Possible southern reef closure

[JackD342]

They don’t have the boats for it.

Which means.... ?

 

[BDSC]

Which means.... ?

Exactly. Don’t know if they were implying the dive shops don’t have enough boats to go there and go to the southern sites or if their boats are somehow not equipped to go there.

 

[MargaritaMike]

At least the dive ops will be lowering their prices since they will save so much in fuel.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

How do you know that? Maybe the official announcement will confirm exactly what has been put out? In any event, what is the tangible harm in discussing it? If the official announcement contains some significant different version then the discussion will adjust. Censorship and suppression of discussion is never in the best interests of the community.

I think the thread is appropriate as it potentially affects us all. Even the possibility of it happening is important to discuss. Even without all the yelling

Yes, Discussion is of course, fair - but sadly so much misinformation takes place when you don't have all the information to begin with - real facts will be forthcoming after the meeting (possibly meetings). Everything right now is assumption and conjecture. I am sure Christi, Dave or another member of ANOAAT will be sharing as soon as possible. I would imagine nothing final will be decided in just a few days. I don't consider it censorship to hold off until the meeting to wait for the facts. Sometimes things change rapidly.
Damn those pesky facts.

As far as the cruise ships - YES - in total agreement. The elephant in the room.
Just look at the example Carnival Cruise Line just made this past June. They had already paid a $40 million fine and were put on 5 years probation in 2016, for illegal waste dumping, using secret bypass valves which dumped oil and waste all around the world. Then, getting busted again for the same thing in 2019 and taking a settlement with a small slap on the wrist for $20 million after breaking their probation. Many people thought that was amazing, but few realized the fine was a pittance, considering they bring in well over $17 billion a year.

Ironic that their business is pretty much made on "selling the environment" - and yet they are basically destroying it. Just look at the many cities in various ports of call - filing complains about air and water pollution. "Cruise ships burn huge amounts of fossil fuel, creating water, air and noise pollution, and severely affect the marine ecosystem."

In my version of a perfect world, Cozumel would finally come to their senses and do everything they can to turn the entire island into an eco-sanctuary...making their main economy eco-tourism and diving and bringing money back to the people of the island.

One can dream, can't they?

 

[ChuckP]

Yes, Discussion is of course, fair - but sadly so much misinformation takes place when you don't have all the information to begin with - real facts will be forthcoming after the meeting (possibly meetings). Everything right now is assumption and conjecture. I am sure Christi, Dave or another member of ANOAAT will be sharing as soon as possible. I would imagine nothing final will be decided in just a few days. I don't consider it censorship to hold off until the meeting to wait for the facts. Sometimes things change rapidly.
Damn those pesky facts.

As far as the cruise ships - YES - in total agreement. The elephant in the room.
Just look at the example Carnival Cruise Line just made this past June. They had already paid a $40 million fine and were put on 5 years probation in 2016, for illegal waste dumping, using secret bypass valves which dumped oil and waste all around the world. Then, getting busted again for the same thing in 2019 and taking a settlement with a small slap on the wrist for $20 million after breaking their probation. Many people thought that was amazing, but few realized the fine was a pittance, considering they bring in well over $17 billion a year.

Ironic that their business is pretty much made on "selling the environment" - and yet they are basically destroying it. Just look at the many cities in various ports of call - filing complains about air and water pollution. "Cruise ships burn huge amounts of fossil fuel, creating water, air and noise pollution, and severely affect the marine ecosystem."

In my version of a perfect world, Cozumel would finally come to their senses and do everything they can to turn the entire island into an eco-sanctuary...making their main economy eco-tourism and diving and bringing money back to the people of the island.

One can dream, can't they?

Totally disagree! It appears that this decision has been made, they're merely going to announce it to the rest of the world and three weeks later diving south of Palancar stops........

It should be talked about loudly!!! Let everyone's voices and concerns be heard - maybe, just maybe, the decision can be changed because once it's done, undoing it will be way more difficult.

 

[NDL_Diver]

Exactly. Don’t know if they were implying the dive shops don’t have enough boats to go there and go to the southern sites or if their boats are somehow not equipped to go there.

