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| Wendy and Keller Laros, Dr. Csilla Ari, Michael Henshaw and Glennon Gingo representing the Manta Pacific Research Foundation at DEMA show 2014 |
DEMA is the biggest show for the diving industry and it was
held in Las Vegas this year. Over 9000 dive professionals were present this
year from over 600 companies including dive businesses, tour operators,
equipment manufacturers.
We were among them, almost all of the Board of Directors
represented the Manta Pacific Research Foundation, Keller and Wendy Laros, Mike
Henshaw, Glennon Gingo and Dr. Csilla Ari. We only missed Janice McLaughlin.
On the first day we quickly set up an informative booth and during the 4 days we gave away many beautiful Manta Memories items. We had lots of fun along the way, connected to many new and old friends.
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| Our booth at DEMA |
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| Our booth at DEMA |
On the second day Keller and Csilla gave a presentation on the history of the foundation and highlighted some of the most recent research, education and conservation projects. We got overwhelming positive feedback and lots of interest after the talk.
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| Keller Laros presenting on the history, conservation and education initiatives of the foundation |
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| Dr. Csilla Ari presenting about coloration changes of manta rays at DEMA |
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| Keller and Csilla are giving interviews and answer questions at our booth |
One of our biggest highlight was the raffle of the beautiful painting giclee that Wyland donated to our foundation. On the last day the lucky winner of the `Blue Ballet` was Chris Stoebenau.
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| Keller and Csilla with Wyland and the donated painting |
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| Interview with Wyland before he pulls out the lucky winner |
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Keller was nominated to be Sea Hero of the Year
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We also celebrated Keller as he was nominated to be Sea Hero of the year by the Scuba Diving Magazine. We were very proud of him and everything what he has done to protect manta rays during the last few decades.
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| Dr. Csilla Ari, Keller and Wendy Laros celebrating Keller`s Sea Hero nomination |
You can also read some of the positive feedback we got:
