JAMIE COOTE: BEYOND THE BLUE LINE
What lies beneath?
“Go slow and look hard,” is the advice that Tumby Bay local and underwater photographer, Jamie Coote (known as Yook by the locals), would give divers when searching out the famous leafy seadragon, indigenous to the Great Southern Reef. Coote was not initially an expert on South Australia’s marine emblem, but gradually grew a tenacious curiosity about what lies beneath the ocean.
A dragons lair
After seeing the diverse marine life that could be found as close as the Tumby Bay jetty, he felt compelled to spread this awareness into his community believing it to be an invaluable natural resource that should be protected. After purchasing camera equipment and spending countless hours under the surface discovering creatures he’d never actually seen in their natural habitat, he finally found his first leafy sea dragon.
The community’s initial reaction to Coote’s images were skeptical, but eventually after a lot of effort he garnered their support and understanding, and in 2013 was recognised internationally for his photograph Fatherly Duties, an image of a male leafy sea dragon carrying eggs. Now an expert on the sea dragon, he has identified about 35 different individuals in the Tumby Bay area.
In an effort to maintain and protect the local marine life, Coote has established a code of conduct and asserts that it is important to follow these guidelines in order to preserve the environment. His advice is to, “hang back and don’t crowd the sea dragons as they can be easily stressed… if photographers want to capture one of the elusive animals they should move very slowly as they are some of the world’s masters of camouflage.”
