ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
PHOTOS : NUREK BADAJĄCY
WW2 aircraft identified
In Italy , the mystery of the wreckage of a rare Second World War Royal Air Force bomber has been solved and its crew identified . In 2016 , near the island of Linosa , Italian researchers found the wreck of an unknown aircraft at a depth of 85 metres . It proved difficult to identify , until recently .
It turned out that the wreck found was a unique Martin Baltimore bomber ( Mk II , serial number AG699 ). It was
manufactured in the USA , but served in the Royal Air Force .
The Baltimore crashed in June 1942 , 500m off the Italian island of Linosa . Four people were on board at the time : two airmen from the British RAF and one each from the Australian ( RAAF ) and Canadian ( RCAF ) air forces .
The four airmen who died on board have now been identified as Sergeants - Francis William Baum ( RAF ), Robert Tettrell Purslow ( RAF ), Alick Greaves ( RAAF ) and William Edward Fincham ( RCAF ).
Turtles love wrecks
Researchers studying the interactions between divers and marine life are learning that social media can help their work . In a study published recently in the journal Animal Conservation , researchers say that Instagram could prove a useful tool for scientists hoping to learn how sea turtles interact with shipwrecks . Alana
Leitão , a PhD student at the Federal University of Pernambuco , had initially planned to do dive surveys of sea turtles at the shipwrecks that dotted the coast of Pernambuco , a state in the Briefly of Brazil . But the Covid-19 pandemic left her studies landlocked for a while . Momentarily at a loss , Leitão turned to social media , where tourists and other recreational divers regularly post a treasure trove of sea turtle photos visiting the wrecks .
Greenland go-slow
The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization ( NAFO ), an intergovernmental organization , has prohibited the retention of Greenland sharks in international waters . The ban would apply to the intentional catching of Greenland sharks as well as the retention of the species as bycatch . However , bycatch exceptions
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