[Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?

[crdev at singnet.com.sg]

--- Monika Franck <monikafranck at email.com> wrote:

To All,

One means to address the cost of preserving the marine environment would be to place an environmental levy on all recreational diving equipment, underwater cameras and video units and etc.

If the recreational diving manufacturers and retailers profit from these and others items to allow us to visit and document life beneath the sea, then they should take the responsibility to help pay for the restoration and protection of the marine environment.

And yes, the diving organizations should also do their part by also placing an environment levy on each SCUBA diving license 


Charles Rowe

Seacil Artificial Reef creator
> Dear Wang Fei
> 
>  Regarding your email below, I have sent you a previous Coral List
> email by Chad Scott who works on Koh Tao for Save Koh Tao Marine. He
> would be able to give you a lot of information on whether there is a
> difference between eco-dive operators and non eco-dive operators on
> Koh Tao as they work with a lot of dive operators there.
> 
>  Also I think even if coral degradation rate is faster than a system
> informing consumers on which destination is more sustainable to
> support than another, it would still help to raise consumer
> awareness toward sustainable consumerism, and will contribute toward
> work against coral reef degradation.
> 
>  It has to be implemented correctly of course, and to be effective
> consumers still need to be educated and understand what it means,
> just like they have quickly come to understand a five star
> rating/certification of hotels which is also a consumer information
> guide already successfully in practice.
> 
>  I think it would take as long as it takes for all the various
> stakeholders (such as divers, marine scientists, tourism
> industry/agents, hotel owners, local coastal communities,
> governments, sports fishermen.) to agree to an independently audited
> and internationally recognised sustainable coral reef certification
> system that would steer sustainable use of marine resources such as
> a coral reef in this case.
> 
>  Enjoy your PhD; you have picked an interesting one.
> 
>  Best wishes
>  Monika
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wang Fei
> Sent: 12/02/11 05:21 PM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sustainable Tourism!?
> 
>  Hallo Lister: ``Needed is an internationally recognized
> indicator/certification system, similar to the 5 star status system
> of hotels, to enable consumers of coral reef destinations to make
> informed choices`` i agree 100 percent, But ! i am staying on a
> small dive island called Koh Tao in the gulf of Thailand at the
> moment. The plan of my phd study or this visit is too see whether
> ppl do have the preference towards eco-labeled dive schools and if
> there is a difference between eco-dive school divers to non. i
> realize it is easy to say and image rather than apply and control.
> For example, the powerful family or person may control alot local
> business.... their business may get green washed, but really grean?
> i do not say it is unrealistic to achieve this, i just wanna know
> about how and how long many this take, if it is faster then the
> coral's degradation rate.... just show corals around yesterday, it
> was horrible here already. maybe i should google the establish
> history of 5 !
>  star hotel system. by the way, if 
> you are on Koh Tao or you know someone is working on Koh tao, please
> contact me! fei.wang at zmt-bremen.de -- Wang Fei PhD Candidate Leibniz
> Zentrum f黵 Marine Tropen鰇ologie Leibniz Center for Tropical
> Marine Ecology Fahrenheitstr. 8 D-28359 Bremen Germany Tel : (00)49
> - (0)421 - 23800-158 Fax : (00)49 - (0)421 - 23800-30
> email:anita.flohr at zmt-bremen.de web: www.zmt-bremen.de
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