News Desk

Wetpixel still has spots left for their Ambon Night Safari this coming Nov 7-16, 2010.

Photographers Eric Cheng and Tony Wu will lead the trip, which goes to one of the best critter spots on the planet. The humble shoreline at Laha is where the Maluku frogfish (Histiophryne psychedelica) was found a couple of years ago. This year, the elusive frogfish resurfaced, and will hopefully still be there in November!

Avillion Layang Layang Island Resort is pleased to announce the Layang Layang Digital Photo Shootout 2011, to be held from 20 to 26 July 2011.

Following the success in 2008, this annual shootout is back with more attractive prizes and excitement.

The Underwater Photography Guide is proud to announce its first annual Ocean Art Photographic Competition.

There are over $62,000 worth of prizes including over 25 liveaboard and resort packages, dive equipment and much more. Special prizes are 12 days on the Arenui boutique liveaboard, 9 days on the Solmar V liveaboard, 18 nights in Papua New Guinea including a stay on the Febrina liveaboard, a trip for 2 on the SMY Ondina, and a 9 day trip on the Manthiri Maldives. This is one of the largest underwater photography competitions ever to be held in terms of prizes.

The Wildlife Conservation Society has released initial field observations that indicate that a dramatic rise in the surface temperature in Indonesian waters has resulted in a large-scale bleaching event that has devastated coral populations.

An unprecedented agreement toward the cooperative stewardship of a vast swath of Pacific Ocean has been reached, and conservationists are heralding it as among the most ambitious, innovative, and collaborative marine initiatives on Earth.

Meeting in Port Villa, Vanuatu at the annual Pacific Islands Leadership Forum, Heads of State and Governments from 15 nations endorsed a draft framework for the long-term, sustainable, and cooperative management of 38.5 million km2 (nearly 24 million square miles) surrounding their collective islands, or comparatively larger than the land size of Canada, the United States and Mexico combined.

A Leatherback Turtle has made a surprise return to a Malaysian beach after 32 years, a report said Friday, hailed as a "miracle" by conservationists and renewing hopes for the endangered species.

Inon has announced the release of an aluminum housing system for the popular Panasonic LUMIX GF1 micro four thirds camera. The manufacturer has confirmed that the new housing set-up will boast the following features:

A wide variety of lens ports from macro to fisheye; Fully compatible with time proven "S-TTL" Auto strobe system; Lightweight and compact corrosion-resistant aluminum alloy body; Ergonomically friendly exterior design; Stress-free control layout with almost every function available; A set of magnet rings to allow for zoom and manual focus and an M1 grip-base to attach strobes to the set-up. An optional leak sensor can also be added to the set-up.

If you love marine life, fancy a romantic getaway with a difference and have more than a little spare cash to splash, then this new honeymoon suite at the Maldives Rangali Islands resort could be for you.

In honour of the resort's fifth anniversary, the flagship underwater Ithaa restaurant has been converted into a sensational underwater honeymoon suite, where you can enjoy the splendour of a top Maldives' reef in five-star comfort.

Six of Bali’s PADI Dive Centres will go head to head on 9th September 2010 in Project AWARE Foundation’s first ever 5 A-Side Soccer Tournament.  The dive centres involved aim to raise over $2,000 for the charity that works with divers to conserve underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.

A cargo ship ran into a coral reef off the Kavaratti Island in Lakshadweep, damaging around 400 square metres of the pristine reef that's home to thousands of marine species.

There was no oil spill right now but the ship was "dangerously perched on the reef", a Coast guard official said. "We cannot rule out an oil spill in the coming days. 

The reefs off Lakshadweep are known to be among the best in the world and host several endangered species. The accident site is a nesting area for endangered green sea turtles, the hawksbill turtle and the olive ridley turtles, said Deepak Apte of the Bombay Natural History Society.

Six of Bali’s PADI Dive Centres will go head to head on 9th September 2010 in Project AWARE Foundation’s first ever 5 A-Side Soccer Tournament.  The dive centres involved aim to raise over $2,000 for the charity that works with divers to conserve underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.

If you love marine life, fancy a romantic getaway with a difference and have more than a little spare cash to splash, then this new honeymoon suite at the Maldives Rangali Islands resort could be for you.

