Scuba Diving Ocean Imaging

Hello, and welcome to the inaugural issue of Scuba Diving Magazine's new Ocean Imaging Newsletter.

The world of underwater photography and video has never been more dynamic. As still photography and video begin to converge, and software for processing and archiving digital content gets more powerful, photographers need to stay informed. That's our goal: to keep you apprised of the latest developments in the field, while celebrating the beauty of our underwater world and our collective quest for new and better images. Our mission is dedicated to the art and science of underwater still and video photography. Thanks for diving in. — Stephen Frink


2009 Scuba Diving Magazine Photo Contest
Got a good eye for underwater photography? It could take you to Wakatobi Resort in Indonesia if you are the Grand Prize winner of the 2009 Scuba Diving Magazine Photo Contest. (Grand Prize courtesy of Wakatobi and Reef & Rainforest.) You can compete for prizes in four categories: Macro, Topside, Marine Life and Wide-Angle. Other prizes include a live-aboard trip for two aboard the Caribbean Explorer II, a dive trip for two to Fort Young Hotel in Dominica, a dive trip for one on Aqua Cat Cruises in the Bahamas, a dive trip for two to Habitat Curacao, UWATEC Aladin Tec 2G wrist computer, Atomic Aquatics B2 regulator, Dive Rite 3000 regulator, Spare Air package and cases by Storm Case.

For more information and to enter, go to > www.scubadiving.com/2009photocontest

Scuba Diving Ocean Imaging

Visitors drive fish count - Fiji Times Online

Visitors drive fish count

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

+ Enlarge this image

Top, butterfly fish right at home in the waters of the Mamanuca Group.

IT'S driven primarily by visitors to our shores, and has been seen as a great way to strengthen Fiji in the minds of tourists.

But the Great Butterfly Fish count is also a way of helping us understand just how healthy our reef systems are.

The nationwide tourism promotion was organised to raise international awareness of Fiji's marine environment. Over the last week, it saw island resorts and scuba diving companies marshal their guests through a fish count all over the country.

The Mamanuca Environment Society believes the Great Butterfly Fish count is an ideal way for visitors to participate in an important reef monitoring activity.

MES project manager Betani Salusalu said the health and growth of reefs could be determined by the existence of butterfly fish.

Abundant fish in reef systems provide scientists with a good indication of coral cover and coral health in particular areas.

Mr Salusalu said the growth and health of coral reefs were important not just for the tourism industry but for the future of marine species themselves.

"For the Mamanuca Group all resorts participated in the Great butterfly fish count," he said. "Under the International Year of the Coral Reef 2008, The Great Butterfly Fish Count activity was initiated by the Government and other stakeholders including MES for the week of November 2nd -8th".

The butterfly fish are in the family Chaetodontidae and have deep, compressed bodies. They are oval-shaped when seen side-on, and thin when seen head-on.

They have small, pointed mouths, with small, brush-like teeth. There are 116 species across the globe, including their close cousins, the bannerfish.

Most live in tropical waters and are found where there are extensive areas of live coral, which is usually in areas of 20 metres of water or shallower.

"The activity was for the whole of Fiji to take part in, to count these fish and collate all the data from throughout Fiji as part of monitoring and identifying Coral Health and Coral Cover.

"That's why we created an activity that would be enjoyable and could also be integrated into activities currently used in all resorts in Fiji."

Mr Salusalu said MES helped resorts in the Mamanuca Group create environmental awareness programs for various island resorts.

He said the programs not only involved staff and management but also tourists who stayed at the various resorts.

Reef Safari dive instructor Joseph Donne said the week-long butterfly fish count was very important.

They had an innovative way to get tourists to sign up a trip in their Yellow Submarine glass water boat. The trips were at South Sea Island and drew a lot of interest.

"We take about 25 passengers out to the submarine where each of them are given a slate each and are asked to tick the different types of butterfly fish they see whilst in the submarine underwater," he said.

"It's easy to do and lots of different types of people with an interest in the marine environment have been taking part in the search for butterfly fish throughout the week".

The promotion, from November 2-8, was aimed at strengthening Fiji's tourism industry and the natural environment.

Visitors drive fish count - Fiji Times Online

OTS: EXERCISE IN SWIMMING POOL WITH OPEN HELMET

As a wee giftie I have posted Alex's latest missive from cedifop. Read it.

