Category Archives: High Seas

Not all flood alerts are the same. Here's what you should take seriously. USA TODAY

It doesn't take a storm to inundate the coast with potentially ruinous floodwaters.

"Nuisance" or "sunny day" high-tide flooding is becoming more commonplace in the U.S., and a federal report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that such flooding will worsen in the decades to come as seas continue to rise.

Americas coastal communities and their economies are suffering from the effects of high-tide flooding, and its only going to increase in the future, said Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAAs National Ocean Service.

As sea-level rise continues, damaging floods that decades ago happened only during a storm now happen more regularly, such as during a full-moon tide or with a change in prevailing winds or currents, according to NOAA.

Although not mentioned in the report Tuesday, seas are rising in part because of climate change: According to an online NOAA fact sheet, "The two major causes of global sea level rise are thermal expansion caused by warming of the ocean (since water expands as it warms) and increased melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets."

In a call with reporters Tuesday, LeBoeuf saidthat "climate change and carbon emissions are a factor at play when we look at how tides are rising.

In 2019 alone, 19 locations along the east coast and Gulf coast set or tied records where rapidly increasing trends in high-tide flooding have emerged, NOAA said.

Evidence of a rapid increase in sea-level rise related flooding started to emerge about two decades ago, and now is very clear, the report said. NOAAs National Weather Service is issuing record numbers of watches (and) warnings for coastal flooding. This will become the new normal unless coastal flood mitigation strategies are implemented or enhanced.

Last year, the Southeast saw a threefold increase in flooding days compared to 2000. For example, Charleston, S.C., had 13 days where flooding reached damaging levels, compared to the two days that were typical in 2000.

Rob Kramer removes debris from a drain as tidal flooding inundated many downtown streets in Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 27, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. Just weeks after historic rains drenched the state, more flooding along the South Carolina coast brought another round of astronomical high tides often called king tides.(Photo: Paul Zoeller, AP)

And along the western Gulf coast, percentage increases were the highest, greater than fivefold. In Texas, Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi had 21 and 18 flooding days in 2019, and in 2000 those locations would typically only experience about one and three days, respectively.

"As a Chesapeake Bay resident, I see the flooding firsthand, and it is getting worse," said William Sweet, a NOAA oceanographer with the National Ocean Service and lead author of the report. "Records seem to be set every year. Communities are straddled with this growing problem."

By 2030, long-term projections show seven to 15 days of high-tide flooding for coastal communities nationally. By 2050, it rises to 25 to 75 days, suggesting high-tide flood levels may become the new high tide.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/14/coastal-flooding-continue-increase-noaa-report-says/5437524002/

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Coastal flooding in US will continue to increase as seas rise, report says - USA TODAY

OUR recent series on slavery shows how, even though the North-East is not associated with the trade, its tentacles and its riches reached into our communities.

But the trade also had its opponents, like the Wyvill family of Constable Burton, near Bedale, in North Yorkshire.

The Reverend Christopher Wyvill was nominally in charge of the parish of Black Notley in Essex but he very shrewdly married his cousin, Elizabeth, who was more than 20 years older than him but was the heir to the family hall.

When her father, Sir Marmaduke, died in 1774, he inherited Constable Burton Hall and an income comfortable enough for him to be able to give up his parish.

However, he was desperately keen to see improvements in Britain and in 1779 formed the Yorkshire Association, a group of hundreds of independent members of the gentry which lobbied for economic and Parliamentary reform. Among the many reforming causes to which he gave his support was William Wilberforces crusade to end slavery.

On his death in 1822, his eldest son, also Marmaduke, inherited Constable Burton.

He was the MP for York from 1820 to 1830 and he, too, sided with Wilberforce, declaring himself an enemy of slavery. In 1829, he presented a petition to Parliament signed by hundreds of people in York demanding freedom for slaves.

Admiral Christopher Wyvill, who crusaded against slavery on the east coast of Africa. Picture courtesy of Charles Wyvill

The reverends second son was Admiral Christopher Wyvill who in the 1840s commanded HMS Cleopatra. He took the battle against slavery to the high seas.

He was stationed off the Cape of Good Hope, patrolling the east coast of Africa, where Portuguese traders still harvested slaves in Mozambique and sold them to the plantations of the Americas.

The admiral would chase after the slavers. Some he would capture and liberate hundreds of captives; others, though, would flee from him and in their desperation to escape would run aground. The crew would get away but the human cargo beneath the battened hatches might not be so lucky.

HMS Vestal, the sister ship of HMS Cleopatra which was commanded in the 1840s by Admiral Christopher Wyvill on an anti-slavery crusade

Then the admiral took the fight onland.

The Portuguese, like the Lascelles family of Northallerton MPs whose story we told last week, would pen the Africans in a makeshift prison until there was a ship to sail them off to slavery.

The admiral would destroy these slave factories the permanently moored prison ships pioneered by Henry Lascelles MP or he would land and burn the barracoons the stockades where the captives were incarcerated.

At the end of a long naval career, the admiral retired to The Grange, which is opposite Bedale sports ground, where he died in 1863 aged 71.

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The Wyvill family who were "an enemy of slavery" and the admiral who took the fight to end it to the high seas - The Northern Echo

No technology is as profoundly important to the global economy as the internet, which is dependent on the security of a vast network of some 750,000 miles of seabed cables that criss-cross the oceans depths. The interdependence of global submarine communication systems means that a break in one cable can have cascading effects on internet access to distant states. While the rules to protect this critical infrastructure in peacetime should be refurbished, the need to further develop the rules to secure this global infrastructure during periods of armed conflict is perhaps even more compelling. Although several peacetime treaties protect submarine cables from disruption and criminal acts, albeit weakly, the rules that apply during naval war are even more antiquated. Because the law of naval warfare is principally based on custom and state practice rather than treaties, there is considerable uncertainty over how submarine cables would fare in conflict at sea.

