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Stunning underwater images feature in BWPA 2018 awards

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The British Wildlife Photography Awards 2018 – A Celebration of British Wildlife

The British Wildlife Photography Awards proudly announce the winners for 2018. The awards celebrate both the work of amateur and professional photographers and the beauty and diversity of British wildlife. Winning images are chosen from thousands of entries in fifteen separate categories including a category for film and two junior categories to encourage young people to connect with nature through photography.

The Overall Winning Image: Contrails at Dawn (Daubenton’s Bats), Coate Water Country Park, Wiltshire by Paul Colley.

The Prizes

  • First prize: £5,000
  • Category winners will receive prizes with a value of around £1,000. The prize fund includes: Canon EOS M5 Cameras with 15-45mm lens
  • Wildlife in HD Video category winner will receive a Canon XA-11 Professional Camcorder
  • The Young Winner (under 12) will receive: £300
  • The Young Winner (12 -18) will receive: £500

The Exhibition Tour 

Over 100 images including the winning and commended entries launches at the Mall Galleries, London, commencing Tuesday 6th November and is open until 1pm Sunday 11th November. Please visit the website for more information about the venues by clicking here.

The Book

British Wildlife Photography Awards 9 showcases the very best entries from the British Wildlife Photography Awards in 2018. This stunning coffee table book is a celebration of British wildlife as captured on camera by today’s best amateur and professional photographers. Published by Ammonite Press • 5th November 2018 • RRP £25

Underwater Images

Here are a few of our favourite underwater images, from across the categories from this year’s competition:

ALEX MUSTARD
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Bubble Blower, Lundy, Devon

ROBERT BAILEY
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Dogfish on a Bed of Brittle Stars; Loch Carron, Highland

CHARLOTTE SAMS
HIGHLY COMMENDED
English Chalk Stream, Hampshire, England

KIRSTY ANDREWS
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Undersea Alien, Farne Islands, Northumberland

HENLEY SPIERS
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Tompot in the Light, Swanage, Dorset

All images have been published from British Wildlife Photography Awards 9 published by Ammonite Press, RRP £25, Available online and from all good bookshops.

For a full set of results please visit the BWPA website by clicking here.

 

 

Nick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology. They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered. Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus. To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com

Gear News

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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