Awareness through personal experience..

Although there are many academic sources of scuba diving and reef destruction to pull off of the web and from peer reviewed journals, for this blog I would like to share some personal experiences.  These experiences may offer some insight as to why I decided to write this blog in the first place.   Although I am not an extremely experienced scuba diver, I have been diving quite a few times in different parts of the world.  Each country I dove in I had different experiences, some good and some bad, I will share some with you now.

My first diving experience, after I received my certification was in Belize off the coast of Caye Caulker.  The reefs were beautiful and abundant with marine life, but the diving outfit I dove with was another story.  The company was run by a local man who grew up on the island, he said the reefs have fed him his entire life.  He didn’t see the problem with spear fishing on the reefs, he even supplied anyone who wanted to spear fish with a gun, as long as they shared the catch with him.  He encouraged us to pluck oysters off the reefs and even to catch a sea turtle if we saw one, “The make great soup!” he would say!  Although I didn’t shoot any fish or catch any turtles for him, I couldn’t help but think how much marine life this man takes off the reef.  He brings people day in and day out through the same reefs, encouraging them to pick, pluck and plunder anything they want.  This is terrible behaviour to be teaching scuba divers regardless of where it is. There didn’t seem to be any regulations in Belize to stop this kind of behaviour, it was really quite shocking.

My next dives were in Honduras and it was a completely different story.  I dove off the massive dive island of Utila that sees thousands of scuba divers a week.  Each company has strict regulations, no touching the fish, the reefs or any marine life.  It was nice to see that some reefs and companies have regulations to prevent reef degradation.  When I got under the water in Honduras I saw a bleak sight though and I realized why they may have these regulations.  Most of the reefs seemed dead and lifeless, with only the odd bit of pink or green with a lonely fish clinging to what’s left of its dying reef.  It was shocking and it is a stark contrast to the vibrant array of colours and creatures you would expect while scuba diving.   The dive master told me that most of the reefs had been killed off from coral bleaching, which I discussed in my last blog.  I couldn’t help but wonder how much of an effect hundreds of divers a day to these reefs may have had on the fish populations, especially in the days before regulations were put in place.

So those were my first two diving experiences, both with extremely startling situations that emphasize the poor health of our reefs and the bleak future they may have if we don’t do something to reverse it.  You can see now why I decided to write my blog on reef destruction! 

A picture my friend took while spear fishing in Belize.  He found out this fish isn't even edible after he speared it.  What a waste!

Tune in next week for more reef action!