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Marine Life & Conservation

Scubaverse Film Review: Of Shark and Man

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Of Shark and Man captivates from the very beginning as images of our home town of Manchester are overlaid with sharks swimming over a reef in the opening credits. Right at the start, David is asked what kind of story this film is going to be and he answers, “a love story” and we know we are watching a film made by someone who is passionate about what he does. It is a stylish production that tells the story of David quitting his job and heading off to dive “the best shark dive in the world” in Fiji.

The trailer can be seen here:

Whilst the film is told by David about his underwater experiences with the Bull Sharks of Fiji, he also tells the story about how this dive site, Shark Reef, came about, and how the local community are involved in the shark’s conservation. It is not just Bull Sharks, although they are the stars of the show, but the lovely underwater footage also gives us an insight into the many other sharks that visit this area. The film also covers the sensitive subject of shark feeding from both sides of the debate.

The film not only shows us the beauty of the sharks of Fiji, but also includes interviews with divers, business owners and local Fijians and gives us an insight into the area and those involved in the shark diving business. Obviously, the highlight is the shark diving footage, especially the moment David thinks it is a good idea to put his camera and housing out on a length of pole and watching the sharks take a good exploratory bite!

Will David reach his ultimate goal? To head out to the edge of the shark reef, where very few divers are allowed to go… you will just have to watch the film to find out.

What comes across most in this film is David’s passion for what he does. It is infectious.

If you have ever thought about giving up your job and just heading out the door to follow your dream, if you love sharks, if you are planning to go to Fiji to do this dive, or you have been before and want to re-live the moment then you should sit down and watch this film.

You can find out how by following this link:

http://www.scubaverse.com/shark-man-available-rent-buy-now/

More details about the film

Synopsis:

David Diley is a thirty-two year old man, trapped in a dead-end job in England’s industrial north and his life is going nowhere. He does however, have a lifelong dream…

Should David follow the advice of everyone around him and forget about it, or should he risk everything and against all the odds, take his one chance to fulfil his greatest ambition, an ambition which finds him in the middle of a feeding frenzy with sixty of the world’s most dangerous sharks?

“Of Shark and Man” is a ground-breaking film about one man’s journey to get closer than anyone thought possible, to the world’s biggest Bull Sharks and tell the incredible untold story of Shark Reef in Fiji, one of the greatest marine conservation successes of all time. “Of Shark and Man” is an epic, incredibly ambitious, cinematic and award-winning love letter to the world’s most feared predator, in which the shark is the hero.

Website: www.ofsharkandman.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OfSharkAndMan

Twitter: www.twitter.com/OfSharkAndMan

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5723720/?ref_=nv_sr_1


Technical Details:

Format: 1080p PAL 25fps

Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (Cinemascope 2:35:1)

Audio Mix: Stereo

Run time: 84 minutes


Key Cast & Crew:

Written, Produced & Directed by: David Diley

Key Cast: David Diley, Mike Neumann, Rusiate Balenagasau, Manasa Bulivou, Helen Sykes, Arthur Sokimi, Silio Raqatima, Iona Rokowai

Cinematography: Hugh Fairs, David Diley, Mike Neumann, Hamish Harper

Additional Camera Operators: Liam Andrew Wright, Olli Wilson

Sound Design: David Lawrie & David Diley

Audio Engineering & Production: David Lawrie

Production Assistant: Hamish Harper

Edited by: David Diley

Featuring Music by: David Lawrie, Haruko, Krimewave, Shields, G Productions, David Diley, Before The Beginning, Mark Burrows and Chris Zabriskie

Distributor: Shami Media Group


Awards & Nominations:

Winner – “Best Cinematography in a Documentary” (Berlin International Film-Maker Festival 2016)

Winner – “Best Editing in a Documentary” (Nice International Film Festival 2016)

Winner – “Best Sound Design” (Nice International Film Festival 2016)

Winner – “Best Film – Organisers Choice” (Cine Submarino des Aguimes 2015)

Winner – “Best Film – Audience Choice” (Cine Submarino des Aguimes 2015)

Nominated – “Best Director of a Feature Documentary” (Berlin International Film-Maker Festival 2016)

Nominated – “Best Science and Education Film” (Berlin International Film-Maker Festival 2016)

Nominated – “Best Cinematography in a Documentary” (Nice International Film Festival 2016)


Further Scubaverse Links

Scubaverse contributors Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown have also done this dive and their thoughts are here:

http://www.scubaverse.com/wonderful-waidroka/

Scubaverse contributor Ash Roberts also made a short video for Scubaverse about this dive and you can see this here:

http://www.scubaverse.com/fiji-shark-dive-ash-roberts-watch-video-2/

For more from Nick and Caroline, visit www.frogfishphotography.com.

Main Photo Credit: Michael Patrick O’Neill

Nick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology. They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered. Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus. To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com

Marine Life & Conservation

New report shows simple measures needed to cut beach plastic pollution

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The Marine Conservation Society has launched its annual State of our Beaches 2023 report, highlighting the need for less single-use plastic items and more refillable options.

The charity’s beach cleaning programme, now in its 30th year, asks volunteers to record all litter that they find within a 100-metre stretch of beach. By gathering vital data from across the UK and Channel Islands, the charity creates change for cleaner seas and a healthier planet through policy and industry change. Last year, over 148 kilometres of beach were surveyed by volunteers, who removed 17,208kgs of litter from our coast.

Using data collected by over 14,000 volunteers, the State of our Beaches 2023 report shows that half of all litter collected came from public sources – either dumped, blown or washed onto our beaches.

