2024 Beneath the Sea
Dive, Travel and Oceans Exposition

March 22 - 24, 2024

at the

Meadowlands Exposition Center
Secaucus, New Jersey


 

In Memoriam

Beneath the Sea owes its existence to the fertile creative mind of Armand “Zig” Zigahn. Zig made his mark in the scuba diving sports community as the Founder and Executive Director of Beneath the Sea the largest consumer ocean exposition, dive, and travel show in America. For over forty years, it was Zig's management of Beneath the Sea where he demonstrated the command leadership that created this legacy. In recent years, Zig had the assistance of his wife, JoAnn, as President managing the day-to-day operation of Beneath the Sea.
JoAnn married Zig, the founder of Beneath the Sea. Soon she realized she had married both Zig and Beneath the Sea. JoAnn’s caring created family-oriented programs at Beneath the Sea such as Ocean Pals, an ocean environmental art program that featured an international poster contest for grade school children, she often referred to the Ocean Pals Education by art poster contest as: “what we learn from our children.” In addition to her Ocean Pals program, she later created the Beneath the Sea Marine Careers program devoted to high school and college students seeking marine careers. JoAnn also created a Scholarship Program that would award funds to students interested in pursuing a career in the marine industry.

 

In Memoriam

R. T. "Phil" Nuytten
August 13, 1941 - May 13, 2023

Beneath the Sea joins the dive industry in mourning the passing of Phil Nuytten; Phil was Beneath the Sea's Diver of the Year in Science in 2003; he was awarded Legend of the Sea in 2010 at Beneath the Sea.

An internationally recognized pioneer in the diving industry, Phil Nuytten has spent 50 years creating deep-water dive products that have opened the ocean's depths to exploration and industry. Through his companies, Nuytco and Can-Dive, he has developed the technology to allow longer-length diving expeditions with increased safety. Nuytten's one-atmosphere systems – the hard-suits 'Newtsuit' and 'Exosuit', and his deep-diving "DeepWorker" submersibles – are internationally renowned. This deep diving equipment, with Nuytten's military submarine rescue system (designated 'Remora' by the Royal Australian Navy and 'PRMS' by the US Navy), is standard in nearly a dozen of the world's navies. Contract work has taken him to oil fields, submarine construction sites, and sunken wrecks around the world, including the Breadalbane, the northern-most known shipwreck, where his record dives through icy Arctic waters earned him a place on the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1984. Nuytten was one of the forces behind the 'Sustainable Seas Expeditions' in the 1990s, a five-year initiative by the National Geographic Society and NOAA to study deep ocean environmental impact. During this project, DeepWorker micro-subs explore and monitor National marine sanctuaries. The findings from this expedition have contributed significantly to scientists' understanding of underwater ecology, habitats, and biodiversity.

Nuytten and his team trained astronauts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency to pilot the DeepWorker Submersibles for the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP), a multi-year research project. The PLRP presents an opportunity to advance the long-term objective of human exploration of the Moon and Mars by combining research on life in extreme environments with high-fidelity training in an underwater, remote field setting. The information gained from this analogue project will help improve the knowledge base, tools, and techniques of future human missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Phil Nuytten has spent fifty years developing undersea systems that have the safety of the diving technician as their common theme. His goal has been to provide scientific, technical, military, and sports divers full access to continental shelf depths without the hazards of decompression so that humans can explore, learn about, and - ultimately - protect the world's oceans.

Phil will be dearly missed for his professionalism, his service to the dive industry, his support of Beneath the Sea, and as a friend.

 

Beneath the Sea is handicapped accessible. If you require special aids or services please e-mail us at [email protected] or call 914.664.4310
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