The blue whales with their humongous size, the beautiful coral that flashes by, the seahorses in herd give birth while the sharks feel slightly hurt, while they are killed more mere human’s fun and made into a dish for their fin. The exotic marine life that we humans so desire to possess is too rare to be even found without bounds today. The conference started with Mr. Venkatesh Charloo a banker by profession, Venkat worked in Hong Kong for 11 years between 1984 and 1995 before deciding to quit the rat race and start recreational scuba diving in Goa, India, in Nov 1995. He joined Barracuda Diving India as a freelance instructor, becoming a partner
in 1996 and then taking over the company as a Sole Proprietor in 1997. He is passionate about marine conservation , and founded Coastal Impact with the intention of building awareness about marine ecosystems and motivating people to become divers and ‘ocean ambassadors’ , as well as join in to save Goa’s precious marine life. He is an SSI Master Instructor and PADI IDC Staff Instructor. He is one of the most highly qualified dive instructors in India and has been diving since the last 30 years. Began his keynote speech by telling about his experiences while diving and the beauty he encountered.
A few fun facts and questions that we never might even have asked our selves.
Then when he had eased upon us the necessity and importance of marine life he told us the problems faced by them. The ruthlessness of humans that has driven more than 100’s of species to extinction.Faced with the dreadful news all ears tuned into his speech as he told us about the problems being caused because of our negligence. He then proceeded to introduce to us the various ways through which we could help improve the condition of the wild life, such as something as basic as reuse, recycle and reduce to coral transplantation.
And that was how our first day came to an end leaving us all enchanted and filled with the need to protect the need to protect marine life.