W@W talks to diver and award winning photographer Nishamini Jinadasa about why it is important to conserve Sri Lanka’s coral reefs.
She was inspired to take up diving after watching the movie ‘Great Barrier Reef’ at the age of seven and today after almost two decades she had crossed the seven seas in search of wonderful marine life.
“That film settled an interest in diving and inspired me to take it up. While I was visiting Australia I got my diving license in 1995,” she says.
Today holding a ten year old license to dive Nishamani Jinadasa is a prominent female diver and an amateur under water photographer who has dived at almost all the hot spots in the world including Papua New Guinea, Maldives, California and Sri Lanka.
Her collection of photographs capturing unique behaviour patterns of fish and other sea creatures found around the coasts of Sri Lanka and abroad goes to show what a fine scuba diver and photographer she really is.
Despite Nishamani’s daily job in the finance stream, she has an impressive diving record. Her flair for photography had earned her international recognition at two international competitions she participated in.
Nishamani won her first laurel at Sipadan Islands in Malaysia in 2000.
She had participated at an under water photography and videography competition which was held in Sipadan to boost the diving tourism that was threatened by the kidnapping of 21 American divers holidaying in the area some time ago.
“I participated in the competition since I was longing to dive at Sipadan and I was one of the few amateurs,” she recalled.
Her under water video won the second prize and she was the only amateur, Asian female to win the award.
Later while she was attending the wedding of two Canadian diving buddies,
two of her under water pictures were selected to be exhibited among 200 others at “29th Festival of Underwater Pictures” held annually in Antibes, south of France.
“It was a double festival since I was on the way to Canada to celebrate the wedding of my diving buddies,” she said.
Diverting to the exciting underwater world Nishamani revealed as to how she was diving in North Indonesia while the tsunami struck.
“I was returning to land after an evening dive and the boat was constantly stopped by heavy traffic disturbing my nap. We were unaware of the disaster then and I got to know only after I returned to my hotel,” she said.
Talking of her future plans Nishamani talks of taking up caged diving with Great White Sharks and Ice diving in Antarctica with enthusiasm.
“I’m waiting for some free time ,” she says.
Nishamani held her third photographic exhibition in Sri Lanka recently with a view to enhancing public interest and awareness in protecting corals and marine life around the island. Her exhibition also involved an art exhibition for children; where the children were invited to draw what they saw at the exhibition with a view to inspire interest in conservation at a tender age.
“I realised that despite many campaigns and awareness programmes, adults are finding it hard to grasp the concepts of conservation while children -if moved by the beauty and sensitiveness of nature – would continue to protect it,”
She is saddened that coral reefs of Sri Lanka had not retained their beauty like the ones around Papua New Guinea and Australia.
“Sri Lanka could have a better collection of corals and a wider reef than Australia or Maldives if not for the heavy pollution,” she said.
Despite the fact that she obtained a license in 1995 Nishamani had started diving around Sri Lanka only around 1998/9
“I was saddened by seeing Great Plains of dead coral under water around Sri Lanka,” she said adding that it was this experience which triggered her to initiate conservation attempts.
While trying to increase awareness by holding photographic exhibitions, she also has plans to establish an organisation called CORAL or Conservation of Reefs Around Lanka with a view to increase awareness.
“During my trips to diving spots in Sri Lanka I try to educate the public of evils of bad practices like dynamite fishing, over fishing and coral mining,” she said.
CORAL seeks to increase awareness among the coastal population through exhibitions and education programmes and thus lead to sustainable environment management among fisherman and people living around the coasts.
“Since the country does not have a strict monitoring system and law enforcement personnel protecting marine reserves the best we could do is to educate the public and let them take care of the resources,” she said.
Distributing packets of crayons to children who took part in her art competition Nishamani hopes that they would always remember the beauty found in the corals and marine life around it.
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