In honour of the resort's fifth anniversary, the flagship underwater Ithaa restaurant has been converted into a sensational underwater honeymoon suite, where you can enjoy the splendour of a top Maldives' reef in five-star comfort.

A cargo ship ran into a coral reef off the Kavaratti Island in Lakshadweep, damaging around 400 square metres of the pristine reef that's home to thousands of marine species.

There was no oil spill right now but the ship was "dangerously perched on the reef", a Coast guard official said. "We cannot rule out an oil spill in the coming days. 

The reefs off Lakshadweep are known to be among the best in the world and host several endangered species. The accident site is a nesting area for endangered green sea turtles, the hawksbill turtle and the olive ridley turtles, said Deepak Apte of the Bombay Natural History Society.

An unprecedented agreement toward the cooperative stewardship of a vast swath of Pacific Ocean has been reached, and conservationists are heralding it as among the most ambitious, innovative, and collaborative marine initiatives on Earth.

Meeting in Port Villa, Vanuatu at the annual Pacific Islands Leadership Forum, Heads of State and Governments from 15 nations endorsed a draft framework for the long-term, sustainable, and cooperative management of 38.5 million km2 (nearly 24 million square miles) surrounding their collective islands, or comparatively larger than the land size of Canada, the United States and Mexico combined.

Next weekend Kuala Lumpur sees the 5th Malaysia International Dive Expo 2010 (MIDE2010), one of the major events for the scuba diving calendar in Malaysia.

Expo organisers are expecting more than 10,000 visitors to attend, with 250 booths and 150 exhibitors taking part this year. Whether you are beginner, technical, commercial or recreational, there is something for everyone to experience and to explore as well as the array of activities for visitors.

Malaysian authorities have taken action against coral bleaching by closing a number of dive sites on the islands of Pulau Tioman and Redang.

Nine dive sites around the islands will be closed to divers and snorkelers until October of this year.

When photographer and environmentalist Alex Hofford went to visit Kesen Numa City in Japan, he encountered commercial shark finning on a huge scale.

Over two days in early July this year, Alex saw and documented 119 tons of blue shark (Prionace glaucaof), ten tons of salmon shark (Lamna ditropis), and three tons of short fin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus)  landed on the dock at Kesen-numa. Not to mention several tons of endangered bluefin tuna.

In addition to this video posted in YouTube, Alex captured some very powerful images that can be viewed on his website: www.alexhoffordphotography.com

To mark to upcoming Malaysia International Dive Expo, held in Kuala Lumpur, AquaMarine Diving – Bali has created several unique and cost-effective specials that showcase the best of Bali.

You might think that you have seen just about every form of traveling underwater, but that was before you came across the scuba-diving chair.

This DIY project for incredibly lazy scuba divers requires one to be tethered to a boat on the surface, hanging on for a ride. Hopefully there are enough safety features built in so that you won't accidentally end up as some form of propeller fodder.

One thing is for sure - any sensible fish would be getting out of the way of this contraption as fast as they could. Let's hope it doesn't catch on.

A anti-whaling activist from New Zealand who was handed a suspended sentence for obstructing the annual Japanese whale hunt has vowed to continue his crusade.

Peter Bethune was deported from Japan after receiving a suspended two-year sentence for obstructing Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Ocean. Speaking on his return home, Bethune said he would never give up his fight. But the 45-year-old said he was unsure if he would return to Antarctic waters.

The ocean's rising carbon dioxide levels may cause many coral reef fish to swim toward the smell of predators rather than away from them - and thus toward likely death, marine ecologists said on Tuesday.

The greenhouse gas' ability to alter fish behavior for the worse points to an "unexpected potential impact of elevated carbon dioxide in the oceans," said Philip Munday, a marine ecologist at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.

Much study has been done on the effects of ocean acidification on coral and shelled animals, but little on how the effects would manifest in other forms of marine life, said Munday, who led the study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "What we wanted to find out was how it affects those that don't have a skeleton on their outside."

Intuitively, everyone already knows this, but a new study has confirmed that seawater free from pollution helps corals survive the impacts of climate change.

