Horizon International today announced the launching of its Magic Porthole’s First Environment Achievement Contest to be held in honor of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008.  

People of all ages and from every corner of the world are invited to participate. Prize winners will be chosen for best efforts and the impact of their actions.  There are three categories based on age.

Aquariums, museums and coral reef organizations are offering prizes for this contest and collaborating with the Magic Porthole Web site www.magicporthole.org and other features such as the Magic Porthole Coral Reef Playing Cards which they are using in their own programs. 

 

First Prize Trip to Coral Reefs

   The First prize for the winner of Magic Porthole’s First Environment Achievement Contest is a trip to a coral reef on board Research Vessel Tiburon. Captain Tim Taylor, President and CEO of Research Vessel Tiburon Inc. at http://www.rvtiburon.com, and founder of Ocean Outreach Inc., a non-profit ocean education and outreach organization is contributing the first prize: accommodation for of a week vacation to a coral reef with their family. They will live on board his 63 foot research vessel from which they will explore coral reefs.

  Other prizes include Tuition at Sanibel Sea School, Art work by Sasha Meret, Family passes to Birch Aquarium at Scripps, Books from the Wild Dolphin Foundation,

Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Photo Wild Dolphin Project

Wild Dolphin.org, decks of two versions of the First Collectors’ Edition Magic Porthole Coral Reef Playing Cards, one version of which can be seen and played with online.  Magic Porthole  Ecoknowledge card game, and other prizes.  The Entry Form and more details are posted on the Magic Porthole Web page.

             Magic Porthole provides engaging experiences for discoveries about the lives of frogfish, cleaning gobies, turtles, seahorses, sharks, and many of the myriad other reef creatures while encouraging reef preservation with online and offline videos, games, and resources.  In the online resources, one can learn, for example, that coral reefs are home to an estimated 25 % of all marine species and that the impairment of the reefs causes fish, that are a part of people’s everyday diet, to be lost. 

Seahorse Photograph Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Seahorse games from the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, contests and resources are provided by Reef Check and IYOR, a flash page about water is from UNEP, TUNZA, and CEE (Center for Environmental Education, India), and many resources on the site are from NOAA/National Ocean Science among others.

            The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) International Year of the Reef 2008,  is a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the value and importance of coral reefs and threats to their sustainability, and to motivate people to take action to protect them. IYOR welcomes and actively encourages individuals, corporations, schools, governments, and organizations to participate in IYOR 2008. Magic Porthole and the Horizon Solutions site  are Friends of IYOR 2008.

 

Photograph NOAA

    From July 7 to 11, the 11th the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS), the world’s largest conference devoted to coral reef science will be at the Broward County Convention Center in Florida.  Held every four years, this scientific meeting is sanctioned by the International Society of Reef Studies (ICRS).  Co-hosted in 2008 by the United States and State of Florida, this will be the first time this science meeting has been held on the US mainland in more than 30 years.

                “Magic Porthole: Discoveries in Coral Reefs, TV Series Preview of Footage Filmed in Bonaire”, an eight minute DVD, and Magic Porthole First Edition Coral Reef Playing Cards will be featured at the 11th the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) and at the ICRI General Meeting, Greater Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA 12-13 July 2008. The Symposium anticipates more than 2,000 participants.

Damsel Fish from Magic Porthole DVD “Magic Porthole: Discoveries in Coral Reefs, TV Series Preview of Footage Filmed in Bonaire”

Notes:

Horizon International’s Magic Porthole program, an informal science education program, is made possible by an award of a National Science Foundation Planning Grant, funding from many supporters for filming in Bonaire, individuals and foundations, and substantial contributions of talent and services and the help of many partners.

Advisory Board for Magic Porthole:

Walter H. Adey, Ph.D., Director, Marine Systems Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution; Alexandra Cousteau, Co-Founder, EarthEcho, Gordon Cragg, Ph.D., former Chief, Natural Products Branch, National Cancer Institute; Sylvia A. Earle, Ph.D., founder of Deep Ocean Engineering; David Ellis, Ph.D., former Director, Boston Museum of Science; William Fenical, Ph.D., Director, Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; David Gelernter, Professor, Computer Science, Yale U.; Peter R. Haje, former General Counsel and Executive Vice President Time-Warner; Carl-Gustaf Lundin, Head, IUCN Global Marine Programme; Gus Speth, Dean, Yale Forestry and Environmental Studies. Numerous youth are advisors.