WANTED by INTERPOL: Whale wars’ Captain Paul Watson

gCaptain - 

On Wednesday, INTERPOL formally issued a Red Notice for Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (and Whale Wars fame) after the notorious sea captain skipped bail in Germany as he faced extradition to Costa Rica.

Although not technically an arrest warrant (as Interpol does not have the authority to issue arrest warrants), a Red Notice is the highest level of alert INTERPOL can issue to it’s 190 member nations, but leaves whether or not to detain Watson up to each country individually.

In May, Captain Paul Watson was arrested in Germany on grounds of a 10-year old Costa Rican arrest warrant that sought his extradition back to the Central American country to face charges equivalent to attempted murder.

Germany eventually granted Watson bail, which he posted, but Watson fled the country on July 22nd after 70 days under house arrest.

“Watson’s failure to satisfy the bail conditions set by the German court,” INTERPOL says in it’s notice, “and the additional information provided by Costa Rica concerning the underlying charges, it was concluded that a Red Notice could be issued in compliance with INTERPOL’s Constitution and rules.”

In it’s notice, INTERPOL specifies the charges against Watson as ‘causing a danger of drowning or of an air disaster’ in connection to an alleged water canon incident that took place in April 2002 while filming Sharkwater, a documentary film meant to expose the ugly shark-hunting/finning industry.

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Scuba instructor arrested in woman’s murder

Meghann M. Cuniff - 

A Spokane diving instructor romantically linked to a woman who was found shot to death on New Year’s Day has been arrested as a suspect in her murder.

Daniel R. Arteaga, 40, was arrested at the Public Safety Building Tuesday after voluntarily reporting there for an interview.

He is expected to appear in Spokane County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon via video from the jail, where he is booked on a first-degree murder charge.

Detectives searched his home at 19329 E. Valleyway Ave. in east Spokane Valley Tuesday “acquiring all the evidence that we possibly can,” said Deputy Craig Chamberlin, spokesman for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Arteaga is accused of killing Kimberly Rae Schmidt, 34, who was found dead of a gunshot wound to her head Jan. 1.

Schmidt, who has a 13-year-old daughter, was killed about two and a half weeks after she and Arteaga were notified of two pending civil lawsuits regarding scuba diving accidents: one that left a man dead and another that allegedly left a woman with brain damage.

Arteaga and Schmidt worked part time for the Scuba Center of Spokane.

Schmidt was expected to be a key witness in the lawsuits.

Arteaga’s arrest came less than two weeks after he sued Schmidt’s mother and her estate for property damages, alleging her family was withholding diving gear and other property from him.

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Les nageurs de la Réunion partent en guerre contre les «dents de la mer»

L'Alsace -

L’émotion est vive dans les milieux du surf et des loisirs de mer, après plusieurs attaques de requins, dont certaines mortelles.

La version réunionnaise des «Dents de la mer» n’attire pas les foules dans les salles obscures.

Elle aurait plutôt tendance à transformer une partie des plages de l’île en désert.

La huitième attaque en vingt mois a eu lieu dimanche après-midi, quand un surfeur, présenté comme expérimenté, a été attaqué par un squale.

Le sportif a été gravement blessé à la main et au pied droits. Bien qu’amputé de sa main et de son pied, le malheureux a pu regagner seul le rivage.

Même si ses jours ne sont pas en danger, ce nouveau drame de la mer a relancé la polémique sur la présence des requins à proximité des plages les plus fréquentées de l’île française.

Sur ces huit attaques, trois ont été mortelles. La dernière victime a été tuée le 23 juillet dernier en plein après-midi.

Les témoins l’ont entendu crier, puis ils l’ont vu disparaître sous l’eau. Il est ensuite remonté à la surface.

Les baigneurs présents ont alors pu le tirer de l’eau et le ramener sur la plage.

Malheureusement, le jeune surfer, une jambe sectionnée par les mâchoires du requin, avait perdu trop de sang.

Les secours n’ont pu le sauver. Les Réunionnais, qui avaient déclaré 2011 «année requins», en vivent une seconde tout aussi dramatique.

La suite...

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Cormorant's deep underwater dive filmed

BBC News -

A South American seabird's high-speed deep dive to the ocean floor has been filmed by researchers.

A camera was fitted to an imperial cormorant's back before it dived 150ft underwater off Argentina's Patagonia Coast in 40 seconds.

The footage shows how in just over a minute it finds and catches a fish, before returning to the surface.

A Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) team is studying the birds to help spot priority feeding areas.

The team led by Dr Flavio Quintana and including conservationists from the National Research Council of Argentina, was able to witness the birds' feeding techniques firsthand for the first time by capturing the underwater behaviour on camera.

The footage shows the cormorant on the surface of the protected coastal area of Punta León in Patagonia, Argentina, which is home to more than 3,500 pairs of the birds.

The camera is attached to the bird's back, and the video shows it pushing its feet to dive deeper, and exploring a vast area searching for food.

