Search the Community

Hi Everyone!! I am new to underwater photography, but not new to the ocean. I recently graduated with a B.S. degree in Biology and will embark this year on several trips around the world as I dive into a several research projects. I focus on marine microbiology and coral reef ecology and virology. I am in the market for a new camera and I have no idea where to begin. Any help and advice is so appreciated. I have some grant money that I can use to buy a camera, but my max budget is around $1500. I am going to Tubbataha and Palau in two weeks for a dive trip, and need something that will help me photograph the reefs. I will also begin research on manta rays this year, and I will need something capable of taking sufficient ID shots of their bellies. I realize having a strobe would be helpful, but I don't think I can afford that right now. So far, I am looking at buying used gear, the Olympus TG-5 with housing and wide angle lens, and the Canon GX7ii with housing and wide angle lens. Thank you!

The Wyss Foundation is empowering conservation organizations to protect 30% of the planet by 2030. Thoughts on how this could be possible?

I thought this would be a good forum to start! As divers, I think it's important to be aware of how the marine environment is shifting and changing due to human impacts. Post here if you have recently been on a trip and seen coral bleaching. Be sure to answer where you were, what time of year, and how extensive the bleaching is.

Hey everyone, This method of aquaculture in the Mediterranean caught my attention last year, so I went to Malta and filmed their with some friends. With some improvements, do you think this could be a sustainable way of harvesting tuna in the future? Article and video: http://saltnomads.com/farming-tuna-mediterranean/

Environmental short film showing the diversity of life in the planets rapidly changing oceans... https://vimeo.com/233721008

Hello Everyone ! This is not a Dive Trip as it is open all year round, but I though it was the best place to mention it as it is a heaven for underwater photographers. The Awakening Shark Dive runs from Barefoot Kuata Resort on a small island in the Yasawas, Fiji. It was created with sustainability and conservation as inseparable from any diving activity. The latest available scientific recommendations and experience from dive site around the world were collected to create a dive that is good for the sharks, for the reef, and for local communities. Extensive briefings allows you to learn more about sharks before you jump in the clear water offshore Yasawas islands. The dive has been setup to be easy for beginners and in fact, you can join us on our isolated island even if you never dived before, learn in a few day and jump in with the sharks. No deep-water, no current, helpful staff, so it feels as easy as any simple reef dive - but don't be fooled, it's a blast for experienced divers too ! The Dive is Photographer friendly and always try to give the best spots and angle for photographers. The dive can also be booked exclusive for one of few person, allowing more freedom and unique angles to see the sharks. There are also multiple dive sites around the resort, from shore dive in Marine Protected Area (including night dives) to deeper sea mounts, caves and tunnels, walls or simply nice and easy shallow coral reefs. You can also decide to spend the rest of your day at our pools, bar, or hiking the mountains of the islands ! In the water ? Massive well-educated bull shark swimming in front of you in a totally safe experience. We often hear "it's the best thing I've done in my life !" Find more with this presentation video : https://youtu.be/B2R_bQxaEr8 Here is the website : http://www.thebarefootcollection.com/diving/awakening-shark-dive.htm Or email : sharkdive@thebarefootcollection.com And a few photos from the dive : Contact sharkdive@thebarefootcollection.com for more information, booking, special groups or any other question !

Hi guys, I just wanted to invite you on a unique expedition to the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and UNESCO Heritage Site. This May 14 we'll be embarking on a research liveaboard vessel from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. The main goal is to assess the shark & ray biodiversity of the Park. This also includes understanding the movement and residency patterns of some of the species that visit the park. Working closely with the Park's management office (Tubbataha Management Office), we have put together a team of experts in different fields to bring about shark & ray conservation from one of the last heavens of South East Asia. The team is coming from all over the world, and we have secured a few bits that will enhance the science that'll supply conservation change: - Satellite tags for whale sharks & tiger sharks - Remote Underwater Videocameras (RUVs) - Quadcopters & fixed-wing drones - Acoustic receiver (cetaceans, plankton, vessel movement) We've had a researcher based at the Tubbataha Ranger's station since early March, already collecting RUV footage from around the atolls. He has confirmed the presence of: - Tigers - Scalloped hammerheads - White, blacktip reef sharks - Grey reef sharks - Mobula sp. rays - Whale sharks - Leopard & bamboo sharks The plan would be to meet, greet and brief in Puerto Princesa on the 13th of May, and start cruising on the 14th. We will then have lectures on shark & ray research and conservation techniques. We will finish the work at Tubbataha on the 23rd and cruise back that evening ready to arrive in Puerto Princesa on the 24th May. That is a total of 10 nights on the vessel. The prices of the expedition is $3,000 (USD). All proceeds go to the full realisation of the expedition. The vessel is a research vessel so not a top-end liveaboard and therefore some of the amenities are basic. All food, snacks and soft drinks are included in the total price. So is unlimited diving (up to 4 dives a day) and weights. Dive equipment is not included but it is available for rent in Puerto Princesa. Insurance & flights to/from Puerto are also not included. We are a consortium of US, Italian and Filipino NGOs and have tax-deductible benefits on each respective country. For any more information please contact us on info@lamave.org We look forward to hearing from you and have an infopack ready for those interested. Best wishes, Gonzo ______________________________________ Science Director g.araujo@lamave.org Large Marine Vertebrates Project Philippines www.lamave.org #ExpeditionShark #SharkEden

