Chicago ~ Our Kind Of Town!

Our World Underwater – 39th Show!

My wife, Kathryn, and I had a blast in what the locals call, Chicagoland. We were there to participate in Our World Underwater (OWU), a three-day Chicago based consumer scuba diving show that is open to the general public. As a guest speaker, I presented two seminars on sport diving in British Columbia entitled Tropical Splendor in A Cold Sea – British Columbia’s Emerald Realm and Jewel of British Columbia- Diving Browning Passage. I was also an Emcee for the Sunday morning Underwater Photography Program. It was my distinct pleasure to formally meet and introduce diving luminaries Jack & Sue Drafahl, (www.jackandsuedrafahl.com) Larry Tackett (www.tackettproductions.com), Jason Heller and Kathy Johnson & Greg Lashbrook (www.gregoryad.com/gowiththeflow). Our World Underwater attracts participants from most Midwest states and also from Canada. As one of the longest running scuba shows in America it has become a legend among presenters as well as exhibitors. www.ourworldunderwater.com

Our sincere thanks to OWU organizers Dennis Gagnon & Eileen Skiba, along with all the other OWU volunteers for all courtesies extended and making us feel so welcome. We would also be remiss if we did not also extend heartfelt thanks to fellow Canadians & DIVER Magazine underwater photography columnists Danielle Alary & Michel Gilbert for both their encouragement and their assistance in helping to put us in contact with the OWU show organizers.

A huge "Thank You!" to all the OWU show patrons who attended my two seminars…

Some personal show highlights…

At the OWU pre-show Speakers Meeting I suddenly found myself engaged in an enjoyable conversation with scuba diving legend, Stan Waterman, after he had plopped himself down into the chair next to me. A pioneer underwater film producer and photographer, Mr. Waterman has won five Emmy awards and received numerous other honors and awards in a career which spans nearly fifty years in the scuba diving industry. He has also produced documentaries, television series and films for National Geographic, ABC, and ESPN, but is best known for his work in commercial film. He collaborated with Peter Gimbel on the classic shark film, Blue Water, White Death, and with his close friend Peter Benchley on The Deep, where Mr. Waterman was co-director of underwater photography and second unit. Despite his noteworthy accomplishments, Stan is entirely unpretentious in his demeanor and a mastered raconteur. We had a good chat and I felt humbled to be in his presence. www.stanwaterman.com

John deBoeck, owner of Browning Pass Hideaway Lodge attended both my presentations. If you ever yearn to experience the best cold water diving in the universe… he’s the man www.vancouverislanddive.com

After one of my presentations I met longtime DIVER Magazine (Canada) contributor and freelance diving photojournalist, Dan Holden Bailey. I was delighted to learn that we share a mutual admiration for each others work and we look forward to an opportunity to go diving together sometime in the future. http://dholdenbailey.com/index.htm

At the D.I.A.B.C (Dive Industry Association of British Columbia)
booth, we happened to meet another longtime DIVER Magazine
columnist, and fellow Canadian, Jeffery Gallant. Jeff is also the author of the internationally acclaimed Diving Almanac and Book of Records. Anyway, our chance encounter led to an invitation for me to go diving with Jeff to photograph Greenland Sharks in the St. Lawrence River this summer. How cool is that?
www.divingalmanac.com

Danielle Alary & Michel Gilbert ‘s slide presentation, ‘We’ll Be One”, at the Saturday evening film festival was a pictorially stunning and emotionally inspiring. They are dive show presenters extraordinaire! Check out their work at www.sub-images.com

Rick Stratton, publisher of Northwest, Northeast and Midwest Dive News magazines., assigned me an entire years worth of magazine editorial space to fill. Rick is a great supporter and has stated time and again that he will publish anything that I want to write. The adventure continues… http://nwdivenews.com

After several years of corresponding by email, we were finally able to meet face to face with Henrik Rosen, VP Sales & Marketing, Wakatobi Dive Resort. My now, seemingly famous, "Wakatobi Bungalows" image was prominently displayed at the Wakatobi booth. www.wakatobi.com

Also, the show provided an opportunity to meet Jason Heller of www.divephotoguide.com. His multimedia work is exceptional and after attending one of Jason's dive show seminars in Boston last year, I was inspired to create this blog.




And last, but certainly never least, my lovely wife Kathryn is hands down one of the most amazing traveling companions I have ever had to clear International Customs with. She is the light in my life and her loving support is about as deep as deep can go... fathomless!

Stop Shark Finning Now!

A public service announcement against shark finning by Acadamy Award-winning Director, Ang Lee, for WildAid. For more information, visit wildaid.org.

Quick Shark Facts

100 million sharks are killed each year (that works out to more than 10,000 per hour)!

Sharks kill fewer than 5 humans on average each year, and only one in 2007, while humans kill 100 million sharks annually. You're more likely to be killed by a lightning strike, bee sting or falling coconut or falling soda machine.

Of the more than 500 species of sharks in the world, only 10 have been known to attack a human being.

There are 6.65 billion people in the world and in the past year one (1) of those people were killed by sharks.

Vast numbers of sharks die incidentally as "bycatch," killed needlessly and thrown overboard unused by fishermen using nets and longlines to catch other types of fish. One report estimates 50 million are caught and killed this way.

As many as 73 million are killed by the shark finning industry.

