There has been quite a lot of mud slinging about dive ops recently!
Anyway i wanted to start a new thread to help people start their search for a dive op. The following link:
Roatan's Sandy Bay and West End (West Bay) Marine Park, Honduras - Our Members
This is list of the Marine Park members. These are the people/businesses who are actually paying to: Put in all those moorings the dive boats tie up to. They are the people who pay to patrol against poachers. They are the people helping to improve recycling and trash collection on the island, they are the people who are teaching Roatan's school children about the reef and how their actions on land effect it etc etc
The Honduran government has recognised these activities and they are OFFICIAL co-managers of the marine protected area.
I won't publish the meager salaries our valiant staff are paid, but i can assure you they don't do it for the money!
The park desperately needs money and all you have to do to help is choose a dive op that co-operates with the marine park. Maybe if more potential visitors chose their dive op based on marine park support ALL the dive ops would start to contribute.
One point is that the members list does include the south side members such as Cocoview, Subway Watersports. They are to be added in the next few days.
Sorry for the rant, but it is so much better to reward good practice than just show indifference.
So, if the dive shop you were thinking of visiting is not on the list, maybe it would be worth looking at one that is.
In my experience an indifferent attitude toward conservation also goes hand in hand with an indifferent attitude toward safety, but that is an opinion and not a fact, just an observation based on my experience all over the world, in many walks of life.
Anyway i wanted to start a new thread to help people start their search for a dive op. The following link:
Roatan's Sandy Bay and West End (West Bay) Marine Park, Honduras - Our Members
This is list of the Marine Park members. These are the people/businesses who are actually paying to: Put in all those moorings the dive boats tie up to. They are the people who pay to patrol against poachers. They are the people helping to improve recycling and trash collection on the island, they are the people who are teaching Roatan's school children about the reef and how their actions on land effect it etc etc
The Honduran government has recognised these activities and they are OFFICIAL co-managers of the marine protected area.
I won't publish the meager salaries our valiant staff are paid, but i can assure you they don't do it for the money!
The park desperately needs money and all you have to do to help is choose a dive op that co-operates with the marine park. Maybe if more potential visitors chose their dive op based on marine park support ALL the dive ops would start to contribute.
One point is that the members list does include the south side members such as Cocoview, Subway Watersports. They are to be added in the next few days.
Sorry for the rant, but it is so much better to reward good practice than just show indifference.
So, if the dive shop you were thinking of visiting is not on the list, maybe it would be worth looking at one that is.
In my experience an indifferent attitude toward conservation also goes hand in hand with an indifferent attitude toward safety, but that is an opinion and not a fact, just an observation based on my experience all over the world, in many walks of life.
