The Short Documentary Film presenting the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary, currently under construction by Archipelagos on the Island of Lipsi, won the award for the “Best Heroic Act of Environmental Stewardship” at the World Whale Film Festival in Maui, Hawaii!
The recipient of this award is selected by the festival’s audience, who had to choose among great films about conservation actions from around the world. This international recognition of the conservation efforts of Archipelagos Institute by the specialized audience of this festival is a great honor for all of us and gives us the courage and motivation to continue the difficult endeavor of defending the nature of our seas, which we have been pursuing for over 20 years.
This Short Documentary Film shows the creation process of the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary, which will consist of:
– a gold-standard solution for the rehabilitative care of marine animals that are trying to survive in the seas and oceans humanity insists on destroying. This new standard of care will be offered in a natural environment, in accordance with protocols designed to respect the ecology of marine mammals and turtles.
– a tangible solution, for the first time in the world, to rehabilitate captive dolphins who continue to carry out forced performances under the guise of “educational actions” – yet another major crime of humanity towards wildlife.
– a sanctuary for marine life in its entirety, which will serve as a field of research and education of global interest. It is indicative of the importance of this work that, even before its official operation has started, there are hundreds of scientists and students from every corner of the world who have already visited the sanctuary.
The goal for all of us at Archipelagos is to put words into action. So, in the heart of winter, we are working intensively on the construction and licensing of the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary, in close collaboration with the Municipality of Lipsi. This endeavour is taking place without any national or EU grants, but with funds that originate from individuals and organisations who support Archipelagos’ conservation actions in addition to self-funding and with a great deal of personal work.
We would like to thank the Pacific Whale Foundation for this great honour to Archipelagos Institute. This award is also an international recognition of this Greek venture that is embraced by a global team of experts and scientists. For all of us at Archipelagos, it is an attempt for Greece to recover its “lost honour” in the field of marine conservation. This is important for Greece which is world-renowned as the place where, thousands of years ago, dolphins were first protected and where research on marine life was started for the first time in the world!
The short documentary film was produced by our partners Jasmine Duthie and Anton Leach from the South Africa-based production company Clawed Hat Films! The next showings of our documentary film trip will be at film festivals in Los Angeles and New York. Soon we will also share the video with you online!
