Regular Gibraltar visitor Andrew Pugsley will co-present the pilot for the new divers web based television show, "The Underwater Channel".

Andrew, 25, has visited the Rock three times in the last four years. In 2004 he dived as a guest of the 317 Joint Services Diving Club specifically to create underwater panoramic digital photographs to present at the international "Visions in the Sea" underwater photography conference.

Guided by Phil Smith, he used tripods and wide angle lenses to photograph the Arc of Jesus Christ shipwreck in Camp Bay. He has twice visited as a guest of 888 Gibraltar Sub Aqua Club. Andrew, winner of the first "Our World Underwater Scholarship Society Award for a Young Underwater Photographer" in 2002 is also one of very few people to have deliberately encountered great white sharks outside a protective cage.

Andrew was chosen to co-present the new show through his work with London based Mavericks Diving. Mavericks is owned by former Gibraltar Sub Aqua Club member Steve Warren.

Underwater Channel TV launches on the World Wide Web this Monday. Created by Emmy award winning producer Nicholas Claxton whose documentaries have been screened by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Discovery and National Geographic, this is believed to be the first venture of its kind. Nicholas intends the show to be topical and to have a magazine format.

Nicholas has already brought in some of diving's top names to help launch the Underwater Channel. Included are "Neutral Buoyancy" author, Tim Ecott, adventurer and broadcaster, Monty Halls and Peter Scoones, the cameraman celebrated for his work on blockbusters, "Life on Earth", "Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth".

Of special interest to us is an interview to be screened with Anne-Marie Kitchen-Wheeler. Anne-Marie will be discussing her research into manta rays in the Maldives. She is also leading our own whale shark and manta safari in 2007.

It was at Peter Scoones's suggestion that Nicholas first contacted Mavericks Diving. Nicholas wanted a diving themed backfrop for recording the links that will introduce the footage and interviews that will make up the pilot show. Mavericks showroom proved to be perfect.

Mavericks also helped out the Underwater Channel by introducing Nicholas to the two individuals who he has chosen to present the pilot. Amanda Ursell is a tv broadcaster and journalist who will be known to many divers for her work with "Diver Magazine". She is the author of the book "Going Down - Reflections of a Reluctant Diver".

Andrew Pugsley, 25, has worked part time with Ocean Optics - Mavericks Diving for nearly ten years. He was the recipient of the first Our World Underwater Scholarship Society award for a young underwater photographer in 2002 and has has numerous images published. A.J., as he is known, is also a shark enthusiast who has worked with South African specialists Andy Cobb and Andre Hartman. Currently he is designing Mavericks Divings scuba courses.

The Underwater Channel is an ambitious project that promises to be unmissable.

See www.theunderwaterchannel.tv

Andrew is profiled at http://www.mavericksdiving.co.uk/experience/aj.html