A certain number of students ots underwater technical operator of the cedifop generally reaches the courses with acquired experiences in the sporting or industrial sector. Almost all however they don't have before then used the standard equipment, particularly the rigid helmet Kirby-Morgan. To arrive to use it in aware way and in safety, in port exercises or to wide, the instructors of the Centre have decided to follow a formative run that gradually drives the students to its knowledge, organizing exercises with the open helmet preceded by theoretical lessons. That held on October 13 '08 near the swimming pool Hydra from Alberto Gasperin, of the Palumbarus srl, is shown very articulated in the exposure of the history of this component, that has preceded the modern rigid helmet.

If the first historical references to the activity of underwater operators it goes up again to ancient Greece and then to the Roman period, it will need to reach 1770 to seeing realized the first opened helmet. The principal characteristic was the formation of a bead of air to its inside. The experimental phase lasted many decades and the first employment for an underwater recovery is dated 1870. In the meantime however you are been brought a series of changes to the structure (particularly to the form) and the employment happened together with the open bell other important equipment.

The operators pushed him to no more than 15 meters deep, today nearly from exercise in the formative progress. Then however it was a considered quota to tall risk, so much that for the underwater jobs the Marina English selected the personnel among the jailbirds. This way, in that period it had of the resounding one a recovery to 35 meters in the estuary of the Tamigi, depth that anchors at the end of the years '50 were held to the limits of the ability human.

The turn, the passage to the modern scuba diver, was had when the vulcanization of the rubber was invented, that gave the street to the realization of that equipment (wet suit to watertight, fins, masks) essential in every sector. It was the realization of the ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci, although the mask was for a long time already in use (built with material different) near resident populations in the islands of the Pacific. Since then the technical progression has been more and more rapids. From the open helmet he passed to that closed, used up to the years '60 and '70, and still valid (for instance in the Usa) for jobs in port waters up to the 10-12 meters.

From the closed helmet he passed semi rigid to the helmet (the "Facial") and, to follow, to the rigid helmet. In 2004, the most important organizations of the industrial scuba diver have established that the rigid helmet has to be preferred to that semi rigid ,since the integral covering guarantees a greater safety to the busy operator in the underwater jobs, in which it is to contact with metallic objects of various type, greatness and weight. The helmets semi rigid ,for their practicality, they continue however to be used by the operators in Standby (ready OTS to the intervention in case of emergency).

The exercise with the open helmet has been therefore preparatory for those in which the students will have to use the rigid helmet Kirby-Morgan in port waters. One for time the students have worn the helmet and they have gone down to 5 meters deep. they have performed a series of movements and then recovered some objects. fundamental that the OTS acquires the awareness that will be of few meters in the most greater part of the contexts in which will be found to work the visibility (or less than a meter) and the touch will be more main point of the sight.

"The exercise" - underlines Alberto Gasperin - " serves for making to conceptually try to the students OTS an old but functional equipment to direct their concentration on specific problems. To know how to complete an operation in simple appearance or even banal it is often instead conclusive for the safety on the job. The data furnished by IDSA - International Diving Schools Associations point out in fact that a meaningful quota of accidents happens because the operator supposes to have familiarity with the objects and considers natural to complete particular passages."

"When to the reunion of the IDSA (half September 2008) we have illustrated this type of exercise" it adds Gasperin "we noticed a certain wonder - in positive - of the other participants. To insert in the formation of an Operator of the industrial scuba diver a baggage of notions of base considered antiquated full in fact a gap in the preparation. Those people listened how much realized by CEDIFOP they have so ascertained the quality of this idea."

of Ninni Radicini

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vedi il video " i primi passi (uso dell'elmo aperto)" (05' 32'')

http://www.cedifop.it/video/video_55.htm

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CEDIFOP

IDSA - Brittany France - ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

HDS Italia - ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

conforme ai requisiti ISO 9001 / UNI EN ISO 9001 2000

Scuola accreditata dalla Regione Siciliana

Centro IRRA PADI (RESORT)

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i prossimi corsi del CEDIFOP

The CORAL E-Current Photo Contest will continue on an ongoing basis, with winning photographs announced in each bimonthly edition of E-Current Photo

CORAL E-Current Photo Contest | Coral Reef Alliance

Dolphin Pair by Doug Richardson

Enter your favorite coral reef photographs in the CORAL E-Current Photo Contest for a chance to win a copy of Reef—a gorgeous coffee table book featuring beautiful coral reef photographs contributed by Scubazoo photographers.

Each winning photograph will be featured in the photo edition of E-Current, CORAL's free electronic newsletter. The winning photographer's name will be posted on the CORAL Web site, and the winning photo will be available for download as desktop wallpaper.

