CROATIA: Octogenarian activist dives to Adriatic sea bottom to raise awareness of environmental issues
Record ID:
861242
CROATIA: Octogenarian activist dives to Adriatic sea bottom to raise awareness of environmental issues
- Title: CROATIA: Octogenarian activist dives to Adriatic sea bottom to raise awareness of environmental issues
- Date: 5th September 2012
- Summary: MANDRE, CROATIA (SEPTEMBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) PANORAMA OF MANDRE HARBOUR SHIP PASSING FOUR MEN ON SHIP'S DECK SITTING AT TABLE AND DISCUSSING BACK OF MAN'S T-SHIRT READING "DR. BOZO DIMNIK - 80/80" ACTIVIST BOZO DIMNIK ARRIVING TO DIVE SITE ON BOAT / WAVING TO SUPPORTERS SHIP ANCHORED ON DIVE SITE BOATS WITH DIVERS AND MEDIA APPROACHING ANCHORED SHIP DIVING TANKS ON BOAT ACTIVIST BOZO DIMNIK IN DIVING GEAR JUMPING INTO WATER BOATS WITH MEDIA ACTIVIST BOZO DIMNIK IN WATER / UNDERWATER PLAQUE BEING HANDED TO DIMNIK POLICE DINGHY WITH POLICEMEN AT DIVING SITE
- Embargoed: 20th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Croatia
- City:
- Country: Croatia
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA6HNRYBMAWMQEI1E1B1DLTIJ1B
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Bozo Dimnik, an 80-year-old diving enthusiast and environmental activist, successfully completed a dive to the bottom of the sea near the Croatian island of Pag on Tuesday (September 4) in order to raise awareness of the damage done to marine wildlife in the Adriatic sea.
The octogenarian Slovenian, best known as a businessman who runs a successful medical supplies company, has spent more than five decades diving and fishing around the Adriatic, during which time the underwater landscape has changed considerably due to pollution and overfishing.
The rate of extinction of marine fauna which Dimnik has witnessed first hand over the years shocked him so much that he decided to organise a project, titled "80/80", in which he would dive 80 metres to the bottom of the sea off the coast of Mandre, a coastal village on the western coast of the island of Pag in the northern Adriatic.
Following the dive, Dimnik told reporters that 50 years ago he saw lots of fish when he explored underwater life on the exact same spot. This time, however, he did not see any.
"This is a provocation, so that the media gets interested and starts writing (about this issue), in order to convince politicians that something should be done for the Adriatic, as it is the most beautiful sea. Nothing has ever been done (to protect it), it has only been exploited and taken advantage of," Bozo Dimnik said.
Dimnik, who is also the president of the Croatian-Slovenian friendship society, also used the dive to install a commemorative underwater plaque, with a message pleading for a cleaner Adriatic and good neighbourly relations between Slovenia and Croatia.
"We've installed the plaque down there, we tied it down well. Everything went according to plan. There are no problems," Dimnik said.
Slovenia and Croatia share a short maritime border which has been subject of dispute ever since the two countries gained independence in the early 1990s, and which has not been resolved yet. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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