[Coral-List] Vietnam bans scuba diving to protect a coral reef

[International Coral Reef Observatory]

Thanks for sharing, Steve,

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned
that 4.5 million people in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region could
be affected by damaged coral reefs. The reefs support about 25 percent of
marine biodiversity. Vietnam’s decision follows a similar move in Thailand,
which restricted access to Maya Bay. Massive tourism is related to increase
in waste disposal. Another related threat is when divers do not have good
buoyancy and break coral colonies.

They should control illegal fishing, dredging, construction of industrial
parks and waste disposal as it was acknowledged by them as causes of the
degradation produced by those human activities.

According to my participation at ICRS 2022, it is advisable to avoid "Blue
Washing" based on  further breaking coral colonies with amateur divers and
kids within some "scaling up restoration shadow projects" that justify
unsustainable development and distract the attention from solving the real
causes of deterioration of coral reefs. These kinds of practices should not
be overlooked as those show figures of millions of coral colonies broken
without a clear objective to prevent coral reef destruction.

#CoralReefOptimism It is Being positive #TakeActionNow, #ClimateAction and
#CoralReefAction

Cordial saludo,

Nohora Galvis

Director and Researcher on Coral Reef Conservation Effectiveness
International Coral Reef Observatory Twitter: English @ICRIcolombia
Observatorio Internacional de Arrecifes Coralinos
Twitter: Español @ArrecifesCoral
https://www.facebook.com/ICRObservatory/
Instagram ICR_Observatory Youtube ICRI Colombia

El jue, 7 jul 2022 a las 7:05, Steve Mussman via Coral-List (<
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>) escribió:

>
>
> In my opinion, scuba diving does little direct harm to coral reefs. On the
> other hand, divers, like all tourists, most certainly contribute to the
> overall problem. I say this with mixed emotions while preparing my dive
> gear for an upcoming trip to my favorite reef after a prolonged hiatus.
>
>
> https://www.macaubusiness.com/vietnam-halts-scuba-diving-off-popular-island-to-protect-coral/
>
> Regards,
>
> Steve
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>