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BLUE Ocean Film Festival announces 2016 Legacy Award honorees

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BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit

BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conservation Summit (BLUE) has announced two distinguished recipients of its 2016 Legacy Awards – ocean filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, and ocean voyager Nainoa Thompson. The Legacy Award is presented to individuals in recognition of extraordinary achievements that create a lasting legacy in ocean conservation, exploration, innovation, and the pursuit of ocean knowledge. The awards will be presented at BLUE 2016 held November 10-13 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“We are proud to honor these two outstanding ocean pioneers with our Legacy Award, for their enduring courage, talents, wisdom and perseverance,” said BLUE’s CEO Deborah Kinder. “BLUE celebrates individual achievements in the global ocean community and ignites media collaborations and conservation projects that make a difference. Join us this year at BLUE 2016 where you will be inspired by the world’s greatest ocean films, and the people you will meet. Now in our seventh year, we meet, learn, conspire, and share ideas together that help solve our ocean’s most pressing issues.”

Greg MacGillivray has been selected for his 50 years of distinguished accomplishments in ocean filmmaking and storytelling. A pioneer in production for the giant screen, he has produced and directed some of the industry’s most enduring and award-winning films and has received two Academy Award nominations. A passionate ocean conservationist, Greg co-founded the One World One Ocean Foundation, a non-profit public charity dedicated to educating and inspiring the public through giant-screen films and companion programming about the need to take action to protect the world’s ocean.

Nainoa Thompson has been selected for his distinguished accomplishments in the art and science of ancient navigation and ocean voyaging, and for his unique ability to encourage ocean stewardship through a revival of traditional knowledge and a respect for nature’s wisdom. Thompson is president of Polynesian Voyaging Society, and lead navigator of the double-hulled sailing canoe Hokule‘a, which perpetuates experiential education and inspires communities to care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments.

Past recipients of BLUE’s Legacy Award include Captain Don Walsh for ocean exploration, James Cameron for ocean filmmaking, Phil Nuytten for ocean exploration, Eugenie Clark for ocean science, Stan Waterman for ocean filmmaking and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco for ocean stewardship.

Founded in 2009, BLUE alternates each year between Monaco and St. Petersburg as a fun-filled gathering of ocean-related films, breath-taking photography, inspiring keynotes, captivating art, thought-provoking panels, engaging music, hands-on workshops, conservation activities and great parties. A unique convergence of film festival and ocean conservation summit, BLUE has become one of the world’s most popular ocean events for innovators, entrepreneurs, government dignitaries, emerging talent, media icons, thought-leaders, scientists, teachers, explorers and industry professionals from all walks of life who share a common passion for the sea.

For more information:

BLUE 2016, November 10-13, St Petersburg, Florida

Contacts:

+1 (727) 388-6682

info@blueoceanfilmfestival.org

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Introducing the Aqua-Trek Evo Drysuit from BARE

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drysuit

This lightweight Aqua-Trek Evo drysuit from BARE is patterned after the flagship X-Mission Evolution using the company’s exclusively engineered Cordura® Nylon Oxford 4-Layer fabric for a durable and breathable design. The Aqua-Trek Evo is ready for wherever your adventure takes you.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS

  • Lighter weight breathable material that offers enhanced flexibility over current butyl trilaminate
  • Lightweight low-profile plastic dry zipper
  • 2mm nylon/smoothskin “Smart Collar” with vented neck drain provides an improved seal with the BARE dry hood
  • Low-profile valves Lightweight low-profile plastic dry zipper and offset protected zipper flap to avoid contact between dry zipper and outer flap
  • Anatomically shaped torso, arms and legs
  • M-PADz knee protection with 2mm neoprene backing provides added padding for comfort
  • 2 needle “felled seam” construction increases seam integrity, is low-profile and less prone to abrasion, and finishes for a clean look
  • Flexible double-taped reinforcement at “critical wear” seam points for added durability
  • Bellow Pocket with D-ring and drain grommets on each thigh
  • Field replaceable 4-point suspenders and crotch strap
  • Tech dry boots installed

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Material:

  • Exclusively engineered and durable Cordura® Nylon Oxford 4-Layer fabric
  • Lighter weight, breathable material that offers enhanced flexibility, abrasion and puncture resistance

Find out more about BARE products at www.baresports.com.

Sea & Sea is the home of BARE and other Huish Outdoors diving brands in the UK.

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Reef-World marks two decades of marine conservation: strengthening impact amid coral reef threats

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reef world foundation

Empowering ocean stakeholders to tackle future challenges and ensure the survival of coral reefs and humanity

2024 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Reef-World Foundation’s tireless efforts for global coral reef conservation. The UK charity is the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative, known as the leading voice in sustainable marine tourism. Today, Reef-World released its 2023-2024 Impact Report outlining a year of substantive growth and impact in its marine conservation programmes. 

Impact Report Highlights:

  • Impressive improvements in environmental behaviours to protect coral reefs by the marine tourism industry as the global participation of Green Fins increases.
  • Continued capacity building for government and NGO staff to effectively manage marine tourism activities in Asia, Caribbean and Red Sea regions. 
  • For the first time in Green Fins’ 20-year history, tourism operators have achieved ‘Best Environmental Performer’ status by demonstrating the lowest possible environmental impact in their environmental assessments. In 2024, three dive operators achieved this challenging milestone. 
  • Significant increases in global participation of Reef-World’s innovative digital conservation tools.
  • 138 Green Fins dive operator members achieved the strict threshold for PADI Eco Center recognition.
  • Developed four new educational materials and translated two into 16 languages to support the marine tourism industry in achieving sustainability targets.
  • Establishing a new Reef-World Development strategy and recruiting new roles – Development and Programmes Managers. 
  • Reef-World’s board welcomes new Chair and Trustees strengthening organisational leadership. 

Reef-World started as a one-person mission to inspire and empower communities to act in conserving and sustainably developing coral reefs and related ecosystems. Today, the team of 12 continues to meet this mission by inspiring and empowering the global marine tourism community to be exemplary sustainability leaders by using the Green Fins guidelines and tools to simultaneously use and protect the world’s precious reefs. 

In April 2024, the fourth global coral reef bleaching event was confirmed. Reef-World’s work has never been more urgent as the marine environment, and the benefits they provide humanity, continue to be eroded by global threats. The reduction of local threats, like those from the marine tourism industry, is an essential step to ensuring a future where coral reefs survive and continue to support the millions of people who depend on their ecosystem benefits. Reef-World’s work buys time for coral reefs and related ecosystems to be resilient to the impacts of global threats. 

 

“Right now our corals are facing the greatest fight of their existence as the terrifying predictions of the steps towards their complete extinction are starting to come true. But all is not lost, reefs are resilient and they have existed on this planet for millions of years. We must take action now, to buy time for reefs by reducing threats facing them and allowing them to react and adjust to the changing environment they need to survive in.” – Chloe Harvey, Executive Director

Looking Forwards: 

Like coral reefs, the Reef-World team needs to be resilient in the face of the complex challenges of the conservation sector. Reef-World has invested significantly in developing a Culture of Care to ensure the well-being of its team on a daily basis, continuing to be an exemplary employer to enable its team to best achieve the mission for coral reef conservation.

With the foundations of a Culture of Care and organisational development laid, Reef-World is emerging from the end of a natural organisation life cycle, that brings the challenges of growth and scale, stronger than ever. With a new strategy in place to generate much needed resources, Reef-World is excited for the opportunities to leap forward, continue to scale our impact and lean into new innovations and untapped opportunities for marine conservation. 

We continually strive to become a forward-thinking organisation that delivers on our goals and commitments to our stakeholders with fresh approaches and not being afraid of steering away from a “normal approach.” This approach is not only applied to our programmes of work but also internally and carries over to our Culture of Care for our team.” — JJ Harvey, Operations Director

reef world foundation

The Reef-World Foundation is immensely grateful for the continued support of its grant funders: UN Environment Programme, IUCN’s Blue Natural Capital Financing Facility, Adventure Travel Conservation Fund, PADI Aware Foundation, and World Nomads Footprints Program.

Reef-World would also like to express its gratitude to international partners whose vital support has resulted in significant tangible benefits for our work and mission: PADI; Professional SCUBA Schools International (PSS); Explorer Ventures; 1% for the Planet; ZuBlu; Snorkel Venture, GSTC; Dive O’Clock; Seven Dragons; DiveAssure and Eco Beach, without whom these achievements would not be possible.

The full 2023–2024 Annual Impact Report is available on Reef-World’s website.

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