something to consider when deciding which dive op to use on roatan

[laurenceh]

these are the jan-may 2014, totals for user fee contributions to the roatan marine park. taken from the roatan marine park Facebook page.

i've been following this for a while and the figures have remainded pretty consistent re. who contributes a lot, who contributes a little and who never contributes. it seems that certain dive ops think conserving and protecting the marine preserve is someone else's problem. ever paid marine park user fee to one of those ops? wonder where the money went?
something to consider next time you're trying to decide who to dive with.

 

[jennfl]

So paying fees to the marine park is optional? I would think it would be mandatory for the dive shops.

We're going with Mayan Divers. Good to see they're contributing toward the high end.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Please help me out here a little. I'm using WiFi and my phone, so can't read your picture inserts. Who are top four contributors and who are bottom three?

Since I can't read it from here, also can't tell if related to amount of incoming business, as in divers served.

Thanks.

 

[RTBDiver]

Paying fees is optional for shops and while the Marine park tries hard to do the best they can there are some who are not on board with them fr whatever reason, I have no issue with them and would certainly like to hear their reasoning if I stayed at such a place, some may have other reasons. While unfortunate some have their reasons. It is unfortunate some will look at the graph and interpret the numbers as good or bad places as if those contributing more are automatically more deserving than those contributing less and not look into the gross numbers and volume of business.
The thing that needs to be considered as Laurence pointed out, but may be overlooked, is , Have you dove with or plan to dive with any of the places listed that have collected a fee but it does not show up on the graph? Even then I would not jump to conclusions until contacting both involved as it is Roatan but something to think about nonetheless.

 

[diversteve]

Please help me out here a little. I'm using WiFi and my phone, so can't read your picture inserts. Who are top four contributors and who are bottom three?

Since I can't read it from here, also can't tell if related to amount of incoming business, as in divers served.

It's a bar graph - partial text on one side:

The graph indicates funds generated from the sale of the user fee and membership payments by dive shops and businesses within the SBWEMR between Jan and May 2014
It does not include user fees on consignment, t-shirt sales or lionfish licenses

0-4000 scale - currency not indicated

Above 3000: AKR, Bananarama, Mayan Divers, Native Sons, Splash Inn, Sun Divers <- only one at 4K.
2000-3000: Octopus Dive, Reef Gliders
Everyone else is below 1500 - 18 operations listed in that range. 2/3rds. below 1000
Bottom 3 at zero
Anemona, Infinity Divers, Sea Grape

It's possible some shops pay annually so may not be reflected in the 1st quarter 2014 - or 3rd quarter 2014 if they close their books in summer or fall.

 

[chillyinCanada]

In early visits, received a tag to put on bcd and later visits, I've been getting a wrist band to indicate payment/contribution. Seems to me that ops that collect but don't pay wouldn't have wrist bands to hand out?

 

[Doc]

Math is hard. You have to read both of the charts.

See page 6 of http://www.roatanmarinepark.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Spring-2014-RMP-newsletter.pdf

#1 Coco View $4600
#2 Subway $4400
#3 Barefoot $4000
#4 Anthony Key $3600
#5 Splash Inn $3200
#6 Bananarama $3000

I do know at CCV, Patty Grier of Dockside is constantly offering demonstrations of reef preservation skills and puts on quite a polite sales pitch for buying a RMP tag. As a matter of fact, when you check-in, to contribute, all you have to do is &#8730; a box in a form. Done.

Odd numbers, either way. In example, CCV hosts 58 divers in a week. AKR hosts 116 plus hundreds of Cruise Ship Divers.

Subway runs day dive charters for several small resorts, Barefoot has a microscopic number of weekly divers (and really high $$ numbers) Splash Inn and Bananarama aren't big either, but did quite well.

It is hard to ask the guests for more money on top of the diving.

Honduras is socially bipolar and having a required tag (like Bonaire or Ecuador) is a long way off. Getting all the parties to agree is a huge hurdle, then keeping the National Government's hands off of it is another. The RMP has absolutely no enforcement powers, so when they need a policeman, they have to track one down and take him for a boat ride. Usually the bad guy has disappeared with his Turtle meat.

If a rich narco-traficante guy drops anchor off of his mega yacht and tears up many meters of Coral, did you really think anyone was going to do anything about it. He did, and they did not.

RMP has established permanent moorings on the West and North, something that was done previously for years by CCV on the South side. RMP has eliminated much fishing in that RMP Zone, so divers visiting that West/North area will see larger fish of the Apex category (Baracuda, Lobster, Parrot, etc).

I always buy the wristband, but it does seem to me something like giving the guy on the street with the sign $5. You hope he's going to do something positive like buy food. You can only hope.

I think the RMP boat got stolen recently, so there's that.

