Mass stranding kills 14 whales in Australia

Yahoo – AFP, 21 September 2022 

Australian wildlife investigators were on Wednesday trying to piece together why more than a dozen young male sperm whales died in a mass stranding on a remote beach in the state of Tasmania. 

The 14 whales were discovered beached on King Island earlier this week, off Tasmania's north coast. 

Biologists and a veterinarian from the state's conservation agency have travelled to the small island to investigate, with an aerial survey finding no other stranded whales. 

The young whales' deaths may be a case of "misadventure", wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon from the state government conservation agency told the local Mercury newspaper. 

"The most common reason for stranding events is misadventure, they might have been foraging close to shore, there might have been food and possibly they were caught on a low tide," Carlyon said. 

"That's the theory at the moment." 

He said the whales likely beached themselves on Sunday, before being found dead on Monday. 

Mass strandings of whales were "infrequent but certainly not unexpected" in the region, Carlyon told The Mercury. 

In 2020, Tasmania experienced Australia's largest-ever mass stranding when 470 whales became stuck in the state's west. 

More than 300 pilot whales died during that stranding, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers who toiled for days in Tasmania's freezing waters to free them. 

The reason for mass whale strandings remains mysterious, but some experts theorised the 2020 pod may have gotten lost after feeding close to the shoreline or by following one or two whales that strayed.

Polar bear kills man in Arctic Svalbard

Yahoo – AFP, Line NAGEN-YLVISAKER, August 28, 2020

The campsite near Longyearbyen where the polar bear attack took place

A polar bear has killed a Dutch man on Norway's Arctic Svalbard archipelago, local officials said Friday, the sixth fatal attack in almost 50 years in the region.

According to experts, the shrinking icecap has reduced the polar bears' preferred seal hunting grounds, pushing them to approach populated areas in their search for food.

The incident took place overnight in a camping area near Svalbard's main town of Longyearbyen, located 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the North Pole.

The 38-year-old victim was found seriously injured in his tent and died shortly afterwards, the local governor's office said in a statement.

He had been working at the campsite, according to the local Svalbardposte newspaper.

Other people at the scene shot at the bear, which was later found dead in the parking lot of the local airport.

In Svalbard, which is also known as Spitzberg, people are advised to carry a weapon when outside urban areas.

"The bears generally stay away from humans. We are not at the top of their menu, as they prefer to feed on seals," Jon Aars, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told AFP.

"But they are also opportunistic animals, and if they are hungry and are desperate enough, we can become their prey," he added.

There are an estimated 1,000 polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago

According to a 2015 tally, the archipelago is home to about 1,000 polar bears, a protected species since 1973.

Around 300 of them live year-round in the archipelago, with some concentrated in the west of the territory near human settlements. The area was free of polar bears while it was still legal to hunt them.

The campsite worker's death was "a tragic event," Svalbard's deputy governor Soelvi Elvedah said in a statement.

"But this is also a strong reminder that we are in polar bear country and must take the precautions to defend ourselves."

Five deadly attacks on people had previously been recorded since 1971.

The most recent previous fatality occurred in 2011 when a bear attacked a group of British campers on a school trip.

A 17-year-old student was killed and four others were injured before the animal was killed.

Last month the Svalbard archipelago recorded its highest temperature for over 40 years, 21.2 degrees Celsius (70.2 Fahrenheit), almost equal to the all-time record, Sweden's meteorological institute reported.

According to scientific studies, global warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

Investigators look into role of sea foam in surfer deaths

DutchNews, May 13, 2020 

Friends and family of the dead surfers have been placing flowers on the beach.
Photo: Robin Utrecht HH

Dutch sea research institute NIOZ is investigating the possible role of a thick layer of sea foam in the death of five surfers off the coast of Scheveningen on Monday evening. 

Several experts have suggested the surfers may have become disorientated in the foam, which according to some eyewitnesses was over two metres high as it approached the harbour wall. 

Sea foam is formed when sea water has a high concentration of dissolved organic matter from algal blooms and is whipped up by the wind. 

‘There was a lot of foam and this may be due to the large quantity of algae,’ researcher Katja Philippart told broadcaster NOS. ‘This might be due to the good weather of recent days, combined with the strong winds.’ 

However, Philippart told NOS she is not aware of any cases in which people have been suffocated by sea foam. 

One body has not yet been recovered and the search resumed on Wednesday morning. Two other bodies were found earlier on Tuesday morning and two others died after being pulled from the sea on Monday evening. Three of the men who died came from The Hague, the other two from Delft. 

The Hague mayor Johan Remkes told reporters at a press conference that a thorough investigation into what happened would now take place. ‘How can it be that people with so much experience and who knew this place so well came to die,’ Remkes said. 

In total, 10 people are thought to have been in the water at the time, a group of six, a group of three and one single surfer. 

Community 

Friends and family of the dead have been flocking to the location where the five men died, to leave flowers and comfort one another. The deaths have caused shock throughout the Netherlands’ surfing scene. 

‘These were very experienced surfers and swimmers, with a great love for the sea and their sport,’ the Holland Surfing Association said. ‘They were caught up in extraordinary circumstances and lost their lives in such a tragic way.’

Dolphin Zafar, which followed ship to Amsterdam, is found dead

DutchNews, May 13, 2020

Dolphin Zafar in the port of Amsterdam . Photo: Jeroen Hoekendijk

The dolphin which followed a Dutch sailing boat into Amsterdam harbour before being led back to sea has been found dead on the beach at Wijk aan Zee. 

The dead animal, known as Zafar, was found by a man out walking his dog lying in the surf. 

The body has been taken to Utrecht University for a post mortem, animal welfare group SOS Dolfijn said. The animal appears to have died fairly recently and its tail is missing, the organisation said. 

The bottlenosed dolphin was healthy when it returned to the sea and had been catching fish, a spokesman told broadcaster NOS. 

The dolphin was given its name after it was first spotted on the coast of France in 2018 where it was observed to interact with divers.

Het is gelukt!
De dolfijn is de sluis van IJmuiden doorgezwommen en begeleidt richting zee. Tussen de pieren in de havenmonding bleef de dolfijn nog wat rondhangen bij boeien. Maar vanaf dat punt is de toegang naar zee vrij voor het dier. pic.twitter.com/nb8DiWxGE7

— SOSDolfijn (@SOSDolfijn) May 3, 2020

Related Articles:

Dolphin spotted in port of Amsterdam is reluctant to leave

Amsterdam port’s dolphin follows sailing ship back to the sea

No more survivors on New Zealand island after volcano eruption

Yahoo – AFP, Neil SANDS, with Holly Robertson in Sydney, December 9, 2019

A photo courtesy of Michael Schade shows the volcano on New Zealand's White
Island spewing steam and ash moments after it erupted (AFP Photo/Handout, Handout)

New Zealand police have said no more survivors were expected to be rescued from an island volcano that erupted suddenly on Monday, suggesting as many as two dozen people could have died.

Police said some 50 people were visiting White Island when it exploded in the early afternoon -- hurling ash and rock high into the air.

Some 23 people made it off the island, five of whom have since died, the rest were being treated for injuries, including severe burns.

It was earlier estimated the number still on the island was in double digits.

Police said early Tuesday that despite several aerial reconnaissance flights to try and find those trapped "no signs of life have been seen at any point."

"Based on the information we have, we do not believe there are any survivors on the island. Police is working urgently to confirm the exact number of those who have died."

As night fell, deputy commissioner John Tims said volcanic activity made a rescue attempts by land too dangerous.

"I've got to consider the safety of our people and emergency services staff," he said.

This combination of handout images from a webcam belonging to the Institute of 

Geological and Nuclear Sciences shows the volcano on New Zealand's White 

Island spewing steam and ash (AFP Photo/Handout)

The New Zealand military is expected to make a pass of the island at first light in the hope that people may have survived against the odds.

The eruption occurred just after 2pm (0100 GMT), thrusting a thick plume of white ash 3.6 kilometres (12,000 feet) into the sky.

Seconds before, live camera feeds showed a group of more than a half dozen people walking on the crater floor. Then the images went black.

A "considerable number" of those caught up in the disaster are believed to be Australian, according to officials in Canberra.

As many as 30 of those involved are also believed to be cruise passengers on a day trip from the vessel Ovation of the Seas, Kevin O'Sullivan, chief executive officer of industry body the New Zealand Cruise Association told AFP.

The ship's operator Royal Caribbean -- who had billed the trip to White Island as "an unforgettable guided tour of New Zealand's most active volcano" -- said "a number of our guests were touring the island" but did not confirm that number.

The ship has a capacity of around 4,000 people and set sail from Sydney last week on a 12 day voyage.

This handout photograph courtesy of Michael Schade shows wreckage of a 

helicopter amid ash minutes after the volcano erupted (AFP Photo/Handout)

Scene of terror

Tourist Michael Schade, made it off the island just in time and was able to capture footage of the devastation.

His videos showed groups of startled tourists clustered by the shoreline, waiting to be evacuated as the ground around them smouldered, the sky filled with white debris. An ash-caked helicopter lay damaged nearby.

Volcanic Air said they had landed a helicopter on the island shortly before the eruption carrying four visitors and one pilot. All were now accounted for.

"It had landed on the island. What happened after that we don't know, but we know that all five made it back to Whakatane on one of the tourist boats," a company spokesman told AFP.

Guillaume Calmelet, the co-director of Skydive Tauranga, saw the eruption from above as he took a customer on a tandem skydive from a plane 12,000 feet above the Bay of Plenty.

"As soon as the parachute opened there was this huge cloud that was really different to whatever we've seen before," he told AFP. "I could see it coming out in freefall, so probably about 30 seconds for the whole cloud to form, if that. It was pretty quick."

Map locating an erupting volcano in New Zealand. (AFP Photo)

The country's National Emergency Management Agency described the eruption as "moderate", although the plume of ash was clearly visible from the mainland and from satellites flying overhead.

White Island -- - also known as Whakaari -- is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) offshore in the picturesque Bay of Plenty and is popular with adventurous tourists willing to don hard hats and gas masks.

It is New Zealand's most active volcano cone and about 70 percent of it is underwater, according to government-backed agency GeoNet.

Around 10,000 people visit the volcano every year. It has erupted frequently over the last half-century, most recently in 2016.

In August of that year the New Zealand Defence Force airlifted a 2.4-tonne shipping container onto the island to serve as an emergency shelter in case of an eruption.

Britain's 'regret' at Maori killings when Cook landed

Yahoo – AFP, October 2, 2019

A statue of Captain Cook stands in Sydney's Hyde Park (AFP Photo/WILLIAM WEST)

Britain's top diplomat in New Zealand made a low-key "expression of regret" to Maori on Wednesday over deadly clashes that occurred when Captain James Cook's arrived in New Zealand 250 years ago.

British High Commissioner Laura Clarke travelled to the North Island town of Gisborne for a ceremony with the Maori iwi, or tribes, who Cook met when he landed in October 1769.

The explorer's arrival sparked a series of skirmishes in the following days that resulted in nine deaths and is still recalled with anger by locals.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust said the ceremony with Clarke was to acknowledge the hara, or atrocities, committed 250 years ago.

"Cook and his crew landed on the banks of the Turanganui river at 4pm, within 30 minutes they had opened fire and (local chieftain) Te Maro was dead," it said.

"Our whanaunga (relative) was the first casualty of The Collision."

It added: "After only being here for two hours, Cook and his crew had trespassed, terrorised, killed and stolen from us."

The British High Commission issued a brief statement about the event but refused to provide further details, saying it was a "private dialogue between the envoy and the iwi.

"The expression of regret responds to a request from the local iwi for this history to be heard and acknowledged," the statement said.

"The British High Commissioner will acknowledge the pain of those first encounters, acknowledge that the pain does not diminish over time, and extend her sympathy to the descendants of those killed."

Local media reported British officials had "sworn the iwi involved to secrecy" and carefully avoided framing the statement as an apology.

However, New Zealand's race relations commissioner Meng Foon, a former Gisborne mayor, had no such qualms.

"It's a significant day today... I hope that the apology or message will acknowledge the murder of nine Maori from Turanganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne)," he told Radio New Zealand.

"I hope they both can move forward and tell our history."

On three epic voyages, Cook helped chart the vast Pacific Ocean more than any other, making him one of the most celebrated explorers of his era.

But his legacy has been questioned by many modern scholars amid accusations that his "discoveries" led to colonialism and the devastation of the traditional societies he encountered.

Cruise companies pledge aid after Dorian wreaks havoc on Bahamas

Yahoo – AFP, Virginie MONTET, September 5, 2019

The Royal Caribbean ship Allure of the Seas (L) and Carnival Cruise ships Liberty
and Elation are seen in Nassau, Bahamas in April 2019 (AFP Photo/Daniel SLIM)

Washington (AFP) - For the Atlantic's major cruise operators, deadly Hurricane Dorian has meant nothing but trouble in paradise as ships have been diverted from the Bahamas.

But as the widespread devastation becomes more apparent on the ravaged archipelago, a bread-and-butter staple of the tourist industry, the companies are pledging to help fund major relief.

At least 20 deaths have already been attributed to Dorian in the Bahamas in what Prime Minister Hubert Minnis called "one of the greatest national crises in our country's history."

