Thursday, March 31, 2011

Authorities in Awe of Drug Runners' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs


Wired Magazine: Authorities in Awe of Drug Runners' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs
The clatter of helicopter blades echoed across the jungles of northwestern Ecuador. Antinarcotics commandos in three choppers peered at the mangroves below, scanning for any sign of activity. The police had received a tip that a gang of Colombian drug smugglers had set up a clandestine work site here, in a dense swamp 5 miles south of Colombia’s border. And whatever the traffickers were building, the tipster had warned, was truly enormous.

For decades, Colombian drug runners have pursued their trade with diabolical ingenuity, staying a step ahead of authorities by coming up with one innovation after another. When false-paneled pickups and tractor-trailers began drawing suspicion at US checkpoints, the cartels and their Mexican partners built air-conditioned tunnels under the border. When border agents started rounding up too many human mules, one group of Colombian smugglers surgically implanted heroin into purebred puppies. But the drug runners’ most persistently effective method has also been one of the crudest—semisubmersible vessels that cruise or are towed just below the ocean’s surface and can hold a ton or more of cocaine.

Assembled in secret shipyards along the Pacific coast, they’ve been dubbed drug subs by the press, but they’re incapable of diving or maneuvering like real submarines. In fact, they’re often just cigarette boats encased in wood and fiberglass that are scuttled after a single mission. Yet despite their limitations, these semisubmersibles are notoriously difficult to track. US and Colombian officials estimate that the cartels have used them to ship hundreds of tons of cocaine from Colombia over the past five years alone.

But several years ago, intelligence agencies began hearing that the cartels had made a technological breakthrough: They were constructing some kind of supersub in the jungle. According to the persistent rumors, the phantom vessel was an honest-to-goodness, fully functioning submarine with vastly improved range—nothing like the disposable water coffins the Colombians had been using since the ’90s. US law enforcement officials began to think of it as a sort of Loch Ness Monster, says one agent: “Never seen one before, never seized one before. But we knew it was out there.”

Finally, the Ecuadoreans had enough information to launch a full-fledged raid. On July 2, 2010, a search party—including those three police helicopters, an armada of Ecuadorean navy patrol boats, and 150 well-armed police and sailors—scoured the coastline near the Colombian border. When a patrol boat happened on some abandoned barrels in a clearing off the Río Molina, the posse moved in to find an astillero, or jungle shipyard, complete with spacious workshops, kitchens, and sleeping quarters for 40. The raid had clearly interrupted the workday—rice pots from breakfast were still on the stove.

And there was something else hastily abandoned in a narrow estuary: a 74-foot camouflaged submarine—nearly twice as long as a city bus—with twin propellers and a 5-foot conning tower, beached on its side at low tide. “It was incredible to find a submarine like that,” says rear admiral Carlos Albuja, who oversees Ecuadorean naval operations along the northwest coast. “I’m not sure who built it, but they knew what they were doing.”


A cargo hold in the sub's bow can hold up to 9 tons of cocaine, worth about $250 million.
Photo: Christoph Morlinghaus
Four hundred miles away, at the US embassy in Bogotá, Jay Bergman received the news with a sense of vindication. As the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s top official in South America, Bergman had followed the chatter about a rumored supersub for years—even as his colleagues remained deeply skeptical. But any satisfaction he felt was undercut by the implications of the discovery. The drug cartels continued to grow more sophisticated. If the DEA and other agencies hoped to keep up, they’d have to figure out how the traffickers built the sub, how to prevent them from building more, and—most important—how to detect others that might already be out there. “This is a quantum leap in technology,” Bergman says over a breakfast of eggs and strong Colombian coffee at a Bogotá hotel. “It poses some formidable challenges.”

The US government’s first step was a stern-to-snorkel assessment. Agents from the Farragut Technical Analysis Center—a branch of the US Office of Naval Intelligence that helps the Pentagon assess the capabilities of North Korean battleships and Russian nuclear subs—went down to Ecuador. Over two days, the team broke down every aspect of the vessel’s construction. They examined the hull with an electron microscope and energy-dispersive x-ray to determine its composition. They pored over the technical capabilities of the sub’s Chinese engines to calculate its range. And they studied the maximum amount of breathing time the crew would have underwater, without the aid of CO2 scrubbers, before they’d be forced to surface.

The group summed up its findings in a 70-page white paper—marked FOUO, for official use only—that conveys a grudging respect for the engineers and craftsmen who were able to build something so seaworthy in the middle of a swamp. “The streamlined hull, diesel-electric propulsion system, and fuel ballast system design all show a significant level of technical expertise and knowledge of submersible operations,” it states. The hull, they discovered, was made from a costly and exotic mixture of Kevlar and carbon fiber, tough enough to withstand modest ocean pressures but difficult to trace at sea. Like a classic German U-boat, the drug-running submarine uses diesel engines on the surface and battery-powered electric motors when submerged. With a crew of four to six, it has a maximum operational range of 6,800 nautical miles on the surface and can go 10 days without refueling. Packed with 249 lead-acid batteries, the behemoth can also travel silently underwater for up to 18 hours before recharging.

The most valuable feature, though, is the cargo bay, capable of holding up to 9 tons of cocaine—a street value of about $250 million. The vessel ferries that precious payload using a GPS chart plotter with side-scan capabilities and a high-frequency radio—essential gadgetry to ensure on-time deliveries. There’s also an electro-optical periscope and an infrared camera mounted on the conning tower—visual aids that supplement two miniature windows in the makeshift cockpit.

Today the supersub sits propped on a pedestal like a trophy at Ecuador’s naval command headquarters in Guayaquil, the country’s largest city and main port. Fresh air is piped in to keep investigators cool, and a tin roof protects it from the elements. Inside, the captured sub looks like the garage of a failed inventor; exposed PVC pipe hangs from the ceiling, batteries and plastic tubing are littered throughout the cabin, electrical wires are patched to the walls without any apparent logic. Old go-kart steering wheels control flippers on the sub’s exterior, helping it to dive and surface. Crew comfort seems to have been an afterthought. Standing room is precious, and there are no visible seats or bunks. During a recent tour, diesel fumes barely masked the powerful combination of urine and man-stink lingering months after the sub’s discovery.

Smuggling huge rolls of Kevlar, four engines, 249 back-breaking batteries, and thousands of obscure marine parts to a remote equatorial shipyard takes patience, money, and cojones. But does building a homemade submarine also take real smarts? The American and Colombian sub hunters seem to think so, but what do big government institutions know about hacking together a custom sub in a poorly equipped workshop? When powerful navies want a new submarine, they call defense contractors. To truly understand the complexities of building a sub from scratch, the real experts are a band of irrepressible hobbyists who build personal submarines in their backyards.

Jon Wallace, a Unix software programmer for Hewlett-Packard, has headed the Personal Submersibles Organization, or Psubs, for 15 years. The group promotes the safe design, construction, and operation of personal submarines. It has 53 active members, mostly middle-aged American men “with their mortgage and kids under control,” Wallace says. They’re the kind of guys who are willing to spend every weekend in their suburban garages hand-welding custom vessels, the better to explore the bottoms of nearby lakes. Construction can require years and a masterful sales pitch. “It’s not that easy to say, ‘Honey, I just need $25,000 and the driveway for the next two years,” Wallace says.

Psubs members have been tracking the development of the drug runners’ semisubmersible creations for years. And they haven’t been very impressed. “Five hundred grand for a snorkel semisub. Ha!” reads a typical posting on the Psubs website from 2009. “These guys may have a lot of money, but they are not the sharpest tools in the shed!” snorts another.

But the towel-snapping ended with last summer’s discovery of the submarine in Ecuador. “This is the most sophisticated sub we’ve seen to date,” Wallace says. “It’s a very good design in terms of shape and controls.”

The vessel, which never had a chance to take its maiden voyage, is by no means perfect. Its steel-free hull can’t withstand depths of more than 62 feet, according to the US Navy’s technical assessment, a limitation that gives the pilot an incredibly narrow comfort zone. In other words, the slightest miscalculation in ballast—the amount of seawater a sub takes in to dive—could spell disaster for the unwieldy, 16-foot-high vessel.

Still, while they don’t approve of its purpose, the Psubs members confirm that the craft is an impressive piece of work. “Something like that would have taken a year or so in a modern shop,” says Vance Bradley, a member of the group’s advisory council and a former professional submarine fabricator. “Imagine doing it out in the boonies with the mosquitoes and vermin!”

That gets at one of the most vexing questions surrounding the sub: How was the beast actually built? According to Bergman’s calculations, it must have cost at least $5 million to construct. Which drug gang would devote that kind of money to this black-market engineering project? Did they design it themselves, or did they recruit disaffected Russians or other foreign naval specialists? Were professional submarine pilots used to manage the tedious construction and begin underwater testing? Was it just a coincidence that so many of the parts were from China?

Some answers can probably be deduced from the nearly three dozen old-school semisubmersibles that US and Colombian forces have confiscated since 2006—or from the 83 crew members who have been captured and prosecuted in that time, many of whom have traded information about the boats and their makers in exchange for reduced prison time. If their experience is an accurate guide, the supersub was likely built in sections in the backwoods Ecuadorean shipyard and then assembled at an adjacent estuary during low tide. Skilled engineers likely called the shots, directing teams of impoverished local laborers. Gas-powered generators may have been used, but the yearlong project would have been done mostly by hand without the help of electricity. Every bolt, pipe, and engine part would have been imported and laboriously smuggled in on small, canoe-like boats.

