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Last Updated: May 24, 2009 - 3:37:13 PM |
Tim Harris. Whale shark, 60-foot depth, Darwin Island, Galapagos. 2004.
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12th August 2008- Freeport, Bahamas -- On Friday, 15th August 2008 The Grand Bahama Development Company (DEVCO), in conjunction with UNEXSO and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, will host a six-member crew of New York City’s distinguished Explorers Club (TEC) led by Marine Biologists Drs. Stefan Harzen and Barbara Brunnick, and Science Writer Joe Frey on their eight-day Flag Expedition to Grand Bahama Island. The Explorers Club is an international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Since its inception in 1904, the Club has served as a meeting point and unifying force for explorers and scientists worldwide.
The name of the expedition is the ‘2008 International Coral Reef Initiative’ and its objective for Grand Bahama is to create a highly accurate map of the coral reef system within the Petersen’s Cay National Park. The expedition to Grand Bahama and the Little Bahama Bank is part of a worldwide effort to focus attention on coral reefs and supporting ecosystems.
Founded in New York City in 1904, The Explorers Club promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences. TEC members have been responsible for an illustrious series of events such as:
• First to the North Pole
• First to the South Pole
• First to the summit of Mount Everest
• First to the deepest point in the ocean
• First to the surface of the moon
Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong. Apollo 11, surface of the Moon. 1969. PHOTO: NASA
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Carrying the Flag
The Explorers Club flag represents an impressive history of courage and accomplishment and has been carried on hundreds of expeditions by Club members since 1918. To carry the Club flag is an honour and a privilege. It has flown at both poles, from the highest peaks of the greatest mountain ranges, travelled to the depths of the ocean, to the lunar surface, and outer space. A flag expedition must further the cause of exploration and field science. Today there are 202 numbered flags, each with its own history.
The Explorers Club, which has some thirty chapters in the United States and around the world, is characterized by the great diversity of its members' backgrounds and interests. The seven founding members included two polar explorers, the curator of birds and mammals at The American Museum of Natural History, an archaeologist, a war correspondent and author, a professor of physics and an ethnologist. Today the membership includes field scientists and explorers from over sixty countries whose disciplines include: aeronautics, anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, biology, ecology, entomology, mountaineering, marine biology, oceanography, paleontology, physics, planetology, polar exploration, and zoology.
Beginning Friday, 15th August 2008 you can log on to www.bahamasexpeditions.org for information, daily blogs and updates on the Expedition.
The Grand Bahama Development Company Limited (DEVCO) is a joint venture between Hutison Whompoa Limited (HW) and Port Group Limited (PGL).
© Copyright 2008 by thebahamasweekly.com
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