Hi guys, I just wanted to invite you on a unique expedition to the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and UNESCO Heritage Site. This May 14 we'll be embarking on a research liveaboard vessel from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. The main goal is to assess the shark & ray biodiversity of the Park. This also includes understanding the movement and residency patterns of some of the species that visit the park. Working closely with the Park's management office (Tubbataha Management Office), we have put together a team of experts in different fields to bring about shark & ray conservation from one of the last heavens of South East Asia. The team is coming from all over the world, and we have secured a few bits that will enhance the science that'll supply conservation change: - Satellite tags for whale sharks & tiger sharks - Remote Underwater Videocameras (RUVs) - Quadcopters & fixed-wing drones - Acoustic receiver (cetaceans, plankton, vessel movement) We've had a researcher based at the Tubbataha Ranger's station since early March, already collecting RUV footage from around the atolls. He has confirmed the presence of: - Tigers - Scalloped hammerheads - White, blacktip reef sharks - Grey reef sharks - Mobula sp. rays - Whale sharks - Leopard & bamboo sharks The plan would be to meet, greet and brief in Puerto Princesa on the 13th of May, and start cruising on the 14th. We will then have lectures on shark & ray research and conservation techniques. We will finish the work at Tubbataha on the 23rd and cruise back that evening ready to arrive in Puerto Princesa on the 24th May. That is a total of 10 nights on the vessel. The prices of the expedition is $3,000 (USD). All proceeds go to the full realisation of the expedition. The vessel is a research vessel so not a top-end liveaboard and therefore some of the amenities are basic. All food, snacks and soft drinks are included in the total price. So is unlimited diving (up to 4 dives a day) and weights. Dive equipment is not included but it is available for rent in Puerto Princesa. Insurance & flights to/from Puerto are also not included. We are a consortium of US, Italian and Filipino NGOs and have tax-deductible benefits on each respective country. For any more information please contact us on info@lamave.org We look forward to hearing from you and have an infopack ready for those interested. Best wishes, Gonzo ______________________________________ Science Director g.araujo@lamave.org Large Marine Vertebrates Project Philippines www.lamave.org #ExpeditionShark #SharkEden

Hello everyone, Wanted to share my latest effort. It is called Black and White. It was filmed in Socorro. This is more of an educational and conservation artistic piece. Let me know what you think. Enjoy! Dustin Or Youtube

While out and about in Dallas, we stopped for lunch at The Porch. http://www.theporchrestaurant.com/ It's an excellent restaurant with tasty indulgent menu items. I happened to notice that the specials board had "Grilled Black Tip Shark". As one might expect, this bugged the heck out me. This morning I remembered this event and I went to their website and emailed the managing partner. I provided links to Shark Angels and to Shawn Heinrich's web page showing the devastation caused by shark finning. About an hour after I got to work, I received a call from Justin Beam, the general manager. He said he and the executive chef discussed the matter and had looked at the links. He said they would pull the menu item immediately and never offer shark again. I thanked him. I wanted to share the positive experience. Granted, this restaurant is part of the Consilient Restaurant group, which focuses on local farm to table type restaurants. Anyway, we now have two more people on our side. BTW, the restaurant group consists of some pretty good eateries: Hibiscus Fireside Pies Victor Tangos AF+B (Ft. Worth) If you are in the Dallas area, they are worthy of your business.