Royal Caribbean, which has shuttled thousands of tourists every year to the Bahamas for more than half a century, said it is "rolling up our sleeves to help our friends" in the Bahamas by committing $1 million to Dorian disaster relief.

Similarly, the Disney Cruise Line has pledged, through its parent the Walt Disney Company, to give more than $1 million in cash and in-kind support to those who found themselves in the storm's path.

On Wednesday, the hurricane was advancing northward off the US Coast as a strong Category 2 storm, threatening the eastern states of Georgia and South and North Carolina.

"To make sure our donations go where they can do the most good, we are collaborating with the Bahamian government and our non-profit partner, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), and a network of Bahamian charities and organizations," Royal Caribbean said.

Port Everglades, Florida, where several major cruise lines are docked, was 

closed due to Hurricane Dorian (AFP Photo/Michele Eve Sandberg)

Rerouted, canceled cruises

The company urged guest and employee contributions as well by promising to match every dollar donated.

It also said it had loaded generators, water, cleaning supplies, clean sheets, towels and other items onto its ships for delivery to the Bahamas.

The company's Mexican partner ITM, with which it has formed the Holistica joint venture that is developing a resort in Freeport, is donating an additional $100,000, Royal Caribbean added.

The 700 islands that constitute the Bahamas archipelago are located just 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Florida and are the home port to multiple cruise ships.

But for three days, the cruises were forced to avoid the region, with several prolonging their voyages so as to avoid the storm.

Norwegian Cruise Line temporarily substituted New Orleans as its terminus rather than Port Canaveral or Miami in Florida, and Royal Caribbean extended several routes, forcing cruise-goers to spend a few additional nights at sea.

Carnival Cruise Line, meanwhile, canceled several trips and reimbursed the would-be voyagers.

A spokeswoman for the company said cruise ships loaded with humanitarian and economic assistance would head to several Bahamas ports, including Nassau and Freeport, as soon as possible.

It added that it was evaluating how best to help the Grand Bahama shipyard and its employees, as well as tour operators.

Whales die in new mysterious Iceland stranding

Yahoo – AFP, August 3, 2019

.Pilot whales can get trapped if they follow their prey into shallow water (AFP
Photo/David SCHWARZHANS)

Reykjavik (AFP) - Some 20 pilot whales have died stranded in mysterious circumstances on the south-western coast of Iceland, emergency services said Saturday, only two weeks after a similarly unexplained mass stranding had already killed dozens of the long-finned cetaceans.

The dead whales, part of a group of 50 stranded whales, were discovered late Friday near Gardur, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the capital Reykjavik.

According to Icelandic media, locals began rescue efforts to save the whales even before emergency teams arrived.

"Around 90 volunteers worked all night to keep the animals wet," David Mar Bjarnason, a spokesman for the Icelandic research and rescue association, told AFP.

By 08H00 GMT the last of the surviving whales were back in deep water.

"We had to wait for high tide to get them back into the sea," Bjarnason said.

Pilot whales are relatively plentiful, with their stock in the Atlantic estimated at between 500,000 and 800,000 animals.

Last month 52 dead stranded whales were spotted on a remote beach in the west of the north Atlantic island nation.

Pilot whales, which belong to the dolphin family and feed primarily on squid, can sometimes get stuck if they follow their prey into shallow coastal waters.

But scientists are mystified as to why such large numbers should get stranded at the same time.

Some theories mention magnetic field interference, while others say that a pod of pilot whales will always follow a single leader -- even if that dominant whale leads them into mortal danger.

Number missing in Indonesia ferry disaster jumps again to 192: official

Yahoo – AFP, Lazuardy Fahmi, June 20, 2018

The wooden boat was believed to be operating illegally, with no manifest or passenger
tickets -- hampering efforts to estimate how many passengers may have been on
board (AFP Photo/JON NST)

Simalungun (Indonesia) (AFP) - As many as 192 passengers could be missing after a ferry sank into the depths of a volcanic lake in Indonesia, the search-and-rescue agency said Wednesday, tripling initial government estimates.

But the agency's head cautioned that it was still unclear how many people were aboard the vessel when it capsized Monday in Lake Toba, a popular tourist destination on Sumatra island.

The traditional wooden boat may have been operating illegally with no manifest or passenger tickets, sparking confusion and a string of changing official passenger estimates.

Indonesia's disaster agency originally said some 80 people along with dozens of motorcycles were on the overloaded, 43-passenger capacity vessel when it overturned and sank.

