| This Should Be Outlawed - Puerto Aventuras Reef |
|
|
|
| Thursday, 30 December 2004 | |
|
Please take action to support and protect our local environment and ecosystems! We are seeking your assistance and support to help us protect our local reef. The disaster that visited us last week is scheduled to occur weekly through March, 2005.
On Thursday, December 9th, the 344 foot cruise ship, Sea Dreams II, dropped 3 anchors in 110 feet of water approximately 1000 feet offshore, directly off the Puerto Aventuras shoreline and well within the dive sites regularly visited by local operators. The anchor lines were deployed much longer than the necessary depth and therefore, 60ft of chain lay loose across the reef. The ship would swing on the lines in the wind and the chain would drag across the reef like a giant windshield wiper crushing corals and uprooting huge barrel sponges, removing and destroying everything in it’s path. What was once a fertile reef now looks like a sand covered football field. The damaged area from each anchor is estimated at 100yards by 50yards. In addition, deep sand now covers the reef that remains. In the moment that we observed the ships location on the reef, our divers were in the water and began to report the damage occurring. We alerted the ship’s crew, the local marina office as well as the local environmental agencies but unfortunately the damage had been done. The following morning the ship continued it’s cruise to another location.
On consecutive days following the ship’s departure, Dive Aventuras staff began the arduous task of trying to salvage what was left of the site, replanting as we could and cleaning sand from the existing sponges and corals. It is a daunting job. At this time we have no assurances that this transgression will not occur next week when the ship is scheduled to visit our area again. Please help us save our reef and prevent yet another disaster to our environment. Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely, The Staff of Dive Aventuras, Mexico
For more information or to contact Dive AVenturas directly please visit their website at: www.diveaventuras.com or e0mail them at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
Show/Hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|