Ken Berryman - Screensound Australia

Margie Prideaux -
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

A strange new life-form has be discovered of the coast of Iceland (who was looking ?). They are a bit small (6 million onto the head of a pin). They are Archaea, and are extremophiles. This one lives on the back of another extremophile that lives around a volcanic vent.

Two Victorians have walked to the North Pole unassisted - one of them fell in and survived the two minutes that they had to get him dry before his clothes froze.

Marine National Parks - Rach was surprised and delighted that her letter to her MP was read into Parliament along with other letters of community support. It seems to have gone quiet in the public arena, but a lot is going on behind the scenes - mostly between the Libs and Labor. Most of it is about boundaries and compensation.

Turning to aquaculture, the latest stats show 50 % of aquaculture in Victoria is trout. The second largest is ornamental fish and mussels come in third.

A scallop diver was killed in SA last week, and it seems that his shark repellent pod did not appear to keep him safe. While there was significant outrage and a desire to have the shark killed, 4 motorcyclists were killed, and there has not been a call for them to be banned.

Bayside Reflections volume two is a video of the social history of the Bay - It all started with the steambuffs who talked about the paddle steamers on Port Phillip Bay, and turned into the history of Port Phillip Bay. Once you start looking at the paddle steamers, you have to look at the places they stopped and how they developed.

About one third of the footage on this video has come from amateur cameraman, really giving an insight into what life was really like around the bay. Footage of the cyclone of 1918 and the great flood of 1934 are real highlights. It also covers things from the politics of development around the bay through to the role of women lifesavers in Victoria.

The Video is available from Screensound Australia - give them a call on (03) 9685 5800

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting is being held at the home port of the Japanese Whaling fleet. Since the international ban on commercial whaling came into effect some of the species may have recovered to some extent, but the caveats have been put on for a reason.

43 different species of cetaceans visit Australian waters (there may be a few more). There is little information of them as they are ocean goers and deep divers. Without more information on them, it will be very difficult to ensure their conservation.

The IWC was initially set up in the 1940s once the stocks had been depleted, and was initially set up to ensure that everyone got their fair share of the remaining whales. IN the 70s this changed as some of the countries gave up whaling, and the body moved towards conservation, but the body is still only able to bind to quotas.

If you want to become involved, give Margie a call on (08) 82425042

Diving is quite a safe sport when you do it right - and a typical diver will know more about how the the body and blood chemistry changes with pressure.

While oxygen is essential to human life, it is also quite toxic in the wrong quantities. There are two types - Central nervous system toxicity, and lung toxicity, each of which has different symptoms.

Basically, the bends is just like opening a bottle of coke - you have to release the pressure slowly or all the bubbles come out at the wrong time and place. The symptoms can be similar to a wide range of other conditions, so the right diagnosis is critical.

In the past the major use of hyperbaric chambers was for diving accidents, but they are now being used for treatment of injuries (don't ask which clubs), ulcers, gangrene and this is now the bulk of the load on the chambers.

"Solar"

"Inia gege"

"Passion"

"Ocean Blue"

"Alabama Blues"

"Didn't cha know"

Salif Keita

One Giant Leap

Those Bloody McKennas

St Germain

Erykah Badu