Most of the time safety divers do not need to step in, but our presence gives athletes the security needed for their remarkable underwater feats
• Photography and videos by Piko Studios and Jack Lawes for the Guardian
Things started to go wrong as Gary McGrath was coming up from 95 metres below the surface, a feat managed entirely on one breath. McGrath, who holds the British freediving record of 112 metres, was met on his ascent by a team of safety divers who quickly noticed he was struggling as his movements started to slow. Then he stopped rising.
Protocols designed for such emergencies instantly came into play. One diver sealed Gary’s airways while another grabbed his hips, bringing him to the surface together, all while holding their breaths, too.
Gary McGrath in Dahab, on Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. He holds the British record after freediving to 112 metres
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/03/2024 - 04:00
09/03/2024 - 01:44
£1.5bn auction awards record funding for new windfarms, solar farms and tidal power projects
Business live – latest updates
Great Britain’s renewable energy auction has secured enough new clean electricity projects to power 11m UK homes after the Labour government made record funding available to suppliers.
The £1.5bn auction will support 131 new projects including windfarms, solar farms and tidal power projects after ministers increased the amount of funding available to seven times the sums offered last year.
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09/03/2024 - 00:11
Climate scientists have already predicted that 2024 will be the hottest year ever
Japan has recorded its hottest summer on record after a sweltering three months marked by thousands of instances of “extreme heat”, with meteorologists warning that unseasonably high temperatures will continue through the autumn.
The average temperature in June, July and August was 1.76C higher than the average recorded between 1991 and 2020, the Japan meteorological agency said, according to Kyodo news agency.
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09/03/2024 - 00:00
Friends of the Earth says pollution exceeds healthy levels for nature in 9,062 localities
More than a quarter of neighbourhoods in England have pollution levels that are highly harmful to wildlife, new data shows.
Friends of the Earth has named 27.5% of areas “nature pollution hotspots” in new research. These are defined as places where air, water, noise and light pollution all exceed levels that are damaging to nature.
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09/02/2024 - 23:00
Rachel Reeves should reform vehicle taxes to fill £5bn ‘black hole’, says Campaign for Better Transport
Campaigners have called on the chancellor to introduce a controversial pay-per-mile road charging scheme on electric cars, warning of a £5bn “black hole” in tax revenues from motoring.
In a letter to Rachel Reeves, the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) urged her to reform vehicle taxes, with fuel duty poised to dwindle in the coming decade as petrol and diesel cars are phased out.
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09/02/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 03 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00074-6
Is tuna ecolabeling causing fishers more harm than good?
09/02/2024 - 22:00
Will its bark be worse than its bite?
See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here
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09/02/2024 - 14:00
Seabirds are in a precarious position as their breeding areas are threatened by climate breakdown and overfishing
Five seabirds have been added to the UK’s conservation red list, meaning they are at dire risk of local extinction.
The government has been urged to act as the arctic tern, Leach’s storm petrel, common gull, great skua and great black-backed gull join other seabird species such as the puffin on the list after severe population declines.
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09/02/2024 - 10:36
Fourteen hiker deaths reported in the park this season, with total fatalities at almost the annual average of 15
More than one dozen parkgoers have died in Grand Canyon national park this summer, with three perishing in just over one week in August, as weather extremes linked to climate change make for increasingly dangerous conditions.
With 14 deaths reported in the park this season, total fatalities have already almost reached the annual average of 15, the Hill reported.
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09/02/2024 - 10:18
Activists and lawyers in Brazil say unexpected change is ‘a big step backwards’ in the investigation
Indigenous activists and lawyers in Brazil have voiced shock and dismay after the federal police chief leading the investigation into the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips was unexpectedly removed from the case.
Francisco Badenes, an experienced investigator, had been running the inquiry into the 2022 deaths of the Brazilian Indigenous expert and the British journalist since the second half of that year.
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