Coral reef ecologist Robert van Woesik from the Florida Institute of Technology and his team demonstrated that as the waters around the Florida Keys warmed, the corals living in cleaner water continued to thrive while those in more polluted water suffered. Their findings provide evidence that policies around wastewater discharge and water pollution can help corals survive in warming waters.

The UnderwaterAsia team would like to congratulate Cavin Song, the winner of our competition to win a stunning dive safari in Bali with AquaMarine Diving - Bali.

Cavin was picked at random from thousands of entries and wins a 4 day scuba safari package taking in the best dive sites Bali has to offer - worth over US$1300.

Underwater adventurer and shark expert Valerie Taylor has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for 50 years of service to conservation.

Coral reefs around Phuket are still considered to be at grave risk despite a drop in temperature due to recent rains, according to Phuket marine Biology Centre expert Niphon Pongsuwan.

Bleaching has struck 90 percent of the coral reefs around Phuket, he added, and already between 10 percent and 40 percent could not be saved even if sea temperatures dropped quickly now.

An international team of scientists has been exploring Moreton Bay, close to Brisbane, Australia as a possible 'lifeboat' to save corals from the Great Barrier Reef at risk of extermination under climate change.

There may be hope for reefs damaged by coral bleaching, according to Malaysian government scientist Professor Mokhtar.

Professor Mokhtar's team have been successful in breeding microbes that kept damaged corals alive, giving them crucial time to recover.

Scientists have just returned from a voyage with samples of rare animals and more than 10 possible new species in a trip which they say has revolutionised their thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean.

One group of creatures they observed - and captured - during their six weeks in the Atlantic aboard the RRS James Cook is believed to be close to the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals.

It may seem an unusual approach, but it appears that the poo from Sperm Whales may be on the frontline in the battle against climate change.

A new study has found that instead of increasing carbon levels through respiration, the Sperm Whale offsets its emissions by defecating.

Researcher Trish Lavery from Filnders University in Australia says the poo is rich in iron, which stimulates phytoplankton to grow, and that traps the carbon dioxide.

"They've certainly gone past the carbon-neutral status that we all attain to and they're actually sinking more carbon from the atmosphere each year into the deep ocean ... than what they add to the atmosphere when they respire," she said.

Shark experts have revealed that Sharks may use mathematics to track down their prey.

The astonishing find suggests that Sharks and other marine predators use the time delay from a scent reaching each of their nostrils to make decisions. They will then use this information to plot a cunning strategy to hunt down their prey.

New research has suggested that corals may be even more specialised than previously thought, especially in terms of the depths that they are able to grow at.

The findings are bad news for shallow reefs damaged by bleaching as these reefs may not be able to regenerate from corals at depth, as previously hoped.

Humpback whales form lasting bonds, the first baleen whales known to do so.

Individual female humpbacks reunite each summer to feed and swim alongside one another in the Gulf of St Lawrence, off Canada, scientists have found.

Toothed whales, such as sperm whales, associate with one another, but larger baleen whales, which filter their food, have been thought less social.

The finding raises the possibility that commercial whaling may have broken apart social groups of whales.

Low-lying Pacific islands have long thought to be at the front line in the battle against global warming and rising sea levels, but new research has suggested this may not be the case.

In a study published in the New Scientisit, researchers have found that many Pacific islands are actually rising rather than sinking due to coral debris and sediment amassing on their shores.

It's not all bad news if you are born ugly. According to a new study, while colourful and flamboyant fish may be attractive to the ladies, ugly fish have a potent secret weapon. Better sperm.

The research, conducted on tropical guppies, revealed that colourful attractive-looking males "invest" in their appearance at the expense of their sperm quality.

This suggests, the scientists say, that there is a trade-off between different characteristics that help the male to reproduce.

The findings are described in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.

Scientists have suggested that manmade noise pollution can affect the distribution of fish and their ability to reproduce, communicate and avoid predators.

According to the study published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, fish have the ability to hear sounds and use them regularly to compete over territory and food, when spawning and to defend themselves from predators.

A new study has found that a change of behaviour in Damselfish in the Caribbean is hampering coral regeneration efforts. Due to the lack of abundance of their preferred Staghorn coral, Threespot Damselfish are turning to other, slower growing corals and adding to the pressures on reefs already threatened by global climate change, coral diseases, hurricanes, pollution, and overfishing.