The Colombian cartels may be impressive and resourceful engineers today, but Miguel Angel Montoya knows that just a decade ago they were hopeless amateurs. A former drug-cartel associate who says he designed some of the early semisubmersibles, Montoya quit the business in 2001 and wrote a tell-all book (Yesterday a Doctor, Today a Narco-Trafficker). He’s understandably cautious about his security and would agree to be interviewed only via email.

In the early ’90s, Montoya explains, his bosses had begun launching cocaine-smuggling vessels from the Colombian coast. At the time, most of the contraptions were laughable—like something out of those black-and-white newsreels of early flying machines that piteously crash into barns. Some looked like oversize bathtubs. Others resembled sea monsters with jutting pipes for necks. Montoya and his partners made their bosses a daring proposal: Let us help you design a new way to ferry cocaine underwater to Mexico.

In 1999, Montoya and his associates began designing a finned, dart-shaped tube that could be crammed with cocaine and towed underwater by fishing trawlers to evade detection. His “narco torpedo” was unmanned and carried radio transponders to locate it if traffickers had to ditch it on the open seas. When the torpedoes were ready to begin field-testing, Montoya says, he was escorted to a clandestine camp in Colombia’s remote coastal region south of Buenaventura. He recalls riding for hours through a labyrinth of rivers and unnamed tributaries. “The place was practically invisible from the air, and the jungle was impenetrable. We walked on planks set on swampland,” Montoya says. “The air was thick with chemical fumes from resins. Hundreds of workers lived there, and the roar of motorboats was always present. They’d come and go by the dozens.”

Laborers were converting boats into precarious semisubmersibles that local fishing boat captains would pilot to Mexico for a quick payoff. “Only poor people live in the area. They’re in the Stone Age. They’ll give anything a go for very little money or food,” Montoya says.

Montoya conducted practice runs with his makeshift torpedo in desolate local rivers and videotaped the launches. His bosses were enthusiastic and decided to give it a try. Montoya’s capsules carried loads up the Pacific coast for at least three years without a problem, delivering cocaine to Mexico for eventual sale in the US. When the Colombian navy finally confiscated one of the torpedoes, they marveled at the design and reverse-engineered it to better understand how it was built—much as they’ve done to the 54 other drug-toting semisubmersibles they’ve captured. Montoya ultimately left the cartel in disillusionment. “I lost my family, my profession. I fell into drug and alcohol use,” he says. “My friends died or were in jail, and my head had a price on it. This is simply no way to earn a living, however glamorous and attractive it may seem.” Looking back, he says the Colombian cartels were honing their skills in preparation for their ultimate goal—the construction of long-distance vessels that could dive and surface on command. What the drug lords have always wanted, he says, was their own fleet of fully functioning submarines.

The D.E.A.’s Bergman thinks the drug lords may have finally achieved that dream. Immediately after the raid in Ecuador, Bergman publicly stated that he had to assume there were other such submarines operating throughout the region. About seven months later, on Valentine’s Day of 2011, he was proven correct when the Colombian navy announced that it had seized a second drug-running supersub. This one had also been built in the jungle. It was 101 feet long, could hold up to 8 tons of cocaine, and could withstand ocean depths of about 30 feet, Colombian officials said. “One is an aberration,” Bergman says. “Two is an emerging trend.” He presumes there are more.

The prospect of Colombian drug traffickers running their own private navy poses problems that won’t be solved with a few arrests. “This is one of those cases we’re not going to divert our attention from. It has implications that go beyond law enforcement. It has national security implications,” Bergman says. After all, there is no reason the subs have to be limited to the drug trade. They could carry illegal immigrants or even terrorists, or be sold to the highest bidder for any number of nefarious purposes.

Consequently, the supersubs are garnering high-level attention. Ecuadorean military brass briefed US defense secretary Robert Gates. And Bergman’s DEA agents gave a lengthy presentation to Coast Guard and Pentagon officials with the Joint Interagency Task Force South, the Florida-based intelligence unit responsible for detecting drug-running semisubmersibles on the open sea. The task force works with law enforcement agencies—which have unmanned aerial drones, Coast Guard cutters, and warships at their disposal—but they wouldn’t comment on how they might try to locate the new long-range narco subs. Given the Navy’s recent 70-page assessment, however, tracking them won’t be so easy. “The vessel is assessed to be quiet, while operating under electric power, and potentially difficult to detect acoustically or by radar,” the Navy concludes.

In the meantime, Montoya predicts that the jungle shipbuilders will continue to perfect their craft. “These efforts have been in the making for at least 17 years, since the time of Escobar,” he says. “It would be realistic to assume that there is a sub en route to Mexico or Europe at this very moment.”

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tributes are paid to Devon U-boat diver

BBC News Devon: Tributes are paid to Devon U-boat diver
Roger Dadds, 66, was on a dive to explore the wreck of a German U-boat off Salcombe with members of the Plymouth Sound dive club on Saturday.

He got into difficulties after making a "rapid ascent" from a depth of about 60m (197ft). He was taken to hospital in Dorchester, Dorset, where he died.

Mark Prior, from the club, said Mr Dadds would be "very sadly missed".

Mr Prior said Mr Dadds was recovered by the dive group's boat after he rose to the water's surface very quickly and was found unconscious.

'A big dive'

After a mayday was issued, he was transferred to a nearby frigate, HMS St Albans, were he was given first aid. A rescue helicopter from Portland then airlifted him to hospital.

Mr Dadds that because of the depth of the U-boat, the party knew it was "quite a big dive".

But he added that Mr Dadds was a "very, very experienced diver and had done more than 4,000 dives".

Mr Prior said: "He was very well known and everyone is deeply shocked.

"All of us in the dive club have been inundated with phone calls and e-mails from people who have known him from all over the country.

"There will be a memorial service at some stage, but at the moment it's very early days to be thinking about that."

Monday, March 28, 2011

Australian Geographic pictures reveal silent underwater Anzac battlefield


The Telegraph.com.au: Australian Geographic pictures reveal silent underwater Anzac battlefield
INCREDIBLE pictures from the depths near Anzac Cove have revealed long-forgotten remnants of the battle that forged a nation.

Published by Australian Geographic, the photographs reveal a silent underwater battlefield that has remained hidden from view since 1915.

A group of Turkish and Australian marine archaeologists have uncovered relics from the Gallipoli campaign, including hospital barges used to transport wounded soldiers to waiting ships. The barges also were used to carry munitions and stores.

One of the barges, covered over with bright marine growth, was hidden 55m below the surface.

After a series of financial and logistical setbacks, the team began their search in May last year.

Project Beneath Gallipoli, as it was dubbed by crew, was the first systematic archaeological survey of the murky depths.

The archaeologists are set to return to Anzac Cove in the near future to continue mapping the submerged battlefield.

The dive team also discovered a series of small, steel watercraft sunk in the shallows. The craft were confirmed to be bridge-building pontoons from Melbourne.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Odyssey Executes Second Contract of 2011 With Clients of Robert Fraser & Partners

From March 14:
Odyssey Executes Second Contract of 2011 With Clients of Robert Fraser & Partners
TAMPA, Fla., March 14, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (Nasdaq:OMEX), pioneers in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, and its subsidiary OVH, Inc. have executed agreements to expand a search and provide marine archaeological excavation and related services to certain client companies of Robert Fraser & Partners LLP (RFP). Additional work will be conducted on and around a site that Odyssey discovered and inspected during a recently completed survey carried out under contract with the RFP client companies.

Odyssey is providing the research vessel, equipment, technical and archaeological crew to conduct the operation. The contract provides for cash payments totaling approximately U.S. $2.0 million to Odyssey and OVH, Inc., plus additional payments based upon revenue derived from the project. After the repayment of all recovery costs, Odyssey and OVH, Inc. will receive 75% of net revenue until an additional £5.9 Million (approximately U.S. $9.6 million) has been received and then will receive a minimum of 50% of further net revenue in accordance with the search contracts.

Subject to confirmation of the location and identity, and cargo verification of the target shipwreck, Odyssey expects to enter into additional agreements for the complete archaeological excavation of the site and for the conservation and documentation of any artifacts recovered.

"We're pleased that our client companies have been seeing positive progress on several projects undertaken with Odyssey and we are all looking forward to the results of this additional work," commented Colin Emson of Robert Fraser & Partners.

"This is the second agreement funded this year to conduct confirmation excavation work on sites discovered during two of the three 2010 projects for clients of Robert Fraser & Partners and we are cautiously optimistic about these finds," said Greg Stemm, Odyssey CEO. "On this particular project, we have compelling evidence that suggest that some of the artifacts discovered and analyzed correspond with the target shipwreck."

Mark Gordon, Odyssey President and COO, commented, "We are off to a great start on our contracted services for 2011. Considering the cash flow generated from this project, the $2.3 million from the verification agreement announced in January, approximately $3 million from our deep-ocean mining exploration work currently underway for our new mining client, and the $6 million in project syndication proceeds from Galt Resources, we are pleased to continue to generate significant cash flow through our core competency of deep ocean exploration."

About Robert Fraser & Partners LLP

Robert Fraser & Partners LLP is part of the London-based Robert Fraser Asset Management Group, which has operated since its formation in 1934 in the fields of merchant banking, corporate finance and structuring, marine & property finance. The group's core areas of expertise include venture capital, project syndication, corporate finance, mergers and acquisition structure, project development, new venture and global business structuring. Robert Fraser Marine Ltd. is a part of the group which specializes in assembling projects directed at shipwreck exploration and the development of deep ocean resources.

About Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.


Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (Nasdaq:OMEX) is engaged in deep-ocean exploration using innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology. The Company is a world leader in shipwreck exploration, conducting extensive search and archaeological recovery operations on deep-ocean shipwrecks around the world. Odyssey also owns approximately 41% of Dorado Ocean Resources, a company formed in 2010 to discover and commercialize high-value mineral deposits from the ocean floor, and provides proprietary deep-ocean expertise and equipment to Dorado under contract. Odyssey also provides deep-ocean contracting services to governments and companies around the world.

Odyssey discovered the Civil War-era shipwreck of the SS Republic® in 2003 and recovered over 50,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts from the site nearly 1,700 feet deep. In May 2007, Odyssey announced the historic deep-ocean treasure recovery of over 500,000 silver and gold coins, weighing 17 tons, from a Colonial era site code-named "Black Swan." In February 2009, Odyssey announced the discovery of Balchin's HMS Victory. Odyssey also has other shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world.

Odyssey offers various ways to share in the excitement of deep-ocean exploration by making shipwreck treasures and artifacts available to collectors, the general public and students through its webstore, exhibits, books, television, merchandise, educational programs and virtual museum located at www.odysseysvirtualmuseum.com.

Odyssey's shipwreck operations are the subject of a Discovery Channel television series titled "Treasure Quest," produced by JWM Productions. The 12-episode first season aired worldwide in 2009.

Following previous successful engagements in New Orleans, Tampa, Detroit, Oklahoma City, Charlotte and Baltimore, Odyssey's SHIPWRECK! exhibit is currently on display at G.WIZ - The Science Museum in Sarasota, Florida.

For details on Odyssey's activities and its commitment to the preservation of maritime heritage please visit www.shipwreck.net.

The Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7185

Odyssey Marine Exploration believes the information set forth in this Press Release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Certain factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: Liz Shows
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.
(813) 876-1776 x 2335
lshows@shipwreck.net

Odyssey Marine revenue jumps in 2010, along with its net loss

From Feb 28, 2011: Odyssey Marine revenue jumps in 2010, along with its net loss
Tampa deep-ocean treasure salvager Odyssey Marine Exploration more than quadrupled its revenue last year, but heavy expenses pushed it even further into the red.

Revenue rose to $21 million for the year ended Dec. 31, up 383 percent from $4.3 million in 2009. Its expedition charter revenue was $20.5 million, compared with $2.1 million in 2009, thanks largely to two customers — Robert Fraser Partners LLP, which included four separate salvage projects, and Dorado Ocean Resources, for deep-ocean mineral mining exploration.

However, expenses increased 65 percent to $37.4 million. As a result, its net loss for the full year was $23.3 million, compared with a net loss of $18.6 million in 2009. In addition to higher costs for research and operations, Odyssey also lost money on an investment in Dorado Ocean Resources.

For the fourth quarter, revenue rose to $3.9 million, up from $2.5 million a year ago, while its net loss rose to $15.4 million, up from a net loss of $4 million in the year-ago period.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Scientists call for cull of 73,000 seals

Metronews: Scientists call for cull of 73,000 seals
HALIFAX - Junk science and questionable political motives are behind a new federal report that calls for an experimental cull of 70 per cent of the grey seals in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, says a leading critic of Canada's annual seal hunt.

Rebecca Aldworth, Canadian director of Humane Society International, was reacting Wednesday to the release of a science advisory report that says Ottawa should consider a five-year study that would start with the slaughter of 73,000 grey seals in an area stretching from eastern New Brunswick to Cape Breton.

The study, produced by the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat, says the experiment would determine if significantly reducing the grey seal population in the Gulf would help cod stocks recover from a drastic decline.

However, it also acknowledges there are such large gaps in research on the problem that a large-scale seal cull could just as easily lead to wiping out cod in the Gulf.

Calls to the federal Fisheries Department, which commissioned the study, were not returned Wednesday.

Denny Morrow, head of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, said the study represents a step forward for science.

"There's data there that indicates that the recovery of codfish stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and probably other areas is being held back by the amount of grey seal predators," he said in an interview.

Morrow acknowledged there were scientific gaps in the research, particularly about the grey seal diet. But he said the document included one peer-reviewed study showing that the amount of cod in the diet of male grey seals reached as high as 41 per cent in the winter months.

"Fishermen have known this for years," he said. "If you've got large concentrations of cod, and you see a lot of grey seals, it doesn't take too much science to understand what is going on."

... fishing industry in advance of a federal election.

"The report underscores how very little is known about seals and fisheries interactions, and it reveals the very clear agenda of the Harper government to exterminate seals for their short-term political gain," she said in an interview from Montreal.

Morrow called Aldworth's accusation an insult to the scientists and industry experts who contributed to the study.

"I have the greatest respect for the scientists who put their time and reputations on the line," he said. "They looked at information from Canada and around the world."

The report has been forwarded to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, who will decide if the experiment is a good idea — unless an election is called.

Fishermen in Nova Scotia have long complained that hungry grey seals have hindered the recovery of cod stocks, which collapsed in the early 1990s after decades of overfishing.

The study says there are between 330,000 and 410,000 grey seals living off the Atlantic coast — a 30-fold increase since the 1960s.

The population boom has been attributed to a decrease in hunting and an increase in births on the sea ice that gets jammed behind the Canso causeway, which links Cape Breton with the mainland.

Most of Canada's grey seals — at least 260,0000 — live part time on Sable Island, a spit of land about 160 kilometres southeast of Nova Scotia.

The study says very little about the island's population, except that a cull there of 50,000 animals over five years would have little impact on the cod.

Instead, the study focuses on the southern Gulf, where there are an estimated 104,000 grey seals that forage there, including 36,000 from Sable Island, 5,000 from Nova Scotia's eastern shore and 63,000 resident seals.

Seal hunters typically slaughter about 1,000 grey seals in the Gulf every year, even though the allowable catch is about 50,000. The annual Canadian commercial seal hunt has long focused on the far more numerous harp seals, which are estimated to number about six million off the East Coast.

The study's authors conclude the grey seals' diet appears to be an important factor inhibiting recovery of the cod in the Gulf, and that slashing the population by 70 per cent "would pose minimal conservation risks."

Grey seals eat between 4,500 tonnes and 20,000 tonnes of cod per year in the southern Gulf, the study says.

While its true that grey seals transmit a parasite called sealworm to cod, the study says the infection appears to have little impact on the condition of the fish.

The study's authors acknowledge that according to one set of scientific assumptions, grey seals eat so few cod that elimination of the entire grey seal population would do little to help the cod recovery. Another set of assumptions was used to justify an experimental cull.

As well, the report's risk analysis says a cull could halt the decline of Gulf cod, but it could also hasten their demise and "lead to unforeseen, unpredictable and unintended consequences for the ecosystem."

The study says the impact of seal culls have rarely been evaluated, but other predator control programs have often resulted in unintended consequences. That's why any intervention in the southern Gulf would require a carefully designed program that would include rigorous monitoring, the report says.

Prehistoric shark teeth for auction in Dallas

CBSNews: Prehistoric shark teeth for auction in Dallas

DALLAS (AP) — An unprecedented collection of 182 ferocious prehistoric shark teeth, assembled on gaping jaws large enough to swallow several humans whole, is set to be auctioned in Texas.

The teeth are those of the ancient Megalodon, a massive killer shark whose name literally means "big tooth" in Greek. The predators trolled warm ocean waters 1.5 million to 25 million years ago, growing longer than the size of one or possibly two city buses and eating whales and dolphins for snacks.

Each tooth was collected by amateur fossil hunter Vito Bertucci, who spent nearly two decades plucking Megalodon teeth from the shores of South Carolina and Georgia before he was killed in a 2004 diving accident. He was 47.

"He lived for this, and he also died for it," said his brother, Joseph Bertucci, a beverage manager at a beach club in Long Island who wears a shark's tooth on a gold necklace that his brother made for him. "Sharks' teeth were his passion."

The 9-by-11 foot jaws being sold in June by Heritage Auctions in Dallas — starting bid, $625,000 — are the biggest of several jaws Vito Bertucci made with the Megalodon teeth he collected over the years. It is billed by Heritage as "the largest set of prehistoric shark jaws ever assembled."

The collection has four teeth more than 7 inches long, which is rare, said Peter Wiggins, assistant director of Heritage's natural history auctions. He said while the jaws themselves are made from Plexiglas, the teeth are fossils the likes of which have individually sold for $10,000 to $15,000 in recent years.

Some scientists, however, question the accuracy of the jaws' size and tooth placement. A professional jeweler, Vito Bertucci used his talent for casting and molding to place the fossilized teeth into what he thought would be their proper position on the massive jaws, his brother said.

"The problem here is the size," said shark fossil expert Kenshu Shimada at DePaul University. "That's highly, highly over-exaggerated."

Shimada said it appears the large front teeth, taken from several Megalodons, are repeated too many times and the rate of decline to smaller teeth is much slower than it should be.

"There's some controversy as to how large these animals were," said Tom Demere, curator of paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum, which displays a 37-foot-long model of a female Megalodon. "All we really have are the teeth and some vertebrae to go on."

Demere also doubts the accuracy of the size of the jaws Bertucci used to assemble his collection, but said he considers the teeth "beautiful specimens."

Joseph Bertucci said his brother was always proud of the jaws he made.

"He would drag it around, he'd show it off wherever he could," said Joseph Bertucci, adding that his brother was especially pleased when the jaws could be shown at a museum and used for education.

For now, he'd have his wish. The jaws being sold by Heritage are on display at the Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas, where they will stay until the auction.

Jennifer Whitus, the museum's communications manager, said she hopes the winning bidder considers donating the jaws back to the institution.

"Our paleontologists have been drooling over it," Whitus said. "We'd love for him to stay here."

Paleontologists aren't the only ones. The museum also has been abuzz with excited visitors.

Shawna Quinn's own jaw dropped as she came around the corner and saw the Megalodon fossils during a recent visit.

"That is crazy," the 38-year-old suburban Dallas mom said. "I can't even imagine that there was a shark that big."

When Denise Lee, 35, of Garland, pointed out the wide open shark's mouth as she toured the exhibit with family and friends, 4-year-old Birt Finney had just one question.

"Are we going in?" he asked hopefully.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Shipwreck exhibit stirs up storm at Smithsonian

CNN World: Shipwreck exhibit stirs up storm at Smithsonian
London, England (CNN) -- Though they sit quietly beneath the waves, shipwrecks are a cause of much wrangling above the surface. The issue of underwater archaeology is clouded by concerns about treasure hunting, the safety of wrecks, and the sale of finds.

A planned 2012 exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, featuring 9th century Chinese artifacts salvaged from a wreck in Indonesian waters in 1998 is at the center of the latest row.

Archaeologists within the institution -- and further afield -- are criticizing the curator's decision to mount the show and, in particular, questioning the nature of the original salvage.

Discovered off the coast of the island Belitung in the Java Sea by fishermen diving for sea cucumbers in 1998, the 9th century Arab dhow was a treasure trove of objects including glazed ceramics, and silver and gold wares.

The Indonesian government granted permission to a private German salvage company, Seabed Explorations GbR, to excavate the wreck using divers.

The collection of finds, which included 60,000 objects, was sold largely intact to Sentosa Leisure Group, a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, for $32 million, according to the Smithsonian.

The (Indonesian) government dictated the pace of recovery (not us) ...

--Tilman Walterfang, Seabed Explorations
Julian Raby, director of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian, where the exhibition is due to take place, said that the finds represent a highly significant discovery for historians, in particular showing the existence of a kind of maritime silk route between Iraq and China.

"The reality of this wreck, understanding the mixture of things that are involved -- it completely blows your mind," said Raby. Yet some scholars are unhappy about the show.

Paul Johnston, Curator of Maritime History at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, believes that the wreck was excavated too quickly. He said that it was done within just two short seasons -- one of which was just two months long -- and therefore without enough due diligence.

"I don't personally see how anyone could possibly recover 60,000 objects in just two seasons and claim that it's a scientific excavation," he said.

But in an email to CNN, Tilman Walterfang, of Seabed Explorations, wrote: "The (Indonesian) government dictated the pace of recovery (not us) because security for the artifacts and the team couldn't be guaranteed. It was a race against time, with the monsoon season approaching fast, and looters hovering both day and night."

Raby, for his part, defends the salvage company, saying that the objects were conserved to a high degree and that archaeologists were on hand to help with excavations. He also said that the world should celebrate the fact that the collection was sold intact, and not dispersed across the market.

While some looting did take place between seasons, he said, the majority of the wreck's artifacts are kept together.

The Belitung wreck highlights a broader dispute between the archaeological community and commercial excavators, which David Mearns, marine scientist and director of commercial salvage company Blue Water Recoveries, likens to "an open warfare."

I don't personally see how anyone could possibly recover 60,000 objects in just two seasons and claim that it's a scientific excavation

--Paul Johnston, Curator of Maritime History, National Museum of American History

RELATED TOPICS
Smithsonian Institution
Archaeology
Indonesia
"There is a group of academic archaeologists who for whatever reason don't want anything to be touched at all other than by themselves, and certainly not sold," he said, adding that often archaeologists are invited to take part in commercial excavations, but refuse on principle to participate.

"The real concern archaeologists have in regard to this exhibition is that a lot of people on the commercial side will be able to use this to justify their own activities," said Bruce Smith, Curator of North American Archaeology at the Smithsonian. He fears that it will open the door to what he calls "treasure hunters."

But both Seabed Explorations and Raby believe that a middle ground may be reached, that archaeologists and commercial enterprises can work together to excavate wrecks to the highest possible standards.

They say that wrecks are at risk of being looted by local divers and face damage wrought by the ocean itself. Archaeologists may not have the funding to reach a wreck in time, they say, but salvage companies do.

Still, Paul Johnston believes that where money is concerned, due diligence and proper scientific work can often be compromised. In his experience, which includes excavating wrecks in American waters, the vessels are more likely to be damaged by the actions of man than the ocean itself, he said. He maintains he has never had any trouble getting funding for a shipwreck excavation.

In an effort to clear a path through these thorny arguments, Raby of the Smithsonian is inviting some of the most eminent scholars in the field of underwater archaeology to discuss the issue at a conference set for the end of April.

"If we're looking to raise public and political consciousness about the importance of cultural heritage," he said, "then I think one has to ask whether diktat is better than dialogue."

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Marmaray excavations unearthed another museum for İstanbul

World Bulletin Net: Marmaray excavations unearthed another museum for İstanbul
Excavations during the Marmaray project had uncovered several archeological sites that would open a new chapter in the history of İstanbul, the Byzantine Empire and the world

The world's largest sunken ship museum will be established in İstanbul thanks to finds from the Port of Theodosius dating back to the fourth century, which was discovered in Yenikapı during excavations in the Marmaray project, an undersea commuter tunnel linking Asia and Europe. Scientists studying the 36 sunken ships salvaged at the Yenikapı archeological site have been able to identify the trees used in building the vessels and their methods of construction.

Professor Ünal Akkemik from the forest engineering department at the forestry faculty of İstanbul University has said that the ships, dating back to the fourth century, were mainly made of oak. Noting that they are confident of uncovering the dates and methods of construction, Akkemik said: "So far 36 ships have been retrieved during the excavations, and I have conducted wood-related assays on 27 of them. We have completed our studies on 20 vessels. These ships were built mainly using oak trees as well as plane, chestnut, pine, cypress, common ash and beech. Some vessels were largely made of oak but had chestnut for the outer portions and oak for inner components. Others were mainly constructed using pine trees."

Excavations during the Marmaray project had uncovered several archeological sites that would open a new chapter in the history of İstanbul, the Byzantine Empire and the world. These sites include secret passages, tombs, churches, works from the Bronze Age, ports, vessels and city walls that have been unknown to us until now. The archeological site at Yenikapı uncovered the ancient Port of Theodosius and with it, 36 sunken ships dating back from the fourth century were exposed to the light of day. Scientists at the laboratories of the forestry faculty at İstanbul University conducted several studies on samples from these ships to identify the trees used in their construction as well as their dates of construction. Akkemik said he has been analyzing the samples for two years. "The samples were sent to us after the sunken ships were salvaged. We conducted various tests and identified the materials used in building these ships. Four of these vessels were galleys. The rest were light commercial vessels," he said.

First study conducted on ship no. 12

Akkemik notes that ship no. 12 from the Yenikapı archeological site was the first vessel he examined in the group. "The trees used to build this ship were oak, chestnut, common ash, beech and walnut. All of these except for walnut can be found in the Belgrade Forest [in İstanbul]. This ship was probably constructed in or near İstanbul. Hard and durable woods from oak trees were used for the skeleton. Although oak is common in Turkey, we don't know whether the oak used in this ship was procured from Turkey or elsewhere. It may have been procured from Romania or Bulgaria. In addition to oak, other woods such as chestnut, plane, black pine, Turkish pine, stone pine, elm, cypress, horn beech, common ash, walnut, beech, alder, poplar and hophornbeam were also used. We have identified what types of wood were used in which parts of the vessels and for what purpose. Oak and broom trees from Sarıyer were common for wooden nails," he said.

Good Samaritans: Helping the Coast Guard to help distressed mariners

Herald Gazette: Good Samaritans: Helping the Coast Guard to help distressed mariners
Rockport — Imagine being out on the water, for work or for pleasure, and suddenly, a call comes across the marine band radio.

“’Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is the passenger vessel Sea Swell. We are three miles east of Schoodic Head. We are on fire. Twelve people are abandoning…" And then the radio call ends.. What do you do now? Have you ever been faced with this situation?

That was one of the scenarios described by U.S. Coast Guard Passenger Vessel Safety Coordinator Rick Janelle, who spoke about fishing safety at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport March 3-5.

