Well-travelled divers all acknowledge that the best diving in the world is found in the warm waters of tropical Asia. No other region on earth presents such a rich variety of marine life, and none can boast as many different types of dive sites: tiny, isolated atolls, World War II wrecks draped in beautiful soft corals, shallow, bommie-filled fringing reefs and pinnacles, all swarming with fish and vibrant color. Diving in Southeast Asia is a comprehensive diving guide covering Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. It presents in great detail the very best dive sites in the tropical western Pacific. Our seasoned diver-authors have an aggregate half-century of experience exploring these waters, and each site receives thorough coverage, including detailed maps, color photos, and a full description of access, conditions, and facilities. This Southeast Asia diving guide features: Practicalities: Detailed travel information for every budget, including accommodations, transportation, prices, seasons, and dive operators. Information: Local history, diving lore, site conditions, and more than 50 maps. Photography: More than 100 color photographs by top photographers.

A major concern among ecologists in and outside the ASEAN region is the degradation of the environment, and the overexploitation of freshwater and marine resources. There is as yet no indication that freshwater and marine resources are being managed on a sustainable basis, and loss of wetlands, whether freshwater swamps or mangrove swamps, is a major problem in the ASEAN region. Reclamation of mangrove swamps for aquaculture and agriculture seems to be a continuous activity here and the status of marine parks should also be examined in the light of recent resort development acitivities on small islands. This volume contains numerous recommendations for the promotion of ecological studies and regional cooperation in marine, freshwater ecology and conservation, with special emphasis on the common water masses like the Strait of Malacca, Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea.

Covers the traditional range of topics in regional oceanography. An important aspect of work is its novel approach to a description of the features which give each ocean region its character. The two core principles are the use of the most modern database for all maps of regional distributions of properties and a discussion of all observed features within a frame of reference developed from ocean dynamics, rather than based on the simple geographical approach. The ocean's role in climate variability and climate change is described in detail. The book also includes an evaluation of all major international research projects such as FGGE, IIOE and TOGA. The SI system is used throughout. The use of modern data and inclusion of the oceanographic literature up to 1992 and early 1993 make it a useful reference text.

This book is the first on the history of the marine fisheries of Southeast Asia. It takes as its central theme the movement of fisheries into new fishing grounds, particularly the diverse ecosystems that make up the seas of Southeast Asia. This process accelerated between the 1950s and 1970s in what the author calls "e;the great fish race"e;. Catches soared as the population of the region grew, demand from Japan and North America for shrimps and tuna increased, and fishers adopted more efficient ways of locating, catching, and preserving fish. But the great fish race soon brought about the severe depletion of one fish population after another, while pollution and the destruction of mangroves and coral reefs degraded fish habitats. Today the relentless movement into new fishing grounds has come to an end, for there are no new fishing grounds to exploit. The frontier of fisheries has closed. The challenge now is to exploit the seas in ways that preserve the diversity of marine life while providing the people of the region with a source of food long into the future.