News round-up

Each month, we bring together the latest industry news from right here in the UK, as well as all over our water planet. To find out the most up-to-date news and views, check out the website or follow us on our various social media @scubadivermag www.scubadivermag.com/news

Once ravaged by poachers, Ilha

Since the discovery of poaching activity upon the new owner’s first visit to the island, Fire Island Conservation has set up a small anti-poaching unit, and this human presence has prevented further plundering. Now, the team is busy developing the island for exclusive eco-tourism, to subsidise the conservation and antipoaching projects. By July 2022, the scuba diving resort will be receiving tourists.

Forming part of the Primeiras e Segundas Environmental Protection Area, it is essential that the environmental integrity of the island’s habitat remains intact. The team has enlisted the help of BOXA, a construction tech company, that has designed the buildings on the island to ensure minimal impact on the environment. The BOXA units are constructed to ‘float’ above the ground, leaving existing ecosystems and vegetation intact.

With conservation at the forefront of the development, each unit at Fire Island Conservation’s resort will have solar panels on the roofs and all amenities on the island will be entirely powered by solar energy.

Currently, there is no fresh water on the island, but a rainwater harvesting system will be constructed, using sundomes and a small desalination plant.

Fire Island Conservation has been in talks with some renowned biologists about launching a marine research facility on the island, with the purpose of collecting data on the marine life to feed into international projects. The critically endangered hawksbill turtle and endangered green turtle were once victims on the island, and will instead be protected by the conservation and research projects. Scuba divers can expect a unique opportunity to explore the incredible fauna and flora around the island’s 150km of flawless reef, boasting over 450 corals, turtles and countless other marine life. Ilha do Fogo is also situated on the historical passage of De Gama’s trade route, with exciting shipwrecks having been discovered nearby, that are perfect for wreck dives.

“Tourists will have the opportunity to help us to identify the fauna around the island’s unexplored reef. It is a highly unique, exclusive, bucket-list dive trip, for any marine life enthusiast. Of course, our sustainability ethos is carved into everything we do, and our goal is to connect our guests to nature, while protecting our environment,” said Jan van Deventer, COO, Fire Island Conservation.

© Fire Island Conservation and Pedro Ferreira

Fire Island Conservation was born when Robert Koski purchased Ilha do Fogo almost a decade ago. Bob and Jan van Deventer discovered that it was ravaged by poachers during their first visit to the island, and sadly, hawksbill and green turtles were the main victims of the poaching. Bob’s dream of a resort-style development on the island was put on hold for almost a decade, while a marine conservation action plan was put in place to protect these imperilled species.

Ilha do Fogo is an essential turtle nesting site, and a turtle monitoring programme was created to help ensure their nesting process is unimpeded. This is one of many projects established to empower local communities, providing an alternative income opportunity to poaching.

These community and conservation projects are supported by eco-tourism efforts, which include eco-luxury lodges across Africa. The retreat currently being developed on Ilha do Fogo has been carefully considered and planned in such a way that it will not impact the environment in any way, and will incorporate the conservation efforts.

A lifechanging competition is launching early 2022 to bring the crucial message of marine conservation to the heart of secondary schools nationwide, courtesy of Dive Project Cornwall. The Dive Project Cornwall team believe it is every young person’s right to experience the ocean. They also believe that educating our children about the wonders of the planet’s marine environment and the crucial part it plays in our existence, and that of all ocean life, will help safeguard our seas for future generations. Never has this been more important than now.

Commencing in January 2022, Dive Project Cornwall will be launching an ambitious project to educate hundreds of thousands of young people by delivering an education programme directly into schools across the UK, in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society. Their mission? To raise awareness of the importance of the planet’s marine environment and its vital role in our very own existence.

At the heart of Dive Project Cornwall is a nationwide competition open to all secondary schools for 400 lucky teenagers to win the experience of a lifetime – a six-day, life-changing trip to Cornwall where they will learn to scuba dive, enjoy outdoor adventures, take up beach-related activities and attend presentations from leading marine industry experts.

This truly immersive experience will take the teens from

© Jake Tims

classroom to shoreline and beyond, from the on-site training pool to taking their first steps in discovering the wonders of life underwater in the ocean, igniting their imaginations to join the Ocean Conservation movement.

Many of these children will never have had the opportunity to experience the ocean close at hand. They will leave this residential course, delivered in the breath-taking environment of the Lizard in Cornwall, based at Porthkerris, as PADI Open Water Divers, ready to spread the word as ocean influencers. Discussing the Dive Project Cornwall competition, Phil Banks, CEO at North Cornwall Learning Trust, said: “Not that I am want too much competition, but every secondary school should be trying to win this amazing opportunity for their pupils!”