The internet facilitates $10 trillion in international financial transactions daily; submarine cables are the backbone of this distributed, global infrastructure. The critical importance of cables underscores the debate within Western states over the prudence of working with the Chinese communications conglomerate Huawei Marine. Russia and China both view submarine cables as strategic assets and could either tap them or sever them in any future conflict. Russias surface ship Yantar, for example, is monitored by Western naval forces since it is outfitted with cable-cutting gear and deep-sea submersibles.

The principal treaty governing submarine cables, adopted in 1884, sets forth an enlightened and balanced approach that is still followed today. The treaty is supplemented by the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). While Article 2 of the 1884 treaty criminalizes the breaking or injury of submarine cables done intentionally or through culpable negligence that results in disruption of telecommunication services, Article 4 requires cable owners and operators to indemnify each other for damaged cables and, under Article 7, pay for lost anchors and fishing nets sacrificed in order to avoid cutting a cable.

The 1958 convention recognizes that coastal states have sovereign rights over the resources of the seabed. These rights inhere to the coastal state, regardless of its ability to occupy the seabed, access the resources or exercise control over the area. This recognition of coastal state rights codified the U.S. claim in the 1945 Truman Proclamation, which had crystallized into customary international law. Article 4 of that treaty ensures that coastal states may not impede the laying or maintenance of submarine cables or pipelines on their continental shelves. Laying submarine cables is a high seas freedom, and Article 2(4) of the treaty recognizes that all states have a right to do so, while exercising reasonable regard for other statessuch as the coastal state. The act of laying submarine cables is also a high seas right under the peacetime rules reflected in Article 112 of UNCLOS. States are required to adopt necessary laws and regulations to address willful or culpably negligent damage to cables in accordance with Article 113. Articles 114 and 115 of UNCLOS reflect the long-standing regime of liability and indemnity and are derived from the 1884 treaty. Even in peacetime, as set forth by the rules reflected in UNCLOS, the submarine cable system is fragile. The International Cable Protection Committeean industry group that represents 97 percent of submarine cableshas reported coastal state delays and exorbitant costs, such as those imposed by India and Indonesia, that hinder undersea cable repairs on their continental shelves. China has a lax record of enforcement against its fishing vessels that cut submarine cables.

While Article 10 of the 1884 treaty specifies that warships and other government vessels have a right to verify the nationality of a merchant vessel if it is suspected of having broken a submarine cable, this provision is a departure from the concept of exclusive flag state jurisdiction over ships, as embodied in Article 92 of UNCLOS. Still, it is also possible to suggest that Article 10 persists even now by virtue of Article 30 of the 1958 convention, which states that prior agreements already in force shall continue. Thus, the rule that states may approach and visit merchant vessels to investigate cut or damaged cables may still apply to states party to the 1884 convention and the 1958 convention, or perhaps more broadly under customary international law.

While these peacetime instruments are rather dated and would benefit from new agreements to increase penalties for tampering and other criminal acts that disrupt their operation, the rules that apply during armed conflict are perhaps even more uncertain. The 1907 Hague Regulations forbid seizure or destruction of submarine cables connecting an occupied territory to a neutral territory, except in the case of absolute necessity. Furthermore, cut cables must be restored and compensation paid once the conflict is over. Not only does this exception practically negate the rule, but the regulations themselves apply only to war on landoccupied land at thatand are silent on destruction of cables in the open sea. State practice is clear, however, that cables connecting two points in enemy territory (or two enemy states) may be cut. (See p. 95 of volume 50 of International Law Studies, of the Stockton Center for International Law at the U.S. Naval War College.)

Article 15 of the 1884 treaty states that the rules on submarine cables do not affect the liberty of action of belligerent states during armed conflict. This is amplified in Rule 37 in the influential San Remo Manual on the Law Applicable to Conflict at Sea, which states that parties to a conflict shall take care to avoid damaging submarine cables and pipelines laid on the seabed that serve neutral states. Article 54 of the 1913 Oxford Manual of the Laws of Naval War prohibits cutting cables in neutral waters connecting neutral states with an enemy state. Such cables may be cut on the high seas only if the belligerent state doing so is conducting an effective blockade of the enemy state. Yet, even the Oxford Manual cautions that seizure or destruction of a submarine cable may not be done unless there is an absolute necessity. This rule applies without discrimination as to nationality of the owner of the cable, whether a natural person or corporate entity. Recently, the 2020 Oslo Manual on Select Topics on the Law of Armed Conflict recognized in Rule 67 that states that have laid submarine cables or pipelines, or whose nationals have done so, are entitled to take protective measures to prevent or terminate harmful interference of them.

It is unclear, however, the extent to which the rules set forth in the Oxford, San Remo and Oslo manuals, weak as they are, reflect the understanding of states. In short, the content of the law is murky. Further, the willingness of states to acknowledge even the rather circumspect restraints from customary law on their conduct during armed conflict at sea is doubtful. And while legal practitioners and scholars might devise some clarity, such as through the ongoing revision process of the San Remo Manual, the challenge of more crisply defining rights and duties of states concerning submarine cables is daunting. In the meantime, states may expect that adversaries plans to disrupt international submarine cables during naval warfare are limited only by their national laws and their imagination.

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Submarine Cables in the Law of Naval Warfare - Lawfare

Typically, ammonia is made in a process known as steam reforming. Hydrogen is generated from a reaction involving methane, water and air, and then combined with nitrogen in a process known as the Haber method. However,carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct.

Dr John Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, sees one fix for this that banks on carbon capture and storage, a relatively unproven technology that reels carbon dioxide from the air and stores it deep underground. If you can capture the carbon from steam methane reforming, it may be clean at the point of consumption, he says.

Another method picking up traction from Wrtsil involves the use of electricity generated by wind farms to split water into its constituent components of hydrogen and oxygen through a process known as electrolysis.

That hydrogen can then be combined with nitrogen pulled from the atmosphere to create ammonia in a way that has cut carbon emissions altogether. For years, the method has proved too costly given the high price of renewable energy, but it is getting cheaper. Hystad claims 400gW of wind turbines are due to be installed in the North Sea between now and 2050, more than 20 times the current output.

With clean options of generating ammonia emerging, the next challenge involves turning it into a form that can be used as fuel. Wrtsil is exploring the possibility of pumping ammonia 70m below sea level where high pressure can turn it into a liquid, while another option involves cooling the gas to -40 degrees C to liquefy it.

Once in a liquid form, ammonia can be used in a retrofitted internal combustion engine, such as the ones Wrtsil are looking at in existing ships, or can generate electricity in a reaction driven by a device known as a fuel cell.

The ability to create green ammonia is opening up potential applications far beyond the high seas too. A study led by Davennes team in Harwell has been investigating the potential for ammonia to replace kerosene as the go-to fuel in the aviation industry.

At a cruising altitude, ammonia could sit in the wings of a plane as a liquid, given the sub-zero temperatures 30,000ft in the air, and the engine would need few changes to accommodate for ammonia according to their research.

But there are some real hurdles to overcome to get ammonia working as a fuel.

In planes, ammonia could struggle as its energy density is a lot lower than kerosene, meaning much more fuel will be needed onboard. On the ground, wings would have to be refrigerated as ammonia is a gas in that atmosphere, Davenne says.

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Ammonia could be the fuel of the future for shipping - Telegraph.co.uk

The award of the ad-hoc arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS), only the operative portions of which were publicly released last week, appears to have brought to an end, an eight year long tussle between New Delhi and Rome on the exercise of criminal jurisdiction over two Italian marines accused of manslaughter.

As many would remember, on February 15, 2012, two Italian marines Sgt. Massimiliano Latorre and Sgt. Salvatore Girone, deployed on board an oil tanker MV Enrica Lexieflying the Italian flag en route from Sri Lanka to Egypt, at roughly 20.5 nautical miles off the Indian coast, opened fire, killing two Indian fisherman on board an Indian vessel St. Antonyafter claiming to have mistaken them for pirates.

Soon after the incident, the Indian Coast Guard intercepted the Italian ship and directed it to shore.

The marines were then arrested and charged with murder by the Indian authorities. The Italian government, which claimed to have started its own criminal investigations, strongly contested Indias exercise of criminal jurisdiction over the marines and in any case argued that the marines, having been officially deployed with an anti-piracy mandate, enjoyed sovereign immunity.

Also read: Enrica Lexie: Did India Lose Case Against Italy Because of Lapses By its Own Supreme Court?

The incident and the detention of the marines greatly soured the relationship between Italy and India, with the former deciding to initiate arbitration proceedings under Annex VII of the UNCLOS.

Lotus 2.0?

The incident itself bore strong resemblance with another infamous high seas incident decades earlier that was the subject of a decision rendered by the permanent court of international justice (PCIJ). In the SS Lotus case, following a collision between a French steamer and a Turkish vessel on high seas, resulting in the death of eight Turkish nationals, France objected to Turkeys attempt to criminally prosecute the captain of the French steamer for his role in the collision.

The SS Lotus. Photo: http://www.alchetron.com

The PCIJ, equating the Turkish vessel to Turkish territory, held that under customary international law Turkey was entitled to assert jurisdiction over the persons responsible for the collisions since its effects have taken place on Turkish territory.

The decision thus laid down the foundation for the principle of objective territoriality. Many saw the decision as relevant to the Enrica Lexie incident, with Italy taking the place of France and India that of Turkey. However, there were some notable differences.

First, the Enrica Lexie incident did not take place on the high seas; rather it took place in an area beyond Indias territorial sea called the contiguous zone, where India exercises limited sovereign rights.

Second, the basis of the decision in SS Lotus was overruled through treaty law, specifically Article 97 of the UNCLOS which provided that in the event of a collision or any other incident of navigation on the high seas, involving penal responsibility of any person in the service of the ship, only the flag state or state of which the person is a national would be entitled to assert penal jurisdiction.

Third, the captain of the French vessel SS Lotus was not an agent of the French state. In contrast, the two marines were members of the Italian armed forces specifically deployed as per Italian law framed pursuant to anti-piracy resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council.

Each of these differences appears to have ultimately proved critical to the outcome of the case. The Tribunal dismissed the reliance placed by Italy on Article 97 of the UNCLOS to argue that only Italy as the flag state was entitled to assert jurisdiction over the marines, presumably since the incident did not take place on the high seas and/or did not involve collision or other incident of navigation but rather shooting across vessels.

The Tribunal also found that by firing upon St. Antony, Italy effectively, interfered with an Indian vessels freedom of navigation under Articles 87 and 90 of the UNCLOS, and was entitled to pay compensation to India in connection with the loss of life, physical harm and material damage to the Indian vessel St. Antony and its crew.

Also read: Enrica Lexie: In Setback for India, Tribunal Says Countrys Courts Cant Try Italian Marines

Finally, although under the tribunals award India could exercise concurrent jurisdiction over the marines, as per the tribunal it was precluded from doing so on account of the immunity enjoyed by the marines as sovereigns state officials exercising sovereign functions, presumably under the rules of customary international law.

On immunity

It is this last part of the award finding that the marines are entitled to sovereign immunity that has proved particularly controversial. Under customary international law, as also reflected in the commentary to the Draft Articles on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their property, states (including its organs) and its property, subject to limited exceptions, enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of the courts of another state.

One significant exception recognised in international law to such jurisdictional immunity, is with regard to the commercial activities of the state and over their commercial assets It is equally well accepted that the armed forces of a state, as an organ of the state, enjoy such jurisdictional immunity, for acts committed in their official functions. This underlying idea of sovereign immunity is also reflected in Articles 95 and 96 of the UNCLOS, which provide that warshipsand ships owned or operated by the state on governmental non-commercial service, enjoy complete immunity from the jurisdiction of any state other then the flag state.