All photos entered will be evaluated by CORAL staff members, who will choose the top three finalists. None of the CORAL staff members are professional photographers nor do they have special knowledge of artistic presentation or composition. Each staff member will select the photos that strike them most for whatever reason. The winning photograph will be chosen from the three finalists by professional underwater photographer and CORAL columnist, Jeff Yonover.

Win a copy of Reef by Scubazoo!

The CORAL E-Current Photo Contest will continue on an ongoing basis, with winning photographs announced in each bimonthly edition of E-Current Photo. The deadline to submit entries is the 15th of the month prior to publication of the bimonthly newsletter. E-Current Photo is published on the first Tuesday of every other month beginning in January 2009.

How to Enter »

The Rules »

CORAL E-Current Photo Contest | Coral Reef Alliance

Scuba Diving Fiji

Donate to CORAL Today and Receive the 2009 CORAL Calendar | Coral Reef Alliance

Featuring twelve months of beautiful underwater photography, the 2009 CORAL calendar is our best one yet. We’ve got dueling Blue Ribbon Eels in January, an inquisitive Hawksbill Turtle in March, a thumbnail-sized Pygmy Seahorse in August, and a shockingly colorful Nudibranch in December.

Each month features an informative eco-tip to help you save coral reefs no matter where you live. And we've included details about CORAL's conservation work at our seven project sites around the world—including photographs of the local community members and partners that your generous donations support.

When you donate $35 or more to CORAL, we'll send you the 2009 CORAL calendar. If you would like to receive additional calendars to give as gifts to your friends or family members, please donate an additional $15 per calendar. Enter the total amount of your donation in the Donation Amount box and enter the total quantity of calendars you desire in the Total Number of Calendars box.

If you donate:	We'll send you up to [X] calendar(s):
$35	[1]
$50 ($35 + $15)	[2]
$65 ($35 + $15 + $15)	[3]
$80 ($35 + $15 + $15 + $15)	[4]
And so on...

If you would prefer to donate without receiving a calendar, simply enter "0" in the Total Number of Calendars box.


You can donate to receive as many copies of the calendar as you want while supplies last. To ensure that you receive your calendar(s) in time for holiday giving, please donate on or before December 1. And note that if you donate to receive five or more calendars, allow up to two weeks for delivery.
In order to save paper and ensure that more of your donations go directly to protecting coral reefs, we have only printed a limited number of calendars this year. We will stop shipping calendars when supplies run out. Please send your contribution right away to reserve your calendar(s) and to help protect the planet's coral reefs.

If you have any questions about donating to CORAL, please contact our membership department by email or by calling (415) 834-0900 x306.
Please donate now—and thank you for helping CORAL protect coral reefs.

Donate to CORAL Today and Receive the 2009 CORAL Calendar | Coral Reef Alliance

Calling Fish Geeks.......

Thought you may be interested - lots of us have had trouble identifying the Tomato Anemone fish in Fiji, and it has just been identified as a new species, plus the new wrasse ID'd a couple of years ago is described.

See link

Fiji Amphiprion and Cirrhilabrus new species…mainly by DNA data

http://www.aqua-aquapress.com/latest_issues.html

Cheers,

Helen

Helen Sykes

The Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count
2 - 8 November 2008

e: info@fijibutterflyfishcount.com
http://www.fijibutterflyfishcount.com
www.fijibutterflyfishcount.blogspot.com

marine ecology consulting

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Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology

Gerald R. Allen, Joshua Drew and Les Kaufman: Amphiprion barberi, a new species of anemonefish (Pomacentridae) from Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, pp. 105-114

Abstract

Amphiprion melanopus, underwater photograph of adult, about 75.0 mm SL, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, 3 m depth. Photo by G. R. Allen.

Amphiprion barberi, a new species of anemonefish fish, is described from 46 specimens, 16.3-85.8 mm SL, collected at depths of 2-10 m from coral reefs of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. It is closely allied to A. melanopus, which is widely distributed in the western Pacific. The two species exhibit significant colour-pattern differences, including a mainly reddish orange body in A. barberi and dark brown or blackish body in A. melanopus. Adults of the new species also possess fewer spinules (11-19 versus 19-26) in the upper-opercular series than A. melanopus. Genetic data presented here confirms the separation of these species. (PDF)

Gerald R. Allen, Joshua Drew and Paul Barber: Cirrhilabrus beauperryi, a new wrasse (Pisces: Labridae) from Melanesia, pp. 129-140

Abstract

Underwater photograph of terminal phase (male) Cirrhilabrus beauperryi in courtship display, approximately 115 mm TL, 15 m depth, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. Photo by G. R. Allen.