The diving world is mourning the death of Tom Mount, who founded the renowned International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD) and is credited as being one of the pioneers of technical diving as we know it today.

Tom did much during his long life – he was a US Navy Diver, a NOAA Aquanaut and saturation diver, was one of the four founding members of the USA’s first cave diver training agency (NACD), and wrote many books that are considered ‘go-to’ diving literature.

Many people are referred to as ‘pioneers’, but Tom Mount truly encapsulated the meaning of this word when it came to diving. He was at the forefront from the early cave and deep air diving days, through the introduction of mixed gas diving to the recreational market, continuing on to formulate many of the original concepts now widely accepted in closed-circuit rebreather diving.

Tom received diving’s most-prestigious award, the NOGI (for sports education), as well as numerous other awards.

Stromness-based Scapa Flow Charters is appealing against the decision to award compensation to the son of diver Lex Warner, who died off Cape Wrath in 2012. Debbie Warner sued the company on behalf of Lex’s nine-year-old son Vincent after winning a case at the UK Supreme Court in 2018 that allowed her to do so. As we reported at the time, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, judge Lord Sandison awarded the family £290,000.

Now Scapa Flow Charters’ lawyers have launched an appeal at the Inner House of the Court of Session, claiming that Lord Sandison did not apply ‘correct’ legal tests in his deliberations. It is due to take place on 25 March.

Lex Warner had fallen on board the charter vessel MV Jean Elaine while in full diving kit, but despite being asked if wanted to sit out the dive after the accident by skipper Andy Cuthbertson, insisted he was fine and proceeded to continue on the fateful deep dive. The fall had caused an abdominal injury, which led to Warner making an emergency ascent ‘in an anxious and ultimately panicked state’ from 80m, during which he became unconscious and lost his mouthpiece. The case centred around claims that Cuthbertson did not do enough to minimise the risks which came from divers walking on board the boat wearing fins.

Finnish outdoor adventure equipment manufacturer Suunto, long a popular choice with UK scuba divers for its dive-computer ranges, is being sold on to a Chinese technology company. Suunto’s parent company Amer Sports, which has run the 85-year-old brand for the past 18 years, has agreed to sell it to Liesheng of Guangdong, which focuses on smart and sport wearable electronics, with the transition expected to be completed before midsummer. The value of the deal has not been disclosed. In fact, Suunto has already been under Chinese ownership for the past three years, Amer Sports having been sold to another Chinese conglomerate, ANTA Sports, at the end of 2018. Founded in 2015, Liesheng currently operates in 100 countries. Suunto says that it is ranked top globally in the wireless audio field, and offers the Haylou product line. Suunto CEO Heikki Norta has assured users that its products and services will ‘continue normally’ and that the company will still be based in Vantaa in Finland. “We stay committed and focused on developing our high-end products, inspiring adventurous life-style and on protecting our playground,” he says. “In the long run, partnering with our new owners will broaden our shoulders in the continued development of new fit-for-purpose products for outdoor enthusiasts…”

Fifteen people have had to be rescued after a Hong Kong dive-boat caught fire south-east of Jin Island. The vessel sank as those who had been aboard were picked up by a nearby boat and taken to a marine police base. Jin Island or Tiu Chung Chau lies to the east of Hong Kong and is said to be popular with scuba divers for its underwater topography.

The incident occurred on 15 January. Dive cylinders exploded as the flames spread rapidly through the 23-metre vessel, and marine police are investigating the cause of the blaze. Thanfully, nobody is understood to have been injured as a result of the fire.

This year, until 20 November, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust is set to welcome Diving Deep: HMS Invincible 1744, the most-exciting maritime archaeological exhibition in years, which takes the visitor as close to the seabed as possible while staying in dry dock. Visitors to the new exhibition at The Historic Dockyard Chatham (on loan from the National Museum of the Royal Navy) will be able to tread the seabed virtually and investigate the exciting finds from HMS Invincible – the darling of the Royal Navy that ran aground on a sand bank over 260 years ago, dramatically sunk beneath the waves and was preserved for over two centuries on the ocean floor.

