Maltapost to issue set of stamps to commemorate International Year of the Ocean

On the 27th May 1998, MALTAPOST plc will issue a set of four stamps commemorating the International Year of the Ocean.

The stamps are being issued in the following values - 2c featuring a dolphin, 6c featuring a sea urchin, 16c showing famous French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, and 27c showing two divers.

The stamps are designed by Isabelle Borg, and are printed by Printex Ltd.

More is known about the surface of the moon than the bottom of the ocean. This is a surprising fact when considering that most probably life began in the primeval ocean and that the ocean is and will remain one of the most important components of lifeboat earth.

Four species of dolphins are found in Maltese waters. These are Risso's dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Striped dolphin and the Common dolphin. Dolphins eat fish and squid and often co-operate in catching these prey. Although their eyesight is good they also use a sound "seeing" system, like bats, called echolocation. Dolphins are in danger both in the open seas and in coastal waters from the effects of pollution and indiscriminate fishing and it is thought that some dolphin populations will be extinct within the next 100 years. Silt and effluent-laden waters adversely effect the development of underwater life on which dolphins feed.

Sea-urchins are known to many who have visited the island's seashore especially those unlucky enough to step on one while wading in shallow waters. Sea-urchins are spherical creatures covered with spines which serve as a means of protection. On the underside sea-urchins have a mouth armed with fine long, strong teeth, to scrape food from the surface of rocks. Two well known species that live in shallow waters close to shore are the black sea-urchin and the common sea-urchin. The common sea-urchin is considered as edible. Another species is known as the heartshaped sea-urchin. Fossil remains of these are very common, showing that what is now rock was once a vast sandy bottom.

Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) together with Émile Gagnan invented the first self-contained underwater breathing device in 1943, an invention which revolutionised underwater exploration and discovery. From 1950 onwards aboard his renowned exploration vessel, the Calypso, he embarked on a life devoted to the exploration and preservation of the world beneath the surface of the sea. His greatest achievement apart from the development of the aqualung was in bringing the magnificence of the undersea world to the attention of the public. To this end he was the first to develop underwater colour photography and invented a process for using television underwater. Among his numerous books and award-winning films and television programmes we find "The Silent World", "The Living Sea", "World Without Sun" and "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau".

It is estimated that the diving industry in Malta generated LM25 million in revenue in 1997. During the same year Maltese and foreign divers made a total of 190,000 dives. Some 740 dives are carried out daily during the summer months. Dive tourism is today being seen as an integral part of the tourist industry, itself the pillar of the Maltese economy. In fact the Ministry of Tourism and the National Tourism Organisation are carrying out works on 14 diving sites to make them more accessible. However, in a modern, development-driven society the encroachment by the maritime transport industry with its needs for the enhancement of berthing facilities, dredging of sea lanes and the ensuing generation of silt and discarding of waste can pose a serious danger.

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ISABELLE BORG

Born in London in 1959, Isabelle Borg studied painting at the Camberwell School of Art in London. After graduating in 1986 she spent a short time in West Berlin before returning to Malta in 1988, and setting up her studio in Floriana.

The strong human presence in her exhibition "Portraits" at the National Museum of Archaeology in 1989 disappeared from her painting for a period when she concentrated on landscapes and abstracts. Since then there has been a strong commitment to the figure.

She has shown her work extensively in Malta and in collective exhibitions abroad, most recently at the Galerie de l'Europe, at the Maison de l'Europe, Paris, in May 1995. She holds an M.A. from the University of Malta, where she lectures in Fine Arts and History of Art, and directs the summer school of Landscape Painting for the Foundation for International Studies.