save the world's endangered coral reefs

[flopnfly]

save the world's endangered coral reefs

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/302845


Education is key to stopping the damage, experts agree
Feb 14, 2008 04:30 AM
Leslie Garrett
Special to the Star

Jeff Garrett, a London, Ontario-based lawyer, still raves about a spectacular diving trip in the early 1990s to El Nido, an island off the coast of the Philippines.

But, along with catching sight of elusive manta rays, the dive group saw parts of the reef that he describes as "shattered." Subsistence fishermen, he was told, used dynamite to bring fish to the surface. Cyanide was another popular method. The results were reefs that were dead or severely damaged in spots.

Garrett has seen a dramatic increase in consciousness in the decade and half since then.

"There's a movement toward getting tourism money to local people so that the reefs are worth more healthy than dead," he says. "Travellers don't want to dive with operators who aren't ecologically responsible."

Twenty years ago, he recalls, "it was not uncommon for someone to just drop anchor." Yet a more recent dive holiday to The Great Barrier Reef had operators spending a lot of time with divers to ensure they didn't hit reefs. And nobody these days drops anchor on reefs.

This year is the International Year of the Reef, a global campaign to raise awareness about the value and health of the world's coral reefs, about 70 per cent of which have been wrecked or are at risk, according to The Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2004, an international survey at a United Nations environmental conference.

While the vast majority of coral reef destruction is due to increasing water temperatures from global climate change and poor water quality, human activities, including diving, aren't blameless.

According to the Barbados Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, divers in the early 2000 were "guilty of toppling and trampling corals" as well as pocketing them for souvenirs.

However, Steve Broadbelt, owner of Ocean Frontiers, a dive operation in the Cayman Islands, says divers "are often used as a scapegoat for damage to the reefs."

Chuck Shipley, a keen diver currently cruising aboard his sailboat in the Caribbean, agrees. Most of the damage he's seen to reefs in Bonaire, a favourite dive spot of his, is caused by hurricanes, he says. He has also found local dive operators particularly responsible and concerned about reef conservation.

"The staff who operate the dive boats are often not in the business for the money, but more for the opportunity to surround themselves in the environment that they love," Broadbelt adds.

Even those who aren't so passionate about the environment still recognize the need to safeguard the ocean's natural resources in order to protect their business, he says, although he admits that divers do contribute to the overall load on coral reefs

The key is education, Broadbelt insists. "Many divers just are not aware of the impact they can have on a fragile reef system. The common misconception is that divers compare reefs to terrestrial vegetation and think that if they trample over it, it will grow back quickly. This is not the case."

Ann Vanderhoof, author of the travel memoir An Embarrassment of Mangoes, agrees. She recalls the spectacular diving off Bonaire, which had declared its waters an official marine park in 1979.

"Dive sites there were rotated. Some of them were periodically closed off so they didn't have too much diver traffic and flora and fauna didn't become too stressed."

She notes that not only was this good for the aquatic environment, it was good for business: "It preserves tourism by keeping the island as a great dive destination."

She also recalls that dive boats tied up to mooring balls, so that they weren't daily dropping anchors onto the reefs.

Her husband, Steve Manley, says that keeping diver traffic down reveals a sensitive dive operator. He suggests other indications of a less-than-responsible dive operator are those who show photos of fish feeding ("a big no-no," he says). And he adds, "sensitive dive ops ask their clients not to wear gloves, as gloves encourage touching."

What can divers do? Project Aware Foundation, an international organization that aims to conserve underwater environments through education, advocacy and action, offers these guidelines:

    * Dive carefully and be aware of your body and equipment. Control your buoyancy to ensure you don't touch fragile organisms.
    * Resist the temptation to touch, handle, feed or hitch rides on aquatic life. You can stress the animal, interrupt feeding and mating behaviour or provoke aggressive behaviour in otherwise non-aggressive species.
    * Do not collect underwater souvenirs – take an underwater photo.
    * Report any environmental disturbances or destruction. You are in a unique position to monitor the health of the underwater environment.

Leslie Garrett is a freelance journalist and author. Visit her at www.thevirtuoustraveler.com.