#ecofriendlydiving

Pristine Palau

The amazing island country of Palau which lies far away from any other nation in the great deep blue of the Western Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately 340 different islands having a total area of 466 square kilometers.

Exploring Palau will leave you immersing yourself in an array of activities from sea kayaking, flying over the islands, camping under the stars to discovering the Palauan culture and history. With its underwater wonders: pristine waters and thriving marine ecosystems this small group of islands has rapidly become a diver utopia. With over 25 different dive sites with hundreds of different coral and fish species including the world-famous dive site: Blue Corner which is one of the most action-packed sites with over 13 different species of sharks circulating just beyond the reef wall there is a dive to suit everyone.

We as humans don’t feel the need to go up to strangers in the street and touch them so why do we feel the need to touch marine life? Maybe it’s just curiosity, after all it is in our natural instinct to touch things that we want to know more about. 

But does this make it okay? Put simply, no, it does not. A huge amount of fish species and corals are actually protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which makes it illegal to touch them (NOAA FISHERIES- National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration 2019).

Most animals reply on sight, touch, sound, taste and smell as do we. Making contact with a species can not only be seen as harassment but it will also heighten a creature’s sensors causing an animal to stress which may put a diver in unnecessary harm by provoking aggressive behaviour. 

Animals and corals both have defence mechanisms. Therefore, it is not uncommon for divers to find they may be a target if they reach out to a particular animal. All species are different in the way they protect themselves. A number of fishes protect themselves with their spines. They will raise their hard spines to make them look bigger so that it becomes harder for predatory fish to eat them. Within Palau triggerfish are a great example of this. They will also charge towards predators, so lookout and make sure you’re not their next target. 

Surgeonfish are also another family with defence mechanisms. Surgeonfish have sharp blades where the tail fin meets the body. If they feel they are threatened they will raise the blade and make it visible to predators. To humans this could quite easily cut skin and be very painful.  

A lot of species of fish can also unload poisonous chemicals if threatened. Some of the most common species around Palau include the lionfish, stonefish and the scorpionfish. Any sort of sting/bite will be tremendously painful and can take a very long time to heal. 

Is touching marine life hurting them?

Corals and fish are covered with a layer of anti-bacterial mucous which protects them by killing off parasites and helping them fight against infection. Therefore, by touching a marine species with this layer you are removing the mucous that is protecting them. 

Take the time to understand marine life, capture images from a distance and make sure that all laws and regulations are followed. 

Where you aware that dive company’s in Palau don’t allow divers to dive with gloves?

But why?

Diving with gloves gives divers that extra layer of neoprene on their hands in which they then automatically think that they can not get injured when touching things. Without even thinking divers grab on to unnecessary items that they do not need to touch. 

There are no reason to use gloves in Paula as the water temperatures range from 27˚C-29˚C. Leave them behind and you will avoid that temptation of underwater contact and become a more environmentally conscious diver.

Palau has such a diverse coral reef unlike anywhere else in the world. Consisting of a number of different corals: finger, branching, encrusting, foliate, mushroom, and soft.  

In among the rock islands coral is abundant as it is isolated from coastal erosion, agriculture, development, pollution and over fishing which all at some stage effect reefs elsewhere.

Plaua’s reefs have shown to be very resilient. They have previously recovered from most disturbances, including the coral bleaching events in 1998, 2007 and 2010. However, as divers it is extremely important to not add to these impacts. One way in which we can significantly help out the corals in Palau is to practise good buoyancy techniques. Practising good buoyancy techniques means reducing the risk of bumping into corals and having to hold onto things under water. It may seem insignificant if you accidentally bump the corals a few times throughout a dive but there can be hundreds of divers on a site per day. This means if everyone was to accidentally bump into three corals per dive thats at least 300 times people have disturbed a natural environment and a working ecosystem.

In a study ‘Impacts of Recreational Divers on Palauan Coral Reefs and Options for Management’ that was taken in 2003, three popular dive sites were observed in Palau to monitor divers contact points in water. This study showed that divers contact rates with corals ranged from 0.87 to 2.98 times per dive. At all three sites, almost all divers at some point made contact with hard corals by either holding onto them or kicking them with fins. At some stage it was also noted that all divers knelt or rested fins on the sea floor. As well as this it was observed that gauges and octopus regulators were left to drag along the ground. This most commonly occurred when divers were caught up in taking photographs (Poonian et al 2010).

Contact with corals and the sea floor can be very easily prevented. Awareness around the issue and understanding the damage that it can cause to corals can help make for environmentally conscious diver now and into the future.