Chris and Genevieve Johnson keynote speakers at 2007 SUBIOS Festival

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Chris and Genevieve Johnson of earthOCEAN are keynote speakers in the 2007 SUBIOS festival in the Seychelles.

SUBIOS  takes place from March 19-25,2007. This year’s theme is cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises).

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In the year leading up to the festival, the Ministries of Environment and Education encourage curriculum-based activities aimed directly at school children, as well as ocean awareness campaigns that target the local community. The primary mission of SUBIOS is to celebrate the underwater realm while inspiring the Seychellois about the importance of the marine world and their role in protecting marine life.

SUBIOS (Sub Indian Ocean Seychelles) Underwater Film and Image Festival was the brainchild of diving aficionado Philippe Blanchard. In 1989, he together with Maryse Eichler, David Rowat, Maurice Lousteau-Lalanne and a special committee put together a festival that would highlight Seychelles’ extraordinary marine world, showcase the islands as an ideal diving destination and also sensitise the local population to the beauty beneath the waves. Since that time SUBIOS has grown in stature, every year attracting filmmakers, photographers, journalists and ecologists from all over the world in a week-long celebration of Seychelles Underwater World.

The festival includes not only photographic competitions but also features presentations by famous visiting speakers, SUBIOS dedicated events at hotels and a special schools programme to educate the nationÍs youth concerning the beauty and fragility of the islands’ marine eco-systems.

Over the years special guests special guests have included such names as National Geographic photographer David Doubilet, Kurt Amsler, Pierre Coton – one of the organisers of the Festival Mondial de de l’image Sous-Marine in Antibes, John Boyle, Mark Shelley, Lawson Wood, Norbert Wu, as well as Piet & Karen Van ZyI from South Africa.