Thorn in reef
By Elisabeth Lee, TODAY | Posted: 23 October 2008 1515 hrs

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Imagine a powder-white sandy beach fringed with clear, electric blue water. Under the surface, out on the edge of the reef, schools of tiny, fluorescent anthias swim over a large staghorn coral as a stately hawksbill turtle slowly glides by. If you’re lucky, you might spot a blacktip reef shark cruising the depths, or a silver school of giant barracuda.

Truly unspoilt beaches and coral reefs are increasingly rare in this jetsetting age. A healthy, untouched reef is home to millions of different creatures, and is possibly one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. But as growing numbers of travellers discover how beautiful they are, the reefs are coming under an increasing amount of pressure.

The impact of human development on reefs worldwide is clear. The devastation can be seen in the decrease in the number of healthy corals and the decline in the numbers of fish and other creatures that live within the coral reef ecosystem.

I have been a diver for over 12 years (a dive instructor for eight) and I remember healthy reefs on the islands off Peninsula Malaysia with clear waters teeming with fish. Recent trips to marine parks in Perhentian and Aur have left me bewildered at the amount of change wrought in my decade away from Asia. “It’s not the same as it was before” is the common refrain of many who remember how the reefs used to be.

It is this rapid, devastating change that has prompted many resorts and dive shops to organise beach clean up days, like the event Berjaya Redang organised this month. Over the course of the weekend, over 100 volunteers removed 442 Crown-of-Thorns starfish (who eat healthy coral), 20 aluminium beverage cans, 25 plastic bottles, 200m of broken rope and 15 plastic bags from dive sites in Redang.

The resort is also making an effort to practise some form of environmental stewardship — from organising clean up days, to encouraging guests to minimise their impact on the environment. While this seems a minimal effort at best, it is a start. Some resorts discharge raw sewage into the sea, suffocat-ing the surrounding coral reefs with human effluent and sediment.

But more can, and needs to be done. Though the point of such a clean up event is to mitigate the damage humans have done to the oceans by removing rubbish, I saw many divers touching live coral — damaging it permanently — divers carelessly finning up sediment, and kicking over healthy coral and sponges.

One woman, in an effort to frame her underwater picture just so, draped herself over some staghorn coral and used her free hand to anchor herself by hanging on to a part of the reef.

It’s clear that enthusiasm for saving the reef only does so much. Divers and tourists need to be better educated about their impact on the environment and it is the responsibility of the resorts, instructors, guides and dive operators to do this — by setting a good example and by making sure guests are thoroughly briefed in advance, for a start. After all, there is only so much one can communicate underwater!

Yet, resorts are not in the business of telling their customers off. Dive guides are also often poorly paid, and some rely on tips from happy guests to support themselves and their families. It is difficult for resorts and their staff to do more unless travellers and divers compel them to — through choosing ecofriendly resorts, and supporting those that take concrete, meaningful action.

To me, it is clear that it requires more effort from both resort and traveller alike. The United Nations Environmental Programme estimates the value of just 1 sq km of healthy reef as up to US$600,000 a year. Our continued enjoyment of the reefs and the benefits that healthy reefs bring to local communities all depend on our collective ability and desire to protect this massive resource that is under threat.

As Kelvin, the dive guide on our boat that weekend in Redang, said: “No reefs, then no job.” And then all we would be left with would be our memories of a time before. - TODAY/ra

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