Baby corals find their way home in their first days as free-swimming larvae by listening to the noise of animals on the reef and actively swimming towards it, an international team of researchers working in the Caribbean has discovered.

These findings raise new concerns for the future of coral reefs as increasing human noise pollution in the world’s oceans is masking reef sounds.

Queensland scientists hope an underwater lab on the Great Barrier Reef will help them understand how growing seawater acidity caused by carbon emissions will affect coral survival.

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, from University of Queensland, told AAP a team of scientists had set up the world-first experiment on a two-square-metre patch of the Great Barrier Reef just off Heron Island.

A deep-sea canyon new to science has been discovered on the continental shelf near the Montebello Islands by students from The University of Western Australia, James Cook University and the University of Tasmania.

They made the exciting and unexpected discovery on a voyage from Hobart to Broome via Fremantle to determine the biological and physical signature of the ocean.

A form of asexual reproduction known as parthenogenesis may be part of an extreme survival strategy for Sharks, say researchers.

In parthenogenesis, females' eggs start dividing without being fertilised. This produces daughters that are genetically similar to the mother.

Wetpixel still has spots left for their Ambon Night Safari this coming Nov 7-16, 2010.

Photographers Eric Cheng and Tony Wu will lead the trip, which goes to one of the best critter spots on the planet. The humble shoreline at Laha is where the Maluku frogfish (Histiophryne psychedelica) was found a couple of years ago. This year, the elusive frogfish resurfaced, and will hopefully still be there in November!

Inon has announced the release of an aluminum housing system for the popular Panasonic LUMIX GF1 micro four thirds camera. The manufacturer has confirmed that the new housing set-up will boast the following features:

A wide variety of lens ports from macro to fisheye; Fully compatible with time proven "S-TTL" Auto strobe system; Lightweight and compact corrosion-resistant aluminum alloy body; Ergonomically friendly exterior design; Stress-free control layout with almost every function available; A set of magnet rings to allow for zoom and manual focus and an M1 grip-base to attach strobes to the set-up. An optional leak sensor can also be added to the set-up.

Avillion Layang Layang Island Resort is pleased to announce the Layang Layang Digital Photo Shootout 2011, to be held from 20 to 26 July 2011.

Following the success in 2008, this annual shootout is back with more attractive prizes and excitement.

The Underwater Photography Guide is proud to announce its first annual Ocean Art Photographic Competition.

There are over $62,000 worth of prizes including over 25 liveaboard and resort packages, dive equipment and much more. Special prizes are 12 days on the Arenui boutique liveaboard, 9 days on the Solmar V liveaboard, 18 nights in Papua New Guinea including a stay on the Febrina liveaboard, a trip for 2 on the SMY Ondina, and a 9 day trip on the Manthiri Maldives. This is one of the largest underwater photography competitions ever to be held in terms of prizes.

In recognition of the United Nations declaring 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, Project AWARE Foundation and SeaWeb's Marine Photobank are calling for entries for the third "Ocean in Focus" Conservation Photography Contest that feature species in need of protection, the human impacts upon them and their environments, and the importance of conserving biodiversity.

When most people think of Australia's marine life, images of stunning reefs or A-list predators come to mind, but a group of scientisits using deep-sea cameras have revealed another side to Australia's marine life.

The scientists, from the Queensland Brain Institute, captures stunning images of prehistoric six-gilled sharks, giant oil fish, swarms of crustaceans and many other unidentified species 1,400m below sea level at Osprey Reef, 350km northeast of Cairns.

Winners have been annoucned for the Sundive Byron Bay Shootout 2010. The competition, held at Julian Rocks dive site on 30th May, attracted over 40 competitors and the judges reported a very high standard of entries, including this stunning Leopard Shark image by Matt Shepherd, winner of the Best Portfolio category.

To view all winners and winning entries, visit the competition website here.

Photography enthusiasts will be eager to get their hands on the latest Lightroom offering from Adobe, released this week. The much anticipated Lightroom 3 includes a swathe of new features, including image watermarking, Flickr integration and support for DSLR videos.

Beta versions of Adobe's third Lightroom release have received a positive response, with users reporting many features that assist a smoother, easier work-flows.

