Palau News

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation, in association with the Discovery Channel) were here filming for a month. They were filming for a new documentary called ‘Rising Islands’ which is due to air in Summer 2009 in the UK. This will be 6 programes lasting 1 hour each. They filmed both on land and under-water, capturing the spawning humphead parrotfish, mating mandarin fish and filming in all 5 of Palau's Jellyfish Lakes. Richard Woolcombe (best known for his filming work on the Blue Planet) and Chiara Bellati worked closely with our staff members Bert Yates and Marcel Hargendijk to capture some amazing footage at some of the most popular dive sites here in Palau, namely Blue Corner, New Drop Off and Chandelier Cave.

We have a new addition to our fleet of boats. It is a Yamaha hull, with the largest utility boat that they have made. It is powered by twin 225 Yamaha 4 strokes. We call it Flying Fish for a reason. It is FAST!

We had the Survivor crew here, filming for the Survivor Micronesia program that is currently airing in the US. It was filmed on the Rock Islands in Palau. When they were not out on the islands, the crew used the Neco marine facilities for both support and recreation.

In the water, we have had the Bumphead Parrotfish schooling, which is very odd behavior for them to display. The snappers have also been running. Peleliu was a great place to see this happening over the last month. The tides have also been very extreme of late which may account for the sightings of Hammerhead sharks and Manta Rays. The Mantas were performing their courtship dance which was fabulous to see!

Working out of Neco Marine during February and March 2008, the PMAN-X team of the Bentprop Project - Pat Scannon, Joe Maldangesang; from Neco Marine, Flip Colmer, , Reid Joyce, Grover Harms and Laura Regan; conducted a number of searches across Palau, both underwater and in the jungles from Babeldaob to Peleliu. In addition, the team continued its interviews of Palauans elders, hunters and fishermen who may have had information about events or locations of interest from WWII.

They accomplished a lot on this trip and we look forward to seeing them again next year!

The JPAC team came to assist Pat Scannons’ team for a while. They and some Navy divers spent 4 weeks diving, salvaging personal effects from a WWII B24 wreck that Pat and his team had found. They found several pieces of interest and hope to be able to reunite these belongings to the families of those that died in combat. A real triumph, as now this site can be closed for good.

New Staff

The first one is me. My name is Denny. I am from the UK but came here from working in another dive center in Cyprus. I work in the office dealing with purchasing and correspondence, so if you fill in the query form or email Neco Marine, it will be me that you are talking to! I love to dive and do so whenever I can!!

The second is Emerald. Emerald is a dive guide in training. When she is not busy diving she helps out Josie in the office, doing whatever is needed at the time! Emerald is Palauan and has grown up around Koror and Neco Marine.

Critter Corner: Whitetip Reef Sharks

These sharks are amongst the most common sharks found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, usually in shallower waters, up to 40m.

They are easily recognized by their flat squarish head with prominent nasal flaps, white tips on the dorsal and caudal fins, a large second dorsal fin and their habit of lying on the sea bed. They are grey to brown above and lighter underneath – some individuals have darker blotches along the body.

They are often confused with Silvertip and Oceanic Whitetips – but these prefer deeper waters and never rest on the sea bed. These sharks also tend to be more stout and more torpedo shaped than the Whitetip Reef Sharks.

These sharks tend to grow to 105-158cm for females and males grow to 104-168cm on average.

Whitetip Reef Sharks are most active at night, spending much of their day lounging around under crevices or in caves, occasionally in large groups. Sometimes small gobies are seen cleaning parasites off their skin whilst the sharks are resting. While they can be roused by an injured fish at any time, the Whitetip Reef Shark prefers to hunt at night when many reef fish are sleeping in holes in the coral. They abandon the sluggishness of the day and become relentless predators and scavengers, sometimes breaking the coral in order to catch their prey.

Their prey consists of bony fishes such as eels, morays, parrotfishes, goatfishes, snappers, damselfishes, surgeonfishes and triggerfishes; crabs, lobsters and octopuses.

During courtship the male bites and holds the females gill region. When mating the male holds one pectoral fin of the female in his mouth and inserts a single clasper, remaining parallel to the female. The copulation lasts 1.5 – 3 minutes. Whitetip sharks are viviparous, which means that they give birth to live young, usually in litters ranging from 1-5 young. More often than not they have 2 or 3 babies. Gestation is 13 months. The sharks reach maturity at 5years and are expected to live up to 25 years.

This shark is unique in the fact that it is the only shark to cause ciguatera food poisoning after its flesh or liver have been consumed. The toxic agent – ciguateratoxin – comes from the unicellular algae accumulated through the food chain, resulting in severe gastronomical and neurological symptoms.

These animals are of no threat to humans, though as with all animals they must be treated with respect. Any antagonized or threatened creature will defend itself. Wouldn’t you?!

Did you know...

The Pacific Ocean, the world's largest water body, occupies a third of the Earth's surface. The Pacific contains about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world's oceans combined), almost all of which are found south of the equator. The Pacific covers an area of 179.7 million sq km.

Source: http://marinebio.org/MarineBio/Facts/