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Blue
Dolphin of Malta 1989
International
Underwater Photographic Competition
by
Debbie Perrin
Reproduced
from in focus 1989
It
was not only the Russians and Americans who met in Malta this
year. The 3rd Blue Dolphin of Malta Underwater Photographic
Competition attracted competitors from Belgium, East and West
Germany, France, Holland, Italy, United Kingdom and of course
Malta. Although 5,000 Irish people were also visiting Malta
simultaneously, their attention was focused on a football
match and not underwater photography. A total of 43 competitors
entered the Blue Dolphin - none from Ireland!
The
competition was organised by'llie Celebration Committee in
collaboration with the National Tourism Organization - Malta
(NTOM) and the Federation of Underwater Activities (FAUM).
This
year Malta celebrated 25 years of Independence. Ironically,
30 years ago the Chairman of the Working Committee, Paul J.
Naudi, was involved with the first International Underwater
Fishing Competition. Times have changed and with conservation
in mind, divers visiting Malta are now encouraged to shoot
fish with cameras not spearguns. Realising the increasing
number of divers visiting Malta, the National Tourism Organisation
have upgraded the services of the Hyperbaric Unit at St. Luke's
General Hospital.
There
were two parts to the Competition. The Blue Dolphin and the
Mini Blue Dolphin. The Blue Dolphin is similar to BSoUP's
Splash In 'On The Day' competition, only the Blue Dolphin
was held over three days not one. Competitors were allowed
to expose as many films as they wished but they had to enter
the best five shots from each film. The Mini Blue Dolphin
was open to underwater photographers who dived in the Maltese
Islands during the year and submitted three of their best
photographs to the FAUM.
The
programme began on Wednesday evening with a reception to welcome
and introduce the competitors to the organisers. This was
held at the Grand Hotel Verdala. Here the rules and regulations
of the competition were set out and explained.
On
Thursday the competition began. Competitors were transported
daily to each dive site. The first site was Filfla, a marine
reserve which normally prohibits diving, fishing and sailing
in the area. Special permission had been granted for the competitors
to dive this site. It appeared that most of Malta's diving
population had taken this one-off opportunity to dive this
unique site. This might explain why the boat (which was an
old mine sweeper converted into a tourist harbour cruise vessel)
was fully laden with approximately 80 divers!
On
Thursday evening, competitors were taken to an exhibition
on Diving in Malta held at the Museum of Archaelogy in Valletta.
Local school children (some who were severely handicapped)
had drawn and painted their views of sea life around Malta.
The
dive site for Friday was Dwejra on Gozo. Competitors had the
choice of two sites, the Inland Sea or the Blue Hole. Both
sites offered caverns and arches making it an ideal setting
for underwater photography.
The
final dive site was back on mainland Malta - Cirkewwa, just
over the harbour wall. Although an unlikely site, it did prove
quite interesting. On Friday and Saturday evenings slide presentations
were given by various competitors. This year's On The Day
Splash-In winner, Paul Clark, gave a presentation on marine
biology. Vic Verlinden of Belgium presented audio visuals,
as did Italy's Vincenzo Paolillo. Avertano Role of Malta's
Ministry of Environment gave an interesting talk on Malta's
underwater morphology. Peter Scoones gave an impromptu and
amusing talk on the differences between diving in the Med
and St. Abbs.
The
programme culminated on Sunday evening with a farewell dinner
and prize giving ceremony. The results were announced during
a 'carvery' style dinner.
A lot of hard work went into the competition and amongst the
organisers Joseph Cussar (President of FAUM) and Martin Aquilina
(Treasurer) were always on hand to help with any problems.
At times their dilligence and patience was tested to the extreme.
It
was a well organised event in which competitors from different
backgrounds and cultures could come together with one passion
in common. Ideas and techniques were openly discused and exchanged
and many friends were made. It is a competition I would recommend
BSoUP members to try. A good time was had by all except the
exhausted organisers!
RESULTS
THE
BLUE DOLPHIN
1st
Prize - US$ 1,000 Marc de Batty (France)
2nd Prize - US$ 500 Fredric Di Miglio (France)
3rd Prize - US$ 300 Peter Scoones (United Kingdom)
MINI
BLUE DOLPHIN
Winner
- US$ 250 Bill Hewitt (United Kingdom)
Finalists
were also presented with a glass trophy of a dolphin. Each
competitor received a commemorative coin. A small trophy was
presented to all those competitors who gave a talk or presented
slides.
BLUE
DOLPHIN OF MALTA - ARTICLES ON SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
1990
by David Chandler
1993
by Greg Cassar
2002
by Linda Dunk |
