[Coral-List] Divers and corals

D Medio david at medio.fsnet.co.uk
Mon Apr 6 10:35:27 EDT 2015


Dear all,

I have read with interest the many comments on this issue.

I have just come back from a couple of weeks in Sharm El sheikh.

To those not familiar, this is one of the most dived or snorkelled parts of the world.

It is also the location of one of the best managed multiple use MPA I have seen. Of this magnitude anyway.

It is also where I did my phd precisely on the sustainable management of tourism on a coral reef of global significance.

What I can say is that a mix of robust mpa management measures and dive centre management can go a long way to Keeping diver and crucially snorkeller damage under control.

Ras umm sidd is possibly the most heavily dived and snorkelled 500 m stretch on the planet. And yet, diver briefings carried out by dive centre, mooring buoys,  no anchoring for 25 years, no fishing and pontoons from the shoreline to the reef edge have ensured that the reef there is better now than it was 15 years.

I have - alone or with others - published papers and reports whose I would be happy to discuss with anyone who's interested. 

Padi like McDonalds are there to make money. However, whereas the latter has no tangible beneficial effects and plenty of nasty side effects, the former has a long term interest. No reefs or poor reefs will mean lower revenue.

Education and clever management tools remain the way forward. 



Sent from my iPhone


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