Scuba Diving Hall of Famer Neville Coleman Passes

(Dive Travel Business News - May 7, 2012) -- AUSTRALIA -- The diving community mourns the loss of a great underwater explorer and naturalist who dedicated his life to the World of Water. Neville Coleman peacefully passed away Friday morning. With over 1000  published articles in over 150 magazines, in excess of 100,000  images and more than 60 marine life natural history books to his credit, Coleman was one of the most accomplished  underwater  educational authors in the world.

Coleman's impressive career in underwater photography spanned over 45 years of underwater exploration, photographing over 450 new species of marine life. A multi-award winning photographic environmentalist, Coleman begann documenting the aquatic wildlife of the Asia/Pacific region in 1963.

In 1969 /73 Colemanled the Australian Coastal Marine Expedition on the first underwater photographic fauna survey ever attempted  around an entire continent. Since then  he has completed over 160 expeditions  throughout Australia and across the globe, documenting some 12,000 species  of  aquatic flora and fauna.  Many of these were photographed in their natural habitat for the first time.

As a result of his travels Neville’s books  relate to the entire Asia/Indo- Pacific area. Dive guides of  Australia and the Great Barrier Reef,  Wildlife Guides of  Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, the Maldives, Papua  New  Guinea etc.).  Some of his productions  (1001  NUDIBRANCHS  1700  pictures)   are the most comprehensive of their kind in the world.  He wrote on mollusks, echinoderms, fish identification, on the behavior of reef creatures, on sea birds and  sea safety guides such as Dangerous Sea Creatures.

Neville traveled far and wide exploring out-of-the-way places such as Norfolk Island, Cocos/Keelings, Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island and many others. Coleman lectured extensively on his specialties, having appeared at over 300 venues including several dive shows in the USA. 

Coleman was a great and tireless ambassador for Australia's marine environment winning the prestigious Medal of Order of Australia award. Few divers anywhere have contributed so much to the science and literature of marine identification/biology and the adventure experience of sport diving. For more information visit NevilleColeman. Also view Neville Coleman's "Footsteps in the Sea"

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