From Thursday 17 to Monday 21 April 2014, NAUSICAA, the French National Sea Centre in Boulogne-sur-Mer, will be hosting the 23rd Festival of Sea Imagery in partnership with the World Festival of Underwater Pictures. It will be a thrilling event again, with an exhibition of today’s most stunning underwater images.

Festivalgoers will meet well-known directors, underwater enthusiasts who will share theirsensitive love of the Ocean.

Because we are all citizens of the Ocean, NAUSICAA takes actions and organises exhibitions and special events to encourage us to enjoy a sustainable lifestyle while taking advantage of all that the Blue Planet has to offer. During this Festival, 
NAUSICAA invites each of us to be a stakeholder in the Ocean.

23rd Festival of Sea Imagery. In addition to the wonderful images on display at NAUSICAA’s Festival of Sea Imagery, this 23rdfestival promises some unforgettable meetings.

NAUSICAA will welcome some outstanding guests to discuss the topic of sharks.

Yann Perras, a defender of sharks, survived a shark attack in 2003 in Venezuela. He lost a leg but he now lobbies for the protection of the species and he will be coming to NAUSICAA to defendtheir cause. Yann Perras has a message and a vision that the French National Sea Centre wants to pass on to its visitors. At the present time, he is committed to supporting sharks and fighting for their preservation.

Patrick Masse, the producer and director who won the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Young Public Prize in 2013 will present his film, “Requiem for a Giant”. Patrick Masse, an underwater film director, has dived with sharks all over the world, notably the Great Whites on the island of Guadalupe. He will share his experience with his audience and explain the issues involved in saving sharks.

APECS (Association Pour la Conservation et l’Etude des Sélaciens, association for the conservation and study of sharks) is working to protect both sharks and rays. It has also extended its work to include the preservation of marine ecosystems. It will discuss the issues with the public on Thursday 17 April and will give visitors a chance to go hunting for ray eggs on Saturday 19 April 2014.

One of NAUSICAA’s own shark experts will raise visitors’ awareness of the need to preserve sharks during the “Meetings with an Animal Carer” taking place in NAUSICAA’s TV studio. More than 140 sharks from 13 different species live in NAUSICAA.

A close-up look at the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar. The official start of MS Tûranor PlanetSolar’s latest schedule will take place in Boulogne-sur-Mer (France). The vessel will be the guest of honour at NAUSICAA’s 23rd Festival of Sea Imagery andshe will be tied up alongside from Monday 14 to Friday 28 April 2014.

On Friday 18 April 2014, the general public will be able to explore the ship of the future withGérard d’Aboville who entered the history books on 21st September 1980 after rowing across the Atlantic. On this occasion, Gérard d’Aboville will give a talk about the MS TûranorPlanetSolar, the first ship to circumnavigate the globe using solar energy.

 

From one discovery to the next…The musical show by Bernard Abeille is great fun. It’s also a means of awakening all the senses with a whale and a bass. It’s as surprising as it is unexpected and it’s a very popular event, especially with younger children.

Beginners and those in the know will also enjoy themselves on the (ray) egg hunt on the beach on the morning of Saturday 19 April… Guided towards the foreshore and its flotsam, they’ll learn how to gather ray egg capsules and find out which species live off the Opal Coast.

On Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 April 2014, the public will be able to dive deep into the ocean through the award-winning films from the 40th World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Marseille.

Festivalgoers will also be able to watch the film, “Under the Sign of the Turtle”, which will be previewed at a special evening marking the Festival of Sea Imagery on Saturday 19 April 2014.Director Rémi Tezier will introduce the audience to men and women who live in the Indian Oceanand who have decided to bring focus to their lives by protecting marine turtles.

On Sunday 20 April, a screening of the film, “Coelacanths, diving back into our origins”, by Laurent Ballesta will take the audience into the world of a fascinating, emblematic species that lives at a depth of 200 metres. Laurent Ballesta, a diver and biologist from Montpellier, set off for South Africa with a team of divers specially trained for major depths, spending forty days in the company of a mythical fish, the cœlacanth. His tale is the stuff that the greatest adventure stories are made of.

As a perfect end to the weekend of images and discussions, Easter Monday will turn the spotlight on islands. Since 2014 is the International Year of Small Island Developing States, NAUSICAA will be showing a series of three previously unseen documentaries entitled, 
“The Sentinel Islands”. This will also be an opportunity to visit (or revisit) the temporary 
“Islands Stories” exhibition which will remain on display in NAUSICAA until the end of 2014. It’s an exhibition that makes you dream, carries you to other places, and takes you out of your everyday lives thanks to spectacular or unusual animals such a the zebra shark, the giant octopus, the pig-nosed turtle and the latest arrival at NAUSICAA – the walking shark.