As the year ends with economic doom and gloom, today brought us divers one bit of bright news. It appears that coral reefs battered by the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 are recovering much quicker than expected.
Surveys taken immediately after a massive undersea earthquake triggered the tsunami and sent it sweeping along the Indian Ocean coastline, showed that up to a third of reefs were damaged.
According to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, examinations of 60 sites along a 497 miles stretch of Indonesia's Aceh province showed the reefs were bouncing back.
Digging beneath the headline statement, it appears the chief reason the reef has recovered so quickly is because local people had responded to the conservation effort.
Marine biologist Rizya Legawa surveys coral reefs off Aceh province, Indonesia. (WCS Andrew Baird)
Dr Stuart Campbell, co-ordinator of the WCS's Indonesia marine programme, said fishermen had stopped using illegal techniques such as dynamite and villagers had transplanted corals into areas that were hardest hit.
"The recovery, which is in part due to improved management and the direct assistance of local people, gives enormous hope that coral reefs in this remote region can return to their previous
condition and provide local communities with the resources they need to prosper," he said.
Coral reef transplantation site is seen off Weh island, Aceh, Indonesia. (WCS Rian Prasetia)
Which goes to show, mankind was the problem, but by listening to the conservation effort, man can also be a solution.
And the humbling lesson of the day - if people in poverty-stricken parts of the world that have just experienced a cataclysmic natural disaster can provide a helping hand to mother nature, then there is no reason why us westerners cannot make an effort as well.
Simple things like thinking about what fish we eat and perhaps not shopping in supermarkets which are still selling endangered species would be a start.
And the good news for us divers? The more coral reefs and the greater understanding of their worth equals more and better dive destinations.
Surveys taken immediately after a massive undersea earthquake triggered the tsunami and sent it sweeping along the Indian Ocean coastline, showed that up to a third of reefs were damaged.
According to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, examinations of 60 sites along a 497 miles stretch of Indonesia's Aceh province showed the reefs were bouncing back.
Digging beneath the headline statement, it appears the chief reason the reef has recovered so quickly is because local people had responded to the conservation effort.
Marine biologist Rizya Legawa surveys coral reefs off Aceh province, Indonesia. (WCS Andrew Baird)
Dr Stuart Campbell, co-ordinator of the WCS's Indonesia marine programme, said fishermen had stopped using illegal techniques such as dynamite and villagers had transplanted corals into areas that were hardest hit.
"The recovery, which is in part due to improved management and the direct assistance of local people, gives enormous hope that coral reefs in this remote region can return to their previous
condition and provide local communities with the resources they need to prosper," he said.
Coral reef transplantation site is seen off Weh island, Aceh, Indonesia. (WCS Rian Prasetia)
Which goes to show, mankind was the problem, but by listening to the conservation effort, man can also be a solution.
And the humbling lesson of the day - if people in poverty-stricken parts of the world that have just experienced a cataclysmic natural disaster can provide a helping hand to mother nature, then there is no reason why us westerners cannot make an effort as well.
Simple things like thinking about what fish we eat and perhaps not shopping in supermarkets which are still selling endangered species would be a start.
And the good news for us divers? The more coral reefs and the greater understanding of their worth equals more and better dive destinations.
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