Possible southern reef closure

[Christi]

I think we all have an interest in what that announcement was all about.

WOW - so you don't think dive and snorkel ops should have had preference? Chuck, you don't speak Spanish and you just moved to the island and don't work in the diving industry, you could have waited to get the information along with all of the other divers.

I know of a few well respected operators that were there on time but denied entry.

Sorry Jen, Chuck and others - but I think those with vested interest should have had priority to get a seat. Each shop should be responsible for letting their divers know what the outcome was etc. especially for those who don't even speak Spanish - if you don't even understand what is being said, why take a seat away from someone who NEEDED to be there? And why even be there? So you can say you were there?

 

[Ron Lee]

I just wonder what the point is. With the coral dying, giant corals my friends tell me have been there for at least 30 years stone cold dead, what will closing those reefs do? I mean we can see it will take money out of the pockets of the work people in the marina. That is going to happen just from what we read here. What exactly is it going to do for the reef? Less people kicking the coral as it dies? Makes me sad to watch...

I watched a little of the SCTLD presentation above and two pictures taken about 16 days apart shows an initial infection of about 10% of a coral head and later all but a little dead. Go to time 9:20 in the video. Apparently this disease can spread quickly among susceptible coral. I have not seen if there is any cure but other comments above suggest there is none now.

 

[GameChanger]

On my last Coz dive trip (August 2019), the DM's at Blue Angel took us to a bunch of "nothern" sites like Barracuda, San Juan, Punta Tunicha, Dalila, Paso del Cedral and others. I believe these sites and a lot of other great dive sites will not be restricted because they are north of the Palancar Reefs. Shorter boat rides too! I also thought the water clarity was better at these sites. For some reason, the southern sites seemed to have less visibility when compared to my March 2019 trip.

I'm still going to Coz in December!

 

[cvchief]

Just saw this on ST. Interesting read. Particularly:
"The Cozumel Marine Park has acknowledged that cruise ships and the mismanagement of waste at coastal hotels along the marine park are amongst the issues that fuel the spread of the disease. The closing part of the marine park to divers is going to create awareness of the problems that the reefs in Cozumel are now facing."

Cozumel Marine Park Closure | Everything We Know

 

[Ron Lee]

Just saw this on ST. Interesting read. Particularly:
"The Cozumel Marine Park has acknowledged that cruise ships and the mismanagement of waste at coastal hotels along the marine park are amongst the issues that fuel the spread of the disease. The closing part of the marine park to divers is going to create awareness of the problems that the reefs in Cozumel are now facing."

Cozumel Marine Park Closure | Everything We Know

If divers are not contributing to the spread of the disease but waste issues "may" be making the situation (disease spread) worse, why not go after the hotels and let that create an awareness?

 

[formernuke]

Too much money involved to go after them

 

[Christi]

Too much money involved to go after them

BINGO

 

[ReefHound]

WOW - so you don't think dive and snorkel ops should have had preference? Chuck, you don't speak Spanish and you just moved to the island and don't work in the diving industry, you could have waited to get the information along with all of the other divers.

I know of a few well respected operators that were there on time but denied entry.

Sorry Jen, Chuck and others - but I think those with vested interest should have had priority to get a seat. Each shop should be responsible for letting their divers know what the outcome was etc. especially for those who don't even speak Spanish - if you don't even understand what is being said, why take a seat away from someone who NEEDED to be there? And why even be there? So you can say you were there?

I wonder if that was by design? Encourage lots of people to turn out early so there aren't many park permit holders in there to ask the tough questions? Or maybe I am just wearing a tin foil hat tonight...

Also, this leak Friday and subsequent discussion was criticized by some but without it, would this meeting have been a quiet announcement in front of a handful of people because the vast majority did not know it was coming?

 

[drrich2]

Apologies if this has been discussed; I went through quite a few pages looking for it and came up with zip. Some Googling suggests the pathogen is suspected but not definitively known? Well, given how serious it is, I wonder if there's evidence of how long said pathogen can survive in various conditions. For example, ship ballast or a BCD bladder.

Someone (Post #296 by DeepSea21) mentioned it's spreading up the U.S. east coast. Curious that it's shown up at such distant sites as there and Cozumel.

Basically, I'm wondering whether it should be regarded as too widespread to worry about, or like the zebra mussel in the northern U.S. - something transmissible people need to be on guard against.

 

[wgw04024]

'Awareness'. Now that's funny.