Janelle, who is stationed in Alaska, described the Coast Guard’s guidelines for “Good Samaritan” vessels assisting in maritime search and rescue.

“About three years ago, the Coast Guard achieved a milestone: We rescued our millionth person,” Janelle said. “We didn’t do that alone. We had a tremendous amount of help from fishermen and mariners, people just like yourself. But search and rescue is a never-ending mission. And to accomplish the next million, the two million mark, we’re going to need help. We‘re going to continue to rely on Good Samaritan fishing vessels, merchant vessels, anyone who is on the water.”

But the Coast Guard is making a push to improve the operational know-how of mariners who find themselves in a Good Samaritan situation, he said.

“The goal is to help you help us help those in need,” he said.

Maine is similar to Alaska, Janelle said, in that there is an increasing number of cruise ships, as well as a tremendous number of private yachts, passenger vessels that cruise the coast and fishing boats. Any one of them, he said, could become involved in an accident, and any one of them could be called upon to render assistance to another.

According to information provided by Janelle, the Coast Guard manages search and rescue operations according to a plan that divides the oceans into search and rescue regions. Each search and rescue region is the responsibility of a dedicated rescue coordination center, which in turn is subdivided into smaller areas managed by sector command centers.

According to the literature, the search and rescue mission coordinator is the person located at the rescue coordination center who is in charge of planning and directing a specific operation. For maritime incidents in the U.S., Coast Guard personnel serve as search and rescue mission coordinators.

The on-scene coordinator is the person designated by the mission coordinator to coordinate operations on scene and implement search and rescue plans developed by the search and rescue mission coordinator. Professional on-scene coordinators include the Coast Guard, state troopers and other government personnel who have received extensive training.

But in the case of marine accidents, private vessels are often the first on the scene, Janelle said.

“If you’re the first person on scene and will be first person for a while, you may find yourself in the functional role of the on-scene coordinator, which means you’re going to have to take some control to manage other resources that show up,” he said. “If you’re looking at thousands of people going into lifeboats, it’s a huge job.”

Traditional law of the sea says that mariners help mariners in distress, he said. It’s also a legal requirement, he said: Federal law requires a master to render assistance if the master can do so without serious danger to the master’s vessel or individuals on board.

The last point is important, he said, “We do not want you to become part of the problem. We don’t want to have to end up rescuing the rescuers. We want you to know your limitations.”

A Good Samaritan is a person or vessel that goes to the aid of another without compensation, he said. The standard of care is simply that one operates in a safe manner, he said.

“You exercise reasonable care to avoid conduct that worsens the conditions of the victims,” he said.

By way of example, Janelle said, “Let’s say you’re out there pulling your pots and you see something strange in the water. You realize it’s a kayaker who’s flipped over. The kayaker’s in the water and he’s to the point where he’s unable to do self-rescue. You pull up alongside and grab his lifejacket and you haul him up on deck. In the process of hauling him up, he either twists his leg or he cuts his arm or you do some kind of damage to the guy. Have you worsened his condition? No, because the alternative was, he was going to freeze to death. If you ran over the guy with your prop – then yes, you’ve worsened his condition.”

In one’s zeal, he said, it’s important to avoid reckless conduct. Another example he cited was coming in too fast alongside a lifeboat and crashing into the boat.

Government on-scene coordinators have received search and rescue training, he said. Good Samaritans, by contrast, must simply do what they think is right. But the Coast Guard seeks to offer some basic guidelines to make the job performed by Good Samaritans “a little more complete,” he said.

According to the information provided by Janelle, the duties of the first vessel to arrive on the scene include rescuing people from the water, establishing contact with the distressed master, establishing and maintaining contact with the Coast Guard, taking control of the coordination of other private vessels that arrive to help, and tracking the location of all evacuees from the distressed vessel.

The on-scene coordinator must not attempt a rescue that exceeds the limits of his capability, training or vessel, and that places his vessel, crew or passengers in danger. The on-scene coordinator must devise a plan of action before acting, and communicate the plan with his crew, to the Coast Guard and, if possible, to the distressed vessel.

“One thing I’ve noticed is that fishermen aren’t comfortable talking with the Coast Guard,” said Janelle. “So they don’t, or they communicate minimally. But in a search and rescue case, you have to communicate all the time.”

Janelle cited an incident in 2004 when communication could have been improved. The Alaskan state ferry Leconte ran hard aground on a reef with 86 people aboard. As it turned out, the first vessel to arrive was a government vessel – a research boat with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The weather was “pretty nice” – sunny and flat calm, he said. Many accidents, he said, happen on nice days. It would take several hours for the Coast Guard to show up, he said. In the meantime, some fishing vessels in the area learned of the grounding. Those with family members on the ferry showed up and decided to take their relatives off.

“So people got off, and neither the master nor the NOAA OSC thought it was important enough to write it down – who went, how many,” Janelle said. “An hour later, the ferry had arranged for a high-speed catamaran to come out for rest of passengers. When we did the math, we came up 11 short. We asked around, and they said, ‘Oh yeah, some people got off.’ ‘Where did they go? Who was it?’ ‘We don’t know.’ It took us several hours to run this down. We knew they were safe, but still, the mission isn’t finished until everyone is accounted for.”

Another guideline is a mariner who hears a mayday call, he said, should check in with the Coast Guard while also heading to the scene.

“Write down everything you remember and relay it to the Coast Guard while you are heading to the scene,” he said. “Then keep listening to the Coast Guard to get more information or any tasks they might have for you. And while you’re en route, start planning. How will I get people on board? What’s the weather? Do I have any limitations on my boat, with my crew? Am I fatigued? How long can I stay on scene and be effective? Do I have a harness for getting people on board? Do I have first aid available? Once you arrive on-scene, you don’t know what you’re going to find. Confirm the situation, make sure it’s what you heard, then take control of the situation. If you can raise the master of the vessel, do it. See if he’s got a situation on board that you’re not aware of. If you have a plan, activate it. Recover people in the water – those who don’t have life jackets first. Don’t lose track of anybody. Confirm with the master, what is the total number we’re starting with?”

Janelle said he has responded to numerous incidents where it’s difficult to keep track of people.

“I don’t know how many times in the Coast Guard we’ve counted 40 people on a boat, and counted again and it’s 41, and we count again and it’s 38,” he said. “They move around, they go in the head. Sometimes there are two of them under a blanket trying to stay warm. It’s a huge problem.”

Mariners should also do a risk assessment as they approach a distressed boat, he said.

“The hardest thing to do is to back off if you can’t help without putting yourself at serious risk,” he said. "Only you can make that decision. If you have to back off, I guarantee it’s going to be a hugely difficult decision to make.”

Mariners should make sure they’re communicating with their own crew, and make sure their crew is aware of their own survival gear and operating in a safe manner before helping the distressed vessel, he said.

Janelle showed slides of various incidents to which he has responded.

One involved a sunken vessel up against a steep cliff; about 25 enclosed life rafts were in the water around it. He said it was difficult to determine the extent of underwater obstructions around the boat, and the number of people in the rafts.

Another photo showed a fishing vessel that was capsizing – its deck tilted nearly vertically, some of the crew struggling for a grip and others going in the water. The incident took place off California in an area where the water was not only frigid but was inhabited by great white sharks, he said. In such a case, he said, a civilian on-scene coordinator would likely keep away from the sinking boat and might have to have people swim to him.

“Information to relay? Just get help here fast,” he said.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Illegal fish trawlers are marine maverick's new target

Guardian.co.uk: Illegal fish trawlers are marine maverick's new target
"Don't make me out to be violent, or some kind of cowboy," says Pete Bethune, as he holds me in his steady, brown-eyed gaze.

Seven months on from his release from a Japanese prison, after being convicted for taking direct action against whaling ships and crew, we've met in a south London pub to discuss his new campaign group, Earthrace Conservation.

"When you look at [ocean] conservation issues, there are some gaping holes in Africa and Latin America," he says. Their poorly resourced navies and coastguards leave then very vulnerable to foreign vessels cleaning out their fisheries, he says. Take Somalia, for example, he says. "Big ships moved in about eight years ago or so and within four years nothing was left."

His resolve is as sharp as his crew cut and the Maori tattoos on his arm. "Prison had a way of focusing my mind, how you only get one chance in life," he says. "I am pretty lucky getting to do what I believe in."

He says the first step is working with local groups to provide knowledge and resources, to embarrass governments into taking action. He has just arrived from Trinidad, where with the help of a half-dead 50kg turtle bought for $100 at the local market, he and local activists wrung a pledge from the government to outlaw turtle killing.

Taking coastguards out to witness illegal fishing is another tactic, he says, as is just being present. While setting the round-the-world sailing record for a powerboat in 2008, he says poachers would sometimes just pull their nets and leave when they saw the boat.

Bethune's new organisation is based on fledgling local chapters of volunteers around the world, plus a six-man mission team. But where campaigning fails, as a last resort, that team will take direct action.

"In extreme cases, we need to go and catch these people, document what they do," he says. In the case of illegal fishing, Bethune says "I have no problem going in and sorting it. We will board and take control of a vessel".

How would he do that? "I am not going to give away our tactics but it's not hard and I have got a pretty special groups of lads - they are not a bunch of vegans." What are their backgrounds? "You can use your imagination."