It is estimated that 90 percent of all large sharks have been wiped out, and 93-99 percent of all large sharks off the east coast of North America are gone (tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks, etc.).

Shark finning is the practice of catching a shark, slicing off its fins and dumping the still-living shark back in the ocean, where it drowns or bleeds to death.

Shark finning is largely illegal—in many areas, fishing fleets are regulated by a fin-to-carcass weight ratio, which means that shark fins can only be a certain percentage of the total weight of their shark haul onboard—but fleets routinely ignore regulations, and enforcement worldwide is sorely lacking.

Shark fins, exported to Asia for shark fin soup, are now among the most expensive seafood products in the world, fetching up to 500 euros ($676) per kilogram. A single Whale Shark pectoral fin can sell for up to US$15,000.

Global trade in shark fins is increasing, and the market for shark fin soup is estimated to be growing by 5 percent per year.

Finning occurs worldwide and is most common in high seas fisheries, hundreds of miles out to sea. Oceanic fishing fleets target valuable fish such as tuna, using thousands of baited hooks on miles of long-line, and freezing their catch onboard. Unfortunately, long-liners often catch several times as many sharks than they do tuna. Until relatively recently, this shark 'bycatch' was considered a nuisance, and sharks were cut loose and allowed to swim away. However, as shark fins have become increasingly valuable, fewer sharks are being released.

No sharks are protected internationally. Only a handful of countries manage shark fisheries. Enforcement is very difficult.

Where figures exist, they suggest that Hong Kong is the world's shark fin trading centre, accounting for an estimated 50% - 80% of all fins traded worldwide. Currently the EU supplies 27% of all fins imported into Hong Kong.

Reported trade in shark fins has more than doubled, from 3,011 metric tons in 1985 to 7,048 metric tons in 1997. In 2006, the largest number of sharks were killed on history – though we already knew they were endangered.

Consumers are largely unaware of the origins of shark fin. Studies in Hong Kong and Taiwan show that consumers have little understanding of where shark fin soup comes from, of overfishing, of illegal shark fishing or of the practice of finning.

Shark fins are tasteless, and contain high levels of toxic methyl-mercury.

Shark fin soup is thought to be an aphrodisiac in some cultures, but it can actually cause infertility.

The legal limit for consumption of methyl-mercury, set by the EPA, is 0.1 microgram per kilogram of body weight. Studies have shown shark meat contains as much as 1,400 micrograms of methyl-mercury in one kilogram. A person weighing 155 lbs would therefore get 50 times the legal amount in one single portion of shark steak.

Sharks' life history makes them vulnerable to exploitation – for example, Basking Sharks take 15-20 years to mature, have a 2-3 year gestation period and produce only 4–6 pups.

Currently, Great White Sharks, Whale Sharks and Basking Sharks are the only sharks to have been listed on CITES Appendices.

Effective conservation and management are hindered by meager insight into the biology, life history, distribution, migration and exploitation of most shark species.

The prospect of a food chain minus its apex predators may mean the end of the line for many more species.

Sharks have widespread global distribution and play a vital role in maintaining the health of ocean ecosystems.

The oceans are the most important ecosystem on the planet, containing life that absorbs most of the carbon dioxide (global warming gas) that we put into the atmosphere, converting it into 70% of the oxygen we breathe. That life is kept healthy by sharks, who, at the top of the food chain, regulate the oceans. Destroying shark populations is destroying our oceans and our life support system.

Source: www.sharksavers.com

Jett Britnell Interviews Chris Newbert

"BLUE! Blue. Blue, blue, blue! My immediate reaction every time I slide into the open sea miles off the Kona Coast and look down into thousands of feet of ocean is simply, blue. Endless, transparent blue”

Chris Newbert
Source: "Within a Rainbowed Sea"

Since taking up underwater photography in 1972, Chris Newbert, has won over 30 awards in international underwater photographic competitions and his photos have appeared in over 300 books and magazines world-wide. In 1985 he published his first underwater photographic book, Within a Rainbowed Sea. Now in its 10th printing, this classic volume continues to gather critical acclaim as one of the most beautiful photographic books of all time. It stands as being one of the most award-winning photographic books ever published.

Chris has garnered high praise has come from all quarters of the publishing world. Publishers Weekly has called Within a Rainbowed Sea "one of the most remarkable photographic books ever published.” while Playboy Magazine referred to it as "the ultimate coffee table book." The 10th Anniversary Issue of Islands Magazine has included Chris Newbert's work in a portfolio of photographs from those who they consider ten of the world's great contemporary photographers.

Perhaps the ultimate accolade bestowed upon Chris occurred when the "Limited Edition" of Within a Rainbowed Sea was selected by the White House as an official Presidential Gift of State to be used by the President as a gift to visiting dignitaries. On May 4th, 1986, President Reagan gave copy number 85 to Emperor Hirohito of Japan, on the occasion of his 85th birthday and the 60th anniversary of his reign. Yes, there is no denying that Within a Ranbowed Sea is an incredibly brilliant book by a true master of his craft.

In 1987 while on a live aboard dive trip in Chuuk (formerly Truk Lagoon) while onboard the SS Thorfinn, I was fortunate to meet Chris Newbert. It was only the day before during our flight over from Vancouver that I was told by Neil McDaniel, then editor of Canada’s DIVER Magazine, that the first article I had ever written was going to be published. I was keenly looking forward to meeting Mr. Newbert because his book was a creatively inspiring tome. During the flight, I jotted down some questions for Chris in the hope that he might agree to being interviewed by me. I felt like such an upstart. I mean, really, why would someone of Chris Newbert's stature ever agree to being interviewed by someone whose work had actually not yet been published.

