While we where underwater in Burma, on serveral different occasions, we were bombed. Dynamite fishermen make up fertilizer and diesel fuel bombs in small clay pots. They then chuck them overboard and, "Boom!" Even if it's a mile away, if you're underwater, it feels like you've been hit with a baseball bat over your whole body. The nearby fish are killed, their swim bladders, which help them maintain bouyancy, explode. Some float, some sink. Fish farther away are only stunned. A diver sucking off a garden hose then dives for the fish. The bombs are often duds and the fuses are unpredictable, so being the diver is not a long career. The uncollected bi-catch is over 80% of the kill and the bomb lays waste to future generations of fish. In this shot, you can see two bomb craters separated by still living reef.

12/20/04 5:25:24 PM
Country: Thailand
Area/City: Similan Islands
Speed: 1/50 sec
Aperture: f1.8
ISO: 64
Focal Length: 7.1 mm
Flash: