Imaging Foundation
Cocos Island Expedition October 15 to 24, 2007

Day 1 (October 15, 2007)

Introduction Meeting

o Members introduced themselves detailing skills, interests and personal description.
o Jonathan introduced the objectives for the trip and outlined the tasks that the Foundation would like to get accomplished.
o Georgienne introduced her goals and overall desire for the Foundation and what it can do to bring awareness and knowledge of the undersea world to underprivileged kids.Day 2 (October 16, 2007)

Introduction to the HiDef Camera

o Jay Ireland put on a general introduction to the world of Hi Definition camera work along with some of his insight into techniques and “lessons learned” from shooting with it.
o In-water camera demonstration that allowed members to see and use first hand the challenges of using the HiDef camera and housing. All adjustments are manual which means great detail and knowledge is needed to setup the camera to get a high quality image.

Brain storming session with Foundation members.

Areas of discussion:
o Web site design
ß Initial page layout and navigation (previous members wanted more pictures, now discussion was on filling in some of the pictures with short explanations.
ß Target audience. Professional yet intuitive for the 3 areas being accessed by users
ß Amazon.com donation and explanation of usage.
o Donations and creative ways to spike interest
ß Corporate sponsors
ß Individual sponsors

∑ Downloadable Foundation calendar
∑ Tax deduction limits
ß Collection of Air-mile points
o Assignment of individual member tasks/work groups

Day 3 (October 17, 2007)

∑ Discussion on illegal fishing boats in the area and what we can do to help.
∑ Work group tasks worked on.
∑ Disaster at Sea. The HiDef camera took a tumble that damaged the lens hood. Life lessons when working with the camera, where is the safest place to have the camera between dives. The crew was able to re-work the metal and fix the hood.

Day 4 (October 18, 2007)

∑ Sneak attack on the fishing boats by encircling the island.
∑ Meeting with viewing of:
o Imaging Foundation intro video detailing the works and accolades of previous work.
o Video of the Island Corridors. This video is available on the web site for download and is designed for grades 4 to 6, raising awareness with a plea for personal intervention with letters and emails.

Day 5 (October 19, 2007)

∑ A Park employee came over to the Sea Hunter to give a presentation. (A video archive was made for later viewing and can be handed to concerned parties.)
o The DVD presentation showed that the isle of Cocos is under the protection of the Costa Rican government that has a 22 km barrier around the island.
o The Friends of Coco’s Island – currently every tourist is charged $245 in park fees that supports the operational costs, boats and maintenance of vessels. It was proposed that an additional $100 is needed per person to help with more maintenance of the current boats for patrols. The current boats are not running due to undisclosed issues.
o Numerous questions on estimated costs of boat support were asked. The amount of $50,000.00/year/boat which was argued as outrageous.
o It was noted that it’s almost impossible to catch the fishing boats in the act of fishing within the 22 km boundary, and if they are caught, the fine was maybe only 37 months of the boat captain’s salary, if convicted, of which there are no convictions.
o It was suggested that the fine was not high enough to make the fishing too high of a risk for the penalty.
o The Park Rangers have too much territory to cover, the best they can do is to scare away the fishing boats. The suggestion of a radar system would help in concentrating the current available boats in key areas.
o Imaging Foundation Members general observation is that the current situation was a complete failure in both theory and execution.
o Some of the members reviewed the Park Ranger’s budget and was evaluated by knowledgeable boat owners.
o There were 5 individual requests for the Shark Corridor for their personal review and dissemination.
o At Dos Amigos dive site, we came across numerous lines. Photos and video was shot of the lines entangled in the coral.
o Email addresses were given to use for letter writing exercises:
∑ Friends of Cocos :
∑ Minister of MINAE :
∑ President of Coast Rica :
∑ Director of National Parks :
∑ Director of Cocos Island :
∑ UNESCO – World Heritage :Day 6 (October 20, 2007)
∑ Foundation Members had a land tour of the Ranger Station.
o We saw mountains of confiscated fishing line, buoys and buckets of hooks (14,000) which was only over the last 8 months of time.
o An entire walking bridge has been constructed of the confiscated material. A lot of effort was used to create the bridge.
∑ Individual meetings with team members to develop public relations
∑ Review of the Donation web site. Reviewed the write-ups for explanations for the funding dollars
o Donor Statement.
o Internship Program
∑ Academically strong
∑ “At Risk” development
o Cocos Productions
∑ Living Planet Aquarium project residing in Salt Lake.
o Sea Stars
o Small Productions
∑ Streaming video
∑ Podcasts

Day 7 (October 21, 2007)

∑ A day of independent work time
∑ Many individuals worked on their projects but there was no set meeting or review.
Day 8 (October 22, 2007)
∑ The review meeting was postponed because individual projects were not completed for final review.
∑ Members spend the day doing “individual reflection”.

Day 9 (October 23, 2007)

∑ Travel day across the great divide. The ocean was much calmer this time around.
∑ Members spend the day doing “individual motivation”. Finishing off any assigned tasks.