Apart from getting to know Chris during this trip and availing myself of the opportunity to observe how he went about his work underwater, he did generously agree to being interviewed by me. I believe the deal was sealed when I stated that I would buy the beers. My good friend, Gary Bridges, sat in during the interview and took a picture of a very young Chris (right) and Jett (left).


Upon returning home, I approached Peter Rowlands, the editor of a British Magazine called Underwater Photography. Peter liked the Newbert interview and published it word for word in their July/August 1988 issue. Peter gave it the title "Jett Britnell Interviews Chris Newbert" and the interview was illustrated with some images from Within a Rainbowed Sea, so it seemed like a good win for all parties concerned.

All in all, our Truk Lagoon trip turned out to be an amazing adventure shared with my good friends, Gary Bridges, Neil McDaniel and the late, great, Jack Van Hove. I remain forever grateful for the generosity that Chris Newbert showed towards me, a neophyte underwater photojournalist, and equally so to Peter Rowlands for providing a stepping stone on the path of my photojournalistic pursuits.

Some of my favorite quotes from the Chris Newbert interview…

Within a Rainbowed Sea is considered to be one of the finest collection of marine images ever published. When was the book conceived?

Newbert: The idea of doing a book occurred to me right after I started underwater photography. In fact, a girlfriend thought my early pictures were fabulous and suggested I publish a book. I felt my pictures were terrible, but the idea of a book took root in my mind. All I was at the time was a college drop-out dive guide. The thought of being an author had a nice ring to it. Over the years the concept of the book evolved. It went through many stages in my mind. Several years ago, I wrote on a piece of paper what I felt the final product should contain. I still have that piece of paper today.. It’s astounding to read how close I came to my ideal vision – it’s very close.

There were no diver pictures in the book, any particular reason?

Newbert: Yes, I think diver pictures are the most boring and redundant photographs on the face of the earth.

That’s a strong statement given the popularity of diver photographs in magazines.

Newbert: I hate to say it as I fear it might insult a lot of people. It’s just my personal feeling; what fascinates me about the ocean is the marine life, not divers. Most modern day underwater photographs portrayed in the media features the diver. The marine life and the reef become a prop. To me it’s embarrassing to be an underwater photographer when I know the public’s image is what they see in magazines. Somehow, underwater photography has been taken over by this moronic concentration on the diver. For example, you never saw Ansel Adam’s photographs feature hikers in color-coordinated backpacks and hiking shoes. It also promotes something that I feel is detrimental to marine life. Everybody is into this idea that they have to touch, feel, hold, pose and do silly things with marine life. Ultimately, you end up with a “stupid picture”. It’s a ridiculous trend. I think the diving magazines have been irresponsible in this regard.

How I became a "Part Time" Book Reviewer

“I am a firm believer in serendipity ~ all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along"

David Levithan
Source: Boy Meets Boy

Life sometimes does offer us some very strange twists and turns since I never imagined that I would one day become a book reviewer.

This story begins back during Christmas 1999. I had just finished reading the first edition of The Underwater Photographer by Martin Edge, a renowned British underwater photographer. I thought it was an excellent book, and when I happened to accidentally come across Martin’s email address in an underwater news group forum, I dropped him a quick congratulatory note on what a fine instructional book it was. Martin soon replied that he was keenly aware of my editorial & underwater photography work and that he was honored to have received such high praise from me. I never, ever, expected that.

Anyway, about a year or so later, Martin contacted me by email to ask if I would grant his publishers permission to use passages contained in my initial email to him on the rear jacket of the 2nd reprint of the 2nd edition - The Underwater Photographer. My quote appeared next to quotes by world-class underwater photography luminaries, Jim Church and Stephen Frink.



















Then in June 2004, I was contacted by an Associate Editor for Focal Press to request my help with a project they were working on. The Underwater Photographer by Martin Edge was being rewritten towards taking a full digital approach to underwater photography and would be given a title along the lines of 'The Underwater Photographer Goes Digital'. They were asking me if I would be interested in being involved in reviewing the current book in line with the proposed new table of contents and the proposal that the author had supplied to them. It was very important for Focal Press to get feedback when looking at a new edition to ensure that the coverage and level that the author was proposing is suitable for the market. As an individual involved in magazines specializing in this subject area and an underwater photographer, they stated they would really value any constructive feedback I could offer that would help them and the author successfully develop this successful book into a new edition. I agreed to participate and was happy for Martin Edge when in May 2006, The Underwater Photographer, Third Edition: Digital and Traditional Techniques was released to critical acclaim.


In July 2008, I was again approached by Focal Press to review the proposed new edition of another book authored by an award-winning American commercial & fine art photographer. Apparently, this author/photographer thought that I would be an ideal candidate for this task. It would seem in this instance that my own reputation must have preceded me, as I had never actually met or corresponded with this author/photographer. At this point, if I told you who this individual was, I would have to kill you as I’m sworn to secrecy not to divulge any specifics until the new edition is actually published.

So, my endeavors as a book reviewer all began from a single congratulatory email to an author across the Atlantic Ocean. To review books about one's favorite subject and then to comment about them, how serendipitous, indeed…

Happy Valentines Day!