In Japan, Bethune was given a suspended sentence of two year imprisonment after a night-time raid of the Shonan Maru 2, the whaling fleet's security vessel in February 2010. The previous month, his hi-tech speedboat, the Ady Gil, had been sunk at sea after a collision with a whaling vessel it seeking to impede. Bethune was subsequently expelled from the Sea Shepherd group for allegedly taking a bow and arrows onto the Ady Gil.

But he has kind words for his former colleagues: "I was really lucky to be involved in a really special campaign. I don't regret what I did and I don't regret the prison time. It served a purpose." Bethune thinks the Japanese whaling effort has only a 50-50 chance of resuming next year, due to the costs imposed by the protests. He adds that more "risk averse" campaign groups complement his work.

Bethune has recently been in Venezuela, where he says one sailor he encountered brandished an AK-47 assault rifle. Will his mission team be armed? "Any boat around Africa or Latin America - a major drugs route - is going to be armed. You're going to be pretty foolish if you are not armed. But I hope to work with local authorities." Earthrace Conservation will not own its own vessels beyond a couple of zodiacs, Bethune says, and is run on donations.

He is, he says more than once, "unafraid", but remains driven by his desire to protect the 80% of the planet's life that lives in the oceans.

"I expect to get into trouble. Will I bite off more than I can chew, get seriously injured? Maybe. But no-one else is fucking doing it. I don't want to sit on my arse and watch these things go down the drain."

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

WWI submarine found off Dutch coast


The Local: Germany's News in English: WWI submarine found off Dutch coast
A German submarine from World War I has been discovered off the north coast of the Netherlands, where it sank in 1917, and will become an official war grave, the Royal Dutch Navy said Wednesday.

The U-106 was discovered in the North Sea, north of the Dutch island of Terschelling, in October 2009 by a Dutch naval ship mapping the sea floor, the navy said in a statement.

The find was not announced earlier because the German government needed time to find and inform the next-of-kin of the 41 crew who sank with the boat.

"The ship will be left where it was found, and will become an official war grave," the statement said.

The submarine of 838 tonnes, 71.5 metres (234 feet) long, took to the water for the first time in July 1917, commanded by "Kapitänleutnant" Hans Hufnagel, fresh from submarine school.

It is believed to have hit a British mine on the night of October 7 after it lost radio contact in a British undersea mine field.

Smithsonian Shipwreck Exhibit Draws Fire From Archaeologists

News.sciencemag.org: Smithsonian Shipwreck Exhibit Draws Fire From Archaeologists

Archaeologists are criticizing the ethics of a planned Smithsonian Institution exhibit, Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds, slated to open in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 2012. The exhibit is based on artifacts hauled up from an Arab dhow that sank to the bottom of the Java Sea in the 9th century C.E. The wreck was salvaged by a private German company, Seabed Explorations GbR, in the late 1990s, and critics say that its divers did not observe professional archaeological standards while recovering the artifacts, which include glazed ceramics, lead ingots, and intricately worked vessels of silver and gold from the Tang dynasty. Then in 2005, most of the finds were sold to a second company in Singapore for a reported $32 million. Such commercialization of ancient objects doesn't break the laws of Indonesia, in whose territorial waters the dhow was found, but many archaeologists say that it contravenes their field's standard ethical guidelines.

In recent weeks, three major American archaeological associations and three of the Smithsonian's own internal research organizations have written to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Wayne Clough strongly opposing the exhibition. "We agree that there was unprofessional and unethical conduct associated with the recovery of this wreck, regardless of the 'letter of the law,' and that at the least, the perception of impropriety and the potential for the Smithsonian's engagement with this project could set a negative precedent and reflect ill on this institution," wrote Melissa Songer, chair of the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars, in her letter.

Underwater archaeologists have been fighting for decades to protect shipwreck sites from treasure-hunting operations that mine sunken ships for artifacts to sell. In 2009, the archaeological community scored a major victory when the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage came into effect. It stated that "underwater cultural heritage shall not be traded, sold, bought or bartered as commercial goods."

But Indonesia has not ratified the UNESCO convention. Instead, it licenses private companies, such as Seabed Explorations, to salvage its shipwrecks in return for a 50% share of the profits from selling artifacts. To increase profits, such companies are often tempted to cut corners on important but time-consuming tasks, such as the recording of the archaeological context. In the case of the dhow, notes Ted Schultz, chair of the National Museum of Natural History Senate of Scientists, "We believe that substantial scientific information was lost due to the methods employed."

To discuss these and other concerns about the proposed exhibit, senior Smithsonian officials are planning to convene a blue-ribbon panel of archaeologists and other experts in Washington, D.C., in April. But the meeting has been postponed twice, and some of the invited researchers, such as Margaret Conkey, president of the Society for American Archaeology, wonder if the discussion will be too little, too late. The Smithsonian has already co-organized a world tour of the dhow's artifacts, which opened in a Singapore museum in February, and "it appears that the [exhibit] catalog is already out," Conkey says.

Julian Raby, director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, remains a firm supporter of the exhibit. Seabed Explorations broke no laws during the salvage operation, he says, and had an archaeologist on hand to record details of the ship during the second season. "There are bound to be divergent opinions," Raby says, "and I feel that the Smithsonian should not flinch from controversial exhibitions. It should use controversy to open debate."

But many prominent archaeologists see little to debate. Concludes Bruce Smith, curator of North American history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History: "I think this exhibition would send a very bad message to the public, that the Smithsonian doesn't stand for the preservation of archaeological resources and that mining archaeological sites is OK."

Scuba diver finds shipwreck near Chandrabhaga

The Times of India: Scuba diver finds shipwreck near Chandrabhaga
BHUBANESWAR: Noted scuba diver Shabir Bux has discovered the wreck of an ancient ship in the sea at Chandrabhaga near Konark, about 64 km from the state capital. The 300-ft long vessel could have sunk nearly 200 years ago, Bux said.

Bux came across the shipwreck on Sunday while imparting training to some marine fishermen about underwater scuba diving. The ship was lying nearly 55 ft deep from the surface of the sea, he said.

"Out of curiosity, I examined some parts of the wreck for 10 minutes. I did not find anything exciting there," Bux said. The scuba diver said he would take a plunge into the sea again to explore new features about the ship.

Bux said he has so far found nearly 58 shipwrecks in the country and abroad. Bux had run into trouble for allegedly trespassing a prohibited area in the Paradip sea where a Mongolian cargo ship had sunk in 2009. The Paradip Port authorities had reportedly lodged a complaint against him at marine police station.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Shipwreck in Canada makes top 10 list of finds

The Gazette (Montreal): Shipwreck in Canada makes top 10 list of finds
(This article is from Dec 22, 2010)
HMS Investigator one of most important 2010 discoveries, Archeology declares

By RANDY BOSWELL, Postmedia News December 22, 2010

This summer's discovery of the 19th-century wreck of the HMS Investigator, announced in July by a team of Parks Canada researchers scanning Arctic waters off Banks Island, has been named one of the 10 most important archeological finds of 2010 by the world's leading publication in the field.

Archaeology magazine unveiled a top 10 list this week that includes the discoveries of ancient tombs in Asia and Central America, the decoding of the Neanderthal genome by European scientists and the unearthing of the bones of a 3.6-million-year-old human ancestor in Ethiopia.

The discovery of the Investigator, a key vessel in the history of the Northwest Passage and the establishment of Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, marks the first time a Canada-based archeological find has been recognized by the prestigious U.S.-based magazine since it began publishing its annual list of the world's best new historical treasures in 2006.

"Decades from now people may remember 2010 for the BP oil spill, the Tea Party, and the iPad. But for our money, it's a lock people will still be excited about the year's most remarkable archaeological discoveries," the magazine stated in unveiling its list. "This was the year we learned that looters led archaeologists to spectacular and unparalleled royal tombs in both Turkey and Guatemala. An unexpected find brought us closer to Pocahontas, and an underwater archaeological survey in the high Canadian Arctic located the ill-fated HMS Investigator, abandoned in 1853."

The listing by the magazine, which is published by the Boston-based Archaeological Institute of America, has capped a banner year for Parks Canada's underwater archeology division. The unit is planning a followup study of the newly found wreck site next year, along with a third season of searching for the Sir John Franklin-commanded ships -Terror and Erebus -that the crew of the Investigator never found.

"We're very pleased with that nomination and recognition," Parks Canada archeologist Ryan Harris, who led the successful search for the ship, told Postmedia News yesterday. "Certainly, it's a timely honour in that it coincides with the 100th anniversary of Parks Canada."

Other discoveries honoured by Archaeology include the 400-year-old foundations of a church at Jamestown, Va. -the first English settlement in the New World. It's the place where the famous native woman Pocahontas was married to tobacco farmer John Rolfe in 1614.

A 2,500-year-old children's burial ground in Tunisia, early Peruvian pyramids, a cache of ancient tools on the Mediterranean island of Crete and the development of a new method for radiocarbon dating of artifacts round out the magazine's top 10 list of discoveries for 2010.

The Investigator, which had been dispatched from Britain to help search for the lost vessels of the Franklin Expedition, became inextricably lodged in Arctic pack ice at Mercy Bay, just off the coast of Banks Island in to-day's Northwest Territories.

