The Daily Reel: January 21, 2013

• Indian Naval Divers Set National Record
• Massachusetts to Pass Legislation on Fish Mislabeling
• Dolphin Rescued During Kona Manta Ray Dive

Indian Naval Divers Set National Record

Six saturation divers from the Indian Navy made history this month when they set a new national deep ocean diving record, at 257 meters below the surface of the Arabian Sea. The 6 servicemen made the dive on January 7 from the active Indian Navy vessel INS Nireekshak, after which they immediately transferred to the ship’s decompression chamber, where they remained until January 9. Divers from the same vessel made the dive in February 2011, but only reached a maximum depth of 233 meters. The INS Nireekshak recently cooperated with the US Navy in a submarine rescue exercise, and was deployed in 2012 to raise a fishing boat that had sunk off the coast of Kerala in 2012 as a result of a collision with a merchant ship. The crew was welcomed back from the decompression chamber by shipmates, family members, and their commanding officer, who said of the dive, “Such endeavors at testing the frontiers provide us greater confidence for future operations.”

Massachusetts to Pass Legislation on Fish Mislabeling

Lawmakers in Massachusetts have proposed a bill that would mete out stiff penalties to stores and restaurants that are caught mislabeling their seafood, including fines and possible suspension or revocation of their licenses to operate. The bill, which is expected to be filed today, was proposed by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure following articles published in The Boston Globe exposing restaurants and stores deliberately mislabeling species of less quality and value as much more expensive fish. The bill will also ban the sale of escolar, which is widely mislabeled as tuna, and is known to cause gastrointestinal issues in a large majority of people.

Dolphin Rescued During Kona Manta Ray Dive

A group of divers participating in a manta ray night dive in the waters off of Kona, Hawaii, were the unwitting spectators of a dolphin rescue as well. As the group was observing the majestic mantas, an audible squeal drew their attention to a bottlenose dolphin, who swam right into the middle of the crowd. Dive instructor Keller Laros noticed a length of fishing line wrapped around the cetacean’s pectoral fin, and when he reached for it, the dolphin amazingly rolled over like a patient getting an exam in a doctor’s office. Check out the incredible rescue in this video, which was completed in less than 10 minutes: