AfricanDiver Feb/Mar 2009 Issue 3
Dengue Fever
A DAN member tells of her personal bout
Winter Shootout Sony Winter Shootout 2008
The Natal Sharks Board South Africa
Whale shark tagging Kenya
Diving in Benin Moving Sushi
The battle with Badgat 1
AfricanDiver.com
Feb/Mar 09
Trevor Hutton
Editorial
by Cormac McCreesh
Contents
Well here we are in 2009, a new year with new beginnings and the third issue of AfricanDiver. When Paul and I launched AfricanDiver, we wanted the magazine to be filled with good content and impactful photographs. We did not want AfricanDiver to be just another diving magazine.
Page 3 African news
It remains important to us that the magazine not only features great diving locations and resorts in Africa but also, that it tackles issues of conservation and resource management and the impact of human habitation on the African marine environment.
Page 6 Tagging whale sharks in Kenya
Since our first issue we have featured the Moving Sushi Expedition, which documents marine resource management in Africa. This time the expedition is in Benin where Mike and Linda experienced some surreal diving and the effects of unsustainable fishing. In a similar vein, we report on the impact of misdirected efforts by Kenyan NGO’s to help subsistence fishermen. NGO’s donate fishing nets to these fishermen and some of the nets end up impacting on the turtle and whale populations that migrate past Kenyan shores.
Page 9 Diving inBenin
South Africa is well known for its shark resources (great whites, tigers and bulls), and scientists in our waters conduct much research. Shark research, conservation, exploitation and documentation are heated topics of debate in South Africa and there are many organisations dedicated to the shark cause. There is also a growing conflict between conservationists (including divers) and fishermen about whether sharks are a resource (to be fished and controlled) or an attraction to be left alone. So, in this issue, we look at the Natal Sharks Board – one of the world’s leading shark research centres but also one of the most controversial because of the use of shark nets along our coast. In future issues of AfricanDiver, we plan to look at the various organisations that are dedicated to shark conservation. In keeping with our theme of interesting content, we take a trip to the past and understand a little of South Africa’s whaling history and raise questions about what little has been learned from closing down this despicable industry. This issue has a distinctly journalistic feel to it, but there’s a balance with articles on freediving Komati Springs (Badgat), the Winter Shootout photographic competition, advice from DAN- South Africa on Dengue fever and successful whale shark tagging efforts in Kenya. We like this issue and we have learned a lot from it. We have met some fantastic people along the way and gained some interesting contacts. We hope you like it too and invite you to give us feedback.
by Ninu Njonjo
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Feb/Mar 09
Page 35 Photographic tip Simon Brown
Page 15 Battle at Badgat Freediving by Trevor Hutton
Page 19 AfricanDiver team takes a breath by AfricanDiver
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Page 20 Natal Sharks Board by Cormac McCreesh
Page 23 Blood on the Reef by Cormac McCreesh
by Hillary Viders
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by Charles Scallet
by Mike Markovina
Page 27 Breakbone fever All about Dengue fever
Cormac & Paul
Page 30 Sony Winter Shootout
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2009 Zambezi shark expedition to the Breede River a success! During the 3rd week of January this year, SASC led its second expedition to the Breede River to determine whether reports of Zambezi (Bull) sharks could be confirmed. Joining them was a team from Marine and Coastal Management, conservation officers from the Lower Breede River Conservancy, a marine biologist from Marine Dynamics, and professional anglers from Big Fish Safari. During the first 3 days they spent up to 16 hours a day fishing for Zambezi sharks - hoping one would take live bait. On the fourth day they were rewarded for their patience when a Zambi took the bait of professional angler Hennie Papenfuss, about 5.5km upstream. Hennie gently handled the shark, letting her tow him a further 2.5km, tiring her out before they brought her close to shore and landed her on a mud bank.
They made three very exciting and rewarding discoveries during this time: • this Zambezi shark - who has been named Nyami Nyami (the Zambezi River god) is the largest of its kind known to science, measuring 4 metres total length. The previous known maximum length for this species was 3.4-3.5 metres; • the discovery of Nyami Nyami represents a significant range extension for Zambezi sharks in South Africa, as they were only known to occur as far South as Cape St. Francis in the Eastern Cape; • Nyami Nyami appeared heavily pregnant, suggesting the Breede River may serve as an important nursery ground for these sharks.
One can only imagine how excited they were to finally see such a magnificent animal in the river, but their excitement did not prevent them from gathering all the necessary scientific data and attaching two acoustic tags to track her movements during the following days.
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The expedition proceeded to track Nyami Nyami for 43 consecutive hours which, as far as is known, is the longest time this species has been tracked. She moved up and down the estuary, following fishing boats and looking for an easy source of food, swimming as far as 15km upriver. Provided sufficient funds can be secured, SASC will return to the Breede River within the next few weeks to continue tracking and begin unravelling some of the mysteries of this beautiful and elusive shark species. To find out more visit www. sharkconservancy.org
African News
“the largest of its kind known to science, measuring 4 metres total length”
African News Another humpback whale in the net In September 2008 a humpback whale was rescued from entanglement in fishing nets. These fishing nets are donated to subsistance fisherman by a Kenyan NGO. And in January this year yet another humpback whale was caught in one of the donated nets. How many more have to suffer and die before something is done about this? In the photos below, you can see the fishing boats and nets with the buoy around the whale. You can just about make out one diver on the far side of the whale and another diver’s yellow alternate air source on the near side of the whale. Nimu Njonjo and Volker Basen research whale sharks in Diani Beach Kenya and has this to say about the whale entanglement:
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“We cannot believe that this is still happening. Not much came of our meeting with the organisation responsible for donating these nets. A representative drove down here to meet us in his USD120,000 car (yes, you read right!!) and promised to do all sorts to help us but in the same breath was very quick to disclaim all responsibility and nothing has been done and no contact with us has been made. We have everything, literally everything, in place to put a stop to these nets and our fishermen are more than happy to give our alternative fishing methods a go. We can’t do it without funding. It would take a tiny percentage of the price of the aforementioned car for us to get going and really make a difference. The way these big organisations work makes us sick. How do they live with themselves or sleep at night? I expect they can sleep soundly because they are so far removed from the problem. They don’t have to rescue humpback whales or turtles or whale sharks. It makes us MAD. The problem is that there is no proper canvassing of the real problem at grass roots level before assistance is given - just an overwhelming but misguided desire to help without thinking the options through. On top of that, once assistance is given, there is no management whatsoever, so
in the case of the fishermen they are just left to get on with using illegal nets and all marine life be damned. Instead of helping they have made everything ten times worse. The situation here is grim. And it’s a crying shame - especially when there are small projects like ours ready and willing to help on the ground with all the necessary contacts, expertise and good community spirit to put long term solutions into play. We live here, alongside our fishermen, so we have a genuine and vested interest in them making a living and educating their children.”
African News
The Turtle Project
Kili’s glaciers
The newly launched turtle workshop is the brainchild of the EAWST founder Volker Bassen. It is wellknown that countless turtles get caught in fishermen’s large mesh nylon drift nets and meet their death by drowning. As well as turtles, a host of other marine creatures meet a similar fate. These nets can be several hundreds of metres long and can cause decades of severe damage to the aquatic ecosystem.
Yes, we know kili glaciers have nothing to do with diving but this series of photographs graphically illustrates the effects of climate change & global warming. Witness how the glaciers are disintegrating and how quickly. Consider then how our seas are being impacted and it will affect the sport & environment we love so much. Our thanks to Jenny Paterson and Dori Moreno for the use of the photographs and for bringing it to or attention.
It is important to note that these nets have been used for years by fishermen along the Kenya coast. One net costs at least Ksh 50 000. The disadvantage of using these nets is that the fishermen can only use them at night and moreover when there is no moon. In practice that limits them to 2 weeks per month. Furthermore, because they will set the nets in the evening and collect them in the early morning, any fish caught in the early evening will not be fresh by the time it gets to the end-buyer. Many hotels reject the fish resulting in a loss of income to the fishermen who end up drying the fish and eating it themselves. In turn this causes the fishermen and their families all manner of health problems. To compound the situation, these nets frequently become detached from their marker buoys and the fisherman will then have lost his most essential piece of equipment. Meanwhile the net itself becomes a “ghost net”, one of the most destructive weapons to be let loose on our fragile coral reefs. These ghost nets continue to fish for several decades. They catch turtles and whale sharks as they drift with the current. These creatures sink to the bottom with the net and there the net trawls the reef for lobster and fish, damaging the coral in the process. As the fish 5
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2005 rot, they bloat and the net floats to the surface where the whole destructive process repeats itself again and again. These drift nets are the single most serious threat to Kenya’s whale shark and turtle population. As a result of this, the EAWST has launched the turtle project. It has set up a work shop with fishermen making fibreglass turtle shell lamps. These are beautifully crafted and look enchanting on the wall. They are sold in gift-shops and hotels. With the proceeds, the EAWST buys the nets from the fishermen. The fishermen are then taught how to fish using more environmentally friendly fishing methods, specifically using bottom long-lines. This method of fishing is carried out in much deeper water and targets different deep water species. This way the coral reef is left untouched, meaning that juveniles can grow and continue to have a productive life cycle. The fishermen can fish throughout the month and the fish is much fresher when it reaches the consumer. The fishermen have been very enthusiastic about the project and the EAWST has found it extremely rewarding to work with them.
2009
www.whalesharks.wildlifedirect.org
Paul Hunter
Whale Shark Satellite Tagging Expedition 2008 - Kenya W Text and images by Nimu Njonjo
hale sharks have called Kenyan waters home for many years. Recently, there has been a significant increase, which is perhaps related to the post El Nino mantis shrimp invasion. Based on Diani Beach the East African Whale Shark Trust (‘EAWST‘) was founded by Volker Bassen, in 2005, in response to the dramatic increase in sightings as well as increased interest from the tourist sector. The increase in whale sharks along the Kenyan coast has meant that they have become more of a target. Under international law, whale sharks are only given a secondary type of protection. They are listed under CITES Appendix II meaning that trade in whale sharks is allowed but must be monitored. Although relatively little is known about the 6
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biggest fish in the ocean, most specialists will agree that this level of protection is not enough. The overall aim of many whale shark projects is to raise awareness so that the level of protection afforded to whale sharks increased. The more we know about whale sharks the easier it will be to review the level of protection. The EAWST aims to provide a research centre for collecting and analyzing data on the local whale shark population, habits and movements. The Trust will work closely with other regional organizations because whale sharks are migratory. Seen as an indicator of a healthy marine eco-system, whale sharks are filter feeders. They eat plankton, sieving it from the water through their gills. They are often seen swimming slowly with their mouths agape, feeding as they move
through the water. They can grow up to 18m and weigh up to 20 tons. They give birth to live young. They are solitary creatures for the most part and live in temperate waters around the equator, along coastlines and in the open seas. Recent studies have revealed that they can dive to depths of over 1000m and that they spend most of their time at great depths, coming to the surface mostly at night to feed when the plankton rises with the diminishing ambient light. Peak season for whale shark sightings is between November and March.
“The major threat the whale sharks in our waters face is being caught in the local fishermen’s large mesh nylon drift nets. Unfortunately this is getting increasingly common. Joint initiatives are underway between the EAWST and local fishermen to encourage more environmentally friendly fishing methods.” This year’s first whale shark satellite tagging expedition based out of Diani and Watamu was a resounding success. Despite the tragic crash in tourism after the 2007 elections, tourists and residents alike arrived in droves to take part in the expedition and to swim with whale sharks. The East African Whale Shark Trust was literally overwhelmed by the interest and the support. The team comprised of members of the EAWST, worldrenowned scientist Brent Stewart from HUBBS Seaworld Research Institute in San Diego and volunteers from across the globe. In conjunction with generous donors in Watamu, the researchers planned to tag whale sharks with the latest, state of the art satellite tags. 15 satellite tags were donated by private sponsors. The team also came fully equipped with streamer tags which will enable us to increase our photo-ID database. The satellite tags are attached to the whale shark using a modified spear gun. The tags are attached as deep as possible into the whale shark’s very thick skin – they have the thickest skin in the animal world reaching up to 15cm thick. The tags are programmed to pop-off after a specific pre-set period, usually around 9 - 12 months. The data is then transmitted to a satellite. Data includes date, time, dive profile, ambient light, ambient pressure, location (every time the shark surfaces), salinity level and temperature. The streamer tags are similar to identity bracelets that the whale sharks wear – whenever a whale shark is spotted it will be easy to see if it is one that has been spotted before, if it is wearing the numbered tag. It is then possible to track where they go and even for how long. This year the expedition had 2 bases, both in Diani and in Watamu. For Watamu it was to be the first time research of 7
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this kind had been carried out along Kenya’s north coast. Conducting this research is not always easy however. Conditions at sea can be difficult and the actual mechanics of tagging the sharks is far from simple. The tagger has to get close enough to the shark to implant the tag properly knowing that each tag is valued at around USD5000. It is extremely important to affix the tag properly so that it does not fall off and get lost at sea before it has transmitted any data. Sometimes even spotting the sharks is difficult and this year local pilots again very kindly pledged support to the research expedition. The transport and pick-ups were done by Southern Cross Safaris and private individuals in the community. The team was wonderfully hosted in style at Leisure Lodge Resort and Pinewood Village in Diani and Hemingways in Watamu. Southern Cross Scuba, Kinondo Kwetu and Trust founder Volker Bassen pledged the use of their boats and dive gear in Diani whilst in Watamu the boats and dive gear were kindly provided by Hemingways and Aquaventures. The Diani expedition was based out of Aqualand Watersports Centre, next to Pinewood Hotel on Diani/Kinondo beach. Aqualand is Kenya’s leading watersports centre offering a host of watersports
ranging from diving to fishing to kite-surfing. It is the home of the EAWST and the heart of adventure watersports in Kenya. The Watamu expedition was based out of Hemingways, one of Kenya’s most exclusive beach resorts.
The EAWST works very closely with local fishermen to try and reduce the number of whale sharks caught by mistake. The fishermen project and education initiatives are progressing well.
The results of the tagging were:
The story goes that when God created the whale shark he was so pleased with his handiwork that he gave his angels handfuls of gold and silver coins to throw down from heaven into the sea. These coins landed on the whale shark’s back as it swam peacefully near the surface and that is why the whale shark is called “papa shillingi” which translates as “shark covered in shillings”. So it is, that whale sharks swim near the surface as a way of saying thank you to their maker.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13
5 spotted 5 spotted 4 spotted 6 spotted 3 spotted 2 spotted 2 spotted 3 spotted 2 spotted 0 spotted 0 spotted 2 spotted 7 spotted
2 tagged 2 tagged 1 tagged 3 tagged 1 tagged 1 tagged 1 tagged 1 tagged 2 tagged
Everybody remembers the first time they swam or dived with a whale shark as it is unforgettable. To get close to such a large and beautiful creature is an awesome, immensely humbling experience. There is something magical about watching them move, the curve of their tail, the glint of
3 tagged
Total spotted 41 and total tagged. A record breaking 17!! Whale Shark Expedition 2008 was a ground-breaking, history-making adventure in research and education. This is a huge, exciting step for Kenya. Whale shark tagging is still relatively new and we are taking a leap into the realms of the latest scientific, aquatic research. Thanks to the whale sharks along our coastline we are placing Kenya firmly on the global whale shark map. It is critical however that we don’t lose sight of the end goal, which is to increase protection to the biggest fish in the ocean. Whale sharks are harmless and yet they are targeted all over the world for their valuable fins and liver. They are also caught as by-catch in many areas such as our coastline. 8
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sweep of their bodies they can disappear into the deep, taking with them their secrets. Email: nimu@giantsharks.org Website: www.giantsharks.org Blog: www.whalesharks.wildlifedirect.org their spots and the tiny yellow and blue fish that collect in the jet stream in front of their mouths. With a graceful
Diving in Benin with Moving Sushi by Mike Markovina
D
eparting from South Africa on 25th of August 2008, the Marine Resource Expedition has since explored and dived coastal reefs in Gabon, and most recently Benin. Termed ‘hotspots’ these two countries are where the expedition spent a month understanding and filming fisheries and biodiversity for the documentary, which will be released in 2011. During the West African leg of the expedition, we will be diving the shores and reefs off Senegal, potentially Western Sahara and Morocco.
Mike Markovina
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Mike Markovina
B
enin is a small country with a 125km coastline tucked away between the infamous gun slinging Nigeria and the smaller Togo. Benin and Togo’s coastlines are so small that driving from Cotonou, Benin to Accra, Ghana takes about 5 hours. Benin’s coastline lies within the Gulf of Guinea. The sea temperature is on average 24 – 26 degrees Celsius, with calm conditions, especially during the Harrmitan winds that blow from December to March. The beaches are subject to erosion, and many small beach sections, palm trees 10
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and houses have fallen victim to the encroaching Atlantic Ocean. Benin is one of the most politically stable countries in Africa. You feel welcome all the time, there is no force-selling of street side rubbish and mobbing of tourists. You can lie peacefully on the beach and sip cocktails out of coconuts and wander the streets and markets with no concerns. All this seems incredible and the perfect place for a diver-explorer on holiday, but there is more than the eye sees. If you look past the obvious, you will find a scene of social decay.