 

[dmoore19]

Having stayed at AKR 3 times I know that all you have to do is check the box and the donation is done. It is also highly suggested that you make the donation during the orientation. In fact it sounds like it is almost required. I never had a problem with the charges. With what I spend on a trip like that I don't even recall what the recommendation is, I gladly support the effort.

What is the point of the comment about AKR? Do you have information on the others including the numbers of guests per week etc? I detect sour grapes for some reason........

The OP did put the numbers out there so that people might become informed and make their decision.

Math is hard. You have to read both of the charts.

See page 6 of http://www.roatanmarinepark.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Spring-2014-RMP-newsletter.pdf

#1 Coco View $4600
#2 Subway $4400
#3 Barefoot $4000
#4 Anthony Key $3600
#5 Splash Inn $3200
#6 Bananarama $3000

I do know at CCV, Patty Grier of Dockside is constantly offering demonstrations of reef preservation skills and puts on quite a polite sales pitch for buying a RMP tag. As a matter of fact, when you check-in, to contribute, all you have to do is &#8730; a box in a form. Done.

Odd numbers, either way. In example, CCV hosts 58 divers in a week. AKR hosts 116 plus hundreds of Cruise Ship Divers.

Subway runs day dive charters for several small resorts, Barefoot has a microscopic number of weekly divers (and really high $$ numbers) Splash Inn and Bananarama aren't big either, but did quite well.

It is hard to ask the guests for more money on top of the diving.

Honduras is socially bipolar and having a required tag (like Bonaire or Ecuador) is a long way off. Getting all the parties to agree is a huge hurdle, then keeping the National Government's hands off of it is another. The RMP has absolutely no enforcement powers, so when they need a policeman, they have to track one down and take him for a boat ride. Usually the bad guy has disappeared with his Turtle meat.

If a rich narco-traficante guy drops anchor off of his mega yacht and tears up many meters of Coral, did you really think anyone was going to do anything about it. He did, and they did not.

RMP has established permanent moorings on the West and North, something that was done previously for years by CCV on the South side. RMP has eliminated much fishing in that RMP Zone, so divers visiting that West/North area will see larger fish of the Apex category (Baracuda, Lobster, Parrot, etc).

I always buy the wristband, but it does seem to me something like giving the guy on the street with the sign $5. You hope he's going to do something positive like buy food. You can only hope.

I think the RMP boat got stolen recently, so there's that.

 

[Doc]

What is the point of the comment about AKR? Do you have information on the others including the numbers of guests per week etc? I detect sour grapes for some reason.........

Try to take my entire post as a whole, in context. The OP contained some serious misinformation due to misinterpretation of the provided bar graphs.

(We are perfectly designed to get the results we are getting. - Tom Northrup)

Odd numbers, either way. In example, CCV hosts 58 divers in a week. AKR hosts 116 plus hundreds of Cruise Ship Divers.

I'm saying that something is "odd". As in either way, they don't make sense. If you want an explanation as to the major imbalance, don't look to these statistics, go pick grapes, don't attack the mathematics.... which although made to look very scientific (with bar graphs and all) was just this side of third grade. How can you invite comparison (as RMP did with graphs) without showing the total "sample size" that each respondent "contacted". The comparison was purely fluff in RMP's presentation. Someone had Windows Office and an itch.

Subway runs day dive charters for several small resorts, Barefoot has a microscopic number of weekly divers (and really high $$ numbers) Splash Inn and Bananarama aren't big either, but did quite well.

Looks like Barefoot is the sommelier for Roatan. Wine for everyone, if you analyze the raw numbers... at least what is given.

The rest of my post is a rant about (only some of) the ongoing issues that hamper the effectiveness of the RMP.

("The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein)

....wonder where the money went?

Yup, still, yup- and that was the point of 75% of my post other than correcting the raw numbers.

And likely that was the point of LaurenceH's post as well.

 

[scuba e]

the voice of reason. Well said.
I love Roatan. We are heading back to Coco View very shortly. That said I am not sure i am on board with RMP. A lot of questionable moves and stories over the years. I am much more comfortable diving with Coco, which has as mentioned above, pioneered much of the moorings and conservation focused diving on the south shore. I am very comfortable with giving my money to them and tipping generously for the good people I actually meet.
This is important to me. The quality of the people and organization is what counts.
I once saw a bunch of kids in an organized march in Roatan. They were singing and carrying banners to keep Roatan clean. trying to generate $$. Great concept. Problem was they were stepping over trash in the process. If it was not so obvious to just pick up the trash then I question the true cause for fund raising. Drug dealers make huge contributions when it benefits their motives. In other words, I would not judge the quality of an op based on $$ donated to one organization. I would focus on how that op dives and maintains their local environment.