Love, Love, Love.

Love, Love, Love.

Love, Love, Love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love, love.

Love is all you need.

(lyrics by The Beatles)

Happy Valentines Day to one, and all!

As Valentines Day 2009 looms…I will wax poetic about my lovely wife, Kathryn.

With her infinite grace, beauty, charm, wit, charity, kindness and intellect, Katie is the proverbial "cat’s meow!" She makes our house a home, and my life a richer one to live. Both family and friends adore her…as much as I. Her beautiful smile... yes her smile is to die for. She is to quote a phrase… Simply, The Best!

Without a shadow of doubt, she is the only woman on this ocean planet that I would most love to be caught in a compromising position with. I am hers… and she... is mine. Ours is a love that lasts forever and a love that has no past. When the evening breeze whispers her name, I am the love struck moth drawn to her flame… I am eternally grateful and thank God above that she is in my life. A loving & supportive wife beyond compare, she is also a fantastic mother, best friend, confidante, lover, mistress, temptress, co-conspirator, seductress, muse, playmate and girlie girl all rolled into one. Ooh La La!

There is a Persian poem that I came across recently that speaks of love...

Even after all this time...
the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me."
Look what happens with a love like that!
~ It lights the whole sky.

Happy Valentines Day, Baby!

You light up my entire universe. I love you more than yesterday, and always, always, always, less than tomorrow. You mean the world to me. It seems written in the stars that we were destined to be together! XOXO

Jett Britnell Photographics ~ "It's Alive!!!"

"Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, It's Alive!!!" Ok, so I have shamelessly borrowed what is perhaps the most famous line in horror movie history to introduce to you... insert short drum roll and cymbal smash here... www.jettbritnell.com. After a long hiatus, my website is back on the world wide web with a new & improved offering that features samples of both my underwater and topside photography - along with numerous examples of my publishing & advertising credits. I plan on updating the site with nude... errr, I mean... new images as they are created. Check it out!

www.jettbritnell.com

"For what we are about to see next, we must enter quietly into the realm of genius."
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein
~ from the movie, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Strawberry Anemones Forever!

Northwest Dive News October 2008 Issue

Sometimes it takes awhile before I actually see my work in print. My story and images about diving in British Columbia’s Discovery Passage titled, “Strawberry Anemones Forever” appeared in the October 2008 issue of Northwest Dive News.

Publishing Rush!

DIVER Magazine November 2008 issue

My photos and story titled, Liquid Rush – Descent into British Columbia’s Nakwakto Rapids, appeared in the November 2008 issue of Canada’s DIVER Magazine. Publisher/Senior Editor, Phil Nuytten, wrote in his SOUNDINGS editorial “The Nakwakto Rapids piece is a good one… I’ve had some memorable dives off Nakwakto’s “Tremble Island” (as the locals call it). Can you imagine a current so swift that an island throws a serious rooster-tail?! If you are an ‘extreme dive’ enthusiast, you should think about adding this notch to your gun-handle: the ultimate drift dive.”

Thank You, Phil!

Pitt Meadows Golf Club

New Years Eve 2009



While I am perhaps best known for my underwater photography, I also have many of my topside images published in various media worldwide. While attending this year's New Years Eve Gala at my golf club this past week, I noticed some of my images on a promo poster for the club hanging in the main foyer. A good omen perhaps for the year to come…

The World's Best DIVING & RESORTS

One of my pictures is published in the 2009 edition of Diving & Resorts Magazine which is put together by the staff of Sport Diver Magazine. The picture in question is a topside image of the Wakatobi Dive Resort.

Henrik Rosen, Vice President Sales & Marketing Wakatobi Dive Resort, said "We love that image and it’s almost a bit of a trademark shot for the resort and we will always remain thankful to you for it."

Beauties and Beasts ~ Photo Essay

Two of my images were selected to be used to help illustrate a profile of six weird and wonderful underwater creatures in British Columbia Magazine's Winter 2008 issue. British Columbia Magazine is the geographic and travel quarterly of British Columbia and
is mailed to more than 150 different countries. There are readers in Germany and Japan and Thailand who look forward to learning more about British Columbia with every issue.

One image was that of a Clown Shrimp... and the other was the face of a Wolf Eel.

Our World Underwater Dive Show

February, 20-22, 2009
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
Chicago, USA

Our World-Underwater is in it’s 39th year and is the oldest, continuous running scuba diving events in North America!

We will be presenting two seminars during the show about adventure diving in British Columbia.

Tropical Splendor in a Cold Sea ~
British Columbia's Emerald Sea Realm

Emerald Sea Jewel ~
Diving British Columbia's Legendary Browning Passage

While it has been awhile since I have posted any updates, it is not because I have been lazy.

My article and cover shot about diving on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast will appear in the December 2008 issue of Northwest Dive News. I am also now listed on their masthead as being their Travel Editor.

http://www.nwdivenews.com/files/issue.pdf

In June 2008, I snagged the cover shot of Canada's DIVER Magazine. The cover shot is a picture taken while on an assignment in the Cook Islands.

The "Photo Lama" ~ all work & no play?