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There is no part of the sea that does not have a floating plastic bag, or equivalent piece of rubbish in it. The ocean and surrounding wetlands of Benin are considered rubbish dumps. And worst of all, the mentality of locals is such that if it moves and can be eaten then it must die. This short-minded mentality has left the Beninese people crippled with respect to fish stocks and marine resources, which was obvious not only by watching and filming fisheries practices and methods, but on our dives as well.
Diving potential in Benin is limited. The coast is characterized by long continuous sandy beaches with little to no rock or reef structure. Reefs that are present have been fished to death, literally. There are however some spots where the water is a spectacular deep blue colour teeming with sessile reef and pelagic fish and where hard and soft corals mimic the colours of a rainbow. The problem though is in the difficulty getting there. Our diving experience, unlike that ever experienced before. We managed to locate a dive compressor at the end of a breakwater pier on the far side of Benin’s main shipping port. The compressor looked good and the gentlemen who operated it were happy to fill our tanks. A quick survey of the gear and its state was enough reason to be intrigued or maybe more appropriately concerned. At least the compressor looked in working order. We were introduced to Mr. Septime and Mr. Fransis, who run a small commercial diving operation in the harbour. They were excited that we had all our own gear and wanted to explore Benin’s underwater secrets, so we arranged to jump on their boat the next day and head off to a old jetty, which was used to transport minerals onto ships. The jetty had been abandoned for many years and looked like it would collapse completely at any stage. We arrived at the boat, a rather smart 16’ foot mono-hull with a 100hp Suzuki 4-stroke motor. We packed our gear onto it and waited. We had a quiet chuckle at the state of the zodiac in front of us as it was laden with holes and sank more than floated, its engine barely sitting above sea level. When Fransis arrived we were alarmed and disappointed that we were on the wrong 11
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boat, and in fact the zodiac was to be our “golden chariot”. The boat ride to the jetty was fine, if you ignore the continuous stopping to pump up the pontoons. Gear was smeared over the boat in a fashion that makes chaos sound orderly and the 40hp engine constantly choked and spluttered. But hey, we were off diving so who really cares. When we arrived at the jetty, a 45 year old man (whom we shall call Echo) with a pair of bright yellow shorts and a 7L tank under his arm, jumped off the boat and disappeared into the green gloom. This would normally not worry me much, but the dive site could be characterized by large rusty tetanus poles of what once was steel, jutting out at obtuse angles inviting an accident. Clearly knowledge of the dive site gave our experienced Echo the upper hand, as he soon surfaced and gave us the thumbs up. We descended into the gloom. At first we had about 3m vis, but the visibility steadily reduced until finally I could not even see what I was thinking. We snapped some pictures and filmed bits and pieces of coral on the pilings at 6m, where the water was still clear enough to see. Shoals of small sardines danced in the surface waters, and small groupers watched cautiously as we tried to photograph them. We did not see any big fish, instead remains of old fishing net choking potential habitat. I heard a click underwater, and I had an inkling to what it might be. My hunch was confirmed when I saw Echo scooting past Linda and I with a shabby looking spear gun. I was not sure what he was shooting at, but then again sardines taste good. We cut our dive short on the rusty ‘bedspring’ like dive site and headed to the harbour wall, where we were assured fish were plentiful. I did not hold any expectations,
Mike Markovina
Mike Markovina
and rightly so. One honeycomb moray eel lay in a small crevice looking out nervously, which was great to see, but little else. As I tried to photograph the eel, a cloud of murky silt infested water rose up from beneath me and blocked out the last remaining visibility, which was not much to begin with. We made our way back to the dock slightly despondent, but with better insight into marine resources or the lack thereof, ghost fishing gear, pollution and the mentality to kill on sight. A spot of human induced beauty After our dive there was not much to talk about in a positive context with respect to marine resources, which this expedition is trying to focus on. We heard of a potential dive site on the border of Nigeria - abandoned oil platforms, five of them. We managed to convince Fransis to take us there as part of a job he was doing. Apparently there was a leaking oil pipe, which needed to be plugged. After some discussion we were to meet at the port at 5:30am for a 6 o’ clock departure. We were taking two boats for security, which I thought was a great idea. This turned out to be the entire security and emergency plan for the dive trip. In the ideal world of PADI and NAUI where everyone must have the perfect gear set up, every whistle and bell, every manual, every plastic gimmick with buttons and flashing lights, and be able to speak three languages using your hands underwater... you get my point, this dive broke every proverbial rule! We hopped onto our zodiac and I was pleased to see a rusty 50L bank of who knows what lying in the bottom of the boat submerged in an oily mixture of sea water and harbour sludge. My image of emergency oxygen was dashed when we connected the bank
Mike Markovina
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“We heard of a potential dive site on the border of Nigeria, abandoned oil platforms, five of them”
Mike Markovina
“It is funny to think that from July through October migrating humpback whales from Antarctica play in amongst the waves, yet Benin has voted pro whaling”
to the pontoon-it was our floatation equipment. After piling all the gear onto the boat we pulled up alongside the harbour wall to receive the tanks from the compressor operator. Attached by a piece of rope the cylinders were lowered down the wall with some clanking to the boat. Spear guns, extra fuel, rope, an anchor (doing well here), some extra divers and our trusty thumbs up Echo, and we were ready to head off. Interestingly where the compressor is situated is where large tankers off-load their precious cargo of fuel. I drove down the harbour wall in the expedition vehicle, which is pasted with stickers and resembles a Christmas tree, to drop my tanks off to be filled. I was instantly stopped by security who stated categorically that I could not pass, as I may have a bomb on board.
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I could only stand there and watch an old compressor bouncing along to the sound of its own vibration filling a rusty tank to 200 bar right next to the fuel line of the tanker. Well, we were off to the oilrigs in our 40hp sinking zodiac accompanied by another boat from archaic times, which required continuous bailing. Two hours and 45 minutes later under the cooking African sun we arrived at the platforms on the Nigerian border, 32.6 km from port. The first priority was to find the leaking pipe, mark it with a rope and buoy, then dive for leisure. Thankfully Linda and I did not have to get involved in pipe hole finding, which meant we could save on precious air. The process was quite
interesting to watch though. Our Echo was the star of the show, who bomb dived to 30m, towing the other boat around (one motor was not really working efficiently), located and marked the pipe. The man’s a legend in my book. This meant we could go to the platform and finally immerse our now well-cooked bodies in the water. Wow, first impressions last, and these certainly will never fade from my mind in a long time to come. This was a taste of what Central African waters could offer. Shoals of barracuda, kingfish and a lone prodigal son greeted our arrival, and we had not even descended a single meter. The water was blue, storybook blue, the pylons of the platform were a kaleidoscope of colour; yellows, reds, you name it, it was there. Shoals of sturgeons, snappers (3 species), sergeant majors, damselfish and a plethora of other fish species I wish I had a clue about went about their biological ways. This was definitely it, spectacular in all respects. I recall sitting on a central beam watching a shoal of huge kingfish swim right up to and then past me. It was truly like being in an aquarium. There was a stiff current, which swirled around the various stability pylons of the platform and made filming tricky. It was obvious that fishermen target this area, because the amount of ghost gear on the pylons was incredible. Luckily the gear is multi-filament and not momo-filament, so the chance of catching fish is greatly reduced. The oil platforms have been out of commission for about 10 years, and the proliferation of life it has attracted is fantastic. They lie in relatively shallow water, 28 meters, with the deepest platform extending to 42 meters. In true fashion our cameras started playing games. The underwater housing we use for the video camera is pathetic, and contributed to the camera not functioning properly. The touch screen gave up the ghost, and the
housing controls would not start the record function. It required an irritating surface, the removal of the camera to push record manually to get things back on track. Typical, as the camera worked perfectly during our bad visibility dives. Also, to add salt to a wound we did not fully format our still cameras flash cards, so we only got a fraction of the pictures we could take. A schoolboy error for sure. All in all, we managed to get some film footage and photographs. The best news is we get to do the dive again soon. After an hour underwater our 170 bar was finished, and it was time to ascend to reality - the sinking boat and a three hour journey back to port. As we had nothing to do on the boat, except continuously fill it up with air, we could really reminisce on the experience we just had. The seclusion of the spot, the ability to see something that not many people get to see, and (for me) a taste on what the oceans here must have been like before they were obliterated for every colourful frying pan sized fish fillet. It is bizarre to think that from July through October migrating humpback whales from Antarctica play in amongst the waves, yet Benin has voted pro whaling. This may have something to do with the Japanese investment of CFA3 billion into the development of 14
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the port. The irony here is Benin is trying to promote whale watching as a tourism activity to generate finances for the community. Also between the months of November to March, leatherback and olive ridley trutles nest on the beaches. These turtles are systematically hunted for food, and the eggs dug up for trade in markets. There is a movement now in Benin to conserve turtles, but fishermen are not totally convinced as the turtles cause havoc to their nets. The general thought is that the government signs all the international conservation acts, yet on the ground nothing happens, especially with respect to compliance. What may be more efective for conservation of marine resources in Benin is the deep rooted tradition of Voodoo. Voodoo originated in Benin and is taken very seriously. Benin has many wetlands and it is becaus of Voodoo that certain areas are now protected, areas which governments have no control over. By this I mean it is not a formal protected area. The community respects various spiritual boundaries, and this may be the greatest tool, somewhat overlooked for fisheries management. What is proposed is a small network of marine protected areas (MPA’s), three to four kilometers in diameter. Within each MPA there would be fish aggregating
Feb/Mar 09
devices functioning as the oilrig does in attracting and providing habitat for juvenile fish. The only way this could work is if the MPA is policed. The beauty of voodoo and spirituality is that the community would police it themselves with no need for government involvement. So far coastal communities are not opposed to the idea. But given the tensions of reduced fish catches, the concept of closing areas in which they can fish is challenging to say the least.