Cirrhilabrus beauperryi is described from eight specimens, 49.0-85.1 mm SL, collected at Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. Field observations also reveal its occurrence at the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland, and Manus), Madang (Papua New Guinea), and Solomon Islands. The new species is closely related to and has frequently been confused with C. punctatus from Fiji, Tonga, New Caledonia, eastern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. The two species are clearly separable on the basis of colour pattern. Terminal-phase individuals of C. beauperryi are generally purplish grading to blue ventrally and greenish or yellowish brown dorsally with a broad purple stripe along the basal half of the otherwise pale yellow dorsal fin. In contrast, terminal-phase C. punctatus are generally reddish brown to dark grey on the upper two-thirds of the head and body and abruptly white below with broad black stripes along the base of mainly red dorsal and anal fins. They also differ noticeably with respect to the colouration on the base of the pectoral fins: in C. beauperryi it is mainly violet with a narrow, inconspicuous purple bar; that of C. punctatus is prominently marked with a broad black bar. The pectoral-base marking is also useful for distinguishing initial-phase fish. The terminal phase of C. beauperryi also exhibits a unique median head profile characterised by a rounded forehead and concave interorbital region. DNA analysis reveals the two species are genetically distinct. (PDF)

Waitabu Marine Park Blog

The Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count 2008

2nd to 8th November 2008

In the International Year of the Coral Reef (2008), you have the opportunity to help celebrate and record Fiji’s amazing coral reef biodiversity, show you care about our world’s delicate coral reef systems, and have fun, by taking part in a week-long hunt for the Great Fiji Butterflyfish!

Easy to do, this is suitable for visitors and locals alike, whether you are a snorkeler, SCUBA diver or Glass-bottom boat passenger. We hope that tourists, school children, scientists and all people with an interest in the marine environment will take to the reefs with us to search for Butterflyfish.

The Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count will be held around Fiji from the 2nd to the 8th November 2008. You can do a single count during that week, or take place as many times as you like during that week, so that you cover different reefs. All data will be gratefully accepted!

So, grab your Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count slate from participating resorts and dive operators, put on your snorkel and mask and dive into the beautiful blue waters of Fiji, to be a part of history!

Diveaway is of course participating so drop us a line for how to get involved!

The Great Fiji Butterflyfish Count 2008

Alice and reef on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Alice and reef on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

underwater.com.au | Search Results

underwater.com.au

Diveaway Fiji
Diveaway Fiji is a PADI dive centre based at the award winning Hideaway Resort on the Coral Coast of Viti Levu, the largest of Fiji’s islands."

Diveaway Fiji - Sigatoka Coral Coast

great wee review of Diveaway

Diveaway Fiji - Sigatoka Coral Coast

Coral reefs and climate change: Microbes could be the key to coral death

/ecosystems/article/33998

Coral reefs could be dying out because of changes to the microbes that live in them just as much as from the direct rise in temperature caused by global warming, according to scientists speaking today (Wednesday 2 April 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Tropical ecosystems are currently balanced on a climate change knife edge. Corals in coral reefs, which are made up of animals called polyps that secrete hard external skeletons of calcium carbonate, are living perilously close to their upper temperature limits. This makes them very vulnerable to even small temperature rises of 1-2oC above the normal summer maximum.

“Many of the deaths we see in the coral reefs, which occur following coral bleaching events, when huge areas of reef die off like in 1998 when 17% of the world’s reefs were killed, can be put down to changes in the microbes which live in and around the reefs,”� says Dr John Bythell, a biologist from Newcastle University. “These microbes can be thought of as being similar to the bacteria that normally live in our guts and help us digest our food.”

Changes in sea temperature caused by climate change and global warming affect corals, but they also affect the types of bacteria and other microflora that live with them. When the water warms up, some disease-causing bacteria are more successful and can attack the corals. The corals themselves suffer from heat, which reduces their defences. Also, some of the friendly bacteria that normally live in the corals’ guts become weakened, allowing other harmful bacteria to multiply and cause diseases or other problems.

For many communities in developing countries, which rely on coral reefs for their fisheries and tourism income, the loss of coral reefs has major impacts on their economies. They also lose valuable coastal defences and land to coastal erosion, affecting human welfare in the communities.