Yes, that IS what is implied. The waves conditions diving North and the currents are much more intense. As you go North the island curves away leaving you in more of an open ocean environment.

The currents underwater can be more intense also.

Only dive OP's that have open sea vessels should take divers. Also, divers seperate much faster due to the intense currents that could occur.

Aldora (no ment to be a banner waving) takes great pains to make divers safer when diving North sites. Also it is NOT for novice divers since you could experience severe changing conditions.

However, taking the correct boat, making sure everyone has and a SMB, locator beacons... does minimize the risk, but does not eliminate it. Proper training is important. Knowing how to save yourself in an emergency...

Above these items it is also good to carry an old fasion signal mirror. Batteries die, electronic flood....

The sites up North are very nice, if wind is down or blowing in a favorable direction.

 

[cvchief]

and it also acknowledges that the diving industry has the LEAST impact on the stress on the reefs.

Lack of enforcement and mismanagement has caused the 50+ illegal operators to continue. Those of you who dive with illegal ops (no park permits and/or not a registered business [cash only is a good hint that they aren’t paying taxes and we’ll as low priced], and those who Allow clients to carry spears) have contributed to this blanket “punishment”.

So the diving industry affects the reefs the least, but this is really blanket punishment to the diving industry? For spears and not paying taxes?

If it continues as planned, I imagine the lion fish will love moving back up from the deep and eating all the baby reef fish.

 

[Snoweman]

After experiencing the hairy currents in the park a month ago, I'm not sure I would enjoy diving the northern sites.

 

[scubadada]

To start with I totally agree with Gordon! This ban on diving these areas will do absolutely nothing to help the reefs in Cozumel.
First, I have been keeping up with the coral issues in Cozumel and Florida ever since my last visit to Cozumel in March of this year. We dove a lot of sites but I was saddened to see the amount of damage done to El Islote and a few other sites. Apparently this is a very hard thing to diagnose due to micro changes in water temperature and trying to isolate small particles of chemicals in the water. Basically the reefs are very fragile and things that humans are doing are damaging them. I'm not sure if people have seen the article that was published a few months ago by researchers but they finally figured out what was going on in Florida. You can find other links that talk about this more in-depth but climate change, nitrogen getting into the water from over fertilizing, etc are some of the main issues affecting the reefs. Where have we heard this before? Look no further than the sargassum. Same issue here!

We finally know why Florida’s coral reefs are dying, and it’s not just climate change - The Washington Post...

The article you cite appears to be discussing coral bleaching rather than Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). There are many resources discussing this, Google SCTLD A mysterious coral disease is ravaging Caribbean reefs | Science News

 

[MrBigfins]

This is a disturbing turn of events. I had 2 trips planned that are now postponed, I'm sure I'm not the only one.
The sites up north are nice, but not a solution to losing that many great sites to the south. There are a couple issues with the north sites, they aren't as easy to access, they are advanced dives, and they would suffer if the volume of divers that is normally spread out is concentrated onto them. Part of what makes them nice sites is the lower volume of divers on them, same thing that makes Punta sur a great site. I have been on boats with divers that definitely have mo business diving the more advanced conditions that the northern sites present.

What is being done to address the sewage runoff? Any proposals there? The science supports the fact that this is one of the major issues for the health of the reefs. If the reef system is to be saved, and the economy that is tied to it, then major systemic changes need to be made.

Cruise ships are definitely the elephant in the room, or ocean in this case. The problem here is the amount of revenue that they bring to the economy. Any powers that be are going to be reluctant to rock the big boat when so much of the economy is supported by it. However this is very short sighted, if the reefs go then so do the cruise ships and the tourism and with them the local economy.

The last trip down in July saddened me deeply, the deterioration of the reefs in a matter of 6 months was astonishing. We love cozumel because of the proximity, the ease of getting there, the beautiful people we meet, and the diversity of the dive sites. That being said, the reason we visit is to dive and if the ability to do that well is diminished then we along with others will be forced to go elsewhere. I sincerely hope they come up with a holistic approach to solve the issues that the island and the reefs face.