Also read:India, Italy Spar Over Marines Issue Again as Ad-hoc Tribunal Reviews Enrica Lexie Case

However in the Enrica Lexie incident although the marines were indisputably members of Italian armed forces, they had been deputed on board a private Italian oil tanker, with an anti-piracy mandate. Thus according to India, Italy by deploying its armed forces on a private charter was acting in its commercial capacity, and the positions of the marines were equivalent to that of private armed security on board a vessel. However it is important to remember that, and as stressed by the Italians, the marines had been deployed under an Italian law framed pursuant to certain UN Security Council resolutions and had to adhere to rules of command, engagement, etc.

The majority of the tribunal appears to have found favour with the Italian position, whereas the dissenting members appear to have accepted that the Italian state (or its organs) was carrying on commercial activity.

Accordingly the majority of the tribunal, after taking note of the commitment made by Italy during the arbitral proceedings to resume criminal investigation against the marines for the incident, directed India to take steps to cease its exercise of criminal jurisdiction over the marines.

The road ahead

Naturally, as a result of losing jurisdiction over the marines, the award has not been met with much enthusiasm in India, especially in the state of Kerala where the deceased fishermen hailed from.

Enrica Lexie. Photo: Wikipedia/CC BY 3.0

However contrary to the expectations expressed in some quarters, the award of the tribunal at Hague is final and not subject to appeal in terms of Article 11 of Annexure VII to the UNCLOS read with the agreed rules of procedure. As an international law abiding nation, the Indian government has correctly decided to abide by the ruling of the tribunal and its application to the Supreme Court should be viewed in this context.

Having said that, the Indian governments role in this matter is far from over. Although the legal phase of the matter is over, the Indian government should continue to exercise diplomatic pressure on Italy, to ensure that the marines are subjected to a fair trial in Italy for their roles in the incident.

The government must also ensure that the compensation to be agreed with Italy, in terms of the directions of the tribunal, accurately reflects the material and moral loss caused to St. Antony and its crew. In the event no agreement on compensation is reached diplomatically between New Delhi and Rome, expect another round before the arbitral tribunal.

Jay Manoj Sanklecha is a lawyer specialising in international law. Views are personal.

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Is it the End of the Road for India in the Enrica Lexie Incident? - The Wire

With tropical waters largely off limits, frustrated enthusiasts can seek solace in some world-class locations close to home

Snorkelling, scuba diving, wild swimming they turn a pedestrian beach holiday into anadventure. Anyone who has swum alongside a shimmering school of fish or been blessed by a dolphin swim-by will know what it is to experience the magic of the sea. All of which is academic because, for now, most dreams of a blue water paradise are on hold.

There is another way to scratch that itch, however and that is to try diving in Britain. Scuba diving from the shore has recently been approved in England and Northern Ireland, and diving from a club or charter boat in England has also been green-lighted by Defra. Up to six members of different households can dive from a boat, as long as they can maintain social distancing. Once underwater, you can shake hands, hug and be as distance-compromised as you like.

In the past week, diving has also opened up in Scotland and Wales, and it is legal to travel into both countries now that their five-mile travel restrictions have been lifted. Diving, in short, is coming home.

Lets say youre a holiday diver, but might just be persuaded to dip a tentative fin into British seas. The crucial message is not to go it alone you need a proper support network to help you address the safety concerns involved in UK diving, and you may need additional training for some of the dives that follow. Consider joining your local branch of BSAC, the British Sub-Aqua Club (bsac.com) or find a friendly dive centre and ask for help.

Britains temperate water is supercharged with oxygen and rich in plankton. Thats why the water is green its a sign not of degradation, but of richness. After a while, you learn to move slowly through this environment, using a torch to pick out detail on our surprisingly colourful reefs. Yes, its colder than you might be used to and visibility is lower, but this is for connoisseurs the more you dive in green water, the more you appreciate its subtle beauty.

I genuinely believe some of Britains dive sites compare favourably with the best of the tropics. Dont agree? Then squeeze into a 7mm wetsuit you may require some lubrication and join me on a tour of domestic alternatives for the frustrated holiday diver.

Go global:Raja Ampat, in eastern Indonesia, is the worlds most biodiverse area, and renowned for its forests of gorgonian fan corals.

Stay at home: You can find colonies of pink fan corals on many of the shipwrecks around Plymouth, but my favourite place is the Eddystone Lighthouse, where they can be found hanging like nets between rocky gullies. UK fans are a bijoux 12in tall by 16in wide, but look at them up close and you will appreciate the intricacies of their structure, the distinct pinkish-gold hue of the feeding polyps.

Pink sea fans are often used by spotted catsharks (yes, Britain has leopard-spotted sharks, too) to secure their developing eggs to the structure. Look really closely and you may even see a superbly camouflaged sea slug, Tritonia nilsodhneri, which mimics the textures of the coral, just as a pygmy seahorse does out in Raja Ampat.

Dive deeper:Dive centre at Fort Bovisand, Plymouth, through Discovery Divers (discoverydivers.net).

Go global: Where dolphins are diffident, pinnipeds are your pals. The autumn months in Mexicos Baja Peninsula see Californian sea lion pups honing their skills in the Sea of Cortez.

Stay at home: In Northumberland, grey seal pups have taken to the water off the Farne Islands, a demanding offshore environment for which they must be fattened and fit in time for winter. Where the Californian sea lion is an unglamorous brown, the grey seal is resplendent in photogenic hues of silver.

Both use play as a means of asserting themselves in their hierarchical societies. They extend this behaviour to visiting divers it usually manifests in fin-nipping and acrobatic displays at close quarters. Some may even try to snuggle, but be wary of those sharp teeth and remember you are dealing with a wild animal.

Dive deeper: Boat charters from Seahouses (farne-islands.com).