So far, four bodies have been found and another 18 people rescued, according to the agency.

By Wednesday, the official number of missing had jumped several times to 192 passengers.

Authorities based the figures on reports from families whose missing relatives may have been on the doomed vessel, but their accounts are difficult to verify.

If confirmed, it would be one of Indonesia's deadliest maritime disasters.

"Many people got on the boat without a ticket so it's unclear how many were on board," Muhammad Syaugi, the head of the search and rescue agency, told AFP.

Later at a press conference, Syaugi added: "There are many people who have reported their relatives missing, but whether they were on the boat or not we don't know."

The search has now turned to recovering bodies -- including those that may still be trapped inside the sunken boat.

'Please bring back my son'

"We'll be here until they find my brother's body," said Nurhayati, among hundreds of grief-stricken people waiting by the shore for updates.

"We just want to see his body and take him with us."

Rescue team members prepare to search for missing passengers at the 

Lake Toba ferry port (AFP Photo/IVAN DAMANIK)

Sobbing mother Suwarni pleaded for news of her son and his fiancé, both believed to have been on board.

"Why are the rescue teams so slow?" said the 55-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

"I'm so disappointed -- there's no progress here. Please bring back my son."

Authorities have deployed divers and underwater vehicles, along with about 400 personnel, to search the enormous lake in an operation expected to last at least a week.

Lake Toba, popular with international and domestic tourists, fills the crater of a supervolcano that erupted tens of thousands of years ago.

It is one of the world's deepest lakes and extends some 1,145 square kilometres (440 square miles).

The rescue agency has said it plans to search as deep as 400 metres for the sunken vessel.

Images from the scene Wednesday showed rescuers covering up the bloated body of a woman who had washed ashore.

It was not clear if any foreigners were on board the ferry or what caused the disaster.

Survivor accounts said the boat began shaking as it struggled to navigate strong winds and high waves about halfway into the 40-minute trip from an island in the middle of the lake to shore.

Muslim-majority Indonesia has been celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid since Friday and millions go on holiday during the festivities, with Lake Toba among the top destinations.

The deadly disaster came just days after more than a dozen people were killed in an unrelated ferry accident in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation, where many people depend on boats to get around.

Traditional vessels -- like the one in the Lake Toba disaster -- are rarely equipped with enough life preservers and their condition can be dire.

Enforcement of safety standards also tends to be weak, underscoring Indonesia's woeful boat safety record.

In 2015 a ferry sank off the coast of the island of Sulawesi, leaving 78 dead or missing.

More than 300 people are estimated to have drowned in 2009 when a ferry sank between Sulawesi and Borneo.

Map of Indonesia locating the area where a ferry capsized on June 18 pic.twitter.com/k0OR3LfXpx

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 20, 2018

Whale dies in Thailand after swallowing 80 plastic bags

Yahoo – AFP, June 2, 2018

An autopsy revealed 80 plastic bags weighing up to eight kilograms (18 pounds)
in the whale's stomach (AFP Photo)

Bangkok (AFP) - A whale has died in southern Thailand after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags, officials said, ending an attempted rescue that failed to nurse the mammal back to health.

Thailand is one of the world's largest consumers of plastic bags, which kill hundreds of marine creatures living near the country's popular beaches each year.

The small male pilot whale became the latest victim after it was found barely alive in a canal near the border with Malaysia, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources said on their Facebook page Saturday.

A veterinary team tried "to help stabilise its illness but finally the whale died" on Friday afternoon, the post said.

An autopsy revealed 80 plastic bags weighing up to eight kilograms (18 pounds) in the creature's stomach, the department added.

Photos accompanying the post showed a group of people using buoys to keep the whale afloat after it was first spotted on Monday and an umbrella to shield it from the scorching sun.

The whale was the latest victim of plastic bags which kill hundreds of marine 

creatures living near Thailand's popular beaches each year (AFP Photo)

The whale vomited up five bags during the rescue attempt before it died, the department said.

Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist and lecturer at Kasetsart University, said the bags had made it impossible for the whale to eat any nutritional food.

"If you have 80 plastic bags in your stomach, you die," he said.

At least 300 marine animals including pilot whales, sea turtles and dolphins perish each year in Thai waters after ingesting plastic, Thon told AFP.

"It's a huge problem," he said. "We use a lot of plastic."

The pilot whale's plight generated sympathy and anger among Thai netizens.

"I feel sorry for the animal that didn't do anything wrong but has to bear the brunt of human actions," one Twitter user wrote in Thai.

