Hic Rhodus hic salta!

Trash talking blog-dawgs out there, no less!
Wow! Would that by any chance be always polite and mellow moi???
My-oh-my!

Patric alerts me to this remarkable blog post by Eli.
The way that blog works, that post is now on top but will eventually disappear and you’ll have to search for November 29, 2010. I’ve said it before, the man is onto something! Anyway, good to have a reaction and to see that the issue is now firmly on the table!
And good fun, too!

So, let’s examine his views and compare them to my last post about Cat Island.

• Trickle-down economy, ie ecotourism and involvement of local stakeholders - check

• MPA, i.e. conservation - check.
  But, one has to look at the local circumstances. Here in Fiji, the reefs belong to government but are held in trust by the villages, and hence both entities can agree to set an area aside. No idea about the Bahamas but as I said, if the locals agree not to enable the killing of Sharks, they will be able to stop the local fishermen and at least enact de-facto conservation and enforcement – check.

• Marine Park fee - check.
  But only in exchange for conservation!

• Science - check.
  But, I believe that it has to be enacted from day one, at least in the form of a baseline count. And in this specific case: in view of the new protection of OWTs in the Atlantic (tho alas not in the Bahamas), how about helping the enforcement by getting in contact with Mahmood and establishing the genetic fingerprint of the Atlantic population by collecting DNA samples!

• Catch & release fishing - check.
  Yes it is not appealing but this is the real world

• Co-operation among operators - check

• Protocols – fail.
  Since I just know that yer gonna be reading this: Buddy I used to be like, if not worse than you but this is not about having fun anymore – this is now about commercial Shark diving and on top of that, the global media are instantaneous and will hone in on any mistakes we make and propagate the myth of the killer beast. Those stunts don’t dispel the myth, they just lead to more headlines of a brave (or stupid) man defying death and the like.
  Yes we hand feed, too, but in very different circumstances and above all, on our own dive, in highly controlled conditions, with animals we’ve known for years and above all, in a place where no other dive shops operate and where the animals have been conditioned to observe always exactly the same uniform and thus predictable routine - for them, not us!
  Over to the Oceanic Whitetips, there’s squillions of dive operators in the Red Sea with ample experience in diving with them and if you don’t believe me, use your own contacts and ask them what they thing about snorkeling with this species in baited conditions! Guess we’ll continue to disagree on this one and I’ll continue to talk trash for as long as we will.
  Nothing personal btw!

Governments?
Agree and disagree.
I may be fortunate but I’ve yet to meet a single fisheries official who does not support sustainable fisheries (but fisheries never-the-less! Global prohibition, as in CITES, is nothing but wishful thinking!) and the according conservation measures. Yes I hear that in some places corruption is rampant but then again, it’s mostly situated further up the food chain and can be tackled if one has the guts to speak up and expose it, the more as most countries dispose of the relevant laws.

The real problem is the politicians who shun any decision that may in any way alienate their constituency and who thus continue to impede any legislative measures.
Unfortunately, the true conservationists are merely a small minority of the votes, so we’ll have to continue coming up with unusual strategies - and correct, paying for conservation is one of them, especially in lesser developed countries.

Anyway, talk as always is cheap and the proof is in the pudding.
Now go do it, starting with flying over there and establishing a dialogue with the locals – and trust me, it won’t be easy! In the spirit of cooperation, you can get all the project papers, research data, proposals, cash flow etc from here which as you know is a great template – just write to the dive shop & we’ll mail it over.

Hic Insula Cattorum – hic salta!