Video: Christine Grosart
Ghost Fishing UK is proud that trustee Christine Grosart took first place in the Global Underwater Explorers and GUE.tv video contest designed to celebrate the magnificent underwater world while enhancing global awareness among the diving and non-diving public.
Videos were judged based on the following criteria:
- Creativity
- Message clarity and relevance
- Motivation and inspiration
- Overall impact
- Editing and filming skills.
Christine’s film, Beyond the Blue, follows two women who dedicate their time to protecting their local coastline in the United Kingdom. Narrated by National Seasearch coordinator Charlotte Bolton and trustee of Ghost Fishing UK, Christine Grosart, FRGS, the film explores a fresh, pragmatic approach to protecting our oceans whilst at the same time enabling access to those who enjoy and earn a living from them.
Showcasing the underwater beauty and diversity of the British Isles, the film focuses on divers not just looking but seeing – and reporting – what they find underwater. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. “You can’t complain that something isn’t protected if you didn’t tell anybody it was there,” Dr Bolton pulls no punches with her no-nonsense approach to conservation. Christine says she is not happy to just ‘swim around’ when she goes diving – she feels the need to put her skills to use and do something more.
The film includes footage of Ghost Fishing UK divers Gemma Thompson, Richard Walker, Fred Nunn, Jason Bramwell, Paul Duckworth, Joe Robinson, Tom Ball, Andy Rath, Martin Maple, Ian King, Colin Stratton and Christine Grosart.
“I’m utterly stoked and humbled in equal measure to have been placed first in the GUE TV video contest. I am someone who can’t even win a raffle…who is always the bridesmaid, never the bride…so I’m a little overwhelmed right now!” said Christine Grosart
Ghost Fishing UK filmmaker Owen Flowers scored second place in the same international competition with his film, Grenmar.
Owen’s film follows United Kingdom Exploration Project diver Andy Pilley who organised a project in his local waters near Eyemouth, Scotland. His goal was to bring together a team of like-minded divers to explore and document undived wreck sites, one of hundreds of unidentified wrecks in UK seas. He hoped to understand the history of their sinking by positively identifying the wreck. Grenmar is the remarkable story of how the discovery of one wreck has led to a new unknown. The mystery of the site previously thought to be the Grenmar remains to be uncovered in future years.