The latest video from Dive Film is an iinterview with Wetpixel's Eric Cheng.

Take a look!

Ocean going salps play a big role in capturing carbon dioxide.

Ocean 'Gummy Bears' Fight Global Warming - Yahoo! News

Cool! Here are the winning images from the 2006 BP Kongsberg Underwater Image Competition. What makes them so exciting? They are from ROVs and depths greater than 200m!

Updated link with more winning images:

SERPENT: Scientific & Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology

Here's a video shot underwater at Marineland and Veteran's Park, taken by local diver Phil Garner. It's impressive to see the rich marine life we have right here, just offshore. And even more impressive: Phil took all of it beach diving.

YouTube - Marineland and Veterans Park

The San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition (UFEX) had its debut in 2000 with a night of underwater digital films presented at the Otto Center of the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park.

Initiated in response to the need for a local venue to showcase some of the best of the underwater video creations of area divers, the first San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition was organized by a small group of people who had been meeting regularly to share information on shooting and editing underwater video.

That first year was a rousing success, and laid the groundwork for an approach to presenting underwater digital video in San Diego that emphasizes the enjoyment and appreciation of underwater images. That approach includes affordable tickets, no prizes except the fun of sharing one's film with a receptive audience, and an independent film selection process that has included judges who are among the top in the field of underwater imaging. It's a labor of love by all involved!

We're now in our seventh year of putting on the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, and looking forward to our best year yet. We hope you'll join us on Friday and Saturday, October 20th and 21th, 2006 for the 7th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum's beautiful state-of-the-art digital projection theater in Balboa Park.

Entries are due August 15th, 2006.

Each film must be no more than 5 minutes long, with at least 50% of the footage taken underwater.

Guidelines

The Cabrillo Aquarium has had two successful hatching of spiny lobsters and will be studying their growth:

Scientists begin to explore lives of oceanic species

The club will meet this Wednesday, July 19th.

Our speaker will be:

Speaker: Drew Weiner
From: Reef Protection International
Profile: Drew Weiner is the founder and director of Reef Protection International, a coral reef conservation organization based in San Francisco. Before starting RPI, Drew managed WildAid’s Galapagos Forever program, working directly with the Galapagos National Park Service for the protection of the vast Galapagos marine reserve. Prior to joining WildAid, Drew was founder and publisher of Eco-Odyssey, an online magazine that provided a multimedia presentation of environmental projects and cultures around the world, supporting an international subscriber base. Drew is an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer and was a marine aquarium hobbyist for more than fifteen years prior to founding Eco-Odyssey. Drew is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs with a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy. He completed his undergraduate work in Economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Website: http://www.reefprotect.org

Workshop: Travel forum

Competition: Damselfish, for stills and video. Please submit your entries named as follows:

0607_open-or-novice_title_your-name.jpeg

Rules for the 2006 International Competition are available now. Submit your still and video entries now! The deadline is September 22, 2006, midnight PST.

The rules and entry form are at this link (pdf file):
The LAUPS 2006 - 44th Annual International Competition Rules and Entry Form

Please subscribe to the RSS feed on the homepage or to our mailing list for updates and results.

Highlights of new rules in 2006:

• No slides. This year we are taking only prints and digital files for still entries.
• Prints must be mounted. In previous years we have been soft on this rule, but unmounted prints are difficult to display and unfair to those who put in the time to follow the rules. Unmounted prints will be disqualified, no refund for disqualifications. Tutto fotografia cosa essenziale essere montato/fotogramma/con cartone (no vetro).

We've got more used gear for sale on the classifieds page, take a look.

Fishermen are banned from catching whale sharks until the end of the year as the number caught this year has already filled this year's quota of 60, officials said earlier this week.

TaiwanHeadlines - Society - COA bans whale shark hunting for rest of year

Alright, it's time you learned about podcasting. Here are three good ones to get you started:

The Jim Church School of Digital Underwater Photography has a weekly audio show hosted by Mike Mesgleski & Mike Haber, full of great underwater photography lessons:
Jim Church School of Photography Index Page

Bottom Time Radio presents a weekly audio show with some interesting interviews:
Bottom Time Radio

And just for fun, Dive Film presents a video podcast, with some great underwater footage:
Bottom Time Radio We Dive Deeper into Scuba

OK, you all know that the new Pirates movie is out this weekend, which is of course diving related, because we all like Cocos Island and finding treasure. Most of you also probably also know that a pirates and ninjas do not get along. But did you know that there is a helpful ninja on the internet that answers questions and reviews movies?

Here's the NPR story page, listen to the RealAudio of watch the video from there.

Images from the 5th annual Kona Classic are now posted.

From Wetpixel: The 5th annual Kona Classic was great fun this year, with over 30 participants competing the photo competition during the week of diving in Kona. Sport Diver's Ty Sawyer and photo pros David Fleetham, Eric Cheng, and Marty Snyderman were the judges of this year's contest, with Dan Baldocchi representing video and Fred Dion on hand to fix gear problems. In an incredible upset, this year's Best of Show image was shot by Kate Mitchell with a Canon point & shoot camera!

Congratulations to LAUPS member Bonnie Zaleski for her winning images!

Kona Classic 2006 Contest Winners + Photos :: Wetpixel.com

Sea Challengers, through Dave Behrens of Sea Challengers and John H. Moore of Divebums, will be producing an international 2007 Nudibranch Calendar and is seeking your nudibranch photo submissions for the calendar.

The calendar will display thirteen full-size images and many smaller (spot) images, taken from your submissions. No more than one full-size image will be used from any one photographer, and each photographer with a full-size image in the calendar will receive one free calendar.

Photos need to have been taken within the past twelve months and we ask that each photographer submit no more than ten photos.

For instructions on how to submit photos, please send an email to admin@nudibranchs.divebums.com -- this will reach both Dave and John. The deadline for photo submissions is July 31, 2006.

Calendars will be shipped in late September / early October, and may be ordered online anytime between now and then at http://seachallengers.com/ (click New Titles). Or, to be reminded to order in late summer, please send an email to remind@nudibranchs.divebums.com.

Please note that the chosen photographs will not be previewed. Selected photographers will likewise not be told which of their images will be used -- though they will know how many and what size images they will have in the calendar. It'll be a surprise when it arrives in the mail!

Calendars will be 8.5 x 11 inches in full-color, printed via traditional offset lithography methods. To see a similar calendar (the 2006 Divebums Calendar), please see http://divebums.com/Calendar2006/ -- though please note that the 2007 Nudibranch Calendar will not have tidelines.