Great Barrier Reef Questions
Submitted by teacherspet on April 11, 2006 - 6:37pm.
Hi Josh!
The greatbarrier reef video was so cool! what kind of camera did you use underwater? how did you get it to be so still?
i was wondering if you could also talk about ecotourism. i don't know much about it - can you explain that term to me a bit more?
thanks!
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Great Barrier Reef and Ecotourism...
Hey Teacherspet!
Sorry for not getting to your questions sooner! I miss Australia a lot and you reminded me a little of the country. Underwater camera work requires special housing that not only is tough enough to put up with being banged around, it also must obviously be waterproof and be pressure resistant. For every foot you descend into the ocean there is a significant amount of water pressure pushing down onto the gear (and, of course, your body). So this housing ends up being pretty big and bulky. The Cameraperson needs a steady hand and tons of experience. That's really why we hired a professional with about 20 years experience!
Ecotourism is like tourism in that you visit and experience a place of interest but in this case that place has an ecological or a natural interest to it. Usually, if an organization is really all about being an ecotourist site, or if they're 'ecofriendly', their goal is to educate people about the place you'd be visiting/experiencing so that you bring some knowledge home with you (That would be your souvenir!). A great example of this is how Costa Rica thrives on ecotourism. Illegal logging is still a problem in CR like in many Central American countries, but CR is able to sustain it's tourism flow and thus it's rainforests with ecotours: tours that teach you about the rainforests and volcanos while not disrupting them in an environmentally harmful way. Many tour organizations around the world would not be considered "ecofriendly" because of the neglect and thus destruction the environment has faced through their tourism.
Hope this answers your questions! Thanks for coming along...
Josh