Info SCTLD closures on Bonaire

[drrich2]

Thanks for the heads up. In a fatalistic sense, I wonder how long it'll be before the disease is widespread enough they drop precautions on the grounds the 'horse is out of the barn,' so to speak? Is that something we have an example of happening elsewhere?

 

[Doctorfish]

The precautions don't make sense to me. Divers are on the honour system, and in my recent observation, don't always follow the rules.

The guideline for soaking gear in bleach looked to me more like a quick dip, and some gear, like cameras is totally exempted. Further, how would a soak in bleach "sterilize" the inside of a BC? On the dive dock, it was interesting to see some divers soak all their gear in bleach and then put it back into a contaminated dive bag. On the boat, divers would give their gear a rinse in bleach, but leave their wet contaminated wetsuit and or bathing suit on between dives.

I was on Bonaire last week and the whole routine for slowing spread of SCTLD looked to me like a futile effort for STINAPA to be seen to be doing something. I think the song and dance act is a total waste of time.

 

[rddvet]

The precautions don't make sense to me. Divers are on the honour system, and in my recent observation, don't always follow the rules.

The guideline for soaking gear in bleach looked to me more like a quick dip, and some gear, like cameras is totally exempted. Further, how would a soak in bleach "sterilize" the inside of a BC? On the dive dock, it was interesting to see some divers soak all their gear in bleach and then put it back into a contaminated dive bag. On the boat, divers would give their gear a rinse in bleach, but leave their wet contaminated wetsuit and or bathing suit on between dives.

I was on Bonaire last week and the whole routine for slowing spread of SCTLD looked to me like a futile effort for STINAPA to be seen to be doing something. I think the song and dance act is a total waste of time.

I mean would you prefer they shut the whole island to diving?

 

[Joneill]

I mean would you prefer they shut the whole island to diving?

If that’s what is really needed to stop the spread, that is exactly what they should do - but I don’t see that happening as the financial impact for the island is too large.

 

[Doctorfish]

Why would you think a shut down would stop spread? Most dive sites are already infected. Is there any good evidence that divers spread this disease anyway?

 

[NDL_Diver]

Shutting it down would just slow the spread. The disease is in the water column, fish rub and eat the coral....
They proved that it would spread by just being in the same water by placing an infected coral and healthy coral in the same tank of water with no other fish or factors to facilitate spreading.
The spread will still happen, just slower. The economy would suffer, divers would suffer...
Just like COVID, you could slow it down but the sadly the outcome will be the same.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I believe many of us may be thinking of an analogy to the decisions the world faced with Covid . As I see it, there are basically three options with SCTLD on an island where the majority of diving is done by roving shore divers. The first, trying to contain SCTLD with measures that rely on divers properly executing disinfection protocols, diving sites in a prescribed order, and doing so essentially on the honor system, may be futile in the long run. The measures may work in a lab environment, but out in the real world people behave as they do, and the result may be only to delay the inevitable. The second, giving up entirely on trying to contain SCTLD, is fatalistic, as Richard put it a few posts back. I'm skipping Bonaire this year because of this SCTLD kerfuffle, but a few years from now will I return to an island with reef I hardly recognize? The third, as some have mentioned, is to shut the island down to diving entirely for some time. This would have dire economic consequences and may not work in the end to stem the disease. It really does remind me of the Covid dilemma (or tri-lemma).

 

[deeper thoughts]

Why would you think a shut down would stop spread? Most dive sites are already infected. Is there any good evidence that divers spread this disease anyway?

We lived and dived this disease here in the keys.
There is no stopping this.
We saw it spread continuously south
The reef will change no doubt
Pretty sad

 

[scubadada]

Take a look at Grand Cayman as an example.

 

[Doctorfish]

This reminds me of Covid as well. The current measures on Bonaire are like walking around with a cheap mask below your nose and thinking it has a benefit.