Go global: On Mexicos Pacific coast, you can gawp at great whites from thesafety of a reinforced steel cage at Isla Guadalupe.

Stay at home: July sees ocean-going blue sharks appear in Cornwalls offshore waters, following migrating shoals of mackerel. Veteran diver Charles Hood has devised a way to swim safely with British blues from his boat, RIB Logan. You dont even need scuba equipment, though you must be comfortable snorkelling in deep water.

Charles uses a similar baiting system to the Guadalupe boats, chumming the water with a fragrant bucket of mashed mackerel. Blue sharks are classic oceanic predators, with streamlined bodies and long pectoral fins for riding currents. Join them in the water (try not to make a splash) and you can admire their elegance at close quarters with no cage required.

Dive deeper: Boat charters from Penzance, July to September(charleshood.com/rib-logan).

Go global: Arta beach in Djibouti is the setting for a mysterious gathering of whale sharks each winter, when they arrive to gorge on zooplankton. Its a rare opportunity to swim with these gentle giants as they gulp down mouthfuls of globular goodness.

Stay at home: How do you top the biggest fish in the sea? Allow me to present the second-biggest fish in the sea. While Djiboutis whale sharks are sub-adults measuring 10-16ft in length, the basking sharks that visit the Isle of Coll in the Hebrides each summer are grown-ups reaching 25-30ft. They appear off Coll for the same reason the whale sharks aggregate in Djibouti some local eddy causes plankton to amass, providing a feast for filter-feeders. Snorkelling only.

Dive deeper: Boat charters from Oban (baskingsharkscotland.co.uk)

Go global: Every diver who visits Palm Beach, Florida, hopes to dive the Blue Heron Bridge a waterway packed with unusual creatures.

Stay at home: My UK alternative may not triumph when it comes to diversity, but Swanage Pier offers a more serene setting. At the time of writing, the pier had just reopened, saving divers the 100-yard surface swim across Swanage Bay to reach the stanchions. Instead, you pop down a few steps and stroll straight into the water. The site is shallow and protected, so you can spend a good two hours exploring the seabed under the boardwalk.

The area is home to the bold and brave tompot blenny the underwater worlds answer to the robin redbreast. A snorkeller or diver may also encounter cuttlefish, sand-dwelling dragonets and the colourful gastropods known as nudibranchs.

Dive deeper: Dive centre and boat charter operated by Divers Down(diversdownswanage.co.uk).

Go global: They call it the oceans weirdest square mile, a channel between the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Lembeh, where the black sand is home to an array of ugly-beautiful beasties such as the hairy frogfish.

Stay at home: Lembeh may be the heartland of the specialism known as muck diving, but the sea lochs of western Scotland offer a similar environment dark sediment interspersed with boulders covered in anemones and immense clusters of brittle stars. The most rewarding locations are Loch Duich, Loch Carron, Loch Creran, Lochaline and Loch Fyne. You will need to research entry and exit points carefully in tandem with local tides to dive here safely. Dont just jump in!

Underwater you should be able to find the incredible firework anemone, or you may run into a sleeping bull huss shark. Sea lochs represent a treasure trove of habitats, so you may find yourself looking at a seabed covered in brittle stars, or communities of flame shells. Its a hidden world of shadows and sea scorpions.

Dive deeper: This is a DIY dive trip your best option is to be part of a club or centre that can organise its own expeditions and arranges for air cylinders to be filled. To get started, buy the book 100 British Shore Dives by Anita Sherwood (britishshoredives.co.uk).

Go global: Fiji is known as the soft coral capital of the world because of its great swathes of these treelike invertebrates, which appear in vivid tones of red, pink, purple and blue.

Stay at home: Look no further than the Isle of Man. Deep water upwellings in the Irish Sea create ideal conditions for reef development at a renowned dive site known as The Burroo, off the Calf. With a maximum depth of just 60ft, the site comprises a series of gullies all plastered in anemones and soft corals, like living wallpaper. Stars of the show are the tiny jewel anemones, which create colour-coordinated zones over every available surface. Framed by pale green water and often in excellent visibility, the Burroo and nearby Chicken Rock are world-class dives.

Dive deeper: Discover Diving at Port St Mary (discoverdiving.im).

Go global: Chuuk (also known as Truk) Lagoon in Micronesia is home to the Ghost Fleet of the Imperial Japanese navy, sunk during Operation Hailstone during the Second World War.

Stay at home: If the Ghost Fleet has an equivalent in the northern hemisphere, its the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow, a natural harbour in Orkney. The ships were scuttled by their own German crews in 1919, while interned under the terms of the Armistice.

Today its possible to dive on four light cruisers and three battleships of the Knig class. Depths vary from 52ft at the top of the cruiser SMS Cln, to 138ft if you want to see the 12in guns on the Kronprinz Wilhelm. Its deep and dark, but rewarding for history buffs who want to see battleship guns that were fired in anger at the British Navy.

Dive deeper: Halton Charters of Stromness (mvhalton.co.uk); also visits Shetland see below.

Go global: The Galapagos Islands are high on the bucket list of most divers, largely due to the schools of hammerhead sharks that gather in the remote northern islands, accessible only by liveaboard dive boat.

Stay at home: With its mosaic of islands and undiluted nature, Shetland is Britains own Galapagos. Underwater visibility is often superb, reaching 65ft or more. There are, admittedly, no hammerhead sharks but you can explore the twilight world of sea caves and marvel at schools of saithe and pollock as they stream around the reefs. Shetland evokes a strong sense of nature untrammeled; it will take your diving to a higher latitude.

If conditions allow, your live-aboard may head to Out Stack, the northernmost rock in the British Isles; its ravine is packed with the most colourful dahlia anemones I have seen. Nearby at Balta Sound, there is the strangely beautiful wreck of the British submarine HMS E49; the sub lies on a bed of pure white sand, a memorial to the 31 crew who died when it struck a mine in 1917.

