Questioning CDN Reviews

Your reviews seem to be along Skin Diver magazine lines; always positive and lacking objectivity, as opposed to Undercurrent and Rodale's Scuba Diving's reviews. Also you only review items that are advertised in your mag, and you don't list the retail price. Why?

Best Regards
James Wasser
Long Beach, CA

James:

Let me start off by answering your second question first. If I were to list the "retail price," I would have to give the manufacturer's suggested retail price and gear is rarely sold at that price any more. The number would be pointless, even misleading.

As for reviews: it is actually not hard to say something positive about nearly all gear available on the market today. Dive gear has never been more comfortable and efficient. It is rare to find a piece of gear on the market today that is "junk."

Our review policy is simple, without hidden agenda, and we feel best serves both our advertisers and readers. Priority on reviews is given to advertisers (we have and will continue to review non-advertiser gear also). We publish only honest reviews, pointing out both positive and negative points of the item, as perceived by the reviewing author. We do, however, publish only reviews that are overall positive in nature. Because what does not work for one diver may work for the next, negative reviews are not published. Gear found to not live up to the promises of the manufacturer are handed back to them with an explanation and a polite refusal to publish a review. And, yes, we have lost advertisers over this policy. But at the same time we keep the readers' respect.

We are not in the business of gear hype or bashing. Being a publication free to the public at dive stores, boats, and clubs, we make most of our income from advertisers. But without readers, we would be nothing. In our nearly 17 years of publishing, this policy has worked quite well.

Dale Sheckler
Editor

I am happy to report that my husband and I saw two Black Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas) while diving the east side of Anacapa on Wednesday, June 21, 2000. We were diving in the preserve at Cathedral Cove and Landing Cove with the dive boat Spectre. I was told by the Captain of the Spectre that divers on the Peace dive boat had reportedly seen a Black Sea Bass just days earlier. I am concerned that these fish remain safe from either hunters who may be ignorant in identifying this species when the fish move out of the protected area or from poachers with no morals as to what they decide to kill. I wonder why we cannot see a further increase in protected areas such as these? I can honestly say that the best diving my husband and I have done thus far in Southern California has been in protected areas only. I realize that you agree with fish hunting, but why does something have to be seriously threatened even to the point of near extinction before there are restrictions put on the hunting?

As you yourself reported, two such rare fish as these were discovered slain some time ago and my fear that the ones we saw could end up the same way still remains. As you probably know these fish are thought to reach an age of about 100 years. What a miserable waste to know that something the same age as most of this state could have ended up as a mere meal. At any rate, my husband and I consider ourselves blessed by having witnessed two of the rarest fish in these waters - something that many divers may be unfortunate enough ever to see.

Celia and Tony Ashley
via e-mail

Celia and Tony:

The majestic black sea bass are fully protected under the law throughout California. Any take is criminal poaching and should be dealt with accordingly.

There is a strong move to have more areas set aside as "harvest refugia," especially in the Channel Islands. Being considered currently is the closure of 20 percent of the island to marine life take of any kind, commercial or sport. I support this plan as I feel it is the best option for proper fisheries management.

Dale Sheckler
Editor

Dear CDN,

I am an avid California beach diver. Diving with my buddies Mark and Tom, we try to dive weekly on Thursday nights. During our last two dives on Deadman's Reef (Laguna Beach), we noticed massive numbers of these creatures that we believe are called skeleton shrimp. They are less than 1 inch in length, so they fit perfectly in my Nikonos 1:1 extension framer. We have made numerous dives at this site and have never spotted these shrimp in the past. After looking at the photos, we came to the conclusion that these shrimp were here by the millions to breed. The photos show that many of the shrimp are carrying eggs on their undersides. They also appeared to be engaging in mating behavior, but due to their small size, it was hard to see exactly what they were doing. The ocean changes daily, and these skeleton shrimp may not be around next month. That is why we try to get in the water on a weekly basis. Please view the enclosed photos and try to I.D. these unique creatures.

Thank you.
Fred Sanchez
La Mirada, CA

Fred:

Yes, these are skeleton shrimp. Although common, it sounds as if you did indeed witness an unusual congregation. Another interesting thing I noticed in your photos is their coloration. Most of the time skeleton shrimp are white or cream color. In your case, it seems they have taken on the coloration of the predominant life on your reef, a reddish algae, making them tough to make out on the photos. I commend you for your sharp eye.

Editor

Dale,

I was very interested to read your editorial about diving on the Edith platform. I too am an "old" commercial diver (mixed gas, sat., mainly inspection, mainly North Sea). But I now live in Oxnard, have a boat, and am slowly getting to know Anacapa and Santa Cruz. In going back and forth I pretty much pass the "G" platforms, and the idea of going in for a look has often tempted me. So my question is: Who should I contact for permission to dive these platforms? Thanks for any advice that you can give.

Best regards,
Keith Sewell
Oxnard, CA

Keith:

All California oil platforms, to the best of my knowledge, are identified with a sign as to their owner/operator. There are several operators offshore Southern California and they sometimes change hands. Approach the platform, find the sign and research from there. Most have local onshore offices. I am sad to report, however, that most will not grant permission to private vessels out of concern for liability. They have become more liberal in granting permission to commercial dive charter operations.

Editor

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