turtle nest being dug up.......***????

[smartecosse]

so was speaking to someone that was just back from a liveaboard to the Similans on a Thai run steel boat.............

They stopped off at Island No. 1 (which is closed !!!!! ) and proceeded to the beach where a turtle nest was "dug up" so that the customers on the boat could see the eggs and the young hatchlings........

Where do these people get off, they somehow think that the rules dont apply to them as they are Hi So Thais?

Don't they understand that the beaches are closed to stop EXACTLY that type of practice happening.

As usual though nothing will happen. The same as when you are are hanging at Koh Bon waiting for something big and you can see the boat boys in the rib above fishing right on top of you. ( must admit is was funny giving the line a really really hard pull before cutting it )

** edit **
this is not an anti thai post btw way - just anti dic_kheads

 

[Bowmouth]

Best thing to do is to take pictures and immediately contact the Park Rangers at Island 4. After that follow up with a report to the Similan National Head quarters in Thap Lamu. Or even contact the Phuket Gazette or other local newspaper and give them a tip with your pictures as proof.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Some people believe that because the pay the fare, they have the right
to trash the place out.

Last winter I was tempted to turn off the tank of such a fool from a neighboring
Asian country, as they sat on a gaint hard coral, banging their tank on the
coral, posing, while their DM took their picture.

This was at the Similans.

It sux.

 

[smartecosse]

actually having re read my post i phrased it wrong

I was told that it was the "crew" doing this to impress the customers not the customers doing it

 

[Bowmouth]

actually having re read my post i phrased it wrong

I was told that it was the "crew" doing this to impress the customers not the customers doing it

That's even worse......

 

[orangelemon]

Things like this really make me sick, this is the second post i have read recently about liveaboards going to closed Islands in the Similans I will go out of my way to avoid doing business with any company that breaks these regulations. As Scuba Instructors we are guardians of our little part of underwater world and must do everything in our power to stop this mindless exploitation of nature.

In the last two weeks I have noticed other disturbing things, particularly two divers (fun diver in Similans and fun diver on Koh Doc Mai) that both had the stainless steel 'pointy stick' that I and other Instructors use for indicatiion and attention getting (banging them on tanks) The Similans Diver used the stick to literally bounce from one coral and rock to another due to her poor and generally negative buoyancy and the other one used it to aggravate marine life on the Wall side of Koh Doc Mai, both got a piece of advice or a very clear indication from myself about how very wrong their actions were. It seems no matter what is taught on beginners courses, it is clear that people do not absorb or listen to all the information therefore I urge every instructor to start taking corrective actions (corrective coaching) when they experience poor / incorrect attitude to the marine environment. I know some do but I have all do often seen Instructors turning a blind eye perhaps for the 'quiet life' but if we all continue to do this then pretty soon we wont be needed as there will be nothing to see underwater.

 

[smartecosse]

i think the prblem is that some of the insts just really dont give a toss, they are basically "travelers" for want of a better word and diving is the equivalent of teaching english - a way of topping up their funds. There seems to be a vast number in Asia that have little or no respect for the marine environment and on top of that are actually "bad quakity" divers albeit thay have an Instructor Card.

I personllay have seen Instructors

"grab" a puffer fish so that it expands
drop a rock on a scorpion fish to see what happens
grab a tiger tail sea horse, unwind its tail and put it on the rock fr a better picture
dig out the "burrow" of a mantis
grab sharks
grab a manta
"pet" whalesharks
smash inumerable amounts of coral with poor buoyancy
have students hold onto coral in currents
throw used camera batteries overboard
break off some staghorn coral that was in the way of a shot

the list goes on and on

with so many insts that really don't care it no wonder that there are "punters" that dont either. Then there are the "scuba terrorists", two or three nations that have all the money to buy the lastest "bling" kit - no idea how to use it and generally employ dive guides that constantly "look the other way" as there customers destroy the underwater realm they have come to see - ususally by bashing it to death with the large cameras they cannot use properly or their gull fins in that lolely pearlescent colour

 

[Diver Dennis]

Did you talk to these instructors about their actions smartcosse?

 

[smartecosse]

yes - makes no odds to most

unfortunately "idiots" work in every industry and the diving one in Asia seems to have a fair proportion of them

 

[Ringo]

Things like this really make me sick, this is the second post i have read recently about liveaboards going to closed Islands in the Similans I will go out of my way to avoid doing business with any company that breaks these regulations.

Quite agree with you about the closed sites but then some sites are only rumoured to be closed. So,for example, if you are referring to Christmas Point (refer to the Similans Update thread) then I suggest that you follow up with the boats advertised on your website as I am sorry to inform you that some of those boats are diving these sites. According to some members on SB this site is closed but according to most Liveaboard operators this site is not one of those closed. Nobody has officially informed the Liveaboard operators and DC's about this area.