Dive deeper: MV Valkyrie live-aboard (mv-valkyrie.co.uk); also based in Orkney see above.

Simon Rogerson is the editor ofSCUBA, the official journal of theBritish Sub-Aqua Club

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How to have an incredible diving holiday in UK waters - Telegraph.co.uk

Snow fell in some regions of the Eastern Cape this week.

Strong gale force winds left a trail of destruction in the Eastern Cape over the past two days, reportedly toppling trucks over and causing damage to property, while snow blocked mountain passes.

On Wednesday Garth Sampson, spokesperson for the SA Weather Service's Port Elizabeth office said: "Snow is still evident on the high lying ground in the extreme north-east but should melt off in the next day or so as temperatures recover."

Bitterly cold conditions with frost were recorded over the interior on Wednesday, with Buffelsfontein, Molteno, at -10C, experiencing the lowest temperatures.

Aliwal North, Barkley East and Jamestown recorded-7C while Cradock and Elliotregistered -3C.

Transport authorities had their hands full diverting traffic to alternate routes and towing trucks from the roadside.

The Wapadsberg Pass on the R61 between Graaff-Reinet and Cradock was closed to traffic on Tuesday due to heavy snowfall.

Transport department spokesperson Unathi Binqose said all mountain passes closed to traffic were opened by Wednesday after the snow had melted.

"All clear on our roads except for a stop and go on the N2 section 20 between Mount Frere and Mount Ayliff for approximately 5km. Sugarbush and Lugelweni and Puti will be affected."

Television journalists Aviwe Mtila and Nceba Ntlanganiso reported that they had come across two trucks tipped over by strong winds on the N2 between Mthatha and Dutywa on Monday while on an assignment.

In East London, 40 shacks were destroyed by a fire fuelled by strong winds on Monday. The fire was caused by illegal electricity connections, but was fanned by winds, said Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya.

Ngwenya said strong winds also caused damage to houses and walls in the city. "It has been a challenging day for our emergency and standby services across the city. Due to heavy winds, our personnel have been busy responding to emergency calls related to water, electricity, trees, traffic accidents and fires," said Ngwenya.

A giant gumtree was uprooted by winds in Mdantsane's NU 8 outside East London on Tuesday, said Ngwenya. A second tree fell on an overheard electricity line.

Toppled trees in Mdantsane's NU8. (Supplied by Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya)

A toppled electricity pole in Mdantsane's NU8. (Supplied by Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya)

Ngwenya said 114 people were left homeless by the fire. He said the municipality's disaster management unit took down all the names of the victims for applications for Sassa's social relief package.

Sampson said the rain on Tuesday night "brushed" the coastline.

"This can be seen as the PE airport recorded a nice 31 mm, other parts of the metro, like Uitenhage only received a mere 6 mm. The southern parts of the Langkloof catchment received between 19 and 45 mm in the Kareedouw region, while further up, Joubertina only received a mere 3 mm. Patensie only received 5 mm," said Sampson.

He said temperatures would start improving and no significant weather or rain was expected for the next five days.

Conditions were expected to clear up by Wednesday.

"The weather does start clearing from the morning, with the daytime temperatures also recovering from midday," said meteorologist Lelo Kleinbooi.

The weather authority had warned the marine community of strong to gale force winds and high seas along the coastline on Tuesday. The conditions were expected to improve overnight into Wednesday morning.

"We still advise the public and marine community to take [the] necessary precautions and be safe," said Kleinbooi.

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PICS | Toppled trucks, uprooted trees, shack fires - winds, snow cause havoc in Eastern Cape - News24

Dhyan Ramakrishnan, 28, a seafarer of third officer rank hailing from Payyoli, a municipal town in Keralas Kozhikode district, does farming and gardening for his physical and mental well-being.

He has been ashore for ten months. His efforts to join a ship have been delayed due to travel restrictions imposed by governments world over to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dhyan is frustrated at the long wait to join a ship on his next contract, managing his finances tightly in the absence of any income.

In Varanasi, Varsha, wife of chief officer Pankaj Gupta, is disappointed that her husband is not home after his original contract ended in mid-March.

Seafarers are keeping the global supply chain moving and fulfilling the needs of nations but are not allowed to disembark on completion of their contracts.

I am not just talking about my husband, there are thousands of people who are still stranded on ships. Neither are they able to work properly on the ship nor can they come back home, she explains to BusinessLine.

Varsha lives with her three-year-old son and 75-year-old father-in-law, who underwent surgery in January. The child also had a surgery in February and was admitted to hospital for three days. I managed all this alone. Now, I am also diagnosed with uterus tuberculosis. I have to visit the doctor frequently. At this time of epidemic, I cannot go outside with a child. Now it is very difficult to manage this situation alone, she says.

Due to Covid-19 and the lockdown, it was not practical for Guptas company to sign him off, though his reliever is already on-board. Now, governments and many companies are taking the initiative for crew change, but I am not seeing any positive response and efforts from his company, Varsha says. They are waiting for resumption of international flights while saying the Vande Bharat Mission flights are not for seafarers.

I cant explain my physical and mental condition. With every passing day, I am getting more and more frustrated. I want my husband at home. We really need him, she adds.

The outbreak of coronavirus and the consequent travel restrictions across the world and the lockdown in India have hit the maritime industry hard in terms of crew change and repatriation of seafarers.

Travel restrictions have also doused the job prospects of Indian seafarers working on foreign-flag ships due to their inability to join ships at foreign ports. The restlessness of crew working on board and those waiting on land for their next assignment is palpable. Seafarers on board were unable to sign off from ships after their contract ended due to stoppage of international flights to return home. They had their tenures extended, posing a humanitarian crisis to the global shipping industry, not to mention the safety of ships and the cargo.