Top: Voodoo festival honoring marine biodiversity. Pic Linda schonknecht Middle: Voodoo women doing a dance at the fishing village Grand Popo. Pic Linda Schonknecht. Bottom: Zangbeto a voodoo charter infiltrating your dreams, apparently protecting you from evil. Pic Linda Schonknecht.
Freediving with Trevor - The battle with Badgat by Trevor Hutton Images by Sarah T Carter
D
uring my advanced course in early December I did a routine dive to the bottom of blue rock - 47m with about 70 seconds on the bottom. Upon surfacing I had blood bubbling up from a lung. Dammit, I had popped an alveolus.That’s the problem with routine and complacency. I have done this identical dive so many times over the past 4 years. However, I have not been diving with any regularity and sometimes the periods between dives are longer than others. Basically I had lost form and flexibility and suddenly I was lying on the surface feeling very out of touch, contemplating retiring from freediving and/or perhaps limiting myself to 30m freedives in the future. Of course these are just reactive thoughts, coping mechanisms to deal with the fact that I had dived like an amateur and been reckless! The webs we weave! Anyway, once I got over myself I took a careful look at where I went wrong and set off in the right direction again. I went back to the drawing board and revisited empty and partial lung diving. I did absolutely hundreds of these in Turkey in 2002, and to tell you the truth have never been a fan. The problem is that empty lungs and partials can seriously damage you. And being quite robust and direct I have not always possessed the sensitivity required to perform them safely. Incidentally, I have a student I’m currently working with who has all the makings of a potentially great diver, but she cannot equalise deeper than about 35m, lung compression being the problem. It took quite a long time for me to realise that equalisation could be taught, from basic to advanced equalisation techniques. In the old days we believed that some divers were just blessed with better physiological characteristics than others, i.e. wider Eustachian tubes etc. (which very often is true) but not the full story. There is a lot of skill and technique which can be learnt and therefore taught. Half the problem I had was that I was one of the lucky few who never had any real equalisation issues. I’d just bomb down as far as I could go with a breath, valsalva all the way. Now for the uninitiated, valsalva is not the most energy efficient means of equalising while freediving. In the head down position the air needs to be shifted from the lungs downwards to the middle ear, this takes muscular action and energy, and is uncomfortable. Furthermore, it generally necessitates the need to pinch your nose with the fingers, with the result that your arm is in the way of perfect streamlining! What you might ask has all of this to do with my Johannesburg trip. Well, I knew I would be going to dive at “Komati Springs” or “Badgat”, as it is known to the older divers, during this trip. I don’t really get many opportunities to dive deeper than the bottom of Blue Rock quarry in Somerset West, and 15
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Badgat is about 5-7m deeper, so I wanted to hit the bottom. Besides, it would be almost exactly 10 years since I became the first person to touch the bottom of Badgat, in or out of competition. (I touched down at Nationals in 1999). But here I was lying on the surface with bright red arterial blood in my saliva, with 3 weeks to go to my Joburg trip and considering retiring…AGAIN! OK, luckily for me I still had an advanced course to teach before Christmas with two really fantastic individuals. It was fantastic and it was not long before I was once again lost in my love for learning and exploring this fascinating sport. During each session on course I did a couple of partial exhales, but this time with a sensitivity and patience I had never before experienced. It was no longer a mechanical dive to get the job of flexibility done. I might add, that it was actually a lot less fun because they are damn uncomfortable. When I do them mechanically I do not feel the discomfort, I just get the job done. Now that I was allowing myself to feel, it felt horrible! Nonetheless, I kept doing them for the next few sessions and about three weeks after the alveolar barotraumas I decided I felt ready to go back down. I went out to blue rock with two friends and after a more careful warm-up session I dived freely to the bottom. As I descended and felt the pressure increasing on my chest I relaxed my thoracic muscles and could feel them ease into the pressure…it was beautiful!!! I did a dive that day to 44-47m. (difficult to know exact depth due to density differences) and spent 1 minute and 21 seconds on the bottom, with a total dive time of about 2minutes 48 seconds. Suddenly I felt a heck-of-a-lot better about my Joburg trip. So for the next two days it was a buzz of packing dive gear, teaching aids, ropes, buoys, padkos and making sure I had all the numbers and addresses for contacts in Joburg. I planned to leave at 4am on the morning of 7 January, but eventually got away at 7. I arrived in Boksburg around midnight, exhausted, 16
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(loads of roadblocks and roadworks). At first light, I was up and off to meet Cormac McCreesh, one of the editors of this magazine, for a one-on-one session in the pool at Prestige diving - my hosts for all the lectures and shallow water pool-work. The next few days were a whirl of pool sessions, lectures, breathing and stretching exercises and meeting new and exciting people. I was in a whole new world where the people are as passionate about their diving as anywhere I’ve ever been. We dived places I’d never dived before - an 8m deep pool in Putfontein, (for a Cape-Townian that’s just nuts) and Miracle Waters which was fantastic. Miracle Waters has a current running through at about 20m (spring water is fed in one end and flows out the other) and the water was surprisingly clean on the bottom at a depth of 34m. I found in the first week I was really struggling for breath. I felt as if I just could not get enough air. I actually thought I might not have the “legs” for Badgat this time!!! Fortunately I had an old school friend of mine with me on course and we fitted in a few extra dives during the week which helped a lot with settling in. As the week was coming to an end I managed to spend exactly 1 minute 30 seconds on the bottom of Miracle Waters. Things were looking up - my breath was feeling stronger. I can do this! Sarah and my 6-month-old freediver son Tom flew in on the
Thursday afternoon and we had the last pool session of my advanced course at 3onfourth, Putfontein. A bunch of meetings on Friday morning and then off to Hlumu lodge, near Badplaas where we would be based for the next three days. Badgat is etched in my memory. You see it was a bit of a bogey for freedivers in this country in the early 90’s. Everybody wanted to say they’d been to the bottom of Badgat. There were always rumours and claims, but whenever I confronted a diver directly to get the details of their conquest the truth would come out - turned back at 35 or 38 or something similar. I never really got the chance to go there until 1999. I arrived a day after my great freediving friend and rival for top spot in the 90’s, Abri Retief. He had already settled in a little. It did look a bit strange to see a salty sea dog such as Arbs playing in the puddle! He had done a couple of dives around 40m and seemed pretty happy with his progress. We had about a week to get the job done and the competition was still 4-5 days away. But I was running on my own agenda; with Arbs there I certainly did not have much time if I wanted to be first diver down there! Now remember we weren’t diving with monofins or smooth skin suits, and we certainly had no idea of partial exhale preps or anything like that. Hell we didn’t even know how to hook at the end of a dive. I did a couple of warm up dives and with Abri spotting me I gave it my best shot. Heck the water was green. Oh, oh, I’m out of here, this place is a death trap! I was not a happy puppy and returned ragged to the surface with my tail
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firmly clenched between my legs. I got out of the hole; packed my stuff back into the VW beetle I arrived in, said my goodbyes to Arbs and fled! I was hightailing it back to Durban, where I lived at the time. The dirt track back to the main road is formidable when it rains and this slowed me down a bit. When I got to the gate, I looked up at the kopjies and was curious to see what was on the other side. So I parked the car and clambered to the top. You will have to climb that hill yourself to see what I saw there. It was awesome. I strolled back down to the car, turned the nose around and went to find Abri, “come spot me please”. I got back into my wetsuit and smashed it - I had taken enough nonsense from this puddle. Over the next few days I repeatedly hit the bottom and made it my own. Diving the bottom at 55m at the 99 Nationals was special moment for me. It took another 3-4 years before the next diver hit the bottom with monofins and all the trimmings of modern freediving. Back to the present. I have returned with my own smoothskin suit, changed my gara 2000’s for a pair of 3000’s and sport a Suunto D4 on my wrist. Besides the equipment, I am ten years older and wiser. My strategy had been to take 3 days to reach the bottom. Perhaps do a 40 on day one, followed by a 48 and then bottom on Monday morning. But as things turned out I woke up on day one with a sore ear. It was that pre-ear-infection feeling. I had been diving in a number of different bodies of water and had been less than religious with the “swimmers ear” and “swim-seal” protections. So now I was
