Possible southern reef closure

[ChrisM]

I’m staying at the Grand Occidental this December. Am I happy? No, will I cnx? No. It is what it is...if I had to dive the same 8-12 sights so be it, I’ll get to know it more intimately. Having a few even if they’re great ones, sites closed, leaving NYC for sand and free tequila in December works just fine.

Good luck Christie....

Exactly. They start banning tequila I’m out

 

[ChuckP]

Was a final decision made and communicated today???

Per the meeting I was at today, closed. It was an overpacked crowd, emotional but not out of hand

 

[SCUBAwithMitch]

Let's be honest about something. Them doing this without advanced notice was absolutely so the tourist trade wasnt affected as severely. I suspect it will be the exact opposite though. We already have a trip booked for January and it will be the last for awhile. Too many changes are occurring to put up with as far as I'm concerned. Petty theft, violence against tourists, unscrupulous behaviour by local businesses and, now, closing some of the most sought after dive sites with zero notice so people could plan their trips accordingly.

 

[deepsea21]

More Mexican BS. Last year they had that new Port Captain who catered to some authority on the mainland and kept closing the Coz port based on conditions in Cancun or something.. Nothing like waking up to an almost glass calm on the west side of Coz due to winds out of the east only to hear the port was closed! Went through several days of that BS. And now this... They'll shut down some of the island's healthiest reefs from dive traffic for some "study"? Study of what? Study of what happens to a reef in 3 months time without any dive traffic? I can tell you first hand that Mother Nature can (and has) wrecked more havoc on that reef in 24-48 hours than decades of dive traffic.

So, let's pretend the damage the reef is experiencing has NOTHING TO DO with Coz becoming the largest cruise port in the Caribbean. Let's pretend it has NOTHING TO DO with the possible cruise ship dumping of waste prior to entering port. NOTHING TO DO with up to 50,000 cruise passengers on peak days infesting the island like locusts and flushing toilets while they are there into a sewage treatment system that was designed decades ago for "locals only" in town and out of town where those beach clubs and southern resorts pump it into the sea with minimal treatment (if any). NOTHING TO DO with all of those cruise passengers bathed in sunscreen swimming in the water. NOTHING TO DO with the circular movement of pollution emanating from other 3rd world countries in the Caribbean basin, NOTHING TO DO with the rampant spread of SCTLD that could be the caused by everything and anything that is going on in the world. NOTHING TO DO with anything but us divers.

Let's ignore all the fat pink elephants in the room and target the one community that has been identified as having the lowest impact of all.. the dive community. Just so the Mexican powers that be can say they are "doing something" about the situation with the absolute minimum impact to their pocketbook. It makes perfect political sense. It also makes perfect dive consumer sense to start thinking about alternate destinations. I'm currently considering paying the penalty to re-route elsewhere this December where this BS doesn't take place at the cost of the lowest target on the totem pole... us divers.

 

[Trailboss123]

How about we quit the childish arguments about climate change. No one is going to change anyone's opinions about an issue like that on a Scuba Forum.

Do we know dive site is going to be the Northern boundary of the new restriction zone - Palancar Gardens? Dalila?

I was asking the same question the other day- no one has supplied a good answer.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Well looks like my 2020 Mexico trip will be Tulum cave diving only. I am not planning a Coz trip unless I know some of the locations I want to hit there are going to be open.

 

[NightShade00013]

Couple simple observations here.


First off if cruise ships are dumping crap they should be fined at ever increasing amounts until they can no longer afford to commit the infraction or are driven out of business. They take in money and turn a profit they can pay fees to do things the right way. However if the ships dock in the north and the currents come from the south and flow north it makes it difficult to say that anything they dump is making it down to the south end of the island... Unless there is some sort of counter current or they are dipping further south than they need to or they are originating from the south this is probably not the cause. I have to agree with one of the posts that it is very likely being swept up by the currents from points further south where environmental laws are lacking and industry (including city services like sewage) is allowed to dispose of things however they see fit.

Responsibility of divers is paramount as well and a simple way to police this would be to enact a system that DM's can use with the training agencies to block divers from certain area's or ban them completely when they purposefully cause damage to the reefs. Hang onto a coral structure for a picture and risk losing the ability to dive any ocean area or even being able to dive at all and it may just slow down stupidity. I can't guarantee this would work and there would need to be some sort of probation first in case a DM has a chip on their shoulder or something but it probably wouldn't hurt.

Implementing a ban will be hard to enforce completely if they don't have the funding to enforce the current rules and regulations, in fact it will get harder since they will lose the income they are currently gaining. I believe it will be counter productive to what they want to achieve. However this is also being implemented by government and they have the power in the situation to do what they want. Hopefully it doesn't take them too long to figure out the error of their ways and implement a solution that will be beneficial for the reefs as well as the people who want to enjoy them, I have my doubts that will be the case though.



Personally I have a dive already booked and will be getting there on Oct 23rd so hopefully I still get to enjoy the dive as making a change is not an option at this point.

 

[ggunn]

A suggestion I have would be to ban sunscreens that are not reef-safe. Dive boats could carry reef-safe sunscreen to offer or sell to guests.

It's not sunscreen that's causing the problem. Sunscreen has been around for decades but this White Blight is a recent occurrence.

 

[ggunn]

Couple simple observations here.


First off if cruise ships are dumping crap they should be fined at ever increasing amounts until they can no longer afford to commit the infraction or are driven out of business. They take in money and turn a profit they can pay fees to do things the right way. However if the ships dock in the north and the currents come from the south and flow north it makes it difficult to say that anything they dump is making it down to the south end of the island... Unless there is some sort of counter current or they are dipping further south than they need to or they are originating from the south this is probably not the cause.

They don't dump while they are in port and virtually all of them either approach from or depart to the south.

 

[ggunn]

No, it wasn't. And I'm not talking about the relevant effects specifically to Cozumel but the endless arguments about whether it's real or a fraud, natural or caused by man, and so forth. And it inevitably leads to politics.

Leads to? It's all politics.