Wakatobi diving resort, the example that makes a difference
by Stephan Becker, Founder and President of Beautiful Oceans

You may be well informed about the ink that has been flowing to praise the outstanding customer service, excellent gourmet cuisine and exceptional quality of diving available at Wakatobi Dive Resort, South-Eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia. The local dive sites are indeed stunning and the Wakatobi Dive Resort (Google maps) accounts for one of the world's best diving destinations. After all, the resort is located in an area commonly referred to as 'The Golden Triangle of Marine Biodiversity', a place that roughly encompasses the coral sea around Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Training Wakatobi Staff in reef mapping

While training Wakatobi Dive Resort staff in GPS coral reef mapping, I witnessed firsthand the exceptional beauty of the local coral reefs. Pristine coral heads, healthy fish aggregations, and fascinating coral reef architecture make diving the local coral reefs an experience that is out of this world. Throughout my career as a dive professional and GPS ocean floor geographer, I have seen a lot of reefs. Although I think I am not easy to impress, the wealth of life on the reefs of Wakatobi Dive Resort took my breath away on several occasions.

When mapping a coral reef, you are pretty much focusing on the variety of tasks that need to be accomplished during the dive: bathymetry (depth) measurements, recording GPS coordinates and time codes on a dive slate, all while keeping an eye on your scientific equipment that is attached to a surface marker buoy floating some 15 to 20 meters above your head. I rarely get distracted when I am collecting data on the reef or training people in the water, so something really exceptional needs to happen to throw me off. But, that's pretty much what happened at the end of my dive at Zoo, one of Wakatobi Dive Resort's great dive sites, which is on our list for a 3D coral reef map.

I was about to take down the last few in a series of special features on my dive slate when I suddenly found myself in a huge ball of schooling fish, probably several hundreds of them. The kaleidoscope of colors and the sheer number was so overwhelming that it made my jaw drop and with it my dive slate. The school of fish was so dense that they sometimes blocked the view of my dive buddy students and the surface marker buoy!

Despite what one might think, the fact that Wakatobi Dive Resort has chosen a remote island off the Indonesian coast of Southern Sulawesi, as its place of operation does not guarantee for healthy coral reefs and such prolific marine life. Just in case you were not aware, South-East Asia is also a place on earth where some of the most destructive fishing practices take place; dynamite fishing, cyanide fishing and muroami netting, to name just a few, are common practices in this region of the world.

This obviously begs the question - How does Wakatobi Dive Resort fend off destructive fishing methods to protect the very resource its business relies upon? Intriguing as well - What is the reason behind the sea of waving hands and the genuinly warm smiles given by the local community on our way from the Wakatobi Dive Resort charter through the local villages all the way to the reosrt? Well, turns out that the connection between happy local communities and healthy coral reefs is, simply put, a finely balanced agreement established between the villages and the owners of Wakatobi Dive Resort. An agreement based on the payment of an annual lease paid to 17 village communities and the delivery of resort-generated electrical power in exchange for a promise to respect no-fishing zones on the local coral reefs. Local fishermen were quick to realize that this agreement brought direct benefits to the community in the form of additional revenues; they also realized, there are also spillover effects from protected reefs that seem to be replenishing adjacent fishing grounds that provide areas for sustainable amounts of fish to continue traditional fishing activities.

In the words of Wakatobi Dive Resort Founder Lorenz Mãder, "Destructive fishing methods are the economic equivalent of slaughtering the goose that lays golden eggs... I believe that alignment of interests, and that includes long-term financial interests, with local communities can do much more to protect the valuable reef resources in Indonesia than a rigid system of grants and education attempts by environmental organizations ever could".

Maybe the way dive businesses handle the importance of local coral reef preservation should become part of our trip booking decisions before we hand over our cash? Those that do not care beg the question, why should we care about them?

Best fishes,

Stephan Becker

 

About Stephan Becker and Beautiful Oceans Stephan is the President and Founder of Beautiful Oceans, an international coral reef education, mapping and conservation organization. His company donates 1% of its annual revenues or 10% of its annual profits, whichever is greater, to non-profit organizations working in the field of marine conservation. Beautiful Oceans Coral Reef Adventures and courses are available online and at selected destinations throughout the Caribbean for the enjoyment of the entire family. Beautiful Oceans is dedicated to working with vacation resorts and dive centers to help them offer state-of-the-art "Coral Reef Adventures" to their customers. Through the use of custom designed educational products supported by peer-reviewed Science Instructor Development courses, the amazing undersea world of coral reefs is opened for divers in an engaging and valuable manner that will get them back in the water time and time again. With a fully supported product line including co-branded island overview maps, 3D coral reef maps, coral reef manuals and creature discovery kits, retailers can provide everything to create an amazing dive and snorkel experience while contributing to the preservation of coral reefs worldwide.

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