Playa - killing the Golden Goose?

Dooh - click for detail!

And I cite,

“Esperaba a que llegara la temporada, pero nunca llegó. Todas las tiendas se quedaron con los flyers, con los posters, los turistas preguntando por el tiburón toro y no hubo ningún tiburón toro para ver."

Indeed - read this.

The Bulls Shark season in Playa has been a total bust and now that it is over, the venerable Saving our Sharks has thrown in the towel and basically announced that they are stepping back and handing the responsibility of managing the Shark dives to CONANP and the operators, to wit in the words of Google Translate - and yes I'm being lazy but I'm sure you get the gist,

#News 
Self-regulation is key! Let's work for hope! We are in a moment of transition. 

Playa Del Carmen. An example worldwide! 
This town is the only destination in the world where the diving of attraction with sharks is recognized and regulated legally, this puts us in the eyes of the international community. The future of this activity is in the diving community of playa del Carmen and the competent authorities.

Each of us can influence the destination! 
Self-regulation by tourist service providers is key! Today we managed to integrate the activities of interaction with bull shark to the legal framework of the corresponding authorities. The National Commission of protected natural areas, through the reserve of the Mexican Caribbean biosphere, is the authority responsible for the surveillance of the activity, without forgetting the responsibility of good management by each of the tourist operators. 

#TogetherWeCan! 
Disinformation has been one of the hardest obstacles to beat. Saving our Sharks cannot continue with the management of sharks in playa del Carmen without the proactive participation of the entire diving community that performs responsibly this activity. 

This case of success for the conservation of this species is endangered due to: 

• Excess load capacity. 
• Lack of follow-up of the rules 
• Lack of economic cooperation 
• Unfair competition between diving centers and independent divers (low prices) 
• Lack of surveillance by the authorities 

Among other factors... 

In the following link you can see the conference presented on January 29 at the planetarium of Playa del Carmen explaining more thoroughly the problem and possible solutions. The participation of the whole community is indispensable for the continuity of activity! 

What is required?

#StrongMeasures: Collaboration and unity for: 

1. Solving the payment of the fisherman's compensation with legal fishing permit. (due at the beginning of the month) 


2. Community Payment for the supply of equitable bait where the entire diving community is included that takes advantage of this resource. 


3. Self-regulation for compliance with loading capacity and respecting schedules. 


4. Union of diving centers to form committees and decision making. You can create a new association or join the already existing as awd or union of Caribbean divers. 


5. Creation of a common fund or trust, for management, surveillance and improvements of the area.


6. Coordination with authorities for the surveillance of tourist operations.

And then, please peruse the video.

There, you can learn about the countless exeplary research and conservation initiatives by SOS and the substantial costs that entails - and then, you may want to notice that only a paltry 11% of the operators have contributed in the past 4 years, and to which extent each of them have stepped up to the plate.

And, you can also see why the bulls did not aggregate, and read about the issues of overcrowding and price erosion.

All very sad really, unnecessary and demotivating.

But lemme make it easy for you - long story short?

Forget about all the different "explanations" ranging from Climate Change to the Bulls having been fished away - none of them is correct.

The reality is much more simple and also way more pathetic.
And as always in these cases, it reeks of hubris, greed and stupidity.

• The Bulls did come to Playa like they do every year.
  But as per the slide at the top, they haven't been aggregating at the feeding site because they were seeking some conviviality with the divers but instead, because they were being chummed in - and the latter meant incurring a lot of upfront costs for buying the bait ahead of the season and then storing it, and then a lot of work for driving out to the site and establishing an initial presence that then needed to be continuously reinforced with an adequate amount but also quality of bait. In the past, this was being performed by essentially, Phantom Divers along with a very few other dive shops, with everybody else then mooching on their hard work.
  
  But this year has been different.
  Let's just say that somebody has taught everybody else a lesson about the need for cooperation and coordination - see below. And because chumming has been inadequate, the Bulls have not aggregated - the question obviously being, has the lesson been learned?

