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Kralendijk, Bonaire – Tourism Corporation Bonaire is pleased to announce that Dr. Eugenie Clark will become the second North American recipient to receive Bonaire’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. A panel of distinguished media chose Dr. Clark after long deliberations on several candidates.

Dr. Clark will travel to Bonaire during the island’s Celebrate Our Planet Week, from August 22 through 28, 2010, a highlight week of the Bonaire Dive Into Summer program.

During her time on Bonaire, she will make several dives with visitors and residents of Bonaire, as well as give two presentations: one for adults, and one for Bonaire’s schoolchildren. She’ll also be kept busy with a book signing of the newest edition of her book, “Lady With the Sharks” and will be the guest of honor at the home of Lt. Governor Glenn Thode when she is honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Eugenie Clark is a world-renowned ichthyologist and authority on sharks and is popularly known as the “Shark Lady”. Throughout her long career, Dr. Clark has studiously applied the basic tenets of conservation which support sustainable tourism. She was the founding director (1955 to 1967) of the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, now a leading center for shark research called the Mote Marine Laboratory, with which she is still affiliated. Today, Dr. Clark is Senior Research Scientist and Professor Emerita, Department of Biology, at the University of Maryland.

Her history with Bonaire goes back to 1983, when Dr. Clark began visiting over several years as a staff lecturer for short courses for medical doctors on “Human Underwater Biology.” Besides her lectures on Bonaire, she has given over 100 formal lectures at meetings, conventions, and universities in Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Egypt, England, France, Indonesia, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Taiwan, and USA; 30+ lectures at community centers and schools; 3 lectures by phone; 50+ TV appearances and 60+ radio programs (local, national, and international).

Dr. Clark became a member of Bonaire’s Queen Angel Club in 1983, a club which is still active today.

Dr. Clark is the recipient of three fellowships, four scholarships, six medals (including the gold medal of the Society of Woman Geographers and the University of Maryland President’s Medal), and 34 other awards for work in marine biology, conservation, exploration and writing (including the National Geographic Franklin L. Burr and DEMA Hall of Fame awards in 1993) and three Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (1992), University of Guelph, Ontario (1995), and Long Island University (1995).

She has authored three books (Lady with a Spear, The Lady and the Sharks, and The Desert Beneath the Sea) and over 165 scientific and popular articles.

“Dr. Clark’s service and unending dedication to the betterment of the world’s oceans has been fully demonstrated through her many outstanding achievements,” said Ronella Tjin Asjoe-Croes, Director of Tourism. “The goals for which she has tirelessly worked mirror our own goals for Bonaire and the world,” she concluded.

The Bonaire Lifetime Achievement Award honors long serving, high performance professionals whose careers have truly made a difference. It is for achievement over a period of several years rather than a single contribution and it is awarded for achievement that distinguishes the individual’s work and provides a legacy for future generations. In 2009, Dr. Sylvia Earle was awarded the first Bonaire Lifetime Achievement award for North America. This month, Bonaire’s own Captain Don Stewart received the island’s inaugural local award. Dr. Eugenie Clark joins an august society of recipients.

For more information, click on “Bonaire Dive Into Summer” on Bonaire’s official web site at www.tourismbonaire.com. Thanks go to Celebrate Our Planet Week’s host hotel, Captain Don’s Habitat Bonaire, and to the host airline, Continental Airlines.

Located eighty-six miles east of Aruba, the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire offers year-round sunshine, low annual rainfall, pristine coral formations and the most thriving fish population in the Caribbean. Ideal for adventurers, explorers and sun-worshippers alike, Bonaire offers myriad eco-adventure activities including world renowned scuba diving and snorkeling, windsurfing, kiteboarding, mountain biking, sea and mangrove kayaking, horseback riding, landsailing, nature tours, hiking, bird watching, sailing and seep sea and bone fishing. And with a selection of accommodations ranging from full-service oceanfront resorts and condominiums to guesthouses and small inns, Bonaire has something for every lifestyle and budget.

Bonaire is the recipient of the prestigious Islands Magazine/Caribbean Tourism Organization 2008 Sustainable Tourism Award and continues to be recognized as one of the top destinations worldwide for its sustainable tourism and as one of the top diving destinations in the Atlantic/Caribbean for eight years in a row in the Scuba Diving magazine’s 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards. It was designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as having the healthiest reefs in the Caribbean (January 2008), and as the Favorite Dive Destination in the World by About.com (June, 2008).

For more information on Bonaire contact the Tourism Corporation Bonaire in the U.S. at 1-800-BONAIRE or visit Bonaire’s official web site at www.tourismbonaire.com. Follow Bonaire on Twitter and Facebook.