FathomOz

ALL COPYRIGHT IS HELD BY JOHN H. HARDING

1. Fathom was a marine diving magazine published by Gareth Powell & Associates in Australia. It is considered to have played an important role in raising international awareness of the status of Australian marine life, especially sharks with underwater photography, and established new standards in terms of quality, content, design and accurate marine journalism at a time when most was being sensationalized in the popular press.
2. It was said to be better designed and printed than the leading USA publication, Skin Diver.

3. “Fathom magazine was a perfect fit for its time. The 48-page publication first appeared in Sydney December 1970, produced by Gareth Powell, an eccentric, entrepreneurial British publisher who knew, above anything else, how to employ talented people and give them the freedom to work. Fathom quickly came to reflect the new scuba diving and marine environmental awareness inspired by the Save the Barrier Reef campaign, and the crown-of-thorns starfish plagues threatening coral reefs world wide”.

4. Gareth Powell has been quoted as saying the title Fathom was one of three suggested by editor, John Harding who had canvassed the idea of publishing a dive magazine to him on three occasions. The design was similar to Surf International which was soon to cease production.
5. A major influence on the style of the magazine was the designer, Roy Bisson. In Fathom the freelance contributing photographers and marine journalists were among the best that Australia had produced and included Ron and Valerie Taylor, and John Harding. The art director (an accomplished diver) had full responsibility to choose the photographs used and to decide how they should be displayed. No other magazine company in Australia, at that time, allowed this level of involvement by their creative staff. The only person who was kept well away from the creative process was the publisher, Gareth Powell. He knew printing – and Fathom was to set new standards for the international diving world, attracting attention from many experts in this field, including the aloof Philippe Cousteau who granted an exclusive and rare interview during his Australian visit. The editorial content of the magazine was under the control of John Harding (a photojournalist and underwater film cameraman) and Roy Bisson.
6. It was the responsibility of Harding & Bisson to devise stories, write, photograph and sell advertising and assemble all pictures rather than rely on haphazard contributions. Dive shops were initially reluctant to advertise until after issue number six.
7. 1971 was the beginning of P.A.D.I scuba schools franchise being available to Australian dive shops.
8. In early 1973 the magazine ceased production with issue ten and before completion of a proposed “Annual”. Various reasons contributed to the closure despite a rapidly rising circulation in Australia and USA. A plan to publish Fathom Yearbook much later was actively supported by all former advertisers.
9. The magazine was printed in Hong Kong and  Singapore to obtain better quality than anything available in Australia.
10. Fathomag.wordpress.com now features 480 pages from all ten issues.  Copyright applies.
    

The John Harding Australian Marine Picture Library

“OUR FUTURE – A NEW ADVENTURE”

Marine Photography: 1960 – 2013

fathom (Reg. TM, Australia)

Copyright 2005-2010 We reserve copyright for pictures, captions, text content of this web site. We own all such copyright, (or use it with permission of the credited owner). View this web site and its content using your web browser and make a temporary copy of parts of this web site for your personal use only. You may link to other sites with permission. NO commercial use without a written license and fee.

RE-USE OF CONTENT IN ANY FORM
(1) Text, captions, photos is copyright and owned by John H. Harding and may not be reprinted, republished, or otherwise redistributed without a written copyright license.
(2) To obtain a license, make an inquiry via comments
(3) Copyright law relating to blogs applies.

NEW! For ALL pages from all ten fathoms go to the WordPress hosted blog

http://fathomag.wordpress.com

RON TAYLOR  AM   in clear fresh water springs, Ewen Ponds, near Mt Gambier, South Australia.  A good location to check sharpness of camera lens underwater. Ron with  his own workshop-made camera housing with Rolleiflex wide angle 6x6cm medium format camera.

Needle-teeth of Grey Nurse sharks were popular trophies in the 1960′s.  Taking a set from that species today, in Australia, would guarantee a terrible penalty.  The young lady is Tanya Binning - a famous surf girl of the era. Grey Nurse sharks made a dramatic return to the east coast of Australia in 1988.  The population has been steadily increasing since. Unreliable out-of-date reports continue to circulate promoting a demise.

Same whale shark in both pictures.  35mm lens vs. 15mm lens

In early 1942, the (RAAF), experiencing air attacks on towns in northern Australia, found itself unable to obtain British-designed interceptors or sufficient numbers of P-40s. US Fifth Air Force squadrons in Australia were already receiving the brand new P-39D-1. Consequently, in July 1942, older USAAF P-39s, which had been repaired at Australian workshops, were adopted by the RAAF as a stop-gap interceptor.

Seven P-39Ds were sent to No. 23 Squadron RAAF at Lowood, Queensland. Later, seven P-39Fs were operated by No. 24 Squadron RAAF at Townsville. In the absence of adequate supplies of P-39s, both squadrons also operated Wirraway armed trainers. However, neither squadron received a full complement of Airacobras, or saw combat with them. The home air defence role was filled first by P-40s, followed by Spitfires. Plans to equip two more squadrons with P-39s were also abandoned. 23 and 24 Squadrons converted to the Vultee Vengeance in 1943.

Source: Wikipedia

Also check out the complete 480 pages from Fathom magazine.  http://fathomoz.wordpress.com

Although similar to the content here there are a few differences.  Click pictures to enlarge them.

There are TEN issues of Fathom.  Each is 48 pages.

Edition numbers can be located in CATEGORIES in right hand column.

First issue was  December 1970.  Issue TEN was 1973.  Fathom magazine is said to have put Australia on the international diving map during those early years, as the stories and advertising will illustrate.

In the same era the Captain Wally Muller owner of charter boat Coralita began operation for scuba divers.  The first live-aboard and with dive destinations to The Coral Sea.
We hope you will enjoy these pages from the past.

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.

There’s a lot of out-of-date information circulating.  Consider these points first.
1.  Fishermen prefer to catch marlin, swordfish, tuna – high value products.
2.  Sharks take the baits intended for tuna, marlin, on lines many kilometers long.
3.  Sharks, unable to swim, then drown.  Unable to swim, they drown, dead in 95% of cases.
4.  So, what to do with the dead sharks?  Throw them away?  Process them for $2-3 kilo?
5.  Many (or most) countries, by law, now make fishermen bring whole sharks home, fins attached.
6.  Shark meat is processed into fake fish products, crab sticks, fish fingers etc.
7.  Shark fins are just a bonus, (as compared with a large tuna) crazy to wast them.
8.  A new bait is being trialed, a bait that tuna take yet is distasteful to sharks. It’s expensive.
9.  Fishermen see many sharks offshore and sincerely believe there is no detrimental shortage.
10. There is a decline in all other fin fish, world-wide this is accelerating.
11.  Shark diving companies would have you believe all of the above shark info is untrue.
12.  Same applies to self-promoting marine ‘experts’.  Easy to be interviewed speaking ‘doom and gloom’ info.
13.  Bottom line at Taipei Shark Conference 2002 “We (scientists) should speak more often with fishermen to help with our research.

A world decline in fin fish is resulting in small shark becoming acceptable as cheaper substitute species.  Fins must not be removed at sea – a law for several years in most but not all countries.

WildAid organized the International Shark Conference in Taipei which focused on shark fining and brought about changes in fisheries laws.  The published magazine for the conference is now available on line “The End of the Line”.

The picture of a recently fined shark was an error in that a blunt knife has been used and only the dorsal fin removed. Otherwise there is some excellent research material here.