Hi, over the last few months I have been interviewing and researching for this short film. http://www.scidev.net/global/conservation/multimedia/saving-the-giant-bumphead-parrotfish-of-palau.html?from=homepage%20featured%20carousel Cheers Richard

http://vimeo.com/72166840 http://www.migrationmedia.com.au/stop-the-demand-breaking-the-cycle-of-the-manta-ray-slaughter/ This video was created with the collaboration of many passionate people, who all love care and work with manta rays. It is to highlight the ongoing threats that all manta and mobula species face in a market place driven but monetary rewards for poor environmental practices. We hope to be able to use this video and Coral Bay to highlight, that in a high economic environment, like Australia, whole populations CAN make livings and sustain a high level of living, because of a successfully monitored, practiced and environmentally conscious tourism industry based around these impressive animals. Manta rays have long since been one of those iconic species that every diver and ocean lover has wanted to swim with and experience the rush you get from looking in the eye of an intelligent animal, like manta rays. To have that personal connection is something you don’t get to have very often, but when you swim with manta rays it can feel like you really make a connection. These beautiful and majestic ocean giants are becoming increasingly threatened. They are being targeted and killed and new fisheries have been created in countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Mozambique. These fisheries have been created to meet the growing demand for manta ray gill rakers. These are said to be used in traditional Chinese medicine, but historically there is no evidence for this product ever being regarded as a traditional medicine. This is a new product has been created as the demand for shark fin reaches its pinnacle, and fishermen can no longer supply the increasing demand, they turn to a new species and invent new medicinal benefits for the emerging manta ray gill raker products. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners claim, that as the manta ray uses the gills to filter food, the gills will have the same medicinal effects when consumed. Maintaining that the gills can filter toxins from the blood stream, help with asthma and some even promote the product as a cure for cancer! None of these medicinal benefits have any scientific backing behind them. Manta rays in 2011 were listed and upgraded to be a venerable species in the IUCN list (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Listing both species, Manta alfredi, the reef or costal manta ray commonly seen in and around Coral Bay and Manta birostris, which is known as the Giant Manta Ray or Oceanic Manta under its protection. Manta species have also been included on this March 2013 as part of Appendix II on the, Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), for a voluntary agreement not to trade in manta ray parts for around 175 countries. As the migratory patterns and definitions for manta rays are largely unknown, they have also been listed as a protected species on the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS). This affords them the protection they need to conserve migratory species throughout their range. Since 2011 and the listing of both manta ray species on the Appendix II of the IUCN list, the 116 nations are obliged to provide and protect key areas of habitat and the species within the nations waters. However even with all this protection, Manta ray species and mobular rays are still under threat! Hundreds are being taken and targeted every day, killed for their gill rakers alone, as the meat is of poor quality and of very little monetary value. Until we can STOP THE DEMAND, for this unproven and unsustainable Chinese medicinal product they will remain under sever threat! Money will always wins…

NEW - Underwater Video Courses with Jeff Goodman in Cornwall. In addition to the courses held in the Red Sea, S.Africa and Maratua, Jeff has now teemed up with Atlantic Scuba near Falmouth. Explore the waters of Cornwall with your video camera. Some of the best of UK diving. Atlantic Scuba is based near Falmouth in Cornwall, with our dive boat moored at Mylor in the Fal Estuary. Specialising in diving around Falmouth Bay and the Manacles, the area is ideal as it is protected from the predominant south westerly winds. Wreck and reef diving are all on the agenda. UK marine wildlife at it's best. The wildlife around Falmouth is extremely varied. Falmouth Bay's unique position of having two different river estuaries feeding into the bay from two sides brings a lot of life into the area. There are 2 day weekend introduction courses and the 5 day full courses Full details, dates and costs are at http://www.jeffgoodman.co.uk/uwcornwall2.html

Ok, diver friends. The Aggressor Fleet has generously agreed to donate a trip for 2 on board the lovely Turks & Caicos Aggressor II as a raffle prize to help the TCRF raise money to support its moorings project which it is leading with Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs. Tickets are $25 and only 500 will be sold. Drawing to be held on 2 November 2013. More info at http://www.tcreef.org/aggressorraffle.html — in Providenciales. Please share this on to all your diver friends.

Hi all, The United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meets every 3 years, and 177 member nations vote on whether to grant international protection to certain highly threatened and endangered species. For the first time, two manta and seven species of shark are on the agenda for potential listing. The meeting is being held from 3 March (Sunday) to 14 March in Bangkok, Thailand. It goes without saying that anything that you can do to put pressure on the delegates to add the sharks and rays to the endangered list is now needed. PEW is publishing a series of audio podcasts about CITES and how important this meeting is for their survival. You can listen to them here. There are a large number of conservation organizations seeking your support. May I suggest that any you come across, you share below so that the Wetpixel community can mobilize? Here are some for starters: Shark Defenders: http://www.sharkdefenders.com/p/shark-stanley.html Protect Manta Rays: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_Manta_Rays Project AWARE: http://www.projectaware.org/project/setting-our-sights-cites Adam