While HMS Invincible’s final resting place remains the bottom of the Solent, this fascinating exhibition, collated after an emergency underwater excavation of the famous 18th century battleship, tells the story of Invincible, her capture, the lasting contribution she made to the Royal Navy fleet and her subsequent sinking and rediscovery by a fisherman in 1979. The exhibition has travelled from Portsmouth to Chatham and has been made possible by a collaboration with the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (MAST), Bournemouth University, the National Museum of the Royal Navy and Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Fascinating artefacts on show will include wig curlers (so that the Captain could stay coffered on his journey to America), 18th century sailors shoes, including one pair

© NMRN and Michael Pitts

with what can only be described as kitten heels, and rope still smelling of the tar painted on it in 1758, all brought to the surface during the two excavations in the 1980s and recently in 2017-19. Eileen Clegg, Community Archaeological Producer at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, said: “It’s a thrill to know the artefacts are now in situ with our partners in Chatham – their combined research and enthusiasm for the project has been immense and it’s great to know that even more people will be able to ‘investigate’ HMS Invincible and learn about her fascinating story.” Entry to the exhibition is included in the Dockyard entry ticket, which enables entry for one year from purchase: Adults £25.50, Concessions £23, Child £15, Family £67, Carer FREE.

Polish dive equipment manufacturer XDEEP is renowned for its robust, well-made products, and its innovative NX700 regulator caused quite a stir on its launch. While there have been no failures of the reg, XDEEP discovered some unexpected signs of wear during routine checks, and as a precaution, have issued a recall notice:

Safety is most important. Although we haven’t noticed a single failure caused by this, we decided to recall our NX700 regulators and update them to the newest version.

Our NX700 regulators are made for us in Italy, by a renowned manufacturer with many years of experience in this type of product. Before market launch, we have extensively tested them during many months of rigorous tests in extremely demanding conditions. Unfortunately, during routine periodical maintenance servicing of some NX700 1st stages, in singular cases, we have detected some traces above-standard signs of the wear of the membrane.

We have not detected nor received any notifications about any failure or abnormalities caused by this potential wear. Nevertheless, we have decided to update all existing NX700 first stages to the newest available version, where any chances of the mentioned abnormalities have now been completely eliminated. If you are an owner of an NX700 1st stage, please stop using it immediately and contact the dealer where you’ve purchased the regulator, or us directly. Please follow this link to get full information about details of this action.

To compensate for the inconvenience caused to our clients, we have also decided that every NX700 set owner will get a free XDEEP Signature Hoodie in the chosen size and available colour. www.xdeep.eu

Dive RAID International has announced that there will be a special focus on their adaptive training programme, as Richard Cullen joins the agency staff. Cullen, well known to Scuba Diver readers as one of the founders of Deptherapy, has been appointed Director Adaptive Training and joins the agency immediately.

Deptherapy develops and delivers specially designed scuba-diving programmes for seriously injured veterans and serving personnel of the British Armed Forces. The Deptherapy programme has helped men and women deal with post-trauma mental and physical challenges following all manner of injuries suffered while serving in the military. In his new role as RAID’s Director Adaptive Training, Cullen will take over product-development responsibilities for the RAID Adaptive Diver programme. Working with RAID’s VP Training, PJ Prinsloo, Cullen will be rewriting both student manuals, creating new instructor materials inline with RAID’s instructor playbook format. Cullen will also work on related support materials, and new standards promoting what he called a ‘neglected but highly rewarding aspect’ of diver training. Cullen said: “I am honoured and humbled to become RAID’s Director Adaptive Teaching. I hope to bring to RAID the knowledge and experience we have gained over the years in Deptherapy developing an innovative approach to adaptive teaching. My aim is to make RAID the go-to diver training agency for knowledge and advice regarding adaptive teaching.” www.diveraid.com

US rebreather instructor Peter Sotis has been sentenced to almost five years’ imprisonment for conspiring and illegally attempting to export unlicensed military-grade rebreathers to Libya. Florida-based Sotis, 57, and Emilie Voissem, 45, were convicted last October following a week-long jury trial in Miami. Now Sotis has received a 57-month prison term. Voissem, who was found not guilty of making false statements, was sentenced to five months in prison and another five months confined to her home.

The pair’s attempt to smuggle closed-circuit rebreathers to Libya occurred in August 2016, according to the US Attorney’s Office for South Florida. Because rebreathers can be used for both civilian recreational and military purposes, they are included on the USA’s Commerce Control List of export items that require a licence from the department of commerce (DOC) before they can be sent to nations that raise security concerns, such as Libya.

Sotis was the 80% owner and Voissem office manager of diving equipment and training company Add Helium in Fort Lauderdale. At their trial they were said to have defied a DOC special agent’s instruction not to export the rebreathers pending a licensing decision, and to have lied to the shipping company in an attempt to mislead it. Sotis was also said to have threatened a government witness not to co-operate with the federal investigation.

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