Shipping is one of the very few industries that continue to run, carrying cargo including essentials such as medicines, food and energy, during the worst pandemic to have hit the world in many decades. While the virus has ravaged businesses and taken away tens of thousands of jobs on land, shipping is one industry where employment is still available. This is because of the nature of the industry where crew rotation every 4-8 months on ships is the global rule.

Each ship has a minimum manning number stipulated by global laws. If that is breached, the ship is considered unseaworthy and cannot sail.

Government authorities and industry representatives have sensed they have a problem on their hands. After all, India is one of the top suppliers of crew to the global shipping industry. The country has 2,08,800 seafarers employed on Indian and foreign-flag ships, accounting for about 10 per cent of the global seafarers and is ranked the third largest supplier of crew to the global shipping industry.

Indias role in world trade is small in relation to its shipping workforce, as a result of which ships are not contracted to touch Indian shores too often. However, due to the breakdown of logistics (air travel and visa clearances) worldwide, Indian staff are not able to hand over duty to those on the next leg of the trip. Their contracts are extended for months on end. This leads to crew fatigue, with serious implications for ship safety and cargo.

India was the first to design a detailed standard operating procedure to enable crew change of Indian seafarers at Indian ports and anchorages. It is also the only industry whose employees have been allowed to travel abroad for the purposes of crew change using chartered flights.

These efforts have eased the situation only a wee bit as the complex, time-consuming approval processes for bringing back seafarers on the return leg of chartered flights, the challenges involved in moving seafarers from distant places to airports in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai for onward journey and vice versa, the constantly changing rules in crew change hubs overseas, lack of visas due to closure of embassies and visa offices and the closure of maritime training institutes, critical for revalidation of seafarers certificates continue to roil the industry.

Ship owners and managers have also resorted to the last and expensive option of diverting ships from their normal course to the anchorages of Indian ports just to drop off crew and for on-board replacements. The diversions entail loss of revenue to the ship owner as the ship is considered to be off-hired during such detour, besides the extra insurance costs.

The situation has eased substantially as far as backlog cases are concerned. However, crew change being an on-going process, the effort needs to continue on a sustained basis, says Amitabh Kumar, Director General of Shipping.

More than 1,00,000 Indian seafarers are on board ships at any given point. Between May 19 and July 9, 224 charter flights run by ship management and crewing firms have helped 15,538 seafarers (including staff employed on cruise liners) to return home and about 7,610 to join ships overseas. Besides, some 17,000 seafarers have signed off from ships calling at Indian ports and some 7,000 have boarded ships since March 23.

The difference in the number of seafarers who have signed off and signed on is an indication of the number of jobs lost by Indians, say industry officials.

Four months into the lockdown, the shipping industry is still waiting for the world to recognise seafarers as key workers. A call by several international agencies, including the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the International Labour Organisation and even the United Nations, to designate seafarers as key workers to facilitate their free movement has fallen on deaf ears of governments, including in India.

This treatment to an industry that carries over 90 per cent of world trade only shows how little has been done, says Deepak Singh, a Delhi-based third engineer waiting for his next ship since August last year.

Many companies cannot afford charter flights. In fact, seafarers working in smaller companies are forced by their manning agents to extend contracts, says Kolkata-based Captain Kunal Das, who has been at sea on board a bulk carrier for over eight months now.

Depression, anxiety, stress and insecurity are at highest levels in seafarers both on-board and ashore.

It is difficult to understand why, even as they deliver the products we need to survive the current crisis, seafarers are being denied basic human rights, says Captain Rajesh Unni, Founder and CEO of ship management firm Synergy Group.

To all intents and purposes, seafarers are enslaved to global trade. By denying them freedom of movement, seafarers are imprisoned in their place of work, he says.

The shipping industry has done everything in its power to bang the drum loud and hard about their plight, but progress is proving painfully slow. We need a systematic approach to crew changeovers, not ad hoc sticking plasters. We need airports opened up, and aircraft landing slots and clearances granted with far more urgency. We need visas to be fast-tracked. And, more than anything, we need politicians and civil servants to help us cut through the red tape, Unni adds.

Whatever the Indian government has done, the bottom line is that its all too little too late, says Kalpesh Dave, a third mate, from Pune.

We are chartering flights, pooling ships to and from ports and mobilising enormous resources and efforts for very little gain, says Bjorn Hojgaard, chief executive officer at Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern Univan Group, one of the worlds top ship management companies.

Despite IMO together with industry having served up the operating procedures for safe crew change to governments worldwide and despite the repeated appeals from industry organisations about the need to act now, the relaxations that we have seen are not enough to even catch up with the backlog of delayed relief. As a consequence, stress and anxiety, both with the people on board the ships but certainly also with their colleagues ashore who have been anxiously waiting for a contract and a ship, continue to grow, says Hojgaard.

The closure of maritime training institutes is another key area of concern for seafarers whose employment certificates have expired or are expiring soon and need to be revalidated.

To provide relief and facilitate jobs, the Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) has extended the validity of seafarers certificates that are expiring on or before December 31 till December 31, 2021. The DG Shipping has also framed the standard operating procedure for revalidation of certificates of seafarers intending to join ships prior to October 31.

This is because seamen whose certificates are expiring in January, February and March 2021 are not being considered for allotment of ships and will remain jobless. Employers typically demand at least 6 to 12 months validity of all certificates prior to joining.

Seafarers say that resuming international flights is the only solution for smooth signing off and joining ships. This is a call the government has to take. But this does not look like happening in the near future. For the time being, the ordeal of crew on the high seas continues.

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How Covid-19 has disrupted shipping operations and seafarers' lives - BusinessLine

Automobili Lamborghini and The Italian Sea Group present the worldwide premiere of Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63, the Tecnomar fleets new motor yacht available in a limited edition in reference to Lamborghinis 1963 foundation.

Performance, driving pleasure, attention to quality and details, emotion: these are the emotive features combined within the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63, thanks to innovative engineering solutions and a distinct design unique to shared Italian style and tradition.

