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Current Online Updates*
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Updated October 1, 2020
These brief news articles below were sent out via email to all divers who signed up for our free email list.
You can sign up here to receive future Undercurrent Online Updates and get news alerts and special offers like these every month.

Tick a Box and Save a Life
Missing the Undercurrent Monthly Newsletter?
Florida Finally Bans Shark Fin
A Netflix Film for Divers to Watch when Isolating at Home
Sponge Skeletons Are Inspiring
Developments in the Rob Stewart Litigation
Our Apologies to Drew Richardson and PADI

Tick a Box and Save a Life   October 1, 2020

Twenty-two people die every day in the United States waiting for a kidney transplant, most waiting 7 to 9 years. For some, this may be an unpleasant subject, but thousands of people could live many years if they could get the organs of a healthy deceased person. Divers are generally healthy folks who, if they, unfortunately, have a fatal diving accident, would enable others to carry on. Please click here to understand how, someday, even if it’s many, many years from now, you might contribute to someone else’s future.

Missing the Undercurrent Monthly Newsletter?  October 1, 2020

Our publishing is still in abeyance until our writers and divers can travel freely again. If you visit our website, you’ll notice we’re adding blogs that you might find interesting. One of the latest reflects diving the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt, back in the early 1980s. We hope they make entertaining reading. You can read it here.

Florida Finally Bans Shark Fin  October 1, 2020

Signed by the governor, it is now law in the Sunshine State. It’s a game-changer because Florida had become the shark fin trade hub of the United States. As other states outlawed fin possession, Florida became the route for shark fin importers and dealers. On Friday, September 18th, 2020, a giant stride forward was made for shark protection within the United States and beyond with the Florida SB 680, a Shark Fin Ban Bill. www.flsenate.gov

A Netflix Film for Divers to Watch when Isolating at Home  October 1, 2020

The film My Octopus Teacher is the story of a Cape Town (South Africa) filmmaker and free diver, Craig Foster, who takes a break from conventional life to snorkel in the kelp forest near Camps Bay. Tracking the movements of one cephalopod, with which he develops a strong bond many months, he transports the viewer to the natural world to level of consciousness few have experienced before him. The film is backed by Sea Change Project and is available as a 2020 Netflix Original documentary. www.netflix.com

Sponge Skeletons Are Inspiring  October 1, 2020

Nature has a lot to teach us. From next-generation body armor to new treatments for tuberculosis, marine sponges have plenty to offer science, and now we see how they might inspire stronger and lighter skyscrapers and bridges. Engineers at Harvard University have demonstrated a new type of load-bearing structure based on the glassy skeletons of sponges, which they say is more than 20 percent stronger than some current structural designs. New Atlas

Developments in the Rob Stewart Litigation  October 1, 2020

The case continues against co-defendant rEvo BVBA (the rebreather manufacturer) and others in which the defendants claim that professional diver Stewart had a history of blackouts and low blood pressure, which he failed to disclose on his medical declaration to Sotis. They say these were disqualifiers for commercial diving and film making under Canadian and U.S. law. There are also questions concerning the legality and actions of the initial dive team that found the body and their use, and hence loss into the water, of the helium mixes Stewart was using in an unsuccessful attempt to raise his body, making it unavailable for forensic examination.

Our Apologies to Drew Richardson and PADI  October 1, 2020

In our last email, we got caught by a Facebook spoof by disgruntled divers and reported erroneously that Drew Richardson, CEO of PADI, had said that “PADI was successfully improving corporate profitability by firing employees . . . As we learned later, Richardson never said such a thing and we apologize for putting untrue words in his mouth. Like virtually all companies worldwide, PADI did lay off employees to preserve itself, as did Undercurrent. It’s an unfortunate strategy, but a valid one for any business to survive the loss of income from the pandemic. We traveling divers need PADI to survive and flourish so as to help ensure their hundreds of worldwide resorts survive this crisis and are up and running when we're ready to return.

Stay Safe,

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

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Note: Undercurrent is a registered 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization donating funds to help preserve coral reefs. Our travel writers never announce their purpose, are unknown to the destination, and receive no complimentary services or compensation from the dive operators or resort.

Highlights of Previous Online Updates*

Here are past Online Update emails sent out . You can sign-up for free to receive these in the future here.

22 October, 2024

20 September, 2024

17 August, 2024

17 July, 2024

23 June, 2024

4 May, 2024

20 May, 2024

23 April, 2024

16 March, 2024

16 February, 2024

15 January, 2024

16 December, 2023

28 November, 2023

25 October, 2023

26 September, 2023

18 August, 2023

20 July, 2023

12 June, 2023

27 May, 2023

22 April, 2023

21 March, 2023

21 February, 2023

22 January, 2023

17 December, 2022

26 November, 2022

19 October, 2022

23 September, 2022

15 August, 2022

21 July, 2022

21 June, 2022

16 May, 2022

29 April, 2022

30 March, 2022

25 February, 2022

24 January, 2022

 

3 December, 2021

27 October, 2021

21 September, 2021

August 18, 2021

28 July, 2021

12 June, 2021

21 May, 2021

26 April, 2021

11 April, 2021

27 March, 2021

12 March, 2021

28 February, 2021

9 February, 2021

31 January, 2021

20 January, 2021

5 January, 2021

20 December, 2020

1 December, 2020

15 November, 2020

1 November, 2020

13 October, 2020

1 October, 2020

21 September, 2020

9 September, 2020

21 August, 2020

8 August, 2020

18 July, 2020

8 July, 2020

25 June, 2020

9 June, 2020

May, 2020

April, 2020

March, 2020

February, 2020

January, 2020

Online Updates* Archive, 2000-2019

* Sometimes referred to as Upwellings


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