My last post was about the coral nursery project in Koh Phi Phi, and it was nice to see people interested in the idea and also I realized that many in the AESEAN Hive community have not been exposed to just how amazing the world beneath the ocean's surface can be. Lets be honest...SCUBA diving is an expensive hobby, and I'm blessed to be able to earn a living as a diver rather than needing to pay every time I want to explore the underwater world. Snorkeling however is basically free - a mask and snorkel costs very little or can be rented for a few dollars in most location. And although you are limited to staying on or near the surface you can still experience the magic of a healthy coral reef.
Today's post is a short video of some of the best reefs I have filmed around Thailand and Indonesia. Many of these shots were taken when I was diving nearly every day to sell DVDs to tourists, and the other shots are from the time I was commissioned by The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism to film their dive sites for video promotion.
The coral reefs of South East Asia are said to have the highest biodiversity of any marine ecosystem on the planet. Think about that for a second - it means the greatest coral reefs in the entire world are right here in our back garden. Sadly though it's estimated that over 80% of these reefs are threatened by over fishing and/or destructive fishing methods - namely dynamite fishing.
The other threat to our beautiful coral reefs is sedimentation and pollution from land based commercial development. This includes agricultural and construction industries.
So what can we do about this? Well there is no single one thing that an individual can do to halt the destruction and depletion of coral reefs, but I think the first step in any conservation effort is individual awareness and education. The more people that know about the practices of unscrupulous industries, be they marine or land based the more governments are forced to regulate and control poor practices, and the more individual people can make informed decisions about what businesses they support or shun.
As a westerner living in Asia I've always considered myself as a guest, and it's never been my place to suggest to local communities how they should do things or how to manage their resources. My birthplace of Australia is home to the largest coral reef in the world - The Great Barrier Reef. The entire reef is protected by law but still there is significant ongoing pollution and sedimentation issues as large corporations continue to put profits ahead of conservation with the government conveniently turning a blind eye.
To close this article I would like to finish with a single terrifying statistic - "The Philippine waters are considered as having nearly 70% of its coral reefs destroyed with only 5% in good condition." This is a direct cut n paste from Wikipedia.
Peace friends - lets all protect our oceans the best we can.