worried. This Badgat dive was one of my early season goals and I could sense the window closing. I felt good enough to dive today but was not sure about tomorrow or the next day. What to do, what to do… Troy got in the water before me so I yelled down the normal, “what’s it like”. “Tepid!” came back the reply. And oh, did that description fit. The top 15m layer was warm as toast and green as a result. Now in Cape Town, we know green well. It was the toast part that I did not like - doesn’t exactly help get the divers reflex going. To make matters worse I had not shaved before the dive. No, I am not the superstitious, ritualistic type - my mask leaks when I equalize if I have stubble on my upper lip. So here I am, I think I may have only one opportunity to dive on this trip and I have forgotten to shave. But this hole is mine, I made it mine in 99 and I’m stuffed if I’m going to let it get a handle on me now. I’ll bottom without a bloody mask if I need to! With Troy and Gerhard spotting me, I prepare on the surface. Great breathe-up, point, bend, reach stretch, one, two, three power strokes, equalize, reduce pace, feather, glide, mask, ears, relax torso, perfect motion. Each micro task in its perfect place. It seems a tad further down than I remembered (I have done no diving deeper than 48m in two years). The rope is covered in Algae and I have no idea what to expect on way down. It is diving into the unknown. But I know this water, it is my water! Touchdown, my eyes adjust, it is remarkably clear down there, like the twilight time at dusk or pre-dawn, and quiet. I better head back up, no sense overstaying my welcome. Kick off the bottom 6 good powerful kicks and back 18
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into a rhythm, recognize large sections of algae, about 20m to go. Up, up, up. The lungs start to expand. Oh howzit mate, here’s Troy already meeting me at 15 metres on the way up for safety. Hook, drag the air out and walk away. I had about 22 seconds on the bottom and felt great. God it feels good to still be diving. My lungs were one hundred percent so I was particularly pleased to turn that corner. The D4 showed a dive time of 2 minutes 20 seconds and a depth of 52.3m (no correction for freshwater). As it turned out, my ear cleared up completely and I was able to continue diving, but now I could chill, I had accomplished my goal and did not need to risk it in the green water. Well, that was my mindset when I left home the following morning. When I got to the hole Don Shirley asked me if I’d seen the gnome at the bottom. “No, I hadn’t”! “Well it is right down on the line you were diving on”! “Oh bugger”! So down I went. And there it was, about 3metres from the anchor point. Very black from algae and standing next to a mushroom. I went over to it and wiped it free of algae. It looked a bit tired so I lay it down gently before returning to the surface.
The AfricanDiver team holds their breath Paul and I managed to squeeze in some freediving lessons with Trevor during his course in Johannesburg. Unfortunately due to other commitments we were unable to complete the course, but will do so when Trevor returns to Johannesburg for his next course.
Where before I had been able to achieve 2 minutes breathhold I was now reduced to half that. All because I allowed the complications to stress me and affect my focus and concentration.
As underwater photographers, we have long wanted to improve our breath-hold capability, in order to better photograph whale shark, dolphin, whales and the like without the hindrance of scuba gear. Having a freediving competency just would make the world of difference to this type of photography for us. So, off we went to learn from the master. I was fortunate to spend some quality time with Trevor on a one-on-one basis (almost two full days in fact). During these two days Trevor took me from complete novice to beginner freediver. He also pushed my own personal envelope further than it had ever been pushed. I went from being able to hold my breath for 25 seconds to well over 2 minutes in the first few hours of tuition. By day two I was descending to 8 metres and spending almost a minute at that depth. I have never felt so free, unencumbered and “liquid” when diving as I did when it all came together. Trevor also got me to freedive to a depth of 20 metres at Miracle Waters – a personal best.
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Once again the learning was steep and I started to get better at handling these situations just before I had to leave the course for other commitments.
Unfortunately for Paul, gastro hit and he had to abandon the course in mid-breath, so to speak.
In addition to the practical aspects of freediving, Trevor’s theory lessons were equally enlightening. No scuba diving course I have ever done came close to giving me the same degree of detailed information and knowledge about all of the aspects of freediving.
But it was not all plain-sailing for me. After my dive to 20 metres, Trevor introduced me to working with other freediving students as a team underwater. Whilst this seemed, at first, to be a pointless exercise it had immense benefits. Team activities added a massive complication to being underwater and immediately took me “out of my box”.
I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the course that I did and am looking forward to completing it when Trevor is next in Johannesburg. Freediving seems to me to be a perfect water sport for Johannesburg. There are many spots where freediving can be practiced in relative safety and the benefits for scuba diving are huge.
The Natal Sharks Board Text and images by Cormac McCreesh
Y
ou either love sharks or hate them but you cannot deny their purpose and their beauty. They are fascinating creatures yet stir up so much controversy. The Natal Sharks Board is one of the world’s leading shark institutions and one of the most controversial. The Sharks Board was formed in 1962 in response to a period of frightening, and often fatal, shark attacks which took a massive toll on the tourist industry along the KwaZulu Natal coastline. Since then, the Sharks Board has maintained and managed the nets along the coastline and conducted intensive research into shark attack prevention. The incidence of shark attack increased from about 1940 and peaked in 1957 with 21 attacks, 7 of which were fatal. Extensive netting was conducted
in 1952 and there has been a significant reduction in shark attacks, at protected beaches, from that date. It is worth noting that the period from 1938 to 1965 coincides with the period of intensive whaling, conducted from Durban harbour. 20
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The Sharks Board practise transparency and publish their findings and “catch and release” statistics on their website. And I urge you to visit their site to find out more. Whenever I am in Durban, I try to visit the Natal Sharks Board. I have lost count of the number of times I have visited and I am sure I will be back in the future. The Sharks Board has a fantastic permanent exhibition of the research work they do and spending time browsing through the exhibition is time well spent. Each day, there is a “show” of an informative audio-visual and dissection of a shark which includes a lecture of shark biology and behaviour. On the day I was there, the shark-to-bedissected was a small blacktip, which I found “defrosting” on a stainless steel table in the public auditorium. Sharks that are to be dissected are sharks that have been removed from the nets and which could not be released because they are too damaged or dead. The dead sharks are stored in freezers and either used for lecture purposes and also for research.
This poor fellow ended up on the “lecture” table though and I took these photographs of him. It made me very sad to see him lying there being picked upon by flies, waiting for some tourists to see him dissected for their edification. I am both fascinated and appalled by the work that the Sharks Board does. Fascinated, because of the extent of the knowledge and constant research conducted, and appalled because of the indiscriminate killing the shark nets cause. Indiscriminate by-catch is a concomitant of the nets, and dolphin, manta, rays and turtles are frequent victims of this “protection”. The Sharks Board would argue otherwise but I cannot justify their methods of protecting our beaches and bathers from sharks. For me, if you want to swim in the sea then you must accept the risk in the same way you would accept the risk of walking alone in the Kruger Park. Make up your own mind, but not before finding out a little more about the Natal Sharks Board first. The underwater photograph of the shark nets was taken at Rocky Bay. You can see how easy it is for sharks and other animals to blunder into the nets. In fact, when I took these photographs I very nearly was tangled up in the nets. I was freediving with my camera when I took the photos and got my fins caught up in the nets while concentrating on taking the photos. It all happened so quickly and I almost panicked. I can only imagine the panic any fish must feel when it is caught in the nets. They are virtually impossible to see and only serve to “take out predators”, regardless of the by-catch.
