the JOHN HARDING

 

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John Harding

**JHH \\(left)\\ obviously concerned**
It was far from the end of the road for the V8 Ford in the background. We did another 200,000km before retiring the ‘old girl’.

Too much weight (projectors, film and diving gear) being carried eventually caused the damage here. Plus the 5km of rough dirt road that linked Seal Rocks to the holiday township of Forster on the mid north New South Wales coast.

The Ford did over 500,000 km around Australia. Since then a even greater ‘mileage’ in a Toyota 4Runner.

The \\Australian Seafari\\ film shows no longer occur – coinciding with a decline in scuba dive shop takings. I’d like to think there was some connection but as the decline is happening everywhere there are obviously other factors as to why scuba diving is no longer considered a must-do high adventure activity.

Scuba diving is not a ‘competitive sport’ and has never been one. It’s been something unique and better than a competitive recreation sport, yet only when sufficient time has been devoted to understanding all the aspects of what can be entailed.

In Taiwan there are two huge **ocean universities** which teach every known aspect of working with the sea.

In USA there is a \\university of surf\\ and also another for the hamburger industry.

Seems we are missing a good potential somewhere.

Grey nurse sharks were protected especially to give tourist divers something worthwhile to look at, and to shut-up a handful of environmentalists with underwater camera’s who were conning the media into thinking only 500 sharks existed.

How anyone could possibly count all the sharks at every reef on the east coast never occurred to the media, they just ran with the fairy story while the Fisheries responded with a protective ban.

The bottom line is, it was probably a good thing to have the species protected.

Suggestion for an aspiring  PhD student: Investigate the link between past onshore droughts and ‘vanishing sharks’ to determine  if there is a connection why this species was scarce in the years before 1986.  Include power head spears in the equation, plus professional fishing catches processed through markets.

Christine Danaher approaches a small grey nurse shark resting under a reef ledge.  Located north of Forster, New South Wales, the area has been called Taurus Reef by local dive charter boats.  When the flash went off the shark bolted.

Bob Grounds gets personal with a blue groper in the very early era of marine conservation.

During the 1970′s  Cairns was put on the international map by big game fishermen.  Before this the town was a sleepy fishing port and the only tourists were Australians who made the long trek north on a narrow sealed road we called The Crystal Highway (littered with broken car windscreens, one every 2 Km).

The story how black marlin were found as they spawned along the edge of the continental shelf is best told by the experts.

The changes to the town of Cairns between 1972 and 1982 were enormous.  Free  or very cheap vacant land given by the state government allowed international hotel’s and a resort at Port Douglas to be fast-tracked.

Today Cairns is the gateway to The Great Barrier Reef. Previously the major gateways had been further south.

In this collage  are the boat skippers who went searching for big fish, Peter Bristow, Peter B Wright and Dennis ‘Brizakka’ Wallace.

Walter A. Starck, Vic Ley, Ron Taylor, Phil Eather,

Richard Weir, Wally Gibbins, Malcolm McLeod, Gai Girdlestone, John Harding.

The Late IRVIN ROCKMAN   CBE

Springvale Cemetary (Melbourne, Victoria)

Jewish Memorial Garden 2

Row W

Grave 68

Wally Muller, Van Laman-Cropp, Ben Cropp, Kathy Troutt, Lynn Roberts, John Michael Harding Senior, Bob Grounds, Dean Cropp – (a future Legend), Ron Taylor, Trevor Collins (with marlin), Valerie May Taylor, Henri J. Bource.

 

RON IBLE  (White Water Wanderers club, Sydney)  30 April 2013  R.I.P. mate

Ron would not like a whole heap of pretty words – “a real good mate” would sum him up. Ron’s guidance and advice plus friendship to me, as a young starting-out aged 18 diver, set a course I’m forever thankful to him for. Although the following name won’t ring bells, Bill Colbourne introduced us when we all worked at the Sydney Markets. Ron Ible was a tough truck driver – as they all were then. Tough physical work that produced a physique similar to the axe-men at wood-chopping events. When Bill retired he went to live in the fishing village near Ron and his family. Two guys who gave me good advice at a time when kids like I was take things for granted. I recently thanked Ron – but regret not being able to do so for Bill who passed away soon after retiring. 

A brief summary for this Hong Kong recipe.  The skin of the fin is removed.  The fin is boiled with a chicken for many hours. The chicken cannot be a rooster or a hen that has produced any or many eggs.

This restaurant in Taipei caters for visiting Japanese tourists.

Soup is served bubbling hot, boiling in a bowl.  Small plates of  1. vegetables  2. a sweet and sour sauce  3. XO sauce are added to the soup in stages as it is being consumed so as to alter and create new tastes.

This restaurant will charge about US $40 for the soup as a dinner which also includes a small-to-medium sized  Chilean abalone in special sauce, plus dessert.

Opposition
Many of the arguments used by China, Japan, Russia and several North African countries to oppose the measure were expected to be recycled by delegates later this week when proposals to tightening regulations on the shark trade are considered.

China and Russia argued that shark populations aren’t suffering. Japan insisted that current measures in place are more than adequate. Developing countries like Libya and Morocco complained that any effort to protect sharks would damage the economies of poor fishing nations and burden them with expensive enforcement requirements.

The Chinese delegation said there was no scientific evidence that the shark’s survival is threatened and CITES was not the right forum to handle the issue. The Chinese would prefer to leave regulation to existing tools like the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and regional bodies which conservationists argue have failed to crackdown on illegal fishing and even uphold their own modest quotas. (Courtesy: Associated Press).

It looks like a piece of fish and has the texture of crab.  This is Surimi.  Meanwhile a lot of shark meat is being sold to compensate for a world decline in fin fishes.  In other words, sharks are no longer wasted – unless the shark is over a certain length considered too big for handling.  In that case the fishermen decide it’s fate.  Whatever that is, the fins are not removed (unless a fisheries law is about to be broken).