Local legends persist in British Columbia about the persuasive powers of the "Photo Lama". As this picture will confirm, he once convinced two lovely woman from aboard Clavella, one of the province's bygone scuba diving liveaboards, to leave their drysuits on the boat and plunge into the 47 degree waters surrounding the Queen Charlotte Islands in their bathing suits! From left to right, Chris Humphries, Jett "Photo Lama" Britnell, Anissa Reed...and a very young Captain John deBoeck (Browning Pass HideAway Lodge) leaning over backwards by the outboard. Cool shades, John.

Diving Pioneers - Hans and Lotte Hass

Dr. Hans Hass is one of the true pioneers of recreational diving and one of the earliest practitioners of underwater still photography and cinematography. Hass acquired a secretary in 1943, a beautiful young girl of seventeen, Lotte Baierl, who soon established herself as an accomplished underwater photographer in her own right. They later married and were inseparable.

Lotte wowed the world more than 50 years ago with her diving exploits alongside husband Hans Hass. "I was originally given a job as his secretary, and I went off and learned to dive secretly," Lotte once explained, "Then, when the opportunity arose, I revealed that I could dive." Together, Hans and Lotte cast the mode for what to this day is the archetypal underwater photographer/model team.

Sport Diver Magazine Cold Water Cover First!

In the April 1996 issue of Sport Diver (USA), I wrote the feature article. The icing on the cake for me was one of my pictures of a female diver with a Giant Pacific Octopus appeared on the cover of the magazine. The editor told me that at the time it was the first cold water diving picture that ever appeared on their magazine's cover. Cool!

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy

I would urge anyone who reads the following Press Release to go to the web link below and sign some petitions to save sharks. Cheers!

http://www.sharksavers.org/content/blogsection/5/36/

Over 50 percent of oceanic shark species threatened with extinction!

Press Release
May 22,2008
Wiley-Blackwell

Experts highlight actions to stem declines and ensure sustainable fishing

22nd May 2008 – The first study to determine the global threat status of 21 species of wide-ranging oceanic pelagic sharks and rays reveals serious overfishing and recommends key steps that governments can take to safeguard populations. These findings and recommendations for action are published in the latest edition of Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.

This international study, organised by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG), was conducted by 15 scientists from 13 different research institutes around the world, with additional contributions from scores of other SSG members.

The experts determined that 16 out of the 21 oceanic shark and ray species that are caught in high seas fisheries are at heightened risk of extinction due primarily to targeted fishing for valuable fins and meat as well as indirect take in other fisheries. In most cases, these catches are unregulated and unsustainable. The increasing demand for the delicacy ‘shark fin soup’, driven by rapidly growing Asian economies, means that often the valuable shark fins are retained and the carcasses discarded. Frequently, discarded sharks and rays are not even recorded.

Sharks and rays are particularly vulnerable to overfishing due to their tendency to take many years to become sexually mature and have relatively few offspring.

“Fishery managers and regional, national and international officials have the opportunity and the obligation to halt and reverse the rate of loss of biodiversity and ensure sharks and rays are exploited sustainably.” says lead author Nicholas Dulvy from the Centre for Environment, Fishers and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory in Lowestoft, UK.

“The current rate of biodiversity loss is ten to a hundred times greater than historic extinction rates, and as humans make increasing use of ocean resources it is possible that many more aquatic species, particularly sharks, are coming under threat,” says Dulvy, now based at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. “This does not have to be an inevitability. With sufficient public support and resulting political will, we can turn the tide."

The group’s specific recommendations for governments address the need to:

• Establish and enforce science-based catch limits for sharks and rays

• Ensure an end to shark finning (removing fins and discarding bodies at sea)

• Improve the monitoring of fisheries taking sharks and rays

• Invest in shark and ray research and population assessment

• Minimize incidental catch (‘bycatch’) of sharks and rays

• Cooperate with other countries to conserve shared populations.

“The traditional view of oceanic sharks and rays as fast and powerful too often leads to a misperception that they are resilient to fishing pressure,” said Sonja Fordham, co-author of the paper and Deputy Chair, IUCN Shark Specialist Group and Policy Director, Shark Alliance. “Despite mounting evidence of decline and increasing threats to these species, there are no international catch limits for oceanic sharks. Our research shows that action is urgently needed on a global level if these fisheries are to be sustainable.”

Memories of Sea Hunt

ACTION! ADVENTURE! DANGER!

Like many divers born during the Baby Boomer years, I was lured to scuba diving by watching the television series SEA HUNT. Starring Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson, an ex-Navy UDT Frogman turned freelance undersea investigator, the show followed Mike's adventures as he investigated crime, performed rescues, salvaged sunken objects, conducted scientific experiments, disarmed underwater mines, fought bad guys underwater with knives and spear guns and running afoul of sharks and other denizens of the deep. Whenever danger or excitement lurked below the surface, Mike Nelson was ready to go.

Over the show’s opening credits there was that haunting, ominous theme song. This weekly TV series was one of the most popular shows in syndication during the Sixties (episodes were filmed from 1957-1961). I can vividly recall watching an episode that featured a life or death struggle with a giant octopus. Yup, I was hooked and knew that I would scuba dive when I grew up.

It was this show that inspired me at age five to don a surplus World War II gas mask and plunge the top half of my body into a huge iron cauldron that was stocked with goldfish in our backyard. It was amazing…for a brief moment not only could I see the fish clearly, but also I noticed the light flakes of rust on the bottom of the cauldron. As water started to seep into the gas mask…no worries, I thought, because the gas mask had a hose and canister attached to it. Surely, I could breathe underwater with that? Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that a gas mask will not work underwater and I had to quickly abandon my first ever dive when water filled the mask. After that, I can’t tell you how many neighborhood garden hoses I cut up for pieces of hose and tried taping them to a large Coke bottle to construct a tank and breathing hose. Such was my desire to breath underwater.