The Investigator's commander, Capt. Robert Mc-Clure, led his crew off the ice-locked ship onto the island, where they also deposited a cache of supplies.

Both the shoreline area and the bay where the Investigator went down are today part of Aulavik National Park.

McClure and his increasingly desperate men, facing sickness and starvation, eventually trekked across the sea ice to Melville Island and were finally rescued by another British ship.

Their combined travels by ship and foot marked a banner achievement in global exploration -the traversing of the final link in the Northwest Passage, the polar route sought for centuries by European adventurers.

British exploration of the Arctic archipelago -particularly by the Investigator and other ships involved in the Franklin search -became the foundation of Canada's claims to sovereignty over the region in the 1880s, after Britain's transfer of responsibility to its former colony.

"With the arguable exception of the vessels from the Franklin expedition, the Investigator is the most significant shipwreck in the Canadian Arctic," former environment minister Jim Prentice, who was at the July 25 discovery, said afterward

Atlantis Found? New Documentary Highlights Professor's Efforts To Locate Fabled Lost City

Underwater Times: Atlantis Found? New Documentary Highlights Professor's Efforts To Locate Fabled Lost City
HARTFORD, Connecticut -- Could the fabled lost city of Atlantis have been located? Using satellite photography, ground-penetrating radar and underwater technology, a team of experts (led by University of Hartford professor and archaeologist Richard Freund) has been surveying marshlands in Spain to look for proof of the ancient city. If the team can match geological formations to Plato's descriptions and date artifacts back to the time of Atlantis, we may be closer to solving one of the world's greatest mysteries.

A new National Geographic Channel documentary, Finding Atlantis, which will be broadcast nationally on Sunday, March 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, follows a team of American, Canadian, and Spanish scientists as they employ satellite space photography, ground penetrating radar, underwater archaeology, and historical sleuthing in an effort to find a lost civilization.

When a space satellite photograph identified what looked like a submerged city in the midst of one of the largest swamps in Europe, the Doña Ana Park in southern Spain, Freund was contacted to see if he could assemble his team to apply their cutting-edge technology (electrical resistivity tomography, which is a virtual MRI for the ground, ground penetrating radar, and digital mapping that quickly and efficiently maps the subsurface of a site and provides instantaneous results for excavators to follow) to this project. In 2009 and 2010, they worked with Spanish archaeologists and geologists to explore the remains of an ancient city that goes back some 4,000 years.

However, the ultimate solution to what happened to Atlantis was not resolved in the south of Spain but in Freund's discovery of a series of mysterious memorial cities built in the image of Atlantis in central Spain. Following Freund and his team, headed by geophysicist Paul Bauman from WorleyParsons in Calgary, Canada and geographer Philip Reeder from the University of South Florida, the documentary tracks the search for one of the great cultural icons of all time: Atlantis.

The lost city of Atlantis is one of the world's most famous mysteries. According to Plato who wrote about it almost 2,600 years ago, Atlantis was "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules" (The Straits of Gibraltar were known as the Pillars of Hercules in antiquity.), Using Plato's detailed account of the mysterious city as a map, Finding Atlantis searches the Mediterranean and Atlantic for the best possible location for Atlantis.

The film journeys to Turkey and the Greek islands of Crete and Santorini before heading to southern Spain, beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Plato says that Atlantis once faced a city called "Gadara," which is the ancient name for modern Cadiz. Here, catamarans and dive boats take the viewer deep into the ocean off the coast of Spain, as a crack team of marine archaeologists and geologists employ sonar and scuba in search of sub-surface man-made structures dating back to the Bronze Age.

And in the vast mudflats of the Guadalquivir river delta, scientists examine strange geometric shadows of what look to be the remains of a ringed city. Here, geophysicists and archaeologists employ the most advanced imaging technologies in the world to determine whether or not an ancient cataclysm suddenly buried a thriving civilization under meters and meters of ocean and mud.

Finally, Finding Atlantis presents the viewer with what is quite possibly the most intriguing piece of archaeology ever associated with Atlantis. Recently discovered 2,800-year-old ruins display an image carved in stone of what looks to be an Atlantean warrior – guarding the entrance to the lost, multi-ringed city!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found

Reurters: Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found
(Reuters) - A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.

"This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.

"It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a University of Hartford, Connecticut, professor who lead an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.

To solve the age-old mystery, the team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed dominion known as Atlantis.

The team of archeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey the site.

Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said.

Atlantis residents who did not perish in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities there, he added.

The team's findings will be unveiled on Sunday in "Finding Atlantis," a new National Geographic Channel special.

While it is hard to know with certainty that the site in Spain in Atlantis, Freund said the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats on Spain's southern coast.

"We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archeology, that makes a lot more sense," Freund said.

Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules," as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity. Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city.

Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries, Freund says. One of the largest was a reported 10-story tidal wave that slammed Lisbon in November, 1755.

Debate about whether Atlantis truly existed has lasted for thousands of years. Plato's "dialogues" from around 360 B.C. are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city. Plato said the island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night... disappeared into the depths of the sea."

Experts plan further excavations are planned at the site where they believe Atlantis is located and at the mysterious "cities" in central Spain 150 miles away to more closely study geological formations and to date artifacts.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Dams power Turkey's future, but drown its rich history

The Christian Science Monitor: Dams power Turkey's future, but drown its rich history

The stunning mosaics, courtyards, and passageways of the 1,800-year-old Roman spa complex of Allianoi were so dear to archaeologist Ahmet Yaras that he named his daughter after the Ilya River that ran by them.

As he now witnesses its waters rise and engulf the ruins he has fought so hard to save, he says their disappearance beneath the reservoir of a new irrigation dam feels like the loss of a child.

"This is the murder of history," says Dr. Yaras, who formerly headed the excavation team that found some 11,000 artifacts during a decade of digging at Allianoi – work that unearthed only 20 percent of the site.

Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.

The Yortanli dam is part of an unprecedented hydro­engineering program launched by the Turkish government to maintain the country's rapid economic development.

It is also one of the flash points in the battle between Turkey's government and an increasingly vocal lobby of activists and academics who fear the plans will exact a devastating toll on the country's rich historical and ecological wealth.

1,300 new plants to power Turkey's economic development
Mert Bilgin, a professor specializing in energy policy at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University, acknowledges that poor oversight has maximized the environmental damage associated with the projects. But he says Turkey's need to increase its energy output could hardly be more urgent as the country strives to fulfill its dream of becoming a major economic power.

In 2010, energy imports cost $40 billion, accounting for nearly half the country's foreign trade deficit. This cost is set to soar since Turkey needs to double its power capacity by 2020.

"The negative impact of energy expenditures on trade balance, and consequently on the current account deficit, is extremely important for the Turkish economy," says Professor Bilgin. "Many reports point out that Turkey may face electricity shortages shortly if it cannot develop energy infrastructure as much as its economic growth."

The Department for State Hydraulic Works is expected to invest some $71.5 billion in dam building by 2030, an investment that goes well beyond the long-running Southeast Anatolia Project. It includes a program to realize the country's full hydroelectric potential with 1,300 new plants.

New bill would endanger 80 percent of protected land
Many archaeological and environmental hot spots have already been threatened.

Now, a nature protection bill redrafted by the government in September and currently in parliament will abolish the country's largest network of nature reserves, endangering 80 percent of currently protected land. It will also do away with a set of regional culture- and nature-protection councils that in the past have sometimes held in check the government's dam-building schemes.

All conservation decisions will be placed in the hands of a committee dominated by appointees of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the main engine behind the hydroengineering program.

Turkey claims the draft law is part of its efforts to join the European Union, but the EU Commission has condemned the legislation. Some 200 Turkish groups have also come together to oppose it.

Guven Eken, president of the Turkish advocacy group the Nature Association, worries that, if passed, it could trigger "the mass destruction of biodiversity in Turkey" and a wave of government-backed development in formerly protected areas.

The net effect, he says, will be the end of all restrictions: "In the current political climate, we can see that the decisions of this committee aren't likely to be in favor of preserving human culture or environmental diversity. It's going to destroy our cultural heritage, our natural heritage, our quality of life."

Why politicians love big dams
Prof. Serhan Oksay, who specializes in environmental economics at Istanbul's Kadir Has University, says the pursuit of large-scale hydro­engineering projects is ingrained in Turkey's political culture.

The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, proposed harnessing the energy of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers more than 80 years ago, and influential past premiers like Suleyman Demirel and Turgut Ozal once spearheaded energy and infrastructure programs while still state-employed engineers.

"Since then, building dams for irrigation purposes or generating electricity has been deemed necessary for building up a prosperous country," says Professor Oksay. "Anyone with the ambition of building a successful political career seems to be in favor of such schemes."

Turkey's leaders have done little to hide their impatience with opposition to dam-building policies. Most vocal is Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu, widely regarded as the driving force behind the current program. Following the decision to bury the Allianoi baths last year, he described them as "just one pillar and a fountain."

'These can be found anywhere,' Mr. Eroglu said. "No one was aware of them before we dug them out. My job is to build dams, but we tried to protect this place."

Still-functioning thermal baths
It's true that when exploratory work started in 1998 as part of a survey for the dam, Yaras had no idea that beneath a field near Bergama lay one of the world's most extensive and best-preserved ancient health settlements.

