Not only is David Harasti a marine scientist, he is also a superb underwater photographer. Combine the two and you have a great recipe for a book. Dave has spent many hours co-producing this book and the results are fantastic. It is full of amazing images, information and a great aid to help local communities understand the ocean and its importance.

The ‘Marine Life of Bootless Bay - Papua New Guinea’ identification guide by Dr Mark Baine and Dave Harasti is the accumulation of 18 months work and several hundred hours spent underwater photographing and documenting the marine biodiversity of Bootless Bay, located just outside Port Moresby. 

The 152page full colour book released in February 2008 contains approximately 900 images of over 850 species, accompanied by introductory information on all major marine taxa such as corals, echinoderms and fish.

The book is not just for scientists but is also a must for divers and photographers who regularly visit Loloata Island Resort, situated in Bootless Bay and world renowned for its scuba diving.

The diving throughout Bootless Bay is so diverse. Diving varies from coral reefs, shipwrecks and muck diving through the mangroves and seagrasses. One of the most fascinating sites in Bootless Bay is ‘Suzie’s Bommie’, famous worldwide for its incredible life that varies from giant hump-headed maori wrasse to the cryptic pygmy seahorses. 

An example of the diversity of the guide is that is contains images of 335 fish species (including rare species such as the lacy scorpionfish Rhinopias aphanes and halimeda ghost pipefish Solenostomus halimeda), 145 mollusc species, 88 species of echinoderms (seastars, featherstars, urchins etc) and many other critters commonly found throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

To ensure accuracy within the guide, an expert taxonomic review process took place which involved approximately 45 world renowned experts in their fields. Gerry Allen and Rudie Kuiter (fish), Chantal Conand and Anne Hoggett (echinoderms), Jere Lipps (forams), Richard Willan (molluscs), Daphne Fautin (anemones) and Peter Davie (crustaceans), all prestigious individuals, took part in the review.

The principal focus of the guide is to improve local knowledge of the importance of marine biodiversity and to instil in local communities and villages, a sense of wonder at the diversity of life present in their waters.  To this end, approximately 3,000 copies are being distributed to community schools and village communities early 2008.  This has been made possible with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Project AWARE, the Papua New Guinea Institute of Biodiversity, and the University of Papua New Guinea.

Copies of the book are available to interested parties who visit Bootless Bay.  For further information visit the MIRC website or www.daveharasti.com.

-Jayne Jenkins
www.jaynejenkins.com

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1. I have this book. It is great and agree with Jayne’s comments. I’d also add that this book is soft back - making it an ideal travelling ID guide for most of the critter rich SE Asian destinations.
   Alex

   Posted by Dr. Alex Mustard on 03/04 at 05:40 AM

2. Isn’t this review a bit prejudiced?  The review is by one of the book’s authors whose first line of the review says, “Not only is David Harasti a marine scientist, he is also a superb underwater photographer.” Quite an ego boost for pictures, which judging by those shown with the review, are only typical of those in manhy other marine life guides.  What ever happened to a little modesty?

   divegypsy

   Posted by divegypsy on 03/05 at 03:11 AM

3. Divegypsy,

   I think you need to check the article again as I think you will find the article was written by Jayne Jenkins from Divelog and Australasian Scuba Diver Magazine.

   Do you really think I’m going to write a sentence like that about myself… seriously!!!

   And regarding the quality of the images, its a marine life guide… not a pretty coffee table book.

   cheers,
   Dave Harasti

   Posted by Dave H on 03/05 at 04:10 AM

4. Hello David,

   My mistake on the authorship of the review.  My sincere apoplogies on that.  The post I originally read led me to believe you had written it. 

   And to be quite honest I get very tired of reviewer after reviewer using words like “incredible, fantastic, etc just because something has been published, frequently by a friend.  I’ve come up from dives and heard guys say something like,"I just got 10 (number variable) incredible pictures on that dive.” And I think to myself that I’m lucky if I get 2 or 3 incredible pictures in any year.  And it’s not as though I haven’t got the track record and experience to be a fair judge of what makes a picture special.

   Almost everything covered, people and products, that you see mentioned in the media or advertising these days uses so many superlative type adjectives that there is no credibility at all.  And these days what the superlatives usually mean is only ordinary. 

   I have come up from a dive on a liveaboard and been dissed when I said the dive was “good” as opposed to incredible or fantastic. 

   And having seen the kinds of things Neville Coleman writes about himself in every book he self-publishes, I made the error.

   I would just like to see a world with a bit more modesty and a bit more of a reality-check on all the hype.

   Again, my apologies.  I will look for your book the next time I’m in PNG, possibly later this year.  Is it being sold in any Australian bookstores?  I’m diving in South Australia right now.

   divegypsy

   Posted by divegypsy on 03/05 at 09:12 PM

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