The new version is retailing at US$299 for the full version and US$99 for an upgrade package.

The 5th Underwater Festival, 'The Australasia Challenge', will incorporate a unique Australasia-wide simultaneous photo and video shootout competition with over U$100,000 available in prizes. It will be held from 2 to 11 September 2011.

The shootout competition will happen simultaneously at dive sites all over Australasia - in over 20 countries and spanning both hemispheres. The perceived advantage of this is that every dive site could be a shootout location and every dive center, liveaboard or resort in the area can facilitate the event.

If you've ever thought of heading to a remote diving wilderness, you'll be sure to enjoy this video by Tony Wu of the diving at the Eastern Fields, a seldom visited reef system between PNG & Australia.

Winners have been announced for the recent Banda Underwater Photo Rally. First place went to Harry Susanto for his portfolio, which included this stunning image of mating Mandarinfish.

Harry won a 4 Days/3 Nights full-board dive package from Maluku Divers, Ambon, plus a Halycon Infinity BCD and a discount voucher from Divemaster Indonesia.

The Banda Islands in Indonesia is to host a new underwater photography competition this month. The Banda Underwater Photo Rally Competition is open to all underwater photographers.

Supported by Forumsalem - Indonesia's popular scuba diving community - the Banda Underwater Photo Rally Competition aims to promote environmental awareness and foster a deeper appreciation of Indonesia's beautiful and delicate aquatic ecosystems.

For photographers who are fed up with the problems caused by the size of their fish eye dome port, Aquatica have released a new Mini Dome port.

This new addition to their existing line-up is ideally suited for fisheye lenses such as the Nikon 10.5mm, Tokina 10-17mm and Sigma 10mm.

Source: UnderwaterAsia.info

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DivePhotoGuide and Wetpixel have announced the winners of the 5th annual Our World Underwater international underwater photography and video competition. The competition was held in association with Our World Underwater and is part of a joint series often referred to as the "Super Bowl" of international underwater imagery events, with world-class prizes, esteemed celebrity judges, and significant global media support.

Thousands of entries were received from dozens of countries and the winners represented fourteen countries. The winners were presented during the film festival at a special 40th anniversary Our World Underwater show in Chicago.

Both Olympus and Panasonic have released new tough, waterproof cameras, ideal for photographers who want their cameras to be able to withstand the elements and perfect for use on a dive boat or for snorkelling.

Olympus have released the TOUGH-6020 and the TOUGH-8010, which are shock-proof and waterproof to 5m and 10m respectively, while Panasonic unveiled the LUMIX DMC-TS2, a follow up to their popular LUMIX DMC-TS1, which is waterproof to 10m.

A Leatherback Turtle has made a surprise return to a Malaysian beach after 32 years, a report said Friday, hailed as a "miracle" by conservationists and renewing hopes for the endangered species.

The Wildlife Conservation Society has released initial field observations that indicate that a dramatic rise in the surface temperature in Indonesian waters has resulted in a large-scale bleaching event that has devastated coral populations.

Indonesia enjoys the most biodiverse ocean environments on the planet. Unfortunately, it is also the world's largest shark fishery, having all but emptied its waters of a valuable resource: its sharks.

Raja Ampat in Eastern Indonesia is perhaps the crown jewel of this biodiverse region, but its shark populations have been ravaged and its manta populations are now under siege. Shark Savers is working with the Misool Eco Resort, Conservation International's Indonesia Marine Program, WildAid, and other NGOs and eco-tourism companies on a new initiative to convince the Raja Ampat government to prohibit all fishing of sharks, mantas, and mobulas.

Australia has just 20 years to save the Great Barrier Reef from significant damage by ocean acidification, one of the nation's foremost authorities on marine science has warned.

Dr Charlie Veron, the former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said the threat of ocean acidification was not being taken seriously.

Regarded as the "grandfather" of coral reef science in Australia, Dr Veron has predicted the Great Barrier Reef will suffer severe damage as a result of the acidifcation within the next 20 years.

Some better news for Thailand. Coral bleaching in the Andaman Sea is expected to ease with the arrival of the rainy season, according to an article in the Bangkok Post this week. Searing temperatures and a lack of rain have threatened large areas of reefs on Thailand's Andaman coast in recent weeks.