One unusual aspect of the series was that each SEA HUNT episode closed out with a short monologue by Bridges where while often standing at the wheel of his boat, Argonaut, he said something about protecting the ocean and then invited viewers to come back for the following week’s show. A sample list of closing monologues follows:

"Hello there. I'm Lloyd Bridges. Skin diving is fun and adventure for young and old, but it can be dangerous, so know the sport well and don't take any chances. Be with you next week for another exciting Sea Hunt."

"Hi, there. I'm Lloyd Bridges. Skin diving is certainly a lot of fun, and it's full of adventure. See some more of it again next week, huh, when there'll be another excursion into that fabulous underwater world of Sea Hunt."

"I'm Lloyd Bridges, inviting you to join us for another action-packed story of underwater adventure one week from today" [Descends steps into water wearing a wearing scuba tanks]

"I'll be back next week at this same time with another Sea Hunt story. Plan to be with us again, huh? "You know, three-fifths of the world is covered by the sea, and how little most of us know about that underwater world. Go below with us again next week, huh, for another thrilling adventure in Sea Hunt."

It has been estimated that over one million fans that took up recreational Scuba diving from becoming interested in the sport while watching SEA HUNT. As some might say…they sure don’t make shows like this anymore…

Necessity is the mother of invention for this underwater photographer...

Once upon a time… while on a diving assignment in Vanuatu, I encountered several cuttlefish during a dive. Since my underwater camera housing was set up with a Nikon F3 body and a Nikon 55mm macro lens, conventional underwater photography thinking would dictate that wide-angle


photography would be impossible with a macro lens. Such are the fundamental laws of underwater photography… one cannot change their lens underwater.

It was at that moment that a fellow underwater photographer set their aim upon taking a wide-angle picture of me with the cuttlefish in the foreground. In one of those ah ha, I think I can, moments, I focused on the cuttlefish using my macro lens. Miraculously, I was able to include my fellow diver in the background as I focused my lens on the cuttlefish. The results were pleasing and the magazines editor agreed and used that unlikely picture for the magazine cover shot!

Sometimes…in the mystical realm beyond the limitations of both one’s talent and their equipment… the diving gods simply seem to smile upon us...

Deep Sea Diver for a Day!

I came across a couple pictures from the early eighties taken of me dressed in commercial hard hat diving gear. The pictures were taken in Seattle, Washington, at the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle, a place where people go to fulfill their dreams of becoming successful commercial divers.

I was participating in a scuba divers day trip to the facility. Apart from spending about ten minutes underwater walking around in Lake Washington in this hard hat gear, we also experienced a decompression chamber dive to a simulated depth of 160 feet!

Sometimes in life... one gets to do some very cool things ~

Northwest Dive & Travel Show, WOW!

The 2008 Northwest Dive & Travel Show exceeded all expectations and sold out! It is rare for a first run trade show to sell out so drinks all around to Northwest Dive News' Rick Stratton and the small army of show volunteers who made it all happen. My presentation, "Liquid Rush - Descent into British Columbia's Nakwakto Rapids" was well received and it was great to catch up with some old diving friends. We will definitely plan on attending the 2009 show .

If you are interested in diving Nakwakto Rapids and doing some of the best cold water diving in the universe, contact John DeBoeck, one of the most knowledgeable diving guides in the Pacific Northwest, at the Browning Pass Hideaway Lodge...

www.vancouverislanddive.com

We also attended Captain Mike Lever's excellent presentation on diving with Great White sharks at Mexico's, Guadalupe Island. This surely ranks as being one of the best Great White shark diving experiences on the planet. Check it out...

www.nautilusexplorer.com

Northwest Dive & Travel Show, May 3 & 4, 2008

Tacoma Convention Center
The largest consumer dive and travel show in the Pacific Northwest!



On Saturday May 4, I will be presenting a digital slide presentation titled "Liquid Rush ~ Descent into British Columbia's Nakwakto Rapids"

Another Goodbye, To Another Good Friend - In Memoriam ~ Jack Norman Van Hove

R.I.P. Jacko
August 26, 1944 - February 22, 2008

I gave a eulogy at a funeral memorial for my best friend today.

Eulogy by Jett Britnell
March 15, 2008

Good afternoon everybody. First, to Alex and members of Jack’s family, our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences go out to you.

It is an honour for me to speak today about the life of Jack Van Hove. Shock. Disbelief. Sadness. Tragedy. Words we have all uttered in recent weeks to express our profound grief and deep sorrow over the sudden passing of a dear friend. His passing was unexpected, sudden, untimely and seemingly so unfair. Dearly loved by so many, Jack was one of a kind; the older of two children, a devoted son, beloved husband to Maureen and a loving father to Alex. We've all lost someone who was very special. And Jack being Jack… well, you know he would just tell us all not to make a fuss.

I cannot tell you much about what Jack did with his life before we met. I always told him that whatever he did before didn’t really matter because his life truly only began the day we met. He would always counter that by saying that he “rescued me from my dreary little life”. I know that he spent many hours as pilot flying a DC3 in Peru. He was trying to log enough hours to become a commercial airline pilot. He later changed his mind and for a time ran a restaurant before getting into the hot tub /spa business.