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African Diver contacted Geremy Cliff, head of research, at the Natal Sharks Board, to add a balance to our views expressed. Here is his response: Thanks for the opportunity to comment...but would like you to consider the following: Shark nets were installed to protect the coastal tourist industry, which was badly affected, by shark attacks, especially in the 1950s, in that holidaymakers packed up and left the coast. The nets have been very effective in reducing the incidence of shark attack. The down side is that they are indiscriminate, as you have stated, in that they catch dolphins, turtles, rays and sharks which pose little threat, such as raggies. For this reason the Sharks Board has reduced the number of nets at all its beaches and is replacing some of its nets with drumlines (baited lines), which are unlikely to catch dolphins, rays and turtles and raggies. Unfortunately there have been moves in the diving community to discredit drumlines on the grounds that they are going to attract dangerous sharks inshore and increase the risk to beach users. Our experience, together with that of Queensland, Australia, which has used drumlines since 1962, indicates that this is not the case. Consequently, the Sharks Board is going to press ahead with drumlines. You mention the Kruger National Park with all its predators. It’s a great place but you can’t get out of your car for obvious reasons. Fortunately there are plenty of other wilderness areas, such as the Drakensberg, where it is safe to hike and mountain bike and camp without worrying about being attacked by lions, leopards, crocs, elephants or hippos. But that is because man has systematically shot and killed any threatening animals that move into those areas. The Sharks Board recognises and respected the need for marine protected areas and for that reason would never install nets at a place like Sodwana or Kosi Bay. We do have nets in the Aliwal MPA at Scottburgh and Rocky bay, but those nets were there for 30+ years before it was declared an MPA in 2004. KZN has 560 km of coastline, with 325 km south of Richards bay our northernmost installation, we only have nets along 25 km of the coast. We believe that beach users are entitled to swim and surf free from the risk of shark attack at the 38 beaches that are protected. The onus is on us to continue to try and reduce catches, especially of the nontarget species and the drumlines are a means of achieving this.
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Blood on the Reef Text and images by Cormac McCreesh
I
could not resist the invitation to dive on Blood Reef but I should have known better. Intrigued by the name I did some research and discovered that Blood Reef is situated a little over 500 metres behind the backline directly opposite the now-defunct whaling station on the Bluff in Durban. The reef got its name from the pools of whale blood that collected over the reef in the days when whales were “processed” at the whaling station. I have vague memories of my Dad taking me across on the ferry to the slipway in Durban harbour when I was around 5 or 6 years old (circa 1965/6). I can recall the noise and smell of the ferry and the feeling of being on a boat in the sea. Equally, I can recall the smell that emanated from the rotting whale carcasses lying on the slipway waiting to be railed to the whaling plant to be flensed, butchered and packaged. And I recall seeing huge bite marks on the carcasses from snacking sharks…all very impactful to a wide-eyed impressionable young boy. In the days following the dive, I began investigating the old whaling station and eventually happened upon a tour group specialising in tours of it. And so, I began a fascinating trip back into the past. It took the invention, and perfection, of the modern harpoon gun to take whaling to new heights (or should that be lows) in 1870. As a result, commercial whaling in the northern hemisphere took off, and as those stocks declined whales were sought in the southern hemisphere. 30 years later, commercial whaling in Durban was started by two Norwegians in 1907. From that time to closure of the whaling station, Norwegians dominated the Durban based industry. The whaling station grew to become the largest land-based whaling plant in the world and operated an area from Cape Vidal in the north to Port St Johns in the south, an area in radius from Durban harbour of 150 nautical miles. This gave easy access to whales migrating south to the Antarctic winter (to feed) and back again at the beginning of summer (to calve) - the whaling season being from March to September each year. As technology and engineering improved, factory ships were built and the “season” was extended to include killing whales when feeding in the Antarctic or calving near the Comoros and Madagascar. Whaling became an almost year-round operation with only a short two-month off-period to refit and refurbish the factory ships and catchers.
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In 1911 there were 15 companies hunting whales in the Antarctic. This peaked in 1931 when there were 41 factory boats and 232 catchers operating there. Each factory ship processed approximately 10 000 whales each season. Whaling in the Antarctic ceased in 1964 owing mainly to the collapse of stocks and the economics of harvesting the dwindling supply. But the operation in Durban managed to survive until 1975, harvesting mainly sperm whales and eventually only minke whales in the area. The Durban whaling company experienced its best year ever in 1965 recording 3 852 whales shot in the 150 nautical miles range of operations. I met with Ralph Larson ex master and gunner on one of the whale catchers. Now 80 years old and of Norwegian descent, he lives his final years on the Bluff overlooking the whaling station and the harbour he once spent so much of his time in. 24
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Ralph told me he personally shot over 8 000 whales, the biggest being a blue whale of 90 tonnes. All species of whale were fair game, including killer whales, but the majority of whales shot were fin, humpback, sei, southern right and sperm whales. The baleen whales (fin, humpback, southern right for example) were the most vulnerable (i.e. the easiest to shoot) because they surface fed and were found close to shore. Sperm whales were difficult to shoot because they dive to great depths (450m to 1200m) and only surface an hour to an hour and a half later. Minke whales were the most difficult because they can reach speeds of 30 knots when trying to escape the killer harpoon gunboats. It took, on average, 2 and a half shots with the harpoon to kill the whale, according to Ralph. The harpoon weighed about 54,5kgs, was 1.5metres long and contained an explosive head with a fragmentation shell – devastatingly brutal! And lest we think that was not sufficient, each harpoon head had 3 to 4 large barbs to contain it in the
whale’s meat once it had struck. Shot whales were pumped full of compressed air and marked with a buoy so that they could be collected once the day’s quota of whale had been shot. Often these whale carcasses were hit upon by sharks before being collected or even while being towed back to Durban harbour. Today, few of the whalers remain. Most live their final days in relative peace and quiet and speak very little about what they did. Thankfully, Durban and other places along the South African coastline enjoy a thriving whale watching industry where people from all over the world can visit and view whales in all their glory. We look back on the whaling industry and the whalers and point accusatory fingers at them. We are unable to understand why they did what they did and we mourn the loss of the huge stocks of whales that must have existed.
Take for instance, the statistics of 10 000 whales processed by 41 factory boats in 1931 – that is 410 000 whales in one season! How large must the total whale population have been before whaling. What food stocks must existed to support such vast quantities of whales. And where are all these food stocks now, given the remaining small numbers of whales. When I think about this, I feel nauseous and disgusted at how disgraceful human behaviour can be. Consider this little statistic: the current blue whale population is estimated at 1 000 and I saw statistics showing that the Durban whaling station processed in excess of 3 000 blue whales during its operations – that’s three times the estimate of the current world population over a period of 60 years. But nothing has changed! Today shark “fishing” and “finning” is a multimillion dollar industry. We abuse the stocks of fish in the sea indiscriminately to fill our trendy seafood restaurants and because we see fish as a healthy alternative to meat. All over the world fish stocks are collapsing and longliners and factory boats travel long distances in search of fish. Wantonly raping the oceans, (for it cannot be called farming) these fishing boats kill indiscriminately seeking to satisfy our tastes for fish, exotic or not. The coastline of Africa is particularly vulnerable as African countries eagerly sell off their fishing rights to first world countries ever-hungry for fish.
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I wonder if our children or their children will look back at us and condemn us with the same disgust. Will they one day wonder how we could ever dream of eating chicken bred under horrific conditions or beef pumped full of growth hormones and steroids? Nothing has changed since the whale industry closed down. All that has changed is that the target species is no longer whales! If you are ever down in Durban, I urge you to go on the tour and visit the old whaling station. Dive on Blood Reef and consider where we have come from and just how far we still have to evolve as a species. For information about the whale tour read Kathryn Fourie’s blog at http://citysearch. yellowpages.co.za/blogs/?p=510#more-510 For the tour, contact Dave Nielson on +27 (0)82 336 7433 or +27 (0)31 467 9461 or email him on thenielsens@absamail.co.za.
Whales were originally hunted for their blubber which was rendered into oil and used to make soap, margarine and cooking fat. Sperm oil, or spermaceti, was used as a general-purpose lubricant for delicate machinery and spermaceti wax was used in candles, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Baleen was used as stays for women’s corsets, umbrella handles and riding crops. Eventually, petroleum and synthetic products replaced most of the uses for whale blubber and spermaceti (thankfully) and whalers were forced to increase the uses for, and yield from, whales. So, whales were processed for bone and protein meal used for animal feed, meat extract used as a flavouring base for soups and the choice cuts were bought by the Japanese who favour whale meat as a delicacy. Ambergris, found in a small percentage of sperm whales (and therefore very rare) was used as a fixative in the most expensive perfumes. Sperm whales became a highly targeted species because of the uses for spermaceti and ambergris and the emphasis shifted away from baleen whales over time, owing to declining stocks and low monetary yields.
