Snorkellers can help pro tect Micro nes ian sharks
“Any one in ter est ed in the ocean and mar ine life must go to Palau,” says Mar i lyn Carlsmith, a past participant of Ocean ic So ci e ty’s Micro nesia snorkel ling program.
“It ri vals, if not ex ceeds the Seychelles, Mal di ves and Great Barrier Reef. It is by far the calmest sea for div ing and snor kel ling, with the most in cred ible mar ine life imaginable. Go ing with the Ocean ic So cie ty, it’s good to know you’re sup porting im port ant con serv a tion work at the same time as hav ing an amaz ing ex peri ence.”
Founded in 1969 as a non- prof it conserv a tion or gan i za tion, Ocean ic So cie ty has been run ning ex ped itions that con serve mar ine wild life and habi tats by deep ening the connections be tween people and na ture through first- hand ex peri en ces.
They have trips all over the world — to Bel ize, Co lom bia, Australia and Pan ama — but it’s their Micro nesia trip to Palau that has snorkellers coming from all over the globe.
Lo cat ed just north of the equa tor, Micro nesia con sists of high vol can ic islands interspersed with low- lying at olls with coral reefs en circ ling blue la goons.
This is the re mote un spoiled Pacific: think palm- thatched huts, out rigger ca noes and co co nut trees — you might even rec og nize it from the TV show Sur viv or.
Palau is a snorkeller’s para dise; a giant coral la goon filled with islands har bour ing an ar ray of rain bow coloured fish, spon ges and corals.
“Currently Palau is a lead er among island na tions in find ing unique ways to pro tect and draw at ten tion to the value of healthy mar ine ecosystems to pro vide long- term econom ic sta bil ity to their people,” says Wayne Sentman, dir ec tor of In ter na tion al Eco- Tour Programs at Ocean ic So ci e ty. “When we choose des tin a tion part ners to work with, we at tempt to sup port local ly owned busi ness es and lodg es, where our pay ments will sup port people that are try ing to make a liv ing from conserv ing their nat ural re sour ces, not con sum ing them.”
Among those lo cal or gan i za tions is the Micro nes ian Shark Foundation. The foun da tion works with in the Palau com mun ity and schools in the sur round ing area to raise awareness about how shark fin ning is a counter product ive way to find econom ic gain.
High de mand from Asia for dish es like shark fin soup drives the il legal kill ing of around 73 mil lion sharks every year.
“Sharks in Palau, while still oc casion al ly il legal ly hunt ed for their fins, are now some of the best protect ed in the world’s oceans. Il legal fish eries, when dis cov ered, face se vere fines.
“These poli cies have helped to main tain a healthy pred a tor- domin at ed trop ic al mar ine eco system in Palau,” ex plains Sentman.
“That’s hard to find these days in most popu lar dive and snor kel destin a tions in the Pacific.”
The ex peri ence of trav el ling to some where like Palau ul tim ate ly serves to “re- in spire” the vis itor as to why we all have so much to gain from mak ing sure we con tinue to work at pro tecting ocean environments.