The 8th Celebrate the
Sea Festival opened on Friday, 12 June 2009 to renew our faith,
at the Manila Ocean Park. Lynn Funkhouser, took the podium as
its first presenter with a modest audience of divers and
visitors, pleading her cause to protect the life and home of the
innocent sea creatures growing on piers. The Welcome Party in
the evening was graced by the Executive Director of the
Philippine Commission of Sports Scuba Diving, Cynthia Carrion,
as her team prepared and orchestrated the Mardi gras like parade
for the nation’s official celebrate the sea day.
This year festival welcome two Rolex’s ambassadors David
Doubilet, Dr Phil Nuytten along with some of the most celebrated
underwater image makers Peter Scoones of BBC’s Blue Planet,
Leandro Blanco, Mathieu Meur and the founder of the festival
Michael Aw which enthralled the audience with their unique
style and presence sharing their arts, experience, and wisdom.
The ‘Shark Theatre’ which featured videos of the finalists and
15 awards winners from the World Underwater Pictures Festival
(Antibes), received its fair share of enthused visitors. The
mid-day Forums were well attended, keeping the panelists well
engaged. The contentious issue of Animals in Captivity began
with Jennifer Hayes opening the forum. The strong views for and
against, reflected the greater awareness and the need for
effective international control and management. On the final
day, during the forum on ‘Changing the Face of Terror’ a petite
and rather demure looking local photographer named Leah, with
the most innocent of faces, raised her hand to confess rather
nonchalantly her sharks fin indulgence drawing instant ‘oohs’
and aahs’ from the audience. Explaining how the discussion and
debate shed light on the sharks’ fate, she then publicly vowed
to discontinue this indulgence. This time the audience broke
into spontaneous and rapturous applause and it has since been
aptly termed, the Leah conversion!
Each year, for past eight years, the Celebrate the Sea Festival
in its modest evolution, yearned and strived to be relevant in
the relationship between humanity and our seas. It has come of
age. After celebrating in three different Asian countries in the
last eight years, the children’s Art Competition now has two
ambassadors a year and is growing by leaps and bounds. Each
participant causes an entourage of Leah conversions to
the sharks fin cause, every year.
At the award ceremony, the deserving were duly honoured. From
Hong Kong, Adrian Lau Tsun Yin, aged 9 and Coco Tin Chi Ting,
aged 14, earned their Ambassadorship for the Sharks in the
presence of their family and honourable guests for their
outstanding works of art. John Scallett from the USA was named
Ocean Geographic Underwater Photography Journalist of 2009 for
his deep and meaningful photo montage of “Loving Sharks”.
Leandro Blanco’s Voices We Will Never Hear, won him the
Outstanding Achievement in the Short Video Documentary, the
Rolex’s Award for Excellence in Underwater Films and the
President Gloria Arroyo’s Award for the Highest Achievement of
the Festival. Dr. Phil Nuyten was named and honoured as the Hero
of the Sea, 2009. The Celebrate the Sea Festival, for the first
time in its eight-year history, presented the title and honour
‘Ambassador of the Sea’; this was most deservingly conferred
upon Under Secretary, Cynthia Carrion for her passion and
relentless effort to promote the wonders of the beautiful sea
through her pivotal role in the world’s first nation-state’s
Presidential Proclamation to officially declared a day in the
year as a Celebrate the Sea day.
The growing enthusiasm in the presentations and forums is
certainly indicative of a greater participative interest in
conserving our oceans. This year’s Hero of the Sea, Dr. Phyll
Nuytten sparked new hope and direction to not only help stem the
indiscriminate destruction we have caused, but the possibilities
to enrich the quality of living beings through technology. The
President of the Festival, National Geographic Photographer,
David Doubilet and Peter Scoones in the evolution of their
photography, evidenced the technological influence over the
years. ‘Perhaps it is now time to take brave new quantum leaps
into the ocean with technology’ hinted Howard Shaw, the
Executive Director of the Singapore Environment Council. Deep
sea vents for potential clean energy and minerals, deep sea
submersibles to appreciate and study oceanic creatures freely
without captivity – a wish that panelist Jaki Teo, firmly
echoed; food and medicine harvesting, non-polluting oceanic
cities, and the list of possibilities is endless. Celebrate the
Sea, 2009 highlight the beauty of our ocean and the hope of a
living blue planet.
The Celebrate the Sea Festival’s tenure in Manila may have
ended this year, but the spirit now remains alive in the hearts
and minds of the Filipino people. Panelists and experts in
their own fields, Dr. Perry Alino, Dr. Fernando Siringan and
Jose Lorenzo more than amply reflected the dedication of the
Philippines to protect the sea. Their President, Her Excellency,
Gloria Arroyo, in 2008, proclaimed the month of June the
Celebrate the Sea month and the 2nd Saturday of June
to be the Celebrate the Sea day. The sea has proven time and
again, that it is resilient and unconditional in its care for
us. It beckons again for a rejuvenation of a collaborative and
harmonious relationship. The Celebrate the Sea Festival, is but
one of numerous possibilities. It has left an indelible mark on
the Philippines, the Heart of the Coral Triangle and will indeed
ripple through the region. The organizer thanks all partners,
competitors, sponsors, and everyone for participation and
support. For it is not about tenures, but moments such as
Leah conversions while we begin to celebrate the most
important element that give us life on this blue ocean planet.
Celebrate the Sea Festival is
an OceanNEnvironment Ltd Australia production. The 2009 festival
is jointly organized and supported by the Philippines Department
of Tourism and PCSSD. Rolex is the principal sponsor for
appearance of David Doubilet and Dr Phil Nuytten.
Mikael Jigmo
- Ocean Geographic Photographer in Residence |
Howard Shaw
& Cynthia Carrion |
The
highlight of Celebrate the Sea - the Children Art
Competition - over 80 kids - finalists from Hong Kong,
India, Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia |
Adrian Lau -
9 yrs - CTS 09 Ambassador for Sharks with Lynn
Funkhouser |
|
USEC Cynthia
Carrion official named Ambassador of the Sea |
The WHO's
WHO at CTS 2009 - Jennifer Hayes, David Doubilet, Anci
Jigmo, Peter Scoones, Geogette, Leandro Blanco, Phil
Nuytten, Michael AW with the official CTS 'limousine'
Manila style! |
David
Doubilet chatting with Michael AW & Mathieu Meur
|
Michael AW
and friends...Laura Goddard, Isabel Ender, Katrin Ender
and Lynn Funkhouser |
Christine
Lee with Patrick Swartz (Scuba Seraya Resort) and Anci
Jigmo |
The CTS
Climate Change Forum - chair by Howard Shaw, Dr Phil
Nuytten, Lory Tan WWF,
Dr Porfirio Alińo,
Dr
Selingan |
Chris Ng -
recipient Honor of Distinction ; WOW Philippines with
Michael AW |
Award Gala
evening - Leandro Blanco with Michael AW at entry of
Manila Ocean Park |
|