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Breakbone fever A DAN Member Tells of Her Personal Bout With Dengue and Offers Good Advice on Prevention By Hillary Viders Published with permission by DAN-South Africa An horrific experience As I settled comfortably into my seat aboard the Boeing 747 heading home from the Caribbean, I found myself unable to stop scratching the itchy lumps that covered my body. I assumed that they were the result of an accidental brush with a stinging marine creature on one of my dives. Even so, I knew that this did not explain the inordinate amount of bruises that had begun to appear in the last two days. The next morning, I awoke with a sizzling fever and flu-like pains. I could barely breathe. I rushed to my doctor, whose first question was, “What foreign countries have you visited lately?”. I explained that I had just returned from Caracas, Venezuela and Bonaire. “You have dengue fever,” the doctor announced, “and I’m admitting you to the hospital immediately.” From that point, everything became a nightmarish blur. I had never even heard of dengue fever. How could I possibly have contracted a tropical disease if I had not been in a jungle? Why wasn’t I warned beforehand to get a vaccine? Was I going to die? Luckily for me, this horrific disease had been caught early. Characterized by severe headaches, rash and excruciating joint pain, this disease has also been called “breakbone fever.” After treatment with intravenous fluids, analgesics and plenty of bed rest, I set about learning everything I could about dengue fever and other tropical diseases, so I would be prepared for future dive travel.
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Tropical diseases are on the rise worldwide I discovered that contracting dengue fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, was not as rare an occurrence as I had thought. In fact, due to the effects of El Niño, in some regions of the world outbreaks of dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases are currently reaching epidemic proportions. Climatologists and scientists who track global warming report that El Niño made 1998 the warmest year in several centuries. This heat, coupled with El Niño’s heavy rains, has created ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes. Coincidental to these shifts in the environment, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports “quantitative leaps” in the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases, particularly dengue fever, malaria, cholera, Rift Valley fever and encephalitis (“Warmer, Wetter, Sicker: Linking Climate to Health,” New York Times, Aug. 10, 1998, p.1). Areas where these diseases are thriving include many popular dive destinations, such as the Caribbean, Mexico, the
South Pacific, Asia, Australia, Central and South America. Doctors at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab in Puerto Rico warn that even the United States is vulnerable to dengue fever: “The whole Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida is at risk” (“Painful, Flu-Like Tropical Illness Can Be Deadly,” USA Today, Aug. 18, 1998). Dengue what? Mosquito-borne viruses are often complex. Most cannot be prevented by vaccines and prophylactic medication. Even when contracted, their symptoms may go unnoticed because they mimic a wide variety of common disorders. Dengue (pronounced DENG-ee) fever can easily be mistaken for a bad case of flu: muscle aches, joint pain, fever, fatigue, headache etc., which, incidentally, can also be mistaken for malaria. After three to four days, a rash appears, which can be mistaken for measles. To complicate matters even more, some viral diseases have
no definitive cure. For example, once contracted, malaria may continually recur throughout a person’s life. And there is no “treatment” for dengue fever; it is only managed with general supportive measures (i.e. bed rest, fluids and blood monitoring). I also learned that there are two types of dengue fever. Carried by the aëdes mosquito, classic dengue fever is the most common. According to Dr. Stuart Rose in the “International Travel HealthGuide”: classic dengue fever is found worldwide, with over half the population of the globe at risk for infection. Although the effects of the disease are extremely unpleasant, people usually recover from dengue fever in a week or two. I, on the other hand, had managed to contract dengue’s evil twin, a potentially fatal disease known as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). In adults, DHF results from a second dengue infection: DHF is characterized by all symptoms of classic dengue fever plus a lowering of blood pressure, low blood platelets, skin hemorrhages (as exemplified by my mysterious legion of bruises) and shock. No preventive drugs exist for dengue fever, so avoiding mosquito bites and staying alert to symptoms are the best course of action. Demographically speaking Dengue (from the Spanish or West Indian, a corruption of “dandy” fever) is an acute, infectious mosquito-borne viral disease. Some 2.5 billion people worldwide are at risk of infection, and there are estimates of more than 20 million cases a year in more than 100 countries. The World Health Organization Division of Control of Tropical Diseases reports an estimated 500,000 hospitalized cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) / dengue shock syndrome (DSS), 90 percent of whom are children under age 15. The average mortality rate for both DHF and DSS is about 5 percent; about 24,000 deaths per year. Increasing urbanization during the last decades has led to an increase 28
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in the prevalence of dengue fever and DHF, which often occur in massive epidemics. In 1995, the worst dengue epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean in 15 years struck at least 14 countries, causing more than 200,000 cases of dengue fever and almost 6,000 cases of the more serious DHF. Where are the risks? The risk is greatest in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Southern China, Central and South America, the Caribbean and parts of Africa. Lower risk exists in Taiwan and the Pacific Islands; the Middle East and Northern Australia have a still lower risk; New Zealand is free of the dengue virus. In the United States most dengue fever occurs in tourists who have returned from Mexico, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. In 1981, Cuba reportedly had 350,000 infections; 158 deaths were reported. In 1994, when the United States sent troops in Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy, 406 military personnel were admitted to hospitals during the first sixth weeks of deployment. Of that total, 103 people were admitted with fevers; 30 suffered dengue fever. All fever sufferers recovered. Dengue virus serotypes 1, 2, and 4 were isolated from 22 patients, and eight patients developed antibodies to the virus. Researchers concluded that dengue fever poses a significant threat to military personnel and
civilian travelers in Haiti, it and has the potential for introduction to and transmission in the United States. Is it Dengue or Malaria? Anyone who contracts a fever while traveling to areas associated with malaria should seek immediate medical attention. Even if symptoms are rooted in the dengue virus, it is important to test for malaria first and start appropriate treatment.
Masking of Symptoms Four grades, or serotypes, are used to rate the severity of the dengue virus: • Grade I - fever, muscle aches, flu-like symptoms, rash; • Grade II - Grade I plus spontaneous bleeding of skin, gums or gastrointestinal tract; • Grade III - Grade II plus agitation and circulatory failure; and • Grade IV - Profound shock. Classic dengue fever is an infection with any of the four virus types causing flu-like symptoms - sudden high fever, severe headaches, joint and muscle pain. Other symptoms include facial flushing, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and a rash that appears three to four days after the onset of fever. The rash may spread from the torso to the arms, legs and face (at this stage, the virus can be confused with measles). Most dengue fever cases run their course in about a week, although the illness may last up to 10 days, and complete recovery can take two to four weeks. Post-viral fatigue can last several months. Infection is diagnosed by a special laboratory test of blood that detects the presence of the virus or antibodies. Dengue fever is commonly confused with other infectious illnesses such as influenza, measles, malaria, typhoid and scarlet fever. Dengue does not produce long-term complications. The symptoms of dengue can be treated with bed rest, fluids to prevent dehydration and medications, such as acetaminophen to reduce fever; aspirin should be avoided. Antibiotics do not help. Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a more severe, sometimes fatal, form of the disease; it rarely strikes Western tourists; both DHF and DSS are rare among travelers. Symptoms of DHF are initially indistinguishable from classic dengue fever, but in this form dengue progresses to faintness, shock and generalized bleeding. DHF is more likely found in repeat infections and in infants with a primary infection. Most DHF cases are reported from Southeast Asia, especially among children.
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The theory explaining the severity of the infection is that dengue antibodies already present - either via a previous infection or acquired by an infant from the mother interact with the infecting virus, producing an “enhanced infection.” In addition to headaches, fever and muscle pain, DHF is characterized by: • leakage of fluids from capillaries, causing edema, or fluid around the lung, and increased concentrations of red blood cells; and • skin hemorrhages, which have many causes, but a low platelet count is usually present. Dengue shock syndrome (DSS) evolves from severe cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, which produce a shock-like state; DSS has an estimated 2 percent to 10 percent annual mortality. Dengue Breeding Grounds While found in or near human dwellings in urban centers, mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus may be found in rural areas, but they are rarely found at elevations above 4,000 feet. The mosquito has a limited flight range of 400 miles. Dengue fever occurs seasonally, during or shortly after the rainy season. Storms may increase mosquito populations by providing breeding sites of standing water: artificial containers and natural habitats. Removing such containers in or near housing areas provides longtime protection from mosquito breeding and disease transmission. U.S Health officials have speculated that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has created an increased movement of people within and across country borders within the past few years, and more air travel have both provided means for easy transport of the virus. Adequate housing, sanitary living conditions and sufficient piped water supplies have not kept pace with growth and are variables that favor the spread of the
mosquito-carrying virus. Control of Dengue: WHO’s on the Case The dengue virus control program implemented by the World Health Organization claims the only effective way to prevent the spread of the dengue virus is to eliminate the mosquito carriers or drastically reduce their numbers. With WHO’s support, national control programs have developed in Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. No viable vaccine exists at present, although one has reputedly been developed in Thailand. Human trials have not begun; a working vaccine could be a decade away.