• At the same time, the whole scene has plunged into chaos.
  Playa has more than 100 dive operations, many of which don't even sport own premises and/or any notable infrastructure let alone staff, but instead merely consist of a few folks operating a website; and then during the Shark season, there is a substantial influx of illegal foreign Shark whispering dive guides migrating to Playa who are further undercutting everybody's profitability by offering dirt cheap bare-bones Shark dives from hired boats with rented gear.
  All of these second- and third-tier operators are not only unprofessional and outright dangerous, they are literally not invested in the local dive community and most importantly, they don't follow the Code of Conduct.
  And as a consequence, Playa's whole Shark diving scene has progressively been caught up in a downward spiral where there has been no more solidarity and cooperation, quality and safety have been compromised, nobody has anymore been making any real money, and the pathetic backstabbing and badmouthing, even of SOS (!), have become simply intolerable.
  I say, what a fucking disgrace - talk about shooting oneself in the leg huh.

• And lastly, the pressure on the Sharks is just not sustainable.
  On any given day, they may be no more than 20 Bulls - but there are approx 400 divers, notabene daily, being taken to see them!
  In industry lingo, that is called cattle diving, and countless examples of such multi-user sites have shown that it just does not work unless the operators self-regulate and/or the authorities intervene with regulation.

And that's it.

So simple and at the same time, so sad and pathetic - and above all, so totally self-inflicted and preventable.

So what now?

The solutions are obvious and contained in the above announcement by Saving our Sharks - foremost of which the URGENT necessity to observe one's agreements and compensate the only licensed Shark fisherman whose license is still valid despite of the recent Sanctuary designation, as the different involved agencies appear unable to coordinate their efforts.

And if not - and if so the damage may indeed be irreparable.

Alas, in the short term I'm not at all optimistic.

Without the continued leadership of Luis' SOS and Chino's Phantom Divers, I fear that nothing good and/or lasting will happen - and from what I can discern, both those gentlemen are pretty much disgusted and unwilling to continue making the huge investments in time and resources to keep the industry afloat.

And CONANP, the official regulator?

There too, I fear that they are highly unlikely to have the willingness, know-how and means to step in and provide the needed leadership and supervision.

So yes, barring a miracle, kiss Playa's Shark dives goodbye!

And in the long term?

Like the whole of the Riviera Maya, Playa's tourism industry is experiencing some challenges and in that context, Shark diving has been one of the few touristic highlights and a life line for the local dive industry as Shark divers do not care much about those things and will keep on coming - like they did during our 2006 coup when our other tourism sectors experienced steep declines. 

With that in mind: may this fiasco be an opportunity to finally get the local authorities onboard in regulating and supervising (!) the industry, by e.g. issuing exclusive (!) licenses that would be conditional upon strict adherence to the Code of Conduct but also, upon proof of real investments in the local dive industry = as in there being real dive shops with physical locations, and local staff, and a selection of dive gear, etc?

In view of the continued failure to properly regulate Mexico's Whale Shark industry I'm not terribly optimistic - but then again, as they say, hope springs eternal.

As always we shall see.

Yes I know: in view of the rather pathetic situation here in Fiji I'm probably the least qualified to preach about peace and harmony - but contrary to here where each operator has their own exclusive site and cooperation is a choice, Playa has a single multi-user site where the users have no such choice at all.

Yes there are way too many bad and dangerous dive shops that need to be put out of business - but starting with GSD member Phantom Divers, there are also a few really good and ethical operators that could decide to associate and turn things around = I'm thinking about establishing an exclusive Shark diving association, with a limited number of members with exclusive licenses offering exclusive, sustainable and profitable Shark dives to a limited number of clients.
That sure must be possible - or not?

So what is it gonna be?

Are the operators gonna stop the badmouthing and backstabbing, step up to the plate financially and physically, eat some humble pie and go make amends - and all earn some good money together as a consequence?

Or are the stupidity, egos and hubris just too big, and are they gonna choose to lose that important income, and down-scale or even close down as a consequence?

Folks, the choice is yours.

Good luck everybody!