Photos

I’m back from Bald Head Island, NC – but fear not, there’s one last adventure to report. One of my last days down there, I drove to Topsail Island, which is a short drive up the coast, to see Jean Beasley’s famed turtle hospital (named after her daughter Karen).

Beasley, who won Animal Planet’s 2007 hero of the year award, is a teacher-turned-turtle activist whose hospital started as a single injured turtle under a tent in her backyard in the mid-‘90s.

The “hospital” is a small warehouse with about 20 pools of varying sizes and depths, each containing an injured sea turtle. Staffed by around 70 volunteers, (plus 150 helping with nesting on the beach), the hospital currently houses three species of sea turtles – loggerheads, greens, and Kemp’s ridleys.

A Japanese zoo's efforts to be green turned its polar bears, well, green.

Three bears in the zoo got the eco dye job because of their pond's algae overgrowth, a result of high temperatures in July and August and less-frequent water changes due to the zoo's conservation efforts.

Just two weeks into its maiden voyage, Oceana's new research vessel MarViva Med has started giving up the goods: rarely-seen images of bluefin fishing in progress.

Time is running out to save these creatures, which are big, sleek fish often considered the tigers of the sea. View an exclusive slideshow of MarViva photos showing bluefin fattening cages in the Mediterranean, and stay updated with blog entries from Oceana photographer Keith Ellenbogen.

MarViva Med joins Oceana's Ranger in documenting destructive and illegal fishing techniques. Its mission this summer focuses on bluefin tuna, one of the world's most overexploited fish species. The European Union has ignored the advice of its own scientists and continued to set quotas for Atlantic bluefin well above what the dwindling population can handle.

A right whale that attracted attention from a New England Aquarium researcher as it thrashed around in the water wasn't injured, as it first seemed: It was giving birth.

Now we have the first-ever photographs of a right whale calving. There are only about 400 of these critically endangered creatures left. Click here for a slideshow of this rare event.

[Photo courtesy NEAq/NMFS via Boston WCBV/TV]

Those were the words Oceana's chief scientist Mike Hirshfield used to describe this newly discovered species, and he may have it right.

Here another ZOEA photo of beautiful ocean habitat that will be protected thanks to our recent victory.  

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Not only are oceans and ocean life vital to human survival; the underwater world has always fascinated and inspired us. Few of us, though, have the chance to explore that world ourselves. To give our readers a glimse into life under the waves, we'll be featuring underwater photos and photographers on a regular basis. Artists, get in touch! And everyone - please share stories from underwater adventures.

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"I followed this mated pair off Little Caymay for 20-plus minutes, shooting most of a roll of 36, to get just the perfect shot." (Grey angelfish are believed to mate for life.)

PHOTOGRAPHER: Chuck Botts
AGE: 61
BASED OUT OF: Monrovia, MD

How did you become an underwater photographer? Having been a photographer since getting my first camera at the age of nine, it was only natural that I took one with me when taking up SCUBA at fifty. Plus, my photos let me share the magnificence, fragility and awesome variety of the sea with those unable or unwilling to visit personally.

Conservation mantra: "Treat the sea as you would your children; you may need to depend on them someday."

Website: www.h2optics.biz