Sony Winter Shootout 2008 Shooting Winters on The Shoal By Charles Scallet
The Winter Shootout originated as the brainchild of SCUP (Scubanet Underwater Photography Club) in 2006. SCUP disbanded after running the event successfully for two years. So Marius Klue and I took up the challenge and continued the competition so that all Underwater Photographers could continue to meet and compete with each other for some very exciting prizes at Aliwal shoal. The winter shootout takes place as an alternative to the “already booked out” Sodwana Shootout and the natural choice was the Aliwal Shoal. The Shoal boasts a great variety of diving, including two wrecks: the Produce and the Nebo. The first, a molasses carrying cargo vessel, ran aground in August 1974 and was split in two, some years later, after the conditions on the Shoal took its toll. Lying at an average depth of 22m, with a maximum of 35m, you’d be able to do Deep and Wreck dives at the same time, with excellent chances of seeing huge Brindle Bass and other big game fish. The Nebo, a 2067-ton wooden steamer, met its nemesis on her maiden voyage, in May 1884. Providing an 18m average and 28m maximum depth, it too is a Deep and Wreck dive. It is a surreal dive as there is a lot of railroad equipment, that was being carried as cargo, strewn on the port side. The damaged propeller is still in place and provides for an excellent swim through. One should not forget about the Shoal itself. This reef varies from 6m to 28m and includes Cathedral and Raggie Cave, which has epitomised Ragged Tooth Shark diving in South Africa. The non aggressive “Raggie’s” gather on the Shoal from July to December each year, providing excellent opportunity for Shark lovers, as well as Shark lovers ’in-training’ to experience sharks first hand. The Shoal not only provides a vivid pageant of aquatic life, but caters for all types of divers, from Open Water (novice) to the most seasoned of Deep and Wreck divers. The closest and most accessible locations to reach the Shoal from are Umkomaas, Scottburgh and Rocky Bay. These locations provide for a choice of “village”, small town, or ‘closer to nature’ style accommodation. Accommodation ranges from tented to hotel and dining also ranges from camp-style to upmarket. These locations are a little more than 30km’s south of Durban, via tarred roads and in close proximity to all emergency services making this an attractive place to be. The area also boasts a lot of non-diving activites including fishing, the Vernon Crooks nature reserve, CrocWorld crocodile farm, nature trails and much more.
Painted Frogfish - Allen Walker - 1st Rare
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Now in its third year, the 2008 Winter Shootout was run completely independent of any school, club or operator. We beat the odds by hosting the event with great success, bar the prearrangement of conducive weather conditions. The main objectives of the organisers were to give all schools, clubs and operators an equal opportunity to take part in Underwater Photography and ensure the continuity of the Winter Shootout at Aliwal Shoal. As previously mentioned, the Shoal offers a wide variety of diving, ranging from Wreck, to Reef, to Shark and even a “big blue’”. But because of the diversity of aquatic life it also offers the Underwater Photography enthusiast an immense choice of subjects to “shoot”. Umkomaas was set as the hub of activity. Registration took place at Lala Manzi on 6 November 2008 and the shootout took place on 6 and 7 November. Judging and prizegiving took place on 8 November. Sporting in excess of 30 entries, competition was expected to be stiff. The panel of judges that honoured this year’s event were: Sabrina Hindley (Editor/Owner for Submerge), Dennis King (author/ photographer of a range of local and Southern Africa fish identification and dive books, as well as regular contributor to the local underwater magazines), and Neville Ayliffe (aquatic walking encyclopaedia, with years of experience in the aquatic arena) 31
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The anchor sponsor was Sony, with the top prize being a Sony 40” series Bravia LCD TV. In stark contrast to the 2007 shootout, the 2008 shootout was hindered by extreme weather conditions. Winds of up to 30 knots, wave intervals of 10-meters and 3.5-meter waves were the order of the day. As I understand, there were only 5 boat launches over the total shootout period including the extension of allowing the launch times on Saturday morning. The unruly conditions had a notable effect on the shootout entrants and the organisers were inundated with calls from entrants indicating that they had cancelled their trips to the event as a result of the adverse weather Dusky Shark - Andrew Kemp - 3rd Advanced conditions. Wind, swells and waves aside, lets talk about the visibility..... 20 meters plus. Talk about a paradox. Sharks seemed to favour the entrants this year and there were even attempts at obtaining shots of a whale! An entrant donated his compact camera to Neptune, saving his SLR in attempting the feat. A total of 46 photo entries were received. With experience that most of us just dream about, the judges set about the task of selecting the winners. Set up in a room prepared by Lala Manzi, and with cups of steaming hot chocolate, the judges set about their business. Potato Bass - Allen Walker - 2nd Advanced
The shootout categories were: • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced • Rare • Difficult • Shell’s underwater (camera submerged) • Shell’s dry (dry shot’s i.e. on beach, on rocks, etc.) The judges selected the entries for the categories Rare and Difficult based on their knowledge and experience of underwater photography and aquatic life and from all the entries submitted. The judges took three hours to play their part and they expressed pleasure and surprise in the quality of the photos entered, considering the conditions. No entries had been received for the Beginner and Shell’s dry categories, and consequently these categories were scrapped. Lala Manzi hosted the prize giving and also provided the sound and visuals. Alwyn van Wyk gave an introduction to the wonderful world of Shells, a species completely overlooked by underwater enthusiasts. As quoted by Alwyn: “..there are more shells on the Shoal, than fishes…“. Dennis King gave feedback from the judges and overall commentary on the shootout. Prize giving followed, with Neville Ayliffe at the helm. The gathering fell silent as the winning images were reflected on the screen. These were followed by cheers and shouts as the winners were called to accept their prizes. Overall the competition was seen as a huge Parasitic anemone - Johan Malan - 3rd Intermediate
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success and a great improvement on the previous years’. Not even the weather could dampen the spirits. Entries increased from the previous years and a far greater number of prizes sponsored. Sony South Africa came on board at a very late stage, entertained the shootout exceptionally with the amazing prizes supplied. And hey, guess who has already indicated that they are wanting to be the major sponsor of the 2009 shootout? Heading the Sony Winter Shootout 2009? Special thanks go out to all the sponsors: Sony South Africa, Lala Manzi Inn, Reefteach, Fiona Ayerst Underwater Photography, Blue Vision Dive Centre, Sea & Sea, Reef Divers, Africa Dive Expeditions, South Africa Adventure Safaris, Firefish, Kewe Sales, Ocean Park Guesthouse, Kalandula Lodge, Umkomaas Guesthouse, NPC Seaworld Education Centre, Sharklife, Showtime Records, Bitten by Sharks, Streak Design, Strandloper, Divestyle, Submerge, Cressi-sub, Aquatec, and Escentia. Thanks also to the web hosting facility Quo10t Consulting. And last but not least, the entrants. Without you there would be no competition…. Look out for the Sony Winter Shootout 2009, BIGGER, BETTER, VIDEO’s and even MORE EXCITING!! The dates to ink on your diaries would be 30th July to 2nd August 2009.
Dusky Shark - Andrew Kemp - Overall Winner
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The Winter shootout would like to thank the sponsors
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One Shot - Right time. Right place by Simon Brown
Being in the right place, at the right time often makes the difference between an average picture, and a good one. This image of sunlight streaming through a crack in the roof was taken inside a small cave at Jackfish Alley, a popular dive site near Ras Mohammed in the Red Sea, but exactly where the image was taken is less important than when the shutter was pressed. The exact time recorded by the camera was the 30th of July 2008 at 12:19 local time. This example is just one of a short series of images, all fairly similar to each other and all taken within a brief four minute timeframe. The truth is, I was bored and looking to photograph “something” as I lay on the floor of the cave, waiting for my buddy to finish his creative moments further in the cave. At the time, I didn’t think this image was worthy of memory card space and I was suffering from a classic “the better shot is just round the corner”, but I was bored and rather than keep the camera idle I composed and shot a few frames, tweaking the composition until the preview revealed an image I felt couldn’t be improved. After a few more minutes my buddy departed, so I headed further into the cave and took his place. As it turned out, my buddy saw the same shaft of light and took a few frames of the very subject I had just shot, but neither of us was aware of what the other had photographed. Back on the boat with images downloaded we compared our results. In the five minutes between our separate efforts with the shaft of light the scene had changed. There was really only one spot 35
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on the cave floor to capture the shaft so our compositions were nearly identical, but the shaft of sunlight had moved on and the small pile of coral rubble in the foreground of this image was now in deep shadow and could barely be seen. There was nothing “wrong” with either image; each have their own merits and it’s a question of personal taste as to which one I preferred, but it does highlight – quite literally – being in the right place at the right time does indeed count if you want to photograph something specific, even if it’s just a pile of rubble on a cave floor. This image is available as a 16” x 20” print. For more information please click here or visit Simon Brown’s website by clicking here.
Subal ND20 housing Nikon D200 10.5mm fisheye ISO 500 F5.6 1/20th