As you all know, Jack was a kind and decent man. He was a compassionate soul who possessed a great intellect, chuckling humor and in many respects…he was a genius. He abhorred violence and believed in the goodness of others. What is it that we remember when we think of Jack? I think everyone who knew him would agree with me on this…his sense of humor. His humor was infectious. He could make us laugh and he always endevoured to make others happy.

A Jack of all trades, he could converse knowledgably about Druids, plate tectonics, Walt Disney, or just about any topic you could possibly imagine. He was a voracious reader who literally devoured books with his mind. A sharp wit, he was like the cat that ate the canary. There was nothing Jack could not master when he put his mind to it. He was a world traveler, videographer, beekeeper, horse owner, carpenter, builder, restauranteur, electrician, scuba diver, airline pilot, boat sinker, boat floater, treasure hunt organizer, chef, underwater model and inventor. Scuba divers who are here today will, of course, remember such infamous inventions as the prawn gun, an underwater device for harvesting prawns and the legendary MF Light. The MF light was essentially a battery powered car headlight that divers could take underwater. It was years ahead of the compact high-powered underwater lights we can easily purchase off the shelf today. And almost 15 years before Plasma large screen TV’s were readily available, Jack had the biggest Sony TV any of us had ever seen.

No doubt there are a few here today who may be feeling that Jack was their best friend. As far as I could tell, Jack never really treated anyone differently from anyone else. It's that laugh, too, that lingers with us, right? Always welcoming and helpful, you could count on him for anything, at any time. Evidence supporting this fact arrived yesterday to me in an email. I will share with you sentiments expressed by our mutual friend, Dave Fleetham. Today, Dave lives in Maui and is one of the world’s top underwater photographers. Here is what Dave had to say about Jack…

“It is difficult, if not impossible to measure the influence of a life on another, we all do what we do without any real idea as to its effect on each other or the world at large. Sometimes, as in the case of Jack, we know the influence is great, but still lack, and will forever lack, the depth of that influence. For each of you here today Jack’s presence in our lives was dramatic, yet different, characterized by our own perspectives and relationship to him. As a loving father and husband to wife Maureen and son Alex, his relationships were one thing, all very personal and really known only to them.

Yet, within those varied realms of love there existed a common theme, one that we all experienced, though we each absorbed differently. Jack’s positive nature affected us all from family to friends alike. It was contagious, for him everything was possible. It was this unrelenting attitude that good things were always just around the corner that endeared him to us all. It was this unbridled enthusiasm that attracted the circle of friends that are gathered here now. Many years ago I came to Jack at his old home/business that I remember well. I had some sort of a problem with a camera housing that I could not find an answer to. I kept saying no…Jack kept saying yes…yes I can do it…yes it is no problem…yes it will work…yes, yes, yes. Yes to it all. Yes to life. In a world with far too many no’s, Jack was an anomaly, I don’t remember hearing that word from him. Your mark is on me Jack, as it is on all of us who have spent time with you. It is the mark of yes! Yes to life in all its adventures, in all its sorrows and now to all of its grief."

David Fleetham

Maui, Hawaii – March 14, 2008

When Jack met Maureen, he began living in two worlds. One was the undersea world of scuba diving, the other world was what he affectionately referred to as being the Sport of Kings…or as he would put it…the horsey world. For those of you who are here today from the horsey world, please allow me some slack as my history with Jack is from that other world of reefs, sharks, seahorses and shipwrecks.

Scuba diving was one of Jack’s great passions. He was one of the best divers I have ever plumbed the ocean depths with. Although, I never would have guessed this when, on our first dive together, I watched him really struggling to dress into his dry suit. I figured it out about ten seconds before he did that he was trying to force his head through the sleeve of his dry suit. As Jack realized what he was doing…you could see him stop and quickly whip his head out the suit…and look around to see if anyone was watching. And what does he see?, me grinning like a Cheshire cat. That was 25 years ago. I have known Jack for half my lifetime.

Soon enough, Jack invited me to come to one of his infamous slide parties. Jack’s slide parties offered a venue wherein scuba divers and their friends could watch some of the best local underwater photographers display their most recent images. These almost monthly events held at Jack’s loft apartment provided a setting for many of us here to develop what has turned out to be lifelong friendships. These were the best of times... and Jack was the unifier, the heart and soul who brought so many of us together. Our friendship flourished…

One day, Jack arranged for a group of us to go skiing at Blackcomb Mountain. When I told him I was not going because I didn’t know how to ski, Jack would hear none of it and said he would teach me. Jack was an excellent skier who had skied in Europe in his younger days. Jack taught me to ski in only one day. He spent an entire morning with me on the bunny hill teaching me two skills. How to turn and how to stop. Just before noon he says rather nonchalant, “OK, you’re ready, let’s go up to the top of the mountain.” I was not so sure that I was ready…and figured this was all just a ploy to have lunch up top. But Jack seemed convinced that the fruits of his morning labour would be rewarded. Much to my surprise, by the end of that day, Jack and I were skiing down from the peak of Blackcomb mountain.

Soon…Jack’s altruistic interests seemed to turn to wanting to teach me how to travel. So we hatched a scheme to go diving together for three weeks in the Caribbean. In January 1985, we set off on a three-week island-hopping scuba diving vacation to the Caribbean. Jack proved to be a wonderful traveling companion and we experienced sheer delight tin each other’s company.

