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Ocean Ecology & Dive Health..
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10 Things You Can Do
Today!
1.
Avoid purchasing souvenirs made from coral or any threatened or
endangered marine species.
2. Support the establishment of coral reef protected areas and
encourage better protection and management for those that exist.
3. While traveling, choose resorts and tour operators that properly
treat all sewage and wastewater.
4. While operating a boat, navigate carefully to avoid contact with
coral reefs and other vulnerable ecosystems such as seagrass beds
and maintain engine equipment to prevent oil and gas spills.
5. As a diver or snorkeler, choose tour operators that use mooring
buoys or drift diving techniques whenever possible rather than
anchors that can cause reef damage.
6. Make wise choices in selecting seafood by avoiding menu items
that are caught or farmed using destructive or unsustainable
practices including reef-killing poisons, explosives, and illegal
equipment.
7. Avoid purchasing tropical wood furniture or products obtained
from clear-cut tropical forests causing siltation damage to coral
reefs.
8. As a diver, practice buoyancy control skills in a pool or sandy
area before diving near a coral reef. Make sure your gauges and
equipment are secured to avoid accidental contact with the reef, and
never touch, stand on, or collect coral. Be an A.W.A.R.E. diver.
9. Report all damage of coral reefs to dive operators and scientific
or conservation groups that monitor coral reef health.
10. Enroll in an AWARE-specialty course with a PADI professional to
increase your knowledge about coral reefs and other aquatic
environments. (Project AWARE Specialty, Underwater Naturalist,
AWARE-Fish Identification, Peak Performance Buoyancy, and
AWARE-Coral Reef Conservation.)
 
Protect The Living Reef
Video Commercial
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Sustainable
Seafood
Guide-West Coast (Link)
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Many fish
species are being threatened to the point of extinction, due to an increasing demand for rare
and popular varieties.
Ironically, the
more endangered the species, the more the demand! Are we to fail
in protecting that which carries the highest bounty?
Let's try to
make a difference! Make your buying decisions based on the following chart of
threatened or endangered species
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- Visit "ScubaDoc"
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- A Great medical reference!
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 "Defenders
of Wildlife"
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"Saving Our Coral Reefs" Video
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Hunting &
Collecting Restrictions
In October 2002, the Department of Fish & Game have impose restricted areas
for taking fish within the Channel Isl chain, in Southern California. Also, Lingcod, sheephead and other
rockfish are closed for the rest of the year! Keep in touch with DFG
to fully understand how this will impact your trip.
As as side note, these
DFG decisions were decided without all representatives in attendance,
and are more biased towards the commercial fisherman. It is our job to
monitor this progress and vote against laws that take away our access in
favor of commercial interests. We all want to protect the environment-
so let's do this wisely!
Latest Fishing Restrictions:
www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/fishing_map.html
Blue Water Aquatics, a California Bay Area Scuba Dive Center located near
sunnyvale, santa clara, palo alto, mountain view, cupertino, saratoga, san jose in the san francisco bay
area. Dive Club - blue water divers for all Bay Area Divers, online shopping at
Divingear.com. Padi & ANDI training agencies offering scuba diving training,
scuba lessons, technical diving & freediving. Services include air fills, nitrox,
dive equipment & regulator repair & scuba rentals. Equipment sales in scuba equipment,
snorkel equipment, drysuits, wetsuits for any water sports from Body Glove,
bare, dui, cetacea, cressi-sub, dive-rite, riffe, oceanic, Oms, weezle,
sherwood, poseidon, aeris and others. Equipment we carry include regulators,
buoyancy compensators, used scuba gear, tanks, drysuits, fins, snorkels,
spearguns, wetsuits, scuba tanks & more
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