Just an observation. I am just PADI open water; but remember the old photos of people standing on coral; and how that destroys the coral
Now people do everything they can to take photos next to the reef, and not touch them. It takes years to recover; but if everyone does this, and 40 years pass; I would hope we would see what we are seeing now
What made a bigger difference was the coral import ban. Your right a careless diver can do damage to a reef that would take decades to regrow. But when coral was sold on open markets, many dive bums made a living destroying the reefs.
Still in the early 90s I knew of people smuggling black coral in stateside, the money was crazy good and sailors financed a leg of their trip with the coral.
I've listened to many of old timers talk of times when it was abundant and easy to harvest 60s-80s.
Just an observation. I am just PADI open water; but remember the old photos of people standing on coral; and how that destroys the coral
Now people do everything they can to take photos next to the reef, and not touch them. It takes years to recover; but if everyone does this, and 40 years pass; I would hope we would see what we are seeing now
What made a bigger difference was the coral import ban. Your right a careless diver can do damage to a reef that would take decades to regrow. But when coral was sold on open markets, many dive bums made a living destroying the reefs.
Still in the early 90s I knew of people smuggling black coral in stateside, the money was crazy good and sailors financed a leg of their trip with the coral.
I've listened to many of old timers talk of times when it was abundant and easy to harvest 60s-80s.