Coral Bleaching in Dampier Strait?

[also_anon_dc]

Can anyone who dive around Kri this December confirm the extent of the damage?

I was at two of the sites in the video (Mioskun and Sawanderek) on December 9th and there was no bleaching. It must have happened after that.

 

[justinthedeeps]

My understanding is that a new bleaching event began in December 2024 and that some areas of Dampier Strait have been heavily effected, see the following links for recent photos and videos

The World’s Fourth Coral Bleaching Event; How It's Affecting Raja Ampat right now - The SEA People

Raja Ampat’s reefs face the world’s Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event, a stark warning of climate change impacts. Learn about the resilience of these reefs, the urgent need for local action, and how individuals can help protect one of the planet's most biodiverse marine ecosystems

theseapeople.org

That SeaPeople story is solid, looks official

Let's hope this works for Dampier

"Resilience can be attributed to several unique ecological dynamics (healthy populations of grazing fish, strong currents and deep-water upwellings, shallow inlets and creeks that act as natural “training grounds” for heat-resistant corals, abundant planktonic food which support corals when their ability to photosynthesize is compromised, full forest/mangrove cover in coastal areas) combined with and a lack of other stressors and pressures (pollution, wastewater, overfishing, coastal development, overtourism)."

You could try somewhere with deeper channels, walls, and more cold water upwellings, if you don't want to dive those bleached/stressed reefs, or else go muck/macro diving, or somewhere with abundant coldwater runoff of groundwaters that might keep things a bit cooler.. (rainy season spots?)

 

[Dan]

There is nothing like the feeling of getting half way around the world and being at the baggage claim carousel and watching everyone else get their bag and suddenly you are the only one standing there and there are no more bags coming out.

Yep. Been there & done on EVA Air. The miracle flight leaving from Houston was 2 hours late & my bag was stuck in Taipei.

I called it a miracle flight is because there were so many passengers on wheel chairs going into the airplane, those passengers were miraculously able to walk out of the plane on their own at the exit.

My 3-hour layover in Taipei was down to 1 hour and I had to dash out of the 1st airplane to the next one. The flights leaving TPE-CGK operated once a day. So I had to wait for my luggage to catch up with me on the next day. Luckily I had an extra day as contingency plan.

Lesson learnt.

 

[cozcharlie]

The Sea People story already posted covers the bleaching in more detail , but I had said I would follow up , so here are quick thoughts.

1). Definitely a lot of bleaching in Dampier Strait/Cape Kri area (though I only have done one dive there due to luggage delays—friends have done more here and agree significant bleaching )

2). Did Melissa’s Garden and Fam Wall today. Very little bleaching, beautiful dives.

3) May have already posted this , but have had a few reports over past few weeks that indicated Misool and Triton Bay were not experiencing significant bleaching .

Some of the articles posted in this thread reference multiple prior bleaching events where the coral evidently recovered. Given that, I certainly wouldn’t dismiss Dampier Strait long term (especially given many trips are planned years in advance ). Still great diving even with bleaching .

 

[JustinJRL]

I've been following some my previous divemasters/homestay ops on Instagram and have seen some bleaching in their latest videos. It hasn't looked as dramatic as, say, south Florida, but it was captured in some shots. Hopefully, things recover soon and appreciate any other first hand updates out of curiosity.

 

[Cali_diver]

Just got back from a back to back LOB trip to Raja. Bleaching is primarily in the central/Dampier Strait areas ..Sawandarek, Kri, Blue Magic. North and South still looked great. We only dove in Central 2 days on first trip and for one day on second trip so can't talk about other sites. Penemu and Yangefo looked great still. Sawandarek looked pretty bad but I think it is due to too many divers and the bleaching. I am hopeful it will recover... temps not too high compared to normal so hopefully it will reverse and it is not a waisting disease. It did seem to be effecting everything not just one type of coral.

 

[sharkbear]

I've been following some my previous divemasters/homestay ops on Instagram and have seen some bleaching in their latest videos. It hasn't looked as dramatic as, say, south Florida, but it was captured in some shots. Hopefully, things recover soon and appreciate any other first hand updates out of curiosity.

The photographer Brooke Pyke is currently in Raja Ampat and had just posted some images of the bleaching around Kri. You can find her on Instagram at "brookepykephotography".

 

[JustinJRL]

Honestly, that's pretty devestating

 

[justinthedeeps]

Let's hope that recovery and regeneration from less affected areas is swift, when temperature conditions alleviate.

The shallowest reeftops in that region are not only the most beautiful of all, but also the most sensitive and delicate

One cannot help but to contemplate the effects on water quality and resilience due to (many?) thousands of highly-consuming tourists on hundreds of LOBs, boat engines, and homestays, a growing service & support population in Waisai, and whatever else is going on in the area.

In many 'reviews' people complain about things like basic food menus and limited amenities at Raja 'resorts'... It shouldn't be a casual luxury vacation for ordinary consumers, and it's not the Hawaii Hilton (take a look at what has happened to those HI reefs...)

But at least the lively ecotourism industry, management and fees etc means they are not trawling, bombing, and cloroxing these reefs at high volume / low revenue

 

[cetacean]

There is nothing like the feeling of getting half way around the world and being at the baggage claim carousel and watching everyone else get their bag and suddenly you are the only one standing there and there are no more bags coming out.

Maybe a few years ago... today, everyone should be traveling with things like Airtags in their bags. Waiting for your bags to not show up (to know they didn't make it) is a little nuts given the technology available today.