The 14th issue of African Diver Magazine is now available for download. In this issue, the Moving Sushi team wrap up their two year expedition and the Shiver documentary team introduces Carlos Macuacua, Mozambique’s first dive instructor and anti-shark finning crusader. There is a feature on some of the more interesting Red Sea wrecks and DAN South Africa summarise their activities for the year.

African Diver Magazine is available as a free download in pdf format.

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The Egyptian Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) has announced a ban on all diving and water sports activities for the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh for today and tomorrow (1/2 December). This is due to three reported shark attacks in the last 24 hours. The shark, an Oceanic White Tip, will be captured, and then released away from any tourist resorts.

The ban does not effect the National Park at Ras Mohammed, and the CDWS are working together with officials and shark experts to find the causes behind such unusual behavior, including possible indications of illegal fishing or feeding in the area.

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The Japanese whaling fleet should be underway by now if it is to reach it’s hunting grounds in the Southern Oceans. However, Sea Shepherd reports that it is still in dock. The fleet normally leaves before November 19 which was more than 10 days ago and this means they will certainly not be able to begin whaling around December 20th as normal. It would seem that part of the reason is the lack of a fleet re-supply vessel.

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Environmental charity Bite-Back has launched it’s 2011 calender. This uses images from David Doubilet, Doug Perrine, Brian Skerry, Eric Cheng and Alex Mustard amongst others to remind us on a daily basis what is at stake if we carry on overfishing the world’s oceans.

Bite-Back has run a very successful campaign to force the UK’s supermarkets to re-think their sourcing policies, and is active in persuading Chinese restaurants to remove shark fin from their menus. Full details of the calender and the organization are on their website.

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James B. Wood, Wetpixel moderator , has accepted the position of Associate Director at the Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu, Hawaii. James is an educator, author, webmaster, research scientist and pioneer in informal education. He has been featured in several Discovery Channel specials on squid and octopuses. Waikiki Aquarium is the 3rd oldest public aquarium in the US and part of the University of Hawaii system. The aquarium serves 320,000 guests a year.

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