FathomOz

August 2009.  We now know what happened on the Cooma wreck site.  Charter boat captain and owner Ron Isbell told us he found the blades were attached to the ‘boss’ with bolts.  Ron was able to detach three of the four blades – (the fourth being vertical and deep in coral rubble).   One of the blades drifted away on floats into shallow water surf where it may still remain today – although highly unlikely.  The other two bronze blades were  ’salvaged’.  Their fate is unknown.

Ron didn’t indicate what prompted him to visually destroy this magnificent shallow water spectacle for photography, but at least the mystery has been given some understanding.

Early episodes of the TV dolphin show Flipper featured cutaway scenes of the Cooma propeller.

Freediver John Harding was  shown on the cover of SKINDIVER with the Cooma propeller in  February 1965 issue of this former USA magazine and in Fathom 5 contents page shown here.

Excellent historical picture below by Ron Taylor.

Hand feeding tame giant groper from Perry Harvey's former charter boat "Friendship"

Christine Danaher is a talented underwater model who easily trains sea creatures.

Captain Perry Harvey took day-trip visitors to Beaver Cay (Mission Beach, Dunk Island region) for many years. With luck his deckhands would catch a mackerel on the way out – food for the pair of Giant Queensland Groper would would take up residence for several months each year.

The younger groper had sustained a boat propeller injury which had healed well.

Perry Harvey would hand-feed the large fish to the groper, right on the surface. It was a treat for the thousands of visitors who saw this over many years.

Further north at the now internationally known The Cod Hole a family of potato cod make friends with diving visitors – only because they are being offered food by the guides.

Potato cod are not Queensland groper.

It’s an example of how attitudes toward fish have changed. Live fish are worth considerably more than speared and dead ones.

In Taiwan the aquaculture people are testing the breeding of giant groper. These fish mature rapidly to “plate-sized” and may be ideal as breeders for this purpose.

A further example that a live Giant Groper is today far more valuable than a dead one.