VIDEO: A mangrove forest in Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province is draped with plastic rubbish washed in with the tide, a symptom of the plastic crisis that has gripped Asia #WorldEnvironmentDay pic.twitter.com/4p3jgYbGH1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 5, 2018

Secrets of the deep: Senegal's slave shipwreck detective

Yahoo – AFP, Jennifer O'MAHONY, 17 Aug 2017

Secrets of the deep: Senegal's slave shipwreck detective

Dakar (AFP) - Staring out to sea on a flawlessly sunny day, underwater archaeologist Ibrahima Thiaw visualises three shipwrecks once packed with slaves that now lie somewhere beneath Senegal's Atlantic waves.

He wants more than anything to find them.

Thiaw has spent years scouring the seabed off the island of Goree, once a west African slaving post, never losing hope of locating the elusive vessels with a small group of graduate students from Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop University.

Goree was the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast between the 15th and 19th century, according to the UN's cultural agency UNESCO, and Thiaw believes his mission has a moral purpose: to heal the open wounds that slavery has left on the continent.

"This is not just for the fun of research or scholarship. It touches us and our humanity and I think that slavery in its afterlife still has huge scars on our modern society," he said, pulling on a wetsuit and rubber boots for the day's first dive.

Thiaw believes his native Senegal, with its own long and violent history of trade in human flesh, could tell the world more about how modern capitalism was founded on violence inflicted on African bodies.

"The Atlantic slave trade was the foundation of our modernity, so this is a history for all mankind," he added, referring to the so-called "Triangular Trade" of human labour for consumer goods between Africa, the Americas and Europe.

After making final checks on the magnetometer that will run up and down a painstakingly designated strip of seabed for traces of wreckage, Thiaw disappears under the surface of the dark green waves.

1,000 slave shipwrecks

African nations affected by the slave trade have never fully come to terms with it, Thiaw believes, and even today in countries like Senegal, a caste of people still refer to themselves as slaves.

The horrors of the so-called Middle Passage, or journey across the Atlantic, not only industrialised the trade of people but ripped entire societies from their roots.

"The umbilical cord between Africa and its diaspora was broken and in the ocean (slaves) were being seasoned to be other people, to adapt to other conditions," he notes.

Thiaw, who originates from a rural area of Senegal but went on to study in the United States, had become known for his research into slaves' living conditions on Goree island when he was approached three years ago by the US National Park Service and National Museum of African American History and Culture to find a west African base for their "Slave Wrecks" project.

They offered dive training, equipment and expertise and had already helped establish similar dive sites in Mozambique and South Africa, with one historic success.

Artifacts, including shackles and ballasts from the Sao Jose Paquete de Africa, a Portuguese slave vessel that sank in 1794 with more than 200 slaves on board, were dredged up off the coast of Cape Town in 2015.

Around 1,000 slave shipwrecks are believed to dot the seabed between Africa and the Americas, according to "Slave Wrecks" researchers, but few have been found.

Today's dive, like dozens before it, was unsuccessful.

Precious clues

"We found a modern shipwreck, a big one," the powerfully built Thiaw said, seawater running down his face, but "it's not really what we are looking for."

The trio of wrecks Thiaw seeks -- the Nanette, the Bonne Amitie and the Racehorse -- all disappeared off Goree in the 18th century, taking with them crucial evidence of how enslaved Africans were carried across the harrowing Middle Passage.

The key is building a team of Senegalese archaeological divers who will dedicate themselves to the task, as some of his students graduate and move on.

The overwhelming majority of slave ships were repurposed and simply rotted away after abolition, meaning the slave shipwrecks preserved by the sea will provide precious clues.

'Silence' around slavery

Thiaw complains that there is a lack of interest within Senegal for his work, especially at the institutional level where, he said, there was "very little funding for research".

"I think in Senegal there's a lot of silence surrounding the issue but I think the time is ripe that we start to teach our students and our children how to respect people of different or lower status, slave caste," he said.

Discrimination remains a problem in the country, with some people still referred to as slaves using the word "jaam" in the country's majority Wolof language.

"There are still people, who are still known to be slaves," he said. "Some of them would even tell you proudly: 'yes, I am a slave'."

Thiaw wants his nation to unflinchingly analyse "the most painful aspects of our history and the contradiction of our history", especially the lingering elements of a class system that designated some Senegalese as worthy only of serving others.

Senegal's past lies somewhere on the seabed between Dakar and Goree, but perhaps also its future.

"We know they are there," Thiaw said.