Post by Dive Bunnie on Sept 21, 2008 7:47:53 GMT
There has been a sad chain of events going on at Naama beach recently, in particular the reef in front of the Verner Lau dive centre and Wind Beach.
We have been seeing lots of dead fish!!! I saw a dead emperor fish the other day, a dead stone fish was seen on the night dive this week, as well as dead parrot fish... not good at all.
I must admit, it is very frustrating whilst on a dive if you look up and see swimmers standing all over the reef, or worse still, feeding the fish!!! Sometimes I can also see a proper slick of suntan oil floating on the surface of the water. All of which is soooo detrimental to the reef.
Research is proving that sunscreen washing off into the sea is definitely affecting the health of the corals, which in turn affects the health of the fish feeding on them. Feeding is also proving to be possibly the worst culprit. It happens in so many countries, but does happen to be illegal here. But we still see it happening. And because it is usually snorklers doing this in blind ignorance, we usually just get a bemused look of confusion at the irate diver giving them a piece of their mind, usually in a language they don't understand.
We should have signs up on the beach in four languages: Arabic, English, Russian and Italian, making it quite clear that feeding, fishing, touching the fish and standing on the reef, as well as the dropping of litter even on the beach, is all unacceptable.
We have been seeing lots of dead fish!!! I saw a dead emperor fish the other day, a dead stone fish was seen on the night dive this week, as well as dead parrot fish... not good at all.
I must admit, it is very frustrating whilst on a dive if you look up and see swimmers standing all over the reef, or worse still, feeding the fish!!! Sometimes I can also see a proper slick of suntan oil floating on the surface of the water. All of which is soooo detrimental to the reef.
Research is proving that sunscreen washing off into the sea is definitely affecting the health of the corals, which in turn affects the health of the fish feeding on them. Feeding is also proving to be possibly the worst culprit. It happens in so many countries, but does happen to be illegal here. But we still see it happening. And because it is usually snorklers doing this in blind ignorance, we usually just get a bemused look of confusion at the irate diver giving them a piece of their mind, usually in a language they don't understand.
We should have signs up on the beach in four languages: Arabic, English, Russian and Italian, making it quite clear that feeding, fishing, touching the fish and standing on the reef, as well as the dropping of litter even on the beach, is all unacceptable.
