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I have had the opportunity to dive the world. I am an underwater photographer and coral collector. I am a dive instructor. I am a pediatrician. I have a reef tank in my waiting area to allow children to experience a small captive ocean. Unfortunately, our children may not have the opportunity to experience wild reef ecosystems much longer. Collection of wild corals places these systems at risk.
Today, I fired up youtube and navigated my way to my favorite retail coral vendors website. I was horrified to discover a video which pinpointed the exact location of a very large colony of branching hammer corals. Mentioning the name of a a dive site in Indonesia makes it easy for poachers to located and illegally harvest coral. The local Indonesian economy will benefit modestly from this business. In the long run, corals collected in the wild do not adapt well to captive reefs. Wild collected coral tend to bring nasty pests into captive reefs. Yet ... where there is a market there is a way.
The have been diving at the location mentioned in this video. It is beautiful. Healthy hammer coral as far as the eye can see. Critters make their home in these corals, lay their eggs and rear their young. Underwater photographers from around the world visit this location. The local economy benefits from tourism. Dive guides feed their families with the money made from tourism. When these reefs are gone then tourism dies. The people in these places starve. Sounds dramatic but it's true.
As a photographer, I take pictures of fish, corals and other critters. I NEVER identity the place I took my picture. I am not trying to hide the location from other photographers. I am trying to hide it from poachers. Taking a picture of a seahorse and identifying it's location places it at risk for collection. I have seen wild seahorse end up in the tank of a local fish store. BTW, it's a great way to enrage divers. State law places poachers at risk for huge fines. Even so ... people continue to collect.
In the dive industry, our motto is "take pictures ... leave bubbles". Leave the reef as you found it. Do not take even a grain of sand from the reef. This is the only way we can preserve it for future generations. I have asked the owner of the social media post to modify it to hide the identity of the dive site. My feedback was not welcome. I hope that it was taken seriously. I'll let you know. The company is among the biggest names in the industry.
Today, I fired up youtube and navigated my way to my favorite retail coral vendors website. I was horrified to discover a video which pinpointed the exact location of a very large colony of branching hammer corals. Mentioning the name of a a dive site in Indonesia makes it easy for poachers to located and illegally harvest coral. The local Indonesian economy will benefit modestly from this business. In the long run, corals collected in the wild do not adapt well to captive reefs. Wild collected coral tend to bring nasty pests into captive reefs. Yet ... where there is a market there is a way.
The have been diving at the location mentioned in this video. It is beautiful. Healthy hammer coral as far as the eye can see. Critters make their home in these corals, lay their eggs and rear their young. Underwater photographers from around the world visit this location. The local economy benefits from tourism. Dive guides feed their families with the money made from tourism. When these reefs are gone then tourism dies. The people in these places starve. Sounds dramatic but it's true.
As a photographer, I take pictures of fish, corals and other critters. I NEVER identity the place I took my picture. I am not trying to hide the location from other photographers. I am trying to hide it from poachers. Taking a picture of a seahorse and identifying it's location places it at risk for collection. I have seen wild seahorse end up in the tank of a local fish store. BTW, it's a great way to enrage divers. State law places poachers at risk for huge fines. Even so ... people continue to collect.
In the dive industry, our motto is "take pictures ... leave bubbles". Leave the reef as you found it. Do not take even a grain of sand from the reef. This is the only way we can preserve it for future generations. I have asked the owner of the social media post to modify it to hide the identity of the dive site. My feedback was not welcome. I hope that it was taken seriously. I'll let you know. The company is among the biggest names in the industry.