This motor yacht project, developed by The Italian Sea Group, started with several collaborative sessions with the contribution of Lamborghinis Centro Stile and inspiration from the Lamborghini Sin FKP 37: the hybrid super sports car incorporating benchmarking new supercapacitor and materials science technologies, that anticipates the future with an unmistakable design and completely customizable colour and details.

The challenge of re-interpreting the common DNA traits of both brands has inspired all phases of the project, from the design principles to the definition of technical characteristics ensuring incredible performance, without neglecting the quality of materials and careful attention to detail.

Continued here:

Lamborghini takes to the high seas - Paint and Panel

My Australian uncle just spent close to a month locked in his cabin on what he described as his "last cruise ever." No one died or caught the coronavirus, like on so many other vessels. But instead of sailing from Singapore to London, the ship brought him all the way back to Australia without a single stop along the way. That was followed by two weeks of mandatory quarantine in a Perth hotel.

One week later, my uncle emailed me to say he had already booked his next cruise! I couldn't believe it. He wrote that the company had given him a full refund for his "trip to nowhere," along with a 50% discount for a Perth-to-Singapore cruise next year the opposite to what he'd just done, but with shore leaves this time. I wondered if that would be enough to repress those dreaded memories.

Not the cruise of a lifetime

Reports show the coronavirus broke out on at least 55 ships across the world's oceans. Some public health experts said the vessels helped carry the virus around the globe. Many sailed for weeks after the disease was first detected on a cruise liner. That was, until ports refused them entry, stranding tens of thousands of passengers and crew at sea some for months.

A study in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked cruise ships with 17% of coronavirus cases in the United States in the early weeks of the global spread of COVID-19. That included the Diamond Princess, the site of one of the world's biggest outbreaks. Prosecutors argued the Ruby Princess was the main importer of cases to Australia. A criminal investigation was launched.

DW Senior Business Editor Ben Fajzullin at Hamburg Port

'The problem stayed on board'

However, the industry said it took extraordinary measures to limit outbreaks. The German government's maritime coordinator Norbert Brackmann (CDU) agreed. "The problem stayed on board," he told me. "The cruise liners are built according to the latest standards."

On a boat tour of Hamburg Port, industry veteran Walter Krombach told me cruise ships were more susceptible to the coronavirus than other places. "Where you have big crowds of people: 4,000 up to 6,000, plus the crew on a narrow area together, mixed together, the risk is there," he said.

'Ships don't have laboratories'

Ukrainian cruise entertainer Ivan Lytvynenko was one of the thousands trapped aboard the German ship, MV Artania, off Australia, when the virus broke out. It led to evacuations and deaths. His main concern was the lack of medical equipment on board. "The ships don't have laboratories, to carry out tests. That's something they'll have to think about,' he told me.

Brackmann said "you can be certain, the cruise operators will be taking this experience from the pandemic and using it to ensure their vessels are even more secure in the future." But the big boats wouldhave to consider setting sail with only half the passengers, if they wanted to adhere to social distancing rules. There was also talk of fewer stops and going local: discouraging passengers from flying to their port of departure and taking a cruise closer to home.

At least the big cruise operators scored well when it cameto providing disinfectant on board to clean your hands. Whereas the rest of the world (except for parts of Asia)only just started installing disinfectant dispensers, they have been a mainstay in front of restaurants on cruise liners for years now. That is because they have had to deal with all sorts of outbreaks before: measles, chickenpox, salmonella, E. coli and the dreaded norovirus.

My holiday from hell

I caught the norovirus on my first and last cruise in 2016. I spent two whole days with severe chills, fever, diarrhea and vomiting, locked in my cabin. That turned me into a bit of a skeptic. Coincidentally, the Spanish operators of the cruise Pullmantur just went bankrupt. There were reports that its fleet of three ships (one just renovated in 2017) washeaded for the scrap heap.

COVID-19 took its toll. But like any health scare, consumers tend to forget quickly. And those who only watched the drama unfold on their flat-screen TVs from the comfort of their own homes wouldfeel even more disconnected from the horrors.

My parents were already planning their next cruise. My father has health issues and cannot fly. A cruise was a great solution to travel. But what if he were to catch something on board, stuck out at sea, with little access to medical equipment? It was something I worried about.

Ukrainian cruise ship entertainer Ivan Lytvynenko may enjoy this land excursion, but he's raring to return to work on the MV Artania

Smaller cruises set sail

He was happy to hear that some of the first cruise operators were already gearing up for business again. In the same week that I was in Hamburg, a smaller expedition boat was the very first to venture back out onto the high seas for German customers. Less than a third of the boat was booked. As passengers checked in, staff checked their temperatures. I read that shore leaves were off the cards.

Whether it meant significantly fewer passengers or higher costs to offer what some companies called a "gold standard in public health," operators would be desperate to get any sort of revenues flowing again, after billions of dollars in losses and lawsuits. And the vast majority of firms continued to burn through billions in cash, with their vessels stuck in dock. Their share prices continued to take on water, as I wrote this article.

Bookings are surging

But booking platforms reported that reservations were surging again. Operators were offering big discounts, like in my uncle's case. On the one hand, some analysts expected another boom even bigger than before the crisis. Krombach, on the other hand, told me the boom was well and truly over and that the industry would never be the same. "Everybody thought in that business that the boom would continue forever. Corona made a stop a full stop."

Skyping with Ivan Lytvynenko, I was surprised to hear from him as well, that his ship wasbooked out. "Our passengers all want to come back. We're booked out for the next two years and I'm certain many, many people will want to do the trip."

And what about the 31-year-old, after being trapped with all those passengers and the threat of a highly contagious virus on board? "I can't wait. It's been my life the last 11 years. I've always been on cruise ships. I just don't know when I'll be able to again."

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Coronavirus fallout: Cruising into the unknown - DW (English)