|
This is where you can find where I am directing my efforts, where my cameras become eyes by which others can see, so that we can begin to bring about change so desperately needed in the ways we treat our oceans. Under such huge pressure from human activity, mainly commercial fishing, but also from coastal development and tourism pressure, entire ecosystems and species are at risk of destruction and loss. The very most important of these are the sharks, who are the oceans apex predator, and keep everything in place, particularly the delicate reef systems which act as nurseries for the open ocean.
|
|||
|
At DEMA in Orlando, we are proud to be sponsoring Richard Stewart's State Of The Oceans Summit, where eyemocean.com has teamed up with long time friends and dive experts Exploramar Diving from Ecuador. Project Elasmo (from elasmobranchs (sharks and rays)) is set up to bring attention to the mismanagement of Ecuador's maritime resourses, and to raise funds to both educate local people in the importance of fishery management, and also to continue to study the coastal area of mainland Ecuador. We believe that the coastal areas (historically mangrove, now mostly destroyed by shrimp farming) are extremely important breeding grounds to many shark species and also home to many types of coral and invertebrate specie, as well as being an important breeding and mating ground for humpback whales. We aim to concentrate mainly on the urgent task of shark conservation, but also have a very interesting project takinng off in 2008 to study a visiting migratory population of manta rays. More... |
||
Don't have quicktime? 5 minute trailer. Approx. 36 MB in QT |
As part of Project Elasmo, I am producing a documentary on shark fishing in Ecuador. We need furhter funding to complete this project and to produce a first class documantary. Click the image on the left to view the trailer, or here to read my online article on the importance of why we should conserve sharks, along with some images of some of the daily sightings of sharks caught illegally in Ecuador. Although focusing on the problems within Ecuador, the film will now also concentrate on the role of the european union and its lack of effective policy to protect its own shark fisheries, and how this affects the conservation movement in countries like Ecuador. There will also be a good amount of coverage of the shark tourism industry and how the individual value of a shark compares if it were a meat product. The Ecuadorean angle concentrates on fishermen and recent policy, which could be affecting Galapagos populations as well as widespread damage in coastal areas amidst poorly protected and little known Machalilla National Park. We still need a lot more funds to finish, so please If anyone out there reads this and is interested in co-operation, co-production, co-editing, funding etc, then please get in touch. The story is waiting, the sharks can't. | ||
5 minute trailer. Approx. |
This 30 minute documentary was made in Sharm el Sheik, Sinai, Egypt. It looks at the biodiversity of the reef system, from the point of view of a glassfish pinnacle, as yet out of reach of daily tourist pressure, lying at 32 metres of depth, and compares that to the mass tourism culture that has rapidly grown from relatively little at the surface. It is estimated that around 20,000 licensed divers arrive in Sharm weekly, and this number only represents 20% of the tourist mass. Compare that with only a few years ago when less divers represented around 85% of Sharm's tourism and it is easy to see the pressure build. I would be interested to hear your feedback on the trailer. Mail me from the contacts page. |
||