It eventually finds an elongated fish, which it brings to the surface to eat.

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Scuba diver for Fire Academy dies

Leann Eckroth - 

A North Dakota native who volunteered with the nonprofit Fire Academy ND in Mandan died Saturday in a Minnesota lake while scuba diving.

An autopsy for Jim Reardon, 51, of Pierz, Minn. is being done by the Otter Tail County coroner.

Reardon, formerly of Medina, was videotaping during a scuba dive at Lake Seven or Scrap Lake near Vergas, Minn.

He was conducting a “pre-drill survey” for the training session scheduled a few weeks later, according to Darrell Graf, who was his diving partner Saturday.

Graf, who is chief of the nonprofit Fire Academy ND, believes Reardon had a massive heart attack.

“We found him about 40 feet from the dock on the lake bottom.

All of his gear was on and his tank was working. He was an experienced diver,” Graf said.

Graf said the Minnesota lake was selected for the training exercise because it was clear and allowed for better training for those interested from the North Dakota program.

“We were doing an exploratory dive for a group dive for people interested in rescue diving,” Graf said.

He and Reardon somehow became separated during the scuba dive. “He had been videotaping.

I couldn’t see him. I came up and couldn’t find his bubbles.

When you lose track of your (diving partner), you look for the bubbles,” Graf said. A boat search soon followed.

Emergency 911 was called and the Vergas Rescue Squad responded to the scene shortly after 5 p.m.

The Otter Tail Sheriff’s Office reported that Reardon's body was found about 20 minutes after he disappeared, at the bottom of the lake.

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France to hunt sharks after Reunion island attacks

Nick Vinocur - 

France will hire professional fishermen to kill some 20 sharks off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion this week in an effort to understand the reasons for a series of attacks in the surfing hotspot.

Two surfers have been attacked by sharks within a week.

One narrowly survived the loss of a hand and a foot in a mauling on Sunday while the other died from his injuries last Monday.

Officials in the town of Saint-Leu, near a popular surfing spot where Sunday's attack took place, called on authorities to cull populations of tiger and bull sharks which they say have multiplied in the past year.

Some 300 locals and surfers, angered by the attacks, demonstrated in front of the French island's central police station demanding the sharks be culled.

France's overseas minister has refused a regulated cull, saying scientific studies must be conducted before hunting is allowed, to try to understand the source of a toxin in the sharks' flesh which leads to severe food poisoning.

Hunting bull sharks - known to attack humans - and tiger sharks is allowed in Reunion, but fishermen have avoided them because of the toxin, and locals say this is why they have flourished.

In addition to the surfer's death last Monday, two people were killed by sharks last year, in June and September, prompting local authorities to step up monitoring.

Shark attacks have been on the rise elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, especially in Australia.

Surfers are often the victims.

 

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Sea Shepherd’s new ship – M/V Bart Simpson

gCaptain -

A spiffy Razzle Dazzle paint scheme is not the only thing new over at Sea Shepherd, the controversial anti-whaling organization run by maritime fugitive Paul Watson.

The organization also has a new ship, the M/V Sam Simon, named for the donor of the vessel.

Simon is better known as co-creator of America’s favorite cartoon family, The Simpsons.

Details about the new ship remain classified according to Watson, but we do know it was formerly owned by the German government (possibly an icebreaker) which is ironic considering the Germans arrested Watson earlier this year.

Season 5 of Whale Wars, the hit show featuring the antics of Sea Shepherd, showed a marked increase in hostility between the Shepherds and the Japanese whalers they are targeting.

Information Dissemination, a leading blog about Navy strategy, warns against the recent militarization of environmental NGO’s.

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Follow your passion: Vandit Kalia

Poonam Jain - 

How many of us have the courage to follow our passion instead of opting for the safe route of taking up a regular job ?

Through this new column, we will share extraordinary stories of ordinary people who turned their passion into a profession: "In a past life, I used to make a living as a consultant, managing large projects," says Vandit Kalia in his blog.

In his present life, Kalia is a scuba diving instructor and founder of Dive India in Havelock, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Life ended, and then restarted when Kalia turned 30 in 2003.

"I was looking to do something different , and fell in love with the Andamans when I went there on a short diving holiday in 2000.

The following year, I took time off work and spent six months out of that year diving there.

I went back to work but kept thinking about the islands. Finally, I took the plunge and quit the corporate world and started a diving centre," he says.

Watching new people discover the underwater world — seeing them with big smiles on their faces when they come back to the surface — is a thrill that keeps Kalia going.

While at heart his passion remains the deep shipwrecks of the North Atlantic, underwater photography, especially of nudibranchs (sea slugs with extraordinary colours and striking forms), gives him the most pleasure these days.

But before he got to this, Dive India had a few bumps to wade. "As the first proper dive centre in the Andamans, it was a challenge convincing the administration that what we were doing was safe.

Attracting tourists to the Andamans was a big challenge owing to the limited connectivity, expensive flights and lack of proper facilities."

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