Shark Week 2012 started on Aug 12th, and judging from the first few programs I fast forwarded through, I get the feeling there may be a transition in Discovery's programming in response to the protests that have been directed at them over the last few years. A little background first, there has been quite a bit of controversy in Discovery's programs before, like the "How Sharks Hunt" and the Les Stroud programs did not push the shark conservation agenda. However, this year seems to be starting out well. In Myth Busters Jawsome special, there was a direct mention of shark conservation at the end of the show, making it the top myth that has yet to be broken in the minds of the public. Yes, the program went through all the bad stuff from the years before. However, making shark conservation the top priority is significant progress for such a popular program. While the other programs didn't exactly push the shark protection agenda, I felt there wasn't the same sharks are mindless monsters nonsense of yesteryears or worse, silly experiments that may affect the sharks. More encouragingly, there are programs specifically built on the conservation message so lacking in the last 24 years of Shark Week. Most significantly, Shark Fight will show how shark attacks occurred but also includes how shark attack survivors change from hating sharks to helping protect sharks, which will be hopefully a positive effect on how viewers see the tragedy of any shark incident. Hopefully, this trend will continue for years to come. Once the week ends, I think if the rest of the programs continue this trend, letters of encouragement and support should be sent to help Discovery "see the light!"

In the past 3 years I have traveled to the corners of the planet, to some of the most remote and inaccessible coastal regions, to document the unchecked and often secret slaughter of one of the most graceful, charismatic, gentle and vulnerable of marine species…the Manta Ray. Several years ago I teamed up with my good friend and uncompromising conservation photographer Paul Hilton, to expose this senseless destruction and to try to put an end to it. This mission took us on an unforgettable journey, one that exposed us to constant danger, threat of violence, brutal conditions, exhaustion and incredible frustration. But what we were not prepared for, was the extent and brutality of the manta fisheries, and how the shark fin trader network had become the driving force behind this exploitation. What we witnessed tore at our hearts, blackened our souls, and all but crushed what hope remained within us. Read the FULL STORY:

Maurine and I have been receiving some very negative comments on one of our photographs originally published last year in our Bird's Head Seascape diving guide, which we produced for Conservation International. The image has recently been published in the Guardian and it has created quite a controversy. (Interestingly, we have had no negative feedback from any of the 1000's of divers who have bought the book.) We feel we should share the image in an attempt to help the community understand the context. Here is the image. Although some people think the image is of us, it shows Dr. Mark Erdmann (left) and Dr. Gerald Allen photographing a recently collected fish. The image was taken to show them at work. We are only the photographers. I have forwarded a few of the more negative comments to Dr. Erdmann and I think his words help explain the context. I hope this helps everyone understand. Mark's reply: "Thank you for your email of concern about the image of Dr. Gerry Allen and I photographing a new species in Cendrawasih Bay. I very much respect your concern, and I have no desire to create a polemic, but I do feel it may be of use for me to quickly clarify this photograph. Firstly, I note that Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock should be absolved of any responsibility or blame; they were accompanying a scientific expedition (biodiversity survey) to Cendrawasih Bay with my organization (Conservation International) and were simply documenting the scientific process. As for the scientific equipment that is seen laying on the substrate in the photograph, this is indeed a real-life situation after I had just collected a new species of cryptic dottyback fish from 70m depth and we were taking specimen shots to document the live colouration of the fish for the purposes of the scientific description of the new species. I can imagine that this photograph may look as if there was significant coral crushing going on, but I can only assure you that: a) the scientific equipment was carefully placed on the reef in a manner so as to not break any coral; b) though Dr. Allen and I are indeed very close to the substrate to get the shot required for the description of the fish, both of us have well over 10,000 dives under our respective belts and most definitely are not "laying on the coral" and crushing it. c) though the process of collecting and documenting new species may seem objectionable to some (and I certainly respect that opinion), it is in fact a "necessary evil" if new species are to be described and our global biodiversity heritage cataloged properly. I note that our efforts to describe patterns of biodiversity across the East Indies (and especially to highlight areas like Cendrawasih Bay that have high numbers of endemic species found nowhere else in the world) have helped governments in the region to prioritize where they invest conservation dollars and has led to the gazetting of millions of hectares of new marine parks - including the 1.5 million hectare park that now protects the marine biodiversity of Cendrawasih Bay. Again, I have no desire to quarrel and I very much respect your concern for diver/photographer behaviour on reefs. I only note that the activity documented in this image is an important part of the scientific process that documents new species and directs governmental attention for conservation efforts, and I can assure you that we actively strive to minimize any damage to the reefs from our surveys. Thank you for your concern on behalf of the world's reefs - I can only affirm that we also share this concern. Thanks for your understanding." Best, Mark