Preserving Mauritius Coral Reefs
Ocean Spirit has registered as a PADI ECO Centre. We have always belonged to Project Aware, and our entire team is Conservation Conscious. This year we joined Green Fins, which is a United Nations Coral Reef Conservation initiative.
We have always encouraged staff to know and identify fish species, share their videos on Instagram and Tiktok, and build a conservation following. Nando has a very large group of young Mauritians who follow his videos on Instagram- Bernard has a huge Facebook following, and he is a highly regarded training divemaster, and we recently welcomed our beautiful Debora, who is a passionate lover of marine life.
The Importance of Coral Reefs in Mauritius
Coral reefs are essential for marine life, acting as shelters and food sources for thousands of species, including fish, invertebrates, and sea turtles. The reefs in Mauritius provide a natural barrier that protects our coastline from cyclones and erosion. Economically, healthy coral reefs bring in an estimated Rs 375 billion annually through tourism and fishing, supporting hundreds of jobs in tourism and scuba diving in Mauritius. Already our resilient corals around Mauritius have to survive rough seas, catastrophic cyclones, under-ocean disturbances from distant earthquakes around the Coral Sea and the Ring of Fire, and of course runoff from the land mass. If the coral ecosystems disappeared, it would lead to huge losses in biodiversity and negatively affect the island's economy.
Where there are no fish, the reefs die of algae growth. This smothers the coral and kills it. Each polyp is a living organism, a little creature that must be exposed to food light and the ocean. It cannot survive the aggressive destruction of algae. Look at this picture below- only the hardy soft coral has survived.
Algae growing on Turtle Rock
The Threats Facing Mauritius Coral Reefs
Pollution
In Mauritius our robust recycling programs are taking effect- we see an occasional reef death where a resort has a recycling disaster, but the most of the resorts, Attitude and Beachcomber for example, are very conservation conscious and tend to recycle as much as possible.
Pollution from agricultural runoff, plastics, and untreated sewage can severely damage coral reefs. We see this on the West Coast where there is now a vigorous programme to install reticulation sysytems in the more densely populated areas. Conservancy tanks are the norm in Mauritius, so sewerage is controlled.
Fertilizer runoff can cause harmful algae blooms, which outcompete corals for sunlight and nutrients. .
Overfishing and Destructive Fishing Practices
In November and March, the millions of juvenile tuna, barracuda, reef fish, and shoaling fish enter the lagoons where they are safe from predation. We see them on scuba for a short time, then they leave, and head for the lagoons.
Baby fish waiting to enter the lagoons. Our lagoons are the growing nurseries of the marine species that give us our tuna stock, our reef fish and our amazing dense shoals. We have only seen these growing since COVID prevented the collection of fish juveniles from within the lagoons. Catching tiny fish can reduce fish stocks by up to 50%, impacting food security and income for many families.
At the same time, Members of the population of Mauritius can obtain a license to catch these tiny fish, and they are eaten as a delicacy dipped in batter fried and eaten whole. There are many poachers. As you can see, they go out very early before the Coast Guard can act. Their undersized nets surround and catch the tiny juveniles from the lagoons, stripping the coral reefs of the season crop of reef fish and decimating an entire season of young tuna barracuda and shoaling fish
LISENCED Fishermen enter the lagoons to collect the entire crop of fish from a single season.
On the 26th September I requested information from Mr Purmessur Sarwansingh Acting Senior Chief Executive Ministry of Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping regarding the issue of licenses for the collection of reef fish, the number of fish that can be collected, and the number of licenses on issue. To date he has not had time to reply.
Overfishing and harmful fishing methods threaten coral health. As I mentioned in my previous blog, fishing some key species, like herbivorous fish, can lead to unchecked algae growth, choking corals. Destructive fishing practices that plague less aware populations, such as dynamiting and poisoning have been banned in Mauritius, and there are many NGOs that focus on Coral re-growth and coral preservation. Our War on Plastics has been a resounding success, with most resorts and hotels providing refillable water bottles, and recyclable sugar cane based picnic boxes.
Conservation practices are alive and well in Mauritius.
What can you do to help?
My favourite mantras-
DONT EAT FISH
Mauritius has a vastly varied selection of restaurants and supermarkets. You could help if you support the ones that don't serve fish.
TOUCH NOTHING
When you are diving or even snorkeling, touch nothing. Do not kneel on the sand. Try to keep your fins higher than your head, so that you don't stir up sand and kill the tiny creatures that live there
DONT BUY PLASTICS
We supply our service providers with reusable containers to stock with their gato pima. We buy locally manufactures snacks and treats where possible.
RECYCLE
Recycling is very effective in Mauritius, there is a list of 30 recyclers on the government pages, and everything from Marine Containers to sugar cane bagasse and cane trash is recycled. Much of the trash you see being collected in the pics will be loaded up by Maxi Clean and collected by the recycling companies. Its a great way to prevent marine pollution and to protect our reefs.
SUPPORT CONSERVATION RESORTS AND DIVING CENTRES
With money: Reef Conservation, whose banking details appear on our pages.
Raising awareness about coral reefs is vital for their conservation. We have launched a local beach clean-up event that has rallied support and inspired collective action for conservation efforts. In Mauritius the population has the right of passage on all the beaches. However where the privately owned properties adjoin the beach the owners are not aware that they are responsible for keeping their beach access point clean. Most resorts do this as a matter of course. Many private property owners around Pereybere belong to syndics managed by the 2-Futures group, where there is a large accumulation of domestic rubbish.
KEEP MAURITIUS CLEAN
When you arrive, you might find that the area you stay in has not rubbish collection policy. Some developers failed to complete their obligations to tar streets, provide for rubbish removal and road clean-ups. Accordingly, Ian Haggerty has launched a beach cleanup program on Pereybere beach adjoining these private properties.
Ian Haggerty https://www.youtube.com/@ianhaggertyrsa6575
Domestic rubbish dumped onto the Pereybere beach by the residents of the multi million dollar property above.
Residents throw their rubbish onto the beach. So beach visitors do likewise. Its an endless pollution cycle.
Ian and
Supporting Conservation Organizations
We support organizations committed to coral reef sustainability. We actively donate to these groups with free passage on our boat to the coral reefs, internships for Marine Biologists, we publish their programs on our pages and blogs where we reach over 2 million people world wide, and assist in significantly impacting reef conservation projects.
Our new General Manager Debora del Pizzo is a passionate conservationist and a PADI Instructor, and she will be delighted to answer your questions, take you booking or book your PADI Training. WhatsApp 52552732
Comments