“We need a better understanding of the processes and mechanisms that impact on corals and the reefs when sea temperatures rise to confirm the ultimate causes of their decline,” says Dr Bythell. “Although local actions to reverse the overall decline in reef health are probably not feasible, we need this better understanding to try to reduce or eliminate contributing causes. Some of the changes in the microbes’ environment could be locally managed, for example by reducing general pollution, cutting soil erosion into the sea which chokes the reefs, and avoiding harmful run-off from farming practices.”

A key factor newly identified by the Newcastle team is the role of surface mucus secreted by corals. This seems to act as a shield, preventing disease-causing pathogens such as bacteria and some viruses from penetrating their tissues.

“The reefs’ defensive mucus or slime is also at risk from stresses brought on by climate change. This seems to happen just at a time when some of the key functional microbe groups are changing, reducing the corals’ other defences and boosting some disease-causing bacteria, making them more virulent,” says Dr Bythell.

“If we want to protect and conserve these reefs for the future, we need to start acting now. And before we can do that we need a better understanding of the processes,”� says Dr John Bythell. “The mass mortality of two of the dominant coral species in the Caribbean due to disease has been unprecedented in the last 3,000 years, which suggests a strong link to man-made activities.”

The Newcastle scientists are concerned that despite the clear relationship to underlying factors affecting the reefs which cause the diseases and bleaching, and the important role played by the microbes, microbiology and coral cellular biology are investigated largely independently by different groups of researchers using different approaches. According to Dr Bythell, scientists’ attempts to identify the underlying problems would be improved by combining molecular microbial techniques with coral cell and molecular approaches.

Coral reefs and climate change: Microbes could be the key to coral death

Diveaway at Hideaway Resort Coral Coast Fiji Islands

A few short clips of the special diving available on the Coral Coast while staying at the fantastic Hideaway Resort Fiji Islands.

Floppy when wet: Sea cucumber inspires new plastic

• 19:00 06 March 2008
• NewScientist.com news service
• Mason Inman

Enlarge image

Sea cucumbers switch their skin from flexible to rigid using enzymes; the new material performs the same trick using water as the trigger (Image: Science)

The skin of sea cucumbers was the inspiration for a new material that can change dramatically from rigid to floppy when soaked in water.

The material could be useful for brain implants that cause less inflammation, researchers say. A version switched by electric pulses that is currently in development could find many more uses – such as clothing that morphs into armour.

Sea cucumbers' skin is usually supple, allowing them to slide through narrow spaces between rocks and corals. But when touched a defensive reaction makes their skin go rigid in seconds, thanks to enzymes that binds protein fibres together. A second set of enzymes can break those bonds to make the skin soft again.

Sea cucumber skin can become more than 10 times stiffer in this way, but the new material can go further – softening by more than 2500 times. Simply soaking the transparent material in warm water for 15 minutes is all it takes to complete the transformation. After drying out it is identical to its original rigid state.

The new material behaves differently to more common materials that go floppy in water like foam or cardboard. It changes its properties more dramatically and does not take on large amounts of water when soaked.

Cellulose 'whiskers'

Developed by Stuart Rowan and Chris Weder of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, US, the material is a polymer made from two different compounds and shot through with microscopic cellulose fibres. "It's directly inspired by the sea cucumber," Rowan says.

"We have the elastic polymer, so that's the mimic for the sea cucumber skin, and then we put in the cellulose whiskers," Rowan says. "You can get these from paper pulp, but we got ours from another little sea creature called a tunicate."

When dry, the cellulose fibres keep the material rigid by forming a scaffold held together by hydrogen bonds. But water molecules are better at forming such bonds, so when wet, the fibres lose their grip on one another and bond to the water molecules instead.

The material could be useful for electrodes implanted into the brain, such as for patients with Parkinson's disease or for brain control interfaces, the researchers say.

Electric switch

The rigid material could easily be inserted into brain tissue, before softening into its floppy state. That would reduce the problems with inflammation solid electrodes can cause.

Rowan says they're now working on versions of the material that switch stiffness in response to a pulse of electricity.

"I think it is one of the most exciting recent opportunities in the design of new materials," says Craig Hawker of the University of California in Santa Barbara, US. "It will open the door to applications in a number of different fields."

"One can imagine protective clothing for example, which is flexible and comfortable to wear, but becomes rigid and protective when necessary," Hawker adds. "This is essentially what sea cucumbers use this process for." Robert Langer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, adds, "perhaps it could also be used as a stimuli responsive system for drug delivery".

