UK (1 July 2007) -- Green sea turtles, cascades of glittering reef fish, blooming coral pillars - countless travellers have come nose to nose with a thriving undersea universe while on holiday. But increasingly, divers and snorkellers are swimming over bleached hunks of coral devastated by pollution or overfishing. From the South Pacific to the Caribbean, the most delicate of marine ecosystems is bearing the brunt of climate change, coastal development, deforestation, and unrestricted tourism. Now, many in the travel industry are trying to halt the damage. And it is no wonder. The money involved in coral reef tourism is significant: Australia's Great Barrier Reef alone draws about 1.9 million visitors a year, supporting a £2bn industry. According to the Nature Conservancy, the annual economic value of coral reefs to world tourism is £4.8bn. Though the Great Barrier is the most famous reef, it is not the most threatened; its extensive marine management programme is widely regarded as a model for conservation. It includes eco-certification programmes for tourism operators large no-go zones and species monitoring. But the world's second-largest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean, is seriously endangered by coastal development, runoff, and pollution. The reef system stretches nearly 700 miles from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico to the Bay Islands of Honduras. And reefs in the Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia - which reaches from Malaysia to the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands, encompassing some of the planet's most diverse marine habitats - have been severely damaged by overfishing and the use of cyanide and dynamite to capture fish. In 2004, the non-profit group Conservation International began a programme called the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative, which aims to address the threat that mass tourism poses to the Mesoamerican Reef. Last year, as part of its efforts, the cruise line council began an effort to avoid wastewater discharge by cruise ships in environmentally sensitive areas. "This programme will ensure that cruise line wastewater is discharged at least four miles from any of the sensitive marine ecosystems within the Mesoamerican Reef system," said Jamie Sweeting, who oversees Conservation International's work with the travel industry. The cruise industry is a particular area of concern, since ships regularly disgorge crowds of passengers into fragile coastal areas that strain to absorb the impact. Conservation International estimates that cruise passengers typically make about 2,000 scuba dives in and around Cozumel's surrounding reefs in a single day. | | From the South Pacific to the Caribbean, coral reefs, the most delicate of marine ecosystems, are bearing the brunt of climate change, coastal development, deforestation and unrestricted tourism. "We're working with the municipal government, the local dive and water sports association, and the cruise lines themselves, because they all have a vested interest to look after this coral reef," Sweeting said. Crucial partnerships between conservation groups and the tourism industry have also taken root in the Coral Triangle. For example, Bunaken National Park, in north Sulawesi, is today managed in large part by a local association of dive operators who saw the declining quality of coral (and their livelihood) in the mid-1990s. The Nature Conservancy's Coral Triangle Centre works at several sites in Indonesia, including the Raja Ampat Islands in Papua and Komodo National Park, a protected marine area in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Founded in 1980, the park is a World Heritage Site and protects the habitat of the Komodo dragon, as well as important whale migration routes between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. SOURCE - Scotland on SundaySCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
