHome and the Foreword (by Dr Scoresby Shepherd, AO) is available at http://www.reefwatch.asn.au/pages/bin/view/Publications/SamsccForeword

Paul Macdonald Photo

Check out Paul Macdonald's website at http://www.paulmacdonaldphoto.com/. Paul provided some of the images used for my web page at http://leafyseadragonfestival.com/seadragon/seadragon.html . He also provides images for the NARCD club (which he is currently the President for). Visit http://www.narcd.com/index.php?option=com_contact&catid=12&Itemid=3 to check these out. The above leafy seadragon photo is one of Paul's many photographs.

2009 Calendar of South Australian Marine Life

Copies of the 2009 Calendar of South Australian Marine Life by the Marine Life Society of South Australia (MLSSA) are now scarce. Please contact me via this blog if you would like one of the few remaining calendars. Copies of the calendar are priced at $10 each + p&h. The front cover is shown above (Photo by Alexius Sutandio). The back cover is shown below.