News
After cyclone Yasi hit nearly a year ago, the numbers of sea cucumbers in the area had decreased significantly. This isn’t something many people other than marine biologists would notice, unless you are in the ‘sea cucumber business’. Sea cucumbers are considered a delicacy in China and they fetch over $130/kg once dried (as ‘trepong’)....
All spearos and divers in northern Australia are asked to look out for this type of ray this summer (picture by John Thorsborne): the porcupine or thornback ray, or the ‘Urogymnus asperrimus’ in its Latin name. You can even win major prizes if you spot one, take a photo of it and report it! Why...
Here is the last of my blogs about Freediving Courses. I was fortunate enough to have Rune Hullam there to capture the whole dive on video, my first 100fter. The marker ball on the rope where I turned was at 35m however my watch only registered a dive of 33.8m.After watching this video I can...
Last week I ventured to the other side of the country, the beautiful Exmouth of WA, to compete in the 2011 Australian Spearfishing Championships. The competition attracted some the top competitive divers from each State and as always I learned lots, laughed plenty and had an absolute blast. However, the actual competition heats proved extremely...
Did you all read my last blog about the Freediving courses I did in Cairns and also the Gili Islands, Indonesia? At the completion of this course I had done multiple dives to 30m as well as my first 100ft (33.8m) dive. I now have the photos ready too, and thought I'd share them too,...
A second reported death of a spearfishermen within a week has again sparked the debate about how safe this sport is. Just last weekend a spearo in New Zealand disappeared while cathing a kingfish and a few days later keen fisherman and barge skipper David Fordson also died, in north Queensland. He was spearfishing on...
Two months ago I realised I had hit a point in my freediving where the progression of depth had reached a limit and I was having difficulty getting deeper or longer bottom times. I decided that the only way to progress further safely was to do the Stage A Freediving Course run by Apnea Australia....
World-record freediver David Mullins was among a small group who desperately tried to save Eric De Vries, a highly experienced spearfisherman who died off the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand this weekend. Mullins told how he and his companions desperately tried to find Eric De Vries after he failed to surface after spearing a kingfish...
People were going deep-sea fishing for large delicacies such as tuna as long as 42,000 years ago, Australian researchers have discovered. The world's oldest fish hook, dated at between 16,000 and 23,000 years old, has also been unearthed from a cave site in East Timor.The ancient, broken hook was crafted from shell and is "the...
Queensland fisheries last week revoked the law that required recreational fishers (and spearo’s) to cut the pectoral fin off their fish.The reasoning behing the law was to prevent illegal marketing of coral reef fin fish and Spanish mackerel, however, it was found that the requirement did not help to prevent the illegal marketing. As a...