But once archaeologists found the still-functioning thermal baths, as well as a hospital containing bronze medical instruments from the 2nd century AD, the following decade was consumed by a race to catalog the ruins and force Ankara to scrap the dam.

Authorities first buried the ruins in sand – a move they said would protect the ruins, although archaeologists have disagreed. Then they began flooding the area on the final day of 2010. The rising water is now some six feet deep. Eventually, the baths will sit in nearly 100 feet of silt and water.

"The most painful part may be that we will never know what knowledge we may have found," says Yaras. "I feel like a scientist who was on the verge of a major discovery, only to be banned from his laboratory."

Yaras and others embroiled in this bitter debate surrounding the future of Turkey's natural and cultural heritage doubt the government will concede an inch to conservation demands.

"Allianoi is only an example," says Yaras. "They will ruin many other precious sites."

Cop divers: A breed apart, a breed below

Edmonton Sun: Cop divers: A breed apart, a breed below

OTTAWA - It's one of the least popular types of specialized police work: dead body retrievers.

Of the 69,200 cops in Canada, only 110 are police divers.

This week more than half of them showed up at a frozen quarry near Ottawa to train in far more favourable conditions than many of them are used to.

Ottawa rookie cop Alana Fong sits on a towel-topped, waterproof kit case with her feet propped up on a small one. Wrapped in blankets she waits in a tent for colleague Walt Leshman to surface.

The burly Newfoundlander is far more experienced; he's been a police diver for four years.

Fong is about to make her second-ever ice dive.

In fact, she's the only female police diver in Ontario and one of only a handful in Canada.

She was fast-tracked into the unit - diving has always been something that interested her - having only been hired by Ottawa Police in May.

That's because they needed her.

"There's not a lot of people that want to do this job," says Const. Brent MacIntyre, of the Ottawa Police dive, marine and trails unit.

"It takes a certain type of police officer to want to go underwater and recover human remains, so there's not a lot of pickings when we're going out to recruit new officers."

Fong's first ice dive, completed Tuesday in the quarry, was an experience she'll never forget.

"It was incredible, actually. It was quite different than diving in the summer," she says.

"Here we have a lot of visibility, when you look up at the surface you can see so many colours."

MacIntyre can speak from experience about the contrast between the visibility in a quarry and what police divers are up against diving in places like the Ottawa River.

"It's like diving in tea," he says. "You can't see anything."

The quarry near Wakefield, Que., offers 128 feet of depth and numerous underwater objects to dive to.

The divers also conducted drills and exercises with dummies.

The busiest season of the year for police divers is just around the corner - spring thaw.

Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold

Fox News Latino: Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold
Led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, a group of scientists and journalists left Germany Tuesday, on a mission to Guatemala in search of a lost Maya treasure allegedly submerged under Lake Izabal.

According to the German newspaper Bild, which sponsored the expedition, the expedition includes two reporters from the publication, a photographer, a television camera, and a professional diver who will submerge into Lake Izabal in an attempt to find eight tons of gold said to have been lost there.

The expedition is led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, who claims to have cracked the famous Dresden Codex and discovered specific information in one of its chapters that leads to a treasure in Lake Izabal.

"The Dresden Codex leads to a giant treasure of eight tons of pure gold," said Rittsteig, who has spent more than 40 years studying the document, to Bild.

A professor emeritus at Dresden University and author of various publications about the Maya culture, Rittsteig stressed that "page 52 talks about the Maya capital of Atlan, which was ruined by an earthquake on October 30th in the year 666 BC. In this city, they kept 2,156 gold tablets on which the Maya recorded their laws."

The treasure sank, along with the city, into the waters of Lake Izabal, located in eastern Guatemala. But the German academic claims to have found the remains thanks to radar images taken in the area.

Rittsteig calculates that "just the gold in the tablets is estimated to be currently worth up to 211 million euros (290 million dollars)."

The Dresden Codex, drafted in the year 1250 AD by Mayan priests, is one of the four major documents that remain from that culture. It has been housed by the Saxon State Library in East Germany for the last 272 years.

The code was discovered in 1739 in the possession of a wealthy man in Vienna, though no one knows how he got a hold of it. He then donated it to the Dresden Library, where it is kept under bullet-proof glass in a room with other treasured documents.

Joachim Rittsteig has dedicated most of his entire life to decoding the codex, which is composed of 74 pages, 3.56 meters long with 74 distinct hieroglyphics.

The Dresden Codex contains much of what is known of Mayan Culture, including their understanding of astrology, medicine and even the end of the world. In the last chapter, the codex describes the coming apocalypse, which it says will take place on December 12th, 2012.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Is the Amelia Earhart mystery finally about to be solved?


Daily Mail Online: Is the Amelia Earhart mystery finally about to be solved? Diving team to explore plane wreckage at bottom of ocean

-Body of the downed plane was discovered in 2002 by fishermen
-Divers claims there is gold bullion on board coral-covered wreck
-But they have been unable to get it because of 20ft poisonous sea snake
-Tests on bones believed to be Earhart's found on island 'inconclusive'

A diving team is being put together in Papua New Guinea to swim down to the wreckage of a rust-and-coral-covered plane in the hope of solving one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries - the 74-year-old disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
The 40-year-old American and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared while attempting to fly around the world in 1937 in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra plane and most theories say they crashed near Howland Island in the central Pacific.
She and her navigator had completed 22,000 miles of the journey when they arrived at Lae in New Guinea, as the country was then known, and just 7,000 miles across the Pacific remained before they were due to land back in the U.S.

They took off on July 2, 1937, heading for Howland Island, 2,500 miles away but ran into trouble near the island, if radio reports purporting to be theirs can be believed.
Miss Earhart radioed to a U.S. ship in the area, the Itasca: 'We must be on you but cannot see you - but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet.'
The transmissions were the last anyone heard from the flyer and it was assumed the plane had crashed near Howland Island.

Numerous attempts to find the wreckage have failed - but now divers in Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, some 400 miles from Lae, where the aircraft had taken off from, are convinced they have found the wreckage.

The mystery plane that lies 250ft under the sea, on a reef near Buka island, 800 miles west of the main island of Papua New Guinea, is said to resemble Miss Earhart's Electra.

What has made local people more excited is the knowledge that the crash site is in direct alignment with Miss Earhart's flight path from Lae in a straight north east direction to Howland Island.

Famous: In her day she was popular and would pull a crowd. Her mysterious death has kept that fame alive more than 70 year after her death

There have been many theories behind what happened to Earhart and Noonan. The most popular being that they ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea

The wreckage was found in 2002 when fishermen were diving for a local delicacy, a sea slug known as beche de mer. Putting a state-of-the-art diving team together so a detailed search of the aircraft can be made, however, has proved impossible until now.

But divers who have been down to the wreck recently claim that there is gold bullion on board - its extraction almost impossible, they say, because the plane is being guarded by a 20ft poisonous sea snake.

Numerous theories have been put forward to explain Miss Earhart's disappearance, including that she and her navigator died when the plane crashed into the Pacific.
Other theories suggests they came down on a remote island where they managed to survive for a while before they succumbed to thirst, hunger and injuries.
Another theory suggested that Miss Earhart had crashed onto an island and had become a prisoner of the Japanese who were widening their second world war net through the Pacific.

However Ric Gillespie, an expert on Miss Earhart's disappearance and who has made several trips to islands in the Pacific, said the Papua New Guinea claims of her plane lying in waters in the region were 'silly beyond description.'

He insisted there was 'simply no way' that the Electra could be anywhere near Papua New Guinea.

'Radio transmissions and other evidence indicate she landed on an atoll in the central Pacific and perished from a lack of food and water' he said.

Meanwhile, tests to determine if bone fragments recovered from a remote South Pacific island have proved inconclusive.

Scientists at the University of Oklahoma attempted to detect human DNA from three bone fragments recovered last year by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, a group of aviation enthusiasts in Delaware that found the pieces of bone while on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii.
Forensic tests on bone fragments discovered on Nikumaroro Island have been inconclusive in determining if they contain human DNA
The group has uncovered several artifacts, including some old makeup and glass bottles from the 1930s that suggest Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan may have died as castaways on the island, said Ric Gillespie, director of the group.

'We knew this would be a tough job to get DNA from stuff that had laid around for 70 years,' Gillespie said in a phone interview.
'The woman's been missing for 74 years. We've been looking for her for 23 years. We have learned patience.'

Researchers at OU said about one-half gram of bone material remains that could be tested later.

'For posterity, we have decided to preserve this remaining bone,' Cecil Lewis, the director of OU's Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, wrote in his report.

'There is reason for optimism that someday in the near future, less destructive and more sensitive genomic methods will be able to resolve the bone's origin. For now, the question of whether the bone is human must remain unanswered.'

Lewis said tests are ongoing on clumps of material resembling soil or feces that also were recovered at the site.

In 1940, just three years after Earhart disappeared, a British overseer on the island recovered a partial human skeleton and several artefacts at what appeared to be a former campsite, Gillespie said.

The bones later vanished, but Gillespie said the findings support their theory that Earhart was able to land on a reef surrounding the remote island and send distress signals that were picked up by distant ships.

'There's a tremendous story of a castaway here who was catching various things,' Gillespie said.

'We just don't know for sure who the castaway was.