mow2000:
I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this person is a "troll".
The words used and the phraseology were designed to incite. This is a troll by definition.
And remember - we have no proof of truth of this yet.
The Marine Park makes me kind of snicker, anyway.
For years, Bill Evans of CoCoView bought and paid for, placed and maintained all of the moorings on the South side. He did this for many years as AKR continued to anchor, eventualy even they put in a few moorings of their own on the North and West.
The South side moorings are regularly trashed by boneheaded divemasters from all over the island- incorrect mooring techniques destroys the buoys and lines, costing time & money to replace... done by CoCoView. They were almost obliterated by the Bay Islands Aggressor until they placed their own high strength moorings.
Bill used to send the watchmen out to the reef pretty regularly to convince the Moskito divers (lobster grabbers to ply their trade elsewhere.
Now comes the rapid growth of North side dive ops. To make the North side viable as an area attractive to divers, they have had to place some deep wrecks. These magnificent dive sites had to be placed very deep because of the constant battering of the North side that the island withstands. Northers come crashing down and are hard on the bottom structure. The North side is way different than the South side. To attract critters, they have had to (attempt to) ban fishing. Divers there can now regularly spot familiar Caribbean denizens such as Grouper, Baracuda, Lobster, etc. Many DM's feed these critters to make them more accessable to divers.
The Marine Reserve is in place (in theory) to pay for North (and West) side mooring and to provide identifiably large fish for visiting divers to log into their books.
It will do good things for the economic growth of the resorts and dive ops. Unfortunately, unlike the very staid and retentive government of Bonaire, Roatan is part of Honduras. This country always makes it into the Top 5 Most Corrupt Nations. Where there is money, there is an argument.
You would figure that something as benneficial as this would have universal buy-in, but then again, you don't know the Honduran mind-set versus someplace like Bonaire.
No, what we have here, at best, is a display of infighting and whining... all on the poster's second post. Says something right there.
I understand that my statements will be regarded as my advocating the
killing of puppies, but I have seen Honduras operate up-close and personal.
Isn't it indicative enough that they simply do not have universal buy-in and enforcement and that niggling trolls have to post comments designed to provoke?
I am all for the concept of the Marine Reserve. I'd like to see them lay some groundwork and universal rules
before they start buying boats and hiring people.
As you can see from the provided link, they have no (required local) mandate, no (enforcement) authority, and no clear direction- other than to raise more money.
It's still worth the $ to me.