On the Dutch island of Bonaire we figuratively dived our brains out. While most diving guests could only last 30 or 40 minutes underwater, Jack and I were stretching our dives out for more than an hour and a half. After a full day of diving and a leisurely dinner, we would go night diving and would be underwater well past midnight. One afternoon, Jack was scribbling on a postcard and looked up and asked me…”How do you spell Maureen?” I told him M.a.u.r.e.e.n. However, he insisted, it was M.o.r.e.e.n. A lively debate ensued and the more Jack insisted his spelling was correct, the more my ribs were splitting from laughter.

From Bonaire we traveled to the French island of Martinique where we happened to dive with an experienced older man from Paris who proclaimed numerous times that…”I was not the first, but I dove with the first”. He was referring to the fact that while he was not with Jacques Cousteau when he stared diving, but that he had dived with Cousteau. Jack would always repeat this line to me and smile one of those smiles that only I would understand. Our friendship changed during that Caribbean adventure. We were no longer friends; we were more like brothers after that. I paraphrase that time in our lives as “We were not the first, but we dived with the best!”

If I may recount another diving episode that further strengthened the bond between us. The year was 1987 and Jack, Gary Bridges, Neil McDaniel and I were on a liveaboard dive adventure to the Central Pacific. We were diving a remote pacific atoll hundreds of miles from anywhere. I happened to see a shark swim into a cave and decided to follow it in. It was an immense cave about the size of a living room. Jack followed me in. The shark had settled on the sea floor at the back of the cave. I wanted to get a picture of that shark and tagged Jack to be the underwater model. Jack settled into safe position, but I motioned him to move in closer. He moved about 6 inches. I shook my head and motioned for him to move closer to the shark. Again, shaking my head…I motioned for him to move closer. Scuba divers learn to speak with their eyes and I cannot repeat what Jack’s eyes were saying to me at that moment. So he moves closer… which was too close for the shark. Something strange and wonderful happens between two men in an underwater cave when an agitated shark is snapping its jaws while swimming in furious circles around them looking for an exit. The shark eventually found it’s way out leaving Jack and I both unscathed. When we surfaced, the first words out of my mouth were “Why did you have to get so close?” I can still hear him ranting back at me between the laughter today…

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In one picture on this poster here up front, there is one of Jack and I together. The picture was taken in the late 80’s soon after a dive with six-gill sharks at Hornby Island. I have kept this picture in my office since the day it was taken. I feel it epitomizes my relationship with Jack. He’s saying something to me with that wry grin of his, and I’m shaking my head. It was always like that with us…

We also shared some grand moments above water. Jack was the best man at my wedding and I was the best man at his and Maureen’s nuptials. Actually, Jack had three best men at his wedding. Jed Edmonson and Tom Matthews also stood up for Jack. Jack and Maureen were God Parents to my son, Danen. I remember visiting Jack and Maureen outside the delivery room when their son, Alex, was born. Our lives were so intertwined… Jack recently told me over lunch, how much he and Maureen had loved each other. He was not one prone to exaggerate; he would say to me that whenever they encountered any rough spots in their marriage, they just worked it out. And after Alex was born, can anyone remember a time when Alex was not in tow? The Van Hove’s went everywhere together.

On December 1, 2007, several weeks after my actual birthday on November 13th, many of you here today gathered at my home to celebrate my 50th birthday party. It was a surprise party arranged by my fiancée, Katie. The snow was falling and Katie wondered if anyone would show as the driving conditions were worsening by the hour. My mom told Katie, “Don’t worry, they’re all scuba divers, they will show”. And most everyone did show up. Including Jack, and his family. They had the farthest to travel…and he showed up. I’m forever grateful for that evening. Not necessarily for the fact that I had turned 50, but that it was an opportunity for Jack to socialize with his friends. And Jack, being Jack, seized that magical moment to tell Katie all the sordid details about that scoundrel she is going to marry. It was perfect.

On Super Bowl day in early February, Katie, and I visited Jack and Alex at their farm. We spent several hours with Jack walking the grounds and discussing the future. When it came time for us to leave, Jack and I hugged each other goodbye. I don’t recall when we started doing that. It was something we always did… we were like brothers in arms.

Many people make the mistake of judging someone’s life by its length rather than by its depth, by its problems rather than its promises. Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean. To live in the hearts and minds of those we leave behind is not to die. An ocean is both deep and wide. Jack has left us… but in his wake he leaves behind so much for us all to be grateful for…so much to cherish… and we are all beneficiaries of his infinite grace. He personified the true meaning of loyalty and friendship.
On Thursday, March 6, Alex had a private service at the grave site were he said his goodbyes to his dad. Jack’s ashes were interned next to his one true love, Maureen, along with his diving regulator and a fine piece of cedar. Jack would have loved that...

I spoke to Jack on the phone about one week before his accident. He was in good spirits and he was the Jack I have always known and loved. We were already making plans to get together with both him and Alex… and he spoke about wanting to go diving with me. It was just like Dave Fleetham stated in his email to me… ”Within those varied realms of love there existed a common theme.”

Jack knew that death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. Jack would want for all of us to embrace life and live it to our fullest potential. He would say… be kind to one another…and always… strive to be the best we can be. Always try to say yes, instead of no. And to never, ever, forget to put on your dive fins before you leap overboard…