Journal reference: Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.1153307)

Fiji Adventure Travel: Misty Gorillas of Kadavu - New Research

Fiji Adventure Travel: Misty Gorillas of Kadavu - New Research

Misty Gorillas of Kadavu - New Research

One fact usually overlooked by visitors to Kadavu Island are the rarely seen primates that inhabit the inaccessible jungle covered interior mountains.

The original black and white movie 'King Kong' was filmed on the island's South West shore in the shadow of Mt Delainabukelevu, the island's extinct volcano. A nearby world famous surf break is also named after the movie and surfers from around the world come to surf the left hand reef break - King Kong.

Though never seen near the coast, some villagers with plantations on the upper mountain slopes occasionally see evidence that the gorillas have raided their plantations for fruit.

A new scientific mission has been launched to try to track down and research these secretive animals. Head scientist Dr Jouve binhad and his team of researchers and biologists arrived this week on their research ship and set up their base camp anchored off Matava Resort.We will bring more news if their attempts prove successful.

FVB Dive ME Guide

Look at the FVB Dive ME Guide here:

http://www.bulafiji.com/diveme/online_brochure.html

Here you will find an "e-brochure" about Fiji diving and it's awesome!

“Any country with coral reefs like this has a national treasure that should be protected. Fiji is on of the lucky countries.”
Roger Steene: Author, photographer and marine naturalist.

“We dropped into the blue and descended to a sandy ledge at 100ft where a hammerhead shark was sighted. Schools of barracuda and jack inhabit the channel where a large coral pinnacle is washed by 100ft plus visibility. From bottom to top there were intense pockets of filter feeders: crinoids, giant gorgonian fans, black coral, and massive soft coral trees. The diving is timed to hit enough current to engorge the soft corals and cluster the fish together. That’s what makes these reefs so vibrant and alive.”
Stephen Frink: professional underwater photographer.

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• Click here to view our online Dive ME Guide
• Click here to Download the pdf Version
  

Liquid Motion Film Announce Revolutionary New Series

In association with the worlds leading Research Scientists, from Internationally Acclaimed, Award Winning Filmmakers Liquid Motion Film comes ‘WATER COLOURS’ - a pioneering journey of underwater discovery bringing a revolutionary understanding of the language of the fish...

For years, man has sought the meaning of the fishes’ incredible colours. He’s never truly understood, because he’s always looked through human eyes. At the forefront of Marine Science this sensational premiere unravels the mystery of underwater colour, by looking ‘through the fishes eyes’.

Screening worldwide, earning highest Awards, series ‘teasers’ ‘FISHEYE FANTASEA’, ‘BEYOND THE BLUE’ and ‘COLOUR TALKS’ are taking Film Festivals by storm. ‘MERIT OF EXCELLENCE’, ‘SILVER MEDAL’, ‘1st PRIZE’ & several times ‘BEST FILM’ winner ‘Fisheye Fantasea’ is followed by ‘Beyond The Blue’, a fluorescence special which immediately scooped ’SPECIAL JURY AWARD’ in Belgrade, followed by ‘FIRST PRIZE’, ‘BEST FILM’ in Moscow and ‘BEST FILM’ in Italy this week. The films are Nominated for Awards in Japan, France, USA and the UK.

Featuring mesmerizing cinematography, sensational behaviour and phenomena new to science, forcing us to forever rethink our relationship with the oceans creatures, ’WATER COLOURS’ brings the groundbreaking revelation that ‘colour is the cryptic language of fish’... and the most intimate understanding of marine animals yet.

At the forefront of marine science, LIQUID MOTION FILM: Marine animals, as they really are.

Liquid Motion Film is co-owned by Award-Winning Director-Producer team Guy and Anita Chaumette, whose backgrounds span from Cinematography, prestigious photographic schools in Paris, international degrees and diplomas in multiple languages and Photo-Journalism in South East Asia to computer editing, graphic design, International Marketing, Marine Science and a profound passion for the work of the leading Marine Research Scientists, whose dedication to marine animals parallels their own... Guy and Anita have lived and worked in Fiji for the past 3 years.

Source: liquidmotionfilm.com

ENN: Britain's Prince Charles urges rainforest funding

/wildlife/article/31190

By Paul Taylor

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles, called on Thursday for a global fund to preserve tropical rainforests from destruction.

"In the simplest of terms, we have to find a way to make the forests worth more alive than dead," the heir to the British throne told the European Parliament in an address.

"The doomsday clock of climate change is ticking ever faster towards midnight," he said.

Britain's Prince Charles urges rainforest funding