Dive Pacific 175 Dec2020 Jan 2021

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Coris sandeyeri Amphichaetodon howensis of targeted species. Snapper are thriving, and thankfully aren’t treating the reserve as an all-youcan-eat buffet of other species. But whether the Poor Knights look something like an ecosystem that was never fished is unclear; the reserve currently extends just 800 m off the islands and is unlikely to help deeper-dwelling target species. Neither are no-take marine reserves a silver bullet for the problems we’ve lumped on the marine world. But when carefully designed and properly implemented, marine reserves certainly provide a tool to secure healthier fish populations. I hope that during the next 20-something years, the fishes of the Poor Knights Islands continue to thrive, supporting our marine ecosystems and the humans that rely upon them. Arothron firmamentum 46 Dive New Zealand | Dive Pacific
Paolo the fisherman: Making an underwater museum In a bid to stop illegal trawling, an Italian fisherman has persuaded sculptors to create huge marble artworks then drop them in the Mediterranean, reports The Guardian. Paolo Fanciulli is a fisherman in the Tuscan village of Talamone. Now 60 he still plies his trade but in the past decade trawling near the coast has been destroying the marine ecosystem, and his livelihood. Commercial nets are weighted with heavy chains and dragged on the sea bottom uprooting the posidonia seagrass that the Mediterranean ecosystem relies on for sea bream, lobsters and red gurnards to lay their eggs. “They don’t care. Nobody is watching,” says Paolo. “It’s like if a hunter burned a whole forest to catch a hare.” While Italian law bans trawling within three nautical miles of the coast, it’s so profitable that boats often carry on illegally at night. Fanciulli noticed the damage being caused by bottom trawling from the 1980s. So, along with some other local fishermen and activists from Greenpeace, he blocked a commercial port in Tuscany in protest. Since then Fanciulli has destroyed trawling nets with barbed wire. He once stopped a trawler by pretending to be the police. But threats from local mafia soon made it impossible for him to sell his fish at the market. Instead he turned to fishing tourism taking visitors out on his boat, giving them a chance to catch fish and learn about the ecological threat of trawling. He also runs a small restaurant. To stop the illegal fishing however, in 2006, a desperate Tuscan government dropped concrete blocks into the sea to disrupt the trawlers. Fanciulli says they didn’t work as they were too far apart and the nets simply dragged between them. …Biologist Roberto Danovaro likens trawling to “fishing with bombs”. “You catch the fish, but also destroy their habitat,” he says. “With no possibility of growing back because trawling is so intense… Siren, a sculpture by Giorgio Butini, overgrown with marine vegetation in the underwater museum off Talamone, Tuscany. Photograph: Marta Clinco He got permission from Arpa, the agency for environmental protection, to drop an additional 80 blocks at his own expense. Then he thought, “What if, instead of dropping concrete blocks into the water, he dropped art?” He asked a quarry nearby if they could donate two marble blocks to make sculptures. “They donated 100 instead.” With contributions from tourists and online crowdfunding, Fanciulli persuaded artists including Giorgio Butini, Massimo Lippi, Beverly SOUNDINGS INTERNATIONAL NEWS Giorgio Butini’s sculpture ‘Acqua’, carved from Carrara marble and lying underwater off the coast of Tuscany. Photograph: Giovanni Cipriano/New York Times/Redux/eyevine Pepper and Emily Young to carve sculptures from the marble. Then he took them out to sea and lowered them in. …What if, instead of dropping concrete blocks into the water, he dropped art?… The underwater sculptures create both a physical barrier for nets and a unique underwater museum. UK sculptor Emily Young provided four sculptures, each weighing 12 tons. She calls them “guardians”. Nearby lies a mermaid by the young artist Aurora Vantaggiato. Lippi has contributed 17 sculptures representing Siena’s contrade, or medieval districts. The museum is open to anyone who can arrange a visit off the Tuscan coast either through guided scuba tours or by arranging their own dive. Biologist Roberto Danovaro, head of the Anton Dohrn research institute in Naples, likens trawling to “fishing with bombs”. “You catch the fish, but also destroy their habitat,” he says. Dr Gioia Benedettini, sea manager of Arpat, the local environmental agency, says the seagrass is now growing back. The statues also help “protect the fish resources because the nursery areas of various commercial fish species are located below the coast”. Turtles too, are returning. “We put in the first statues in 2007 but our goal is to reach 100,” says Fanciulli. www.dive-pacific.com 47
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 175 - $9.90 inc GST December
Page 3 and 4: ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Aucklan
Page 5 and 6: NEW ZEALAND’S ONLY DIVE MAGAZINE
Page 7 and 8: Big bright future mapped for Dive P
Page 9 and 10: Then on a trip to Melbourne he caug
Page 11 and 12: SOUNDINGS LOCAL NEWS Snapper resear
Page 13 and 14: Our blue economy: Big prospect comp
Page 15 and 16: General Marine comes full circle as
Page 17 and 18: Participants spotting sanders wrass
Page 19 and 20: Tiny animals and their critical imp
Page 21 and 22: plunging up and down through the wa
Page 23 and 24: whale swimming in the 2021 NZ winte
Page 25 and 26: Photo Credit: Cole Johnston and Sol
Page 27 and 28: Product Number 50120UK © PADI 2006
Page 29 and 30: Diving Fiordland! The great Jacques
Page 31 and 32: Start of Day 1 tions: you have no o
Page 33 and 34: Rare underwater find for NIWA photo
Page 35 and 36: Koura resting on a fallen nikau pal
Page 37 and 38: Kermadec Islands The reason the Ker
Page 39 and 40: Kermadec Islands number of herbivor
Page 41 and 42: Kermadec giant limpets (Patella ker
Page 43 and 44: Story and photos by Sarah Ford perp
Page 45 and 46: Counting fish at the Poor Knights (
Page 47: dnz164 Counting fish lish populatio
Page 51 and 52: With an expression of sheer ecstasy
Page 53 and 54: A mean mouthful by Sam Sloss, Italy
Page 55 and 56: C-MAP Reveal released for Australia
Page 57 and 58: TecFestnz 2021 gears up Michael Gib
Page 59 and 60: The Dive Zone group are keen to see
Page 61 and 62: theory may have been tested on peop
Page 63 and 64: these changes is not known, though
Page 65 and 66: How good a dive buddy am I? By Andy
Page 67 and 68: Shark watching in Fiji fast moving
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Page 71 and 72: dnz164 More information on Dive Sto
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Dive Pacific 175 Dec2020 Jan 2021

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