February 15, 2013

New Book on Haiti Reefs Benefits Reef Check

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Haiti From Below, a large format book by Nathalie Brunet and featuring gorgeous underwater photos by Nick Hobgood is the first book focusing on the beauty of the coral reefs of Haiti. The book, which comes packaged in a beautifully illustrated box case, features over 100 colorful pictures taken underwater along the northern coast of Haiti including fish, corals, sponges, fan worms, squid and other colorful reef creatures of the Caribbean. The pictures were taken between 2007 and 2010, in locations such as Baie de l’Acul, Cachal Beach, Caracol, Cormier, Fort Labouque, Fort Liberté, Isla Amiga, and Labadie. Nick Hobgood, a passionate diver/photographer who fell in love with Haiti “from below” while exploring the North coast, captured the beautiful images.

Reef Check assisted in the book production by providing scientific identifications of the marine organisms as well as habitat maps for the north coast bays showing the locations for coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass. Two pages in the back of the book also feature photos and text about the first EcoDiver team trained in Haiti by Reef Check. The book includes a discussion of the factors affecting reef status as well as an overview of the economic, social and cultural panorama. There are brief historical accounts of Christopher Columbus, whose boat the Santa Maria sank in Haiti, the Buccaneers whose name comes from Haiti (“Boucaniers”), as well as the pirates who buried treasure on Tortuga Island. The overall tone is a light, easy-read with text in both French and English.

The book is 9 x 12 inches with hard cover, printed in full color (hexachrome) on 142 pages of glossy paper.

The goals of the book are to: raise awareness for the situation of coral reefs in Haiti and encourage a national action plan for their preservation, attract coastal tourism in Haiti, and to support the expansion of Reef Check’s EcoDiver program in Haiti.

The authors have generously donated 100% of the proceeds of the first 250 books to Reef Check to support EcoDiver training on the north coast of Haiti.

SPECIAL OFFER — For the first 100 donors of $250 or more, we will send you one book including free shipping.

Click here to donate.