Scuba Diver Australasia + Ocean Planet
DIVING INTO DISRUPTION
How the coronavirus pandemic is changing the dive industry
The novel coronavirus is affecting everyone worldwide, including dive shops, resorts, liveaboard operators, and individuals – whether divers or not. In this feature, we plunge into the impact of COVID-19 on the ocean, the dive industry, and the responses institutions are coming up with to cope in these unprecedented times.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
With dramatic falls in pollution levels around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has had a number of positive effects on the environment as millions across the world are placed under lockdown.
CLEAR CANALS OF VENICE
The tourists who normally swarm the Venice canals are gone and the boat traffic vastly reduced. As a consequence, the normally polluted waters of the canals are clearer than at any time many locals can remember.
While the COVID-19 lockdown has forced people indoors, animals seem undeterred – as if Nature now has the chance to take control. The subdued humdrum surrounding tourism and the reduced number of motorboats in Venice has led to cleaner waterways. And it is not the only city affected.
There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
– Leonard Cohen
A HEALTHIER GANGES
With industries shuttered and people staying home, the quality of the water in the Ganges river has witnessed a significant improvement of around 40 to 50 percent since March 24, 2020 – the day that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown in light of the coronavirus pandemic. An estimated 10 percent of the pollution in the Ganges comes from industries.
According to the real-time water monitoring data of India’s Central Pollution Control Board, out of the 36 monitoring units placed at various points along the Ganges river, the water has become suitable for bathing and propagation of wildlife and fisheries. To assess the health of the river, the parameters that the monitoring stations monitor online are dissolved oxygen (more than 6 mg/litre), biochemical oxygen demand (less than 2 mg/litre), total coliform levels (5000 per 100 ml) and pH (range between 6.5 and 8.5).
Previously, other than stretches in Uttarakhand, the river water was found to be unfit for bathing all the way until its drainage into the Bay of Bengal in West Bengal. Experts said the water quality of the Ganges river has improved since the enforcement of the lockdown, especially around the industrial clusters.
Gangetic dolphins have also become more visible in the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) in Bihar due to the lack of human activity on the Ganges, according to dolphin experts.
The lockdown was a much-needed blessing for dolphins in the Ganges and the VGDS, spread over 50 kilometres along the river in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district. The lockdown had provided dolphins everything suitable for them: A peaceful natural habitat in the river without human activities or interference. India’s national aquatic animal, the Gangetic river dolphin frequently falls prey to poachers and their carcasses are found regularly on river banks. Gangetic river dolphins fall under Schedule I of the Indian Wild
Life (Protection) Act and have been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Gangetic river dolphin is one of the world’s four freshwater dolphin species.
The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China (now extinct), the Indus river in Pakistan and the Amazon river in South America. This Gangetic river species is found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The dolphin is blind and finds its way and its prey in the river waters through echolocation.
TURTLES THRIVE AGAIN
India’s nationwide lockdown is also providing perfect conditions for olive ridley turtles to lay eggs in Odisha’s Gahirmatha beach and the Rushikulya rookery. Usually, this event attracts huge crowds, and officials from the Forest Department generally deploy a considerable amount of effort and resources to patrol gatherings, protect the eggs, and later release the hatchlings into the sea. However, this time there were no such interruptions.
On Juno Beach in Florida, USA, the most densely nested sea turtle beach in the world, people have been banned from stepping anywhere near sea turtle nests, as beaches closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, which monitors the beach to ensure the nests aren’t disturbed, found a staggering 21,000 nests on the 15 kilometre-long beach.
So far this year, which is very early in the season, with people and dogs away from the beaches, the group has already counted 71 undisturbed nests. The Center says nearly all of those nests are from leatherbacks, which are the largest living sea turtles, reaching up to around 900 kilograms.
CHOOSE REUSABLE MASKS!
While disposable gloves and masks have been crucial weapons in the fight against the coronavirus, these largely non-recyclable and non-biodegradable items are adding to an already significant problem: At least 8 million tonnes of plastics end up in the oceans every year, making up 80 percent of all marine debris, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The massive surge in plastic waste as a direct result of the pandemic clearly exposes the short-sightedness of the response to the crisis and demonstrates how little attention is paid to environmental sustainability by policy makers.
THE FUTURE OF OUR WATERS
It is said that times of disruption tend to lead to big transitions. The global shutdown has given people a glimpse into what the world might look like if we live sustainably and conserve the resources of the planet. But can we expect a transformation in the future?
When this crisis subsides, it’s evident that the focus will shift to getting the economy back on track and people back to work.But long-term solutions like clean energy, efficient waste management systems, and sustainable use of natural resources are urgently needed. If we return to unchecked consumption, we will have learned nothing from the pandemic.