Drinks-related litter, such as plastic bottles, caps and cans were one of the most found items, with an average of 16 found per 100 metres of beach surveyed. This figure is up 14% compared to the charity’s 2022 report.

Plastics caps and lids were recorded on 89% of surveys, with over 30,000 found in total. Plastic bottles were also commonly collected, with 73% of surveys finding this single-use item – a 4% increase compared to 2022. The charity’s inland litter pick survey, Source to Sea, also reported finding plastic bottles on 92% of cleans.

However, the charity’s State of Our Beaches 2023 report also indicates that some types of litter are on a downward trend. Although still in the top 10 litter items, disposable plastic cutlery, trays and straws were found on 5% fewer beaches across the UK, showing that bans on these plastic items between 2022 – 2023 could be working. The presence of plastic cotton bud sticks also dropped by 14%.

Lizzie Price, Beachwatch Manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said, “Half of the litter found on our beaches originates from public sources, underscoring the pressing issue of single-use plastic. Evidence shows that refillable alternatives and litter return schemes effectively reduce rubbish, as demonstrated by the decline our data has shown in items like plastic bags and disposable cutlery.

“Urgent and decisive action from UK governments is needed to accelerate our shift towards a circular economy, where we reuse, repair and recycle. The public needs greater access to refillable products and systems need to be implemented in which manufacturers are responsible for their waste.”

Governments across the UK have committed to delivering deposit return schemes from October 2025. However, the proposed scheme in England does not include glass items, despite glass being found on 52% of beaches in 2023. The charity is calling for governments across the UK to introduce compatible all inclusive deposit return schemes as soon as possible. This would see aluminium cans, and plastic and glass bottles have a 20p deposit which would be returned when recycled which would reduce drinks-related pollution.

Businesses are, however, starting to take refillable and reusable options into their own hands. Supermarket chain, Aldi, the largest corporate funder of the charity’s 2024 Beachwatch programme, is already leading the charge in refillable items by trialling refillable options for cereals and porridge oats in their stores over the past 5 months.

Plastics and Packaging Director, Luke Emery, from Aldi, who are running 4 beach cleans for staff and volunteers in 2024, said, We are continually working to reduce single-use plastics and packaging, and making unpackaged product options more commonplace for our customers is a key part of this. We are really pleased with the uptake of our refillable range so far by customers. Not only are we making sustainable shopping more accessible, but we also offer refill products for a better price than the packaged alternative, helping our customers save money.”

Marine litter is one of the biggest threats to our seas, with plastic breaking down over time into microplastics and threatening marine life which can ingest or become entangled in them. The Marine Conservation Society is urging the UK Government to move faster on its policies to cut down plastic waste and prevent items from reaching our seas.

To find out more about the charity’s beach cleans and how to get involved, please visit mcsuk.org/beach-cleans

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Guarding Against Coral Invaders

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Protecting (Dutch) Caribbean Reefs from Unomia stolonifera

Recent reports highlight the concerning spread of the invasive soft coral, Unomia stolonifera, currently devastating Venezuela’s marine ecosystems and detected in Cuba. With the potential threat of its expansion to the (Dutch) Caribbean islands, urgent action and awareness are essential to safeguard marine biodiversity and local economies from possible catastrophic consequences.

Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. These species can have major ecological effects by decimating native flora or fauna. They can also cause large economic losses and impact human health. Invasive species also pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems worldwide, including the Dutch Caribbean. Among these invaders is the octocoral species Unomia stolonifera or “Pulsing Xenia”, originally from the Indo-Pacific. With its rapid growth and lack of natural predators, this species can outcompete native species and disrupt fragile marine habitats such as seagrass beds and coral reefs.

Background

The invasive soft coral U. stolonifera was first identified in 2014, off the coast of Venezuela. It is believed to have been introduced via the illegal aquarium trade.  Since this species can reproduce sexually and asexually (or fragment), even small pieces can regenerate to spread.  Once introduced it quickly took over shallow reefs and hard substrate at depths of 0-50 meters, outcompeting local corals and seagrass for space.  Follow on surveys found that this coral species exhibited average percentage cover as high as 80%, vastly outcompeting native corals. In highly colonized areas, fish are disappearing due to loss of habitats.

In 2022, during a survey conducted in Cuba by the University of Havana, an unknown octocoral was discovered which was later identified as the invasive Unomia stolonifera. It is suspected that the coral larvae arrived in ballast water from fossil fuel ships originating from Venezuela, as nearby sites adjacent to Venezuelan ports have been heavily affected by the invasion.

How to help

Prevention through continuous monitoring, particularly in high-risk areas such as marine harbors and oil facilities, is paramount. Early detection plays a pivotal role in mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera.

The public’s involvement and awareness are also vital. Local communities, recreational divers, tourists, and all stakeholders are urged to participate in early detection efforts by reporting sightings (photo, location and date) of this invasive coral to their respective Protected Area Management Organization (PMO’s)- the Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba (FPNA)STINAPA BonaireCARMABI Curaçao Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF)Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSXM) and St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA). If an invaded area is confirmed, follow the recommendations by the local PMO’s.

Keys to Success

Despite the challenges, early detection is key to mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera. With continued vigilance, research, and community engagement, there is hope for containing this potential issue before it becomes a major threat.

About the DCNA

The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) supports (science) communication and outreach in the Dutch Caribbean region by making nature related (scientific) information more widely available through amongst others the Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database, DCNA’s news platform BioNews and through the press. This article contains the results from several scientific studies but the studies themselves are not DCNA studies. No rights can be derived from the content. DCNA is not liable for the content and the in(direct) impacts resulting from publishing this article.

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