This book showcases the very best of the photography as judged in the Sustainable Seas Trust 2013/14 competition. The extraordinary, prize-winning photographs are accompanied by illuminating essays from leading scientists, sports people and others whose lives are intimately connected with the seas.

It also serves as a call to create a South African network of Hope Spots, which are special, people-orientated marine conservation areas.

The hope is that, with the close involvement of the communities that live near and depend on the seas, we can safeguard our natural resources.

If humankind were given a mandate to do everything in our power to undermine the earth's functioning, we could hardly do a better job than we have in the past thirty years on the world's oceans, both by what we are putting into it-millions of tons of trash and toxic materials-and by what we are taking out of it-millions of tons of wildlife. Yet only recently have we begun to understand the scale of those impacts.
Defying Ocean's End is the result of an unprecedented effort among the world's largest environmental organizations, scientists, the business community, media, and international governments to address these marine issues. In June 2003, in the culmination of a year-long effort, they met specifically to develop a comprehensive and achievable agenda to reverse the decline in health of the world's oceans.
As conservation organizations begin to expand their focus from land issues to include a major focus on preservation of the sea, it is increasingly apparent that we have to approach marine conservation differently and at much larger scale than we have to date. What's also clear is the magnitude and immediacy of the growing ocean concerns are such that no one organization can handle the job alone.
Defying Ocean's End is a bold step in bringing the resources needed to bear on this vast problem before it is too late. It offers a broad strategy, a practical plan with priorities and costs, aimed at mobilizing the forces needed to bring about a "sea change" of favorable attitudes, actions, and outcomes for the oceans-and for all of us.

[An] absorbing survey of oceanography . . . [this] elegant study is an excellent resource.­­Publishers Weekly

A fascinating examination of the earths oceans

This exhaustive overview of oceanography captures the excitement of discovery in the making. The Oceans opens up the world of ocean science to the general reader and raises significant questions about the future of the ancient, nurturing ocean itself.

The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the globe, yet less than 5 percent of that expanse has been explored. But, as Drs. Prager and Earle show in this vivid survey of ocean research, our knowledge is suddenly accelerating: various dives, soundings, computer analyses, and other probes are uncovering amazing facts about the 142 million square miles beneath the seas.

This engaging memoir presents one man's lifelong love of the ocean and gives a highly personal, behind-the-scenes look at California's magnificent and innovative aquariums. David Powell, for many years curator of the world-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium, tells the story of his life as a pioneering aquarist. From handling great white sharks to transporting delicate fish on bumpy airplanes to night diving for fish in the Indian Ocean, "A Fascination for Fish" describes many of the mind-boggling challenges that make modern aquariums possible and offers an intriguing glimpse beneath the ocean's surface. Powell's career in diving and aquarium development goes back to the beginning of modern methods in both areas. From the early techniques he devised to get fish into aquariums alive and healthy to his later exploratory dive to a depth of eleven hundred feet in a two-person submarine, Powell's action-packed narrative inspires laughter, wonder, and philosophical reflection. A "Fascination for Fish" also includes many stories about Powell's diving adventures on the California coast, in the Sea of Cortez, and in many remote and exotic locations around the world.