2011 PERSEUS AWARD NOMINATIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 11, 2011

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2011 PERSEUS AWARD CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

Honoring superyacht owners who have demonstrated exemplary effort

and contribution toward marine wildlife conservation

Ft. Lauderdale, FL – The Perseus Award Committee would like to invite any and all nominations for yacht owners who meet the criteria for the 2011 Perseus Award. Nominee submissions must be received no later than Friday, September 9, 2011. Click to Download Form

The Perseus Award

The Perseus Award was created in 2010 to recognize yacht owners who have demonstrated exemplary effort and contribution toward marine wildlife conservation. The award embodies the spirit of Perseus, the Greek hero; a child of the sea who grew up to be one of its greatest heroes and protectors. It is also meant to encourage luxury yacht owners to take a greater role in conserving our marine heritage given their privileged and intimate relationship with the ocean. 

The Award itself is a stunning glass sculpture designed and cast by world renowned Bulgarian artist, Latchezar Boyadjiev. (See website below.)  This year’s award has been generously donated by Pacific Bound Yachts, a global yacht support services firm based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and will be presented at their 2^nd Annual “Sights and Sounds of the Pacific Corridor” event to be held October 26, 2011 at the Museum of Discovery and Science in downtown Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

These nominees will be put forth to a distinguished panel of judges comprised of yachting industry and conservation leaders; all of whom bring their vast knowledge in diverse disciplines and expertise to the Panel.  As last year’s winner, Mr. Paxson “Packy” Offield will join the panel of judges to elect this year’s recipient. (Submissions page attached.)

The 2010-2012 Perseus Award Committee Members are:

Roger Liang                                 Founder/Owner, Kingship Yachts

Peter Knights                             Co-founder, WildAid

Lisa Greenberg-Ferrero        Founder/President, Pacific Bound Yachts & WildAid Board Member

Jamie Edmiston                        Edmiston & Company

Dr. Alex Hearn                           PhD, Marine Biologist, Coordinator of Migramar

Tim Heywood                            Yacht Designer

Dick van Lent                             Co-Founder/President – Feadship

Tork Buckley                              Captain, Editor, The Yacht Report

Michael Bradfield                     Superyacht Owner

Packy Offield                             2010 Perseus Award Winner

Selection Criteria

The following criteria guide the Perseus Award Selection Committee in selecting Award winners:

1)      Recent hands-on efforts that have enhanced marine conservation.

2)      The adoption of steps to make their yachts environmentally friendly and provide significant inspiration to other yacht owners.

3)      Significant monetary contribution to marine conservation efforts.

For further information and/or to RSVP for a Press Pass:

Lisa Greenberg-Ferrero

+1 954.638.7757

lisa@pacificboundyachts.com

Relevant Websites:

Pacific Bound Yachts       www.pacificboundyachts.com

Latchezar Boyadjiev        www.latchezarboyadjiev.com

2010 Perseus Award Winner

Paxson “Packy” Offield

Mr. Offield is a dedicated conservationist whose extraordinary hands on effort and recent financial support (channeled through WildAid), has played a major role in the Galapagos National Park’s shark tagging program.  He is the Chairman of the Offield Center for Billfish Studies; a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of billfish populations worldwide through scientific research, education and advocacy and has been involved in developing satellite tags for tagging billfish in Pacific waters for several years, to track migration and otherwise unknown data on billfish.  Mr. Offield is also a director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies and a Lifetime Member of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, Pacific Region.  He has served as Chairman and Board member to several national and international non-profits including The Billfish Foundation, The Peregrine Fund, the Catalina Sea Bass Fund, the San Diego Zoological Society, the Little Traverse Conservancy, amongst many others.  Mr. Offield is currently a Board Member of the Santa Catalina Island Company, formed in 1894.  This company has been guided by the Wrigley and Offield families since 1919.  Packy himself has been intimately involved and is the Past President and CEO. 

The WildAid Difference

Save the Date - Sights and Sounds of the Pacific Corridor

World's First Ban on Shark Fin Makes Hawaii Global Leader in Shark Conservation

HONOLULU, June 30  -- On the eve of the State of Hawaii becoming the first jurisdiction to ban sales of shark fin soup, local and international conservation groups praised the ground-breaking move as a first step to halting the decimation of global shark stocks.

Fins from up to 70 million sharks a year are used for shark fin soup often with the bodies of the animal dumped overboard dead or alive. In a recent study the world's top shark scientists (IUCN Shark Specialist Group) reported that of 64 species of open ocean sharks and rays 32% are "threatened with extinction," primarily due to overfishing. In addition, 24% were "near threatened," while another 25% could not be assessed due to lack of data. Yet only 3 species have any kind of international protection and the UN CITES convention recently declined to take any action due to opposition led by Japan.

Champion of the Bill Senator Clayton Hee stated, "Hawaii is proud to be at the forefront of the movement to save threatened sharks. For native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders sharks are revered, because we recognize their ecological importance, but we have been silent for too long on the decimation of shark stocks globally."

Stefanie Brendl of Shark Allies said, "Globally shark catches are unregulated and unsustainable. The shark fin trade is completely unregulated worldwide. This is a first step in giving sharks a future."

"Sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years playing vital roles in marine ecosystems, but at the current rate of overfishing driven by the demand for shark fin soup they could be wiped out in a single human generation," said WildAid director Peter Knights.

International conservation group WildAid released dramatic new evidence that proves that sharks are being finned alive for soup sold in the United States. Footage shot by WildAid shows a live tawny nurse shark dumped on an Indonesian reef with its fins removed. The film is being used in a new public service announcement for global broadcast from NBA player Yao Ming, China's most popular star. Most Americans are unaware of the damage caused by the shark fin industry and that shark fin soup is widely available from Chinese restaurants in the U.S. WildAid's recent survey found one third of Chinese restaurants in San Francisco serving the dish priced from $6.95 to $85 a bowl.  Read full story...

Pacific Bound Yachts News: Galapagos Islands taken off Unesco danger list

A UN panel has voted to remove the Galapagos Islands from its list of precious sites endangered by environmental threats or overuse. Unesco's World Heritage Committee backed a Brazilian recommendation to withdraw the islands from the list, saying the Ecuadorian government had made significant progress addressing threats to its island. But the move was criticised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which said there was "still work to be done". The Galapagos - the chain of volcanic islands whose unique bird and animal life influenced Charles Darwin's evolutionary theories - were declared the first World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1978. But they were added to the committee's "red list" of endangered sites in 2007, amid concerns about a booming population and tourism, overfishing and the introduction of invasive species. Read Full Story...