46. DEMA 2020 Recap, the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 and Sea Hunt – It’s Still Alive – Synthetic Hero

The Dive Equipment and Marketing Association held it's annual conference virtually this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The show featured a number of virtual presentations that were fairly effective and gave a feel to being there. The exhibitors featured a list of many different vendors. The experience with vendors is one of the big reasons we attend and this is where there were I hope that we find a better way of doing virtual trade shows in the future. The Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 became a law on December 23, 2000 and had great bi-partisan support when it was signed by President Bill Clinton. Both Democrats and Republicans had legislation making its way through Congress. The law requires that a Coral Reef Action Strategy be developed along with a report to Congress every two years. The latest strategy published by NOAA is from 2018. More to come on that. Sea Hunt's Synthetic Hero - season 3, episode 20 premiered on May 21, 1960. In this episode Mike is working in the Caribbean with a dredging operator when he finds an uncharted wreck that he identifies as the LST 4277. This ship went missing in action on September 12, 1944. Mike is asked by the Navy to find out what happened. He is joined by two survivors of the sinking. One of them has a secret. Listen to find out just what that secret is and how Mike has to deal with that.