WANT TO SEE YOUR PHOTO PUBLISHED? In their calendar for 2001,
The Coral Reef Alliance will be
showcasing photos taken in marine
preserves to illustrate what can be
done to protect reefs. If your shot is
selected, you’ll get credit, of course,
along with a stack of calendars to
show your friends. Final date for
submissions is March 1, 2000. For
more information, contact CORAL at
64 Shattuck Square, Suite 220,
Berkeley, CA 94704; phone 510-848-
3720 or 888-CORALREEF; e-mail
info@coral.org; or visit their website
at www.coral.org.
NON-ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTALIST? Although Cousteau Society president
Francine Cousteau, Jacques’ widow,
proffered a great sound bite about
the impact of hordes of whalewatching
tourists on animals that
need peace and quiet, a Cousteau
Society film crew was accused of
providing the mammals anything but.
According to a Reuters report, the
Cousteau crew was kicked off the St.
Lawrence River September 10 after
Canadian television broadcast videotape
footage of Cousteau boats charging
fin whales and injuring them.
Quebec naturalist Chantale Sainte-
Hilaire said Cousteau Society
inflatables negotiating the river near
the popular whale-watching resort
community of Tadoussac headed
“towards the whales in such an aggressive
way that boats literally climbed on
their backs,” adding that she had seen
the whales’ wounds. Though a
Cousteau spokesman denied the
accusations, the Canadian Department
of Fisheries and Oceans revoked the
society’s film permit and is launching
an investigation.
BOGGED DOWN: The winner of the
14th World Bog Snorkeling Championships
in Waen Rhydd Bog in Llanwrtyd
Wells, Wales, shaved a second off last
year’s world record. On August 30,
Peter Owen, a 38-year-old from Bristol,
negotiated two lengths of the dark,
stinking 60-yard trench in one minute,
52 seconds. Competitors are allowed
only a snorkel and fins and cannot use
a conventional swimming stroke.