Project AWARE Foundation urges your support to help protect sharks on the brink, this World Ocean Day, 8 June. Take two minutes, sign Project AWARE's petition to Give Sharks a Fighting Chance.

"Divers are some of shark's strongest advocates and share a deep concern for threatened shark populations. We need to let governments know that we are outraged that short term economic interests won out over the advice of science at the recent CITES meetings where the effort to restrict trade for eight threatened shark species failed," said Jenny Miller Garmendia, Director, Project AWARE Foundation."Project AWARE is asking everyone to sign the petition expressing our outrage and calling on governments around the world heed scientific evidence and advice to protect sharks and their ocean ecosystem."

Some rare good news for fish. A scientific expedition to Sipadan, the world-renowned diving spot off the coast of Sabah in Malaysia has confirmed that fish populations have increased following the government's decision to prevent development & limit the number of visitors to the area.

Traditional owners and WWF have called for a formal investigation into the presence of unregistered nets in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park following the recent discovery of three dead dugongs in a net near Cairns.

The discovery of the dugongs by a navy crew comes on the back of recent anecdotal accounts of sea turtles being targeted for an illegal meat trade in far north Queensland.

"We are working to conserve these species as best we can while reserving the right to pursue our traditional way of life," said CEO of the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation Phil Rist, whose organisation represents traditional owners south of Cairns.

This clownfish may look like just another "Nemo" on first glance, but its markings are exciting Far Northern researchers.

The Clown Anemonefish attracted the attention of a Cairns dive instructor when he realised it was missing a trademark white band that normally does a ring around the middle of its body.

Courtesy of The Cairns Post

Sammy, the whale shark that had been held in captivity in the Atlantis aquarium in Dubai for the past eighteen months, has been freed.

The release comes almost a year after a popular campaign had thousands of Dubai residents calling for the hotel to release Sammy. The campaign involved badges, bumper stickers, jingles and a Facebook group that attracted several thousand members.

Atlantis issued a press release stating that the 'mammal' had already been released. Let's hope that Sammy enjoys being a fish again now that he has been released...

China, Japan and Russia helped defeat a US-endorsed proposal at a UN wildlife trade meeting Tuesday that would have boosted conservation efforts for sharks.

The opposition to the shark proposal came hours after the marine conservation group Oceana came out with a report showing that demand for shark fin soup in Asia is driving many species of these big fish to the brink of extinction.

AWARE divers across the globe are celebrating the groundbreaking protections for thresher sharks announced this week in Korea. Project AWARE Foundation, as a steering committee member of the Shark Alliance, applauds a historic ban on fishing for thresher sharks - oceanic species distinguished by their long, scythe-like tails.

The decision was adopted by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) at their annual meeting.   The proposal to protect all three thresher species, offered by the European Union (EU), earned support from Japan, and passed in a secret ballot, 14-3.  It was the first vote ever taken by the consensus-minded commission and sets the IOTC as the leading international fisheries body in terms of shark species protection.

A new species of stingray has been discovered by scientists at Ningaloo Marine Park in Western Australia. The discovery was made during a series of dive surveys conducted as part of a Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) project led by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) working with scientists from CSIRO.

CSIRO scientist Will White said the discovery of the ray (Neotrygon sp.) highlighted that there was still much to learn about the sharks and rays that inhabited the Ningaloo coast.

An 18-foot long Whale Shark, de-finned and fighting for life, was found floating belly-up amidst the rough waters of Bahay Kambing, a sheltered cove in the municipality of Tingloy, Philippines. Its twin pairs of dorsal and pectoral fins were neatly sliced off – the soft, white flesh glistening in the morning rays. Knife-marks were evident all over its tail – mercifully too think to cut through.

"Scuba divers from Mabini's Acacia Resort first discovered the mutilated shark on the morning of 15 February,"; recounts Casita Isabel resort owner Linda Reyes-Romualdez. "The shark was towed to nearby Caban cove, whose waters were more placid. Together with a Bantay Dagat unit, volunteers splinted the shark by flanking it with bamboo poles and installing a net underneath to minimize further injuries. We wanted to ease its pain."