Ocean's Edge teams up with Jonathan Bird...

Ocean's Edge and Steve Roper are thrilled to announce our collaboration with Emmy Award Winning underwater photographer and cinematographer, Jonathan Bird.

Jonathan Bird has experience in all aspects of underwater wildlife cinematography and still photography. He has shot and produced films for television which have aired all over the world.

Jonathan is widely published on marine life subjects and a member of the Wyland Ocean Artists Society. As president of the non-profit environmental organization Oceanic Research Group, Inc., he produces educational films about marine life for use in schools and libraries, as well as satellite learning.

He is currently in post-production on his new high definition documentary Secrets of the Reef. We will keep you posted on Ocean's Edge of the release date.

The Ogden Point Enhancement Society Web Site...

Those of you who read this occasionally know that I am now sitting on the Board of Directors for the Ogden Point Enhancement Society.

Ogden Point is one of the spots in Canada that I consider among the best dive locations in our country, particularly for beginners and the Society is committed to protecting and promoting the location, something near and dear to my heart. Ogden Point is not only the location I completed my Scuba Diving Instructors Certification, it is home to some of the finest and most accessible scuba diving in the Pacific Northwest.

The Ogden Point Enhancement Society is adding an Interpretive Center within the Point this year to inform visitors on the marine life of Ogden Point and the surrounding areas, which I am happy to be designing and implementing.

The amazing Ogden Point Breakwater was constructed between 1914 and 1917 and required over one million tons of rock, ten thousand granite blocks, fifty three concrete caissons and over one million cubic yards of dredged fill to build. Indeed, a Canadian engineering marvel.

There are a number of entry points along the breakwater which allow entrance at a wide variety of depths, but the farther you go, the harder it is to get there with a dive tank strapped to your back on the walk out. However, the farther out you go, the greater the variety of sea life...

I am pleased to feature on this post the new web site we have just completed for them. It is online now here >

Atlas of Coral Reefs...

The World Atlas of Coral Reefs provides a detailed and definitive account of their current status; their geography and biodiversity; as well as human uses of coral reefs and details of the threats to their existence. This wealth of authoritative and up-to-date information is accompanied by 85 full-page meticulously researched colour maps and more than 200 colour photographs illustrating reefs, reef animals and images taken by NASA astronauts on recent space shuttles. The book also provides figures on a country-by-country basis of the extent of the world’s reefs, which of them are under threat, and which are seriously endangered. The full-colour World Atlas of Coral Reefs will be a crucial resource for anyone interested in these fragile environments.

Prepared at the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, United Kingdom – UNEP’s office responsible for providing authoritative information on the condition of global biodiversity – the Atlas is a critical tool for scientists, students, policy makers and planners at local, national and international levels alike. Its authors and cartographer, Dr. Mark Spalding, Corinna Ravilious and Dr. Edmund Green, have provided a benchmark for the international conservation initiatives on reefs at risk around the world.

Coral Reefs by Charles Sheppard

I haven't endorsed a book on the blog prior to this but a few weeks ago, I picked up 'Coral Reefs' by Charles Sheppard.

It is a quick yet fascinating read and one that I highly recommend.

Professor Charles Sheppard is based at the Department of Biological Sciences, Warwick University.

Charles advises on tropical marine and coastal development issues, advising governments, NGOs and aid agencies on marine and coastal management. His advisory roles include the tropical & marine environmental advisor for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Commissioner for UK Overseas Territories; participant on Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change since 2002; Fellow of Linnean Society of London, elected 1998; and the advisor to several tropical country governments on marine environmental affairs.

Interesting fellow... I spoke with him recently because of our mutual interest in Blue Ventures... excellent book if you are interested in Coral Reefs.

Ruby Beach, Washington

Last month, while driving home from my sister's wedding in northern California we stopped at a place we had stopped in at several years earlier while on our road trip from Vancouver Island to Belize... Ruby Beach, and found it just as mystical as the first time we visited.