Praise and Sorrow for Malapascua! (Rant warning!!)

[GaryDan]

I just spent 10 less than sunny days diving off the tiny island of Malapascua. Obviously "Thresher" shark dives where the thing that everyone hears about. I chose the location as it was a bit off the beaten path. I was fortunate enough to get a last minute booking with Evolution Dive, the last shop on the beach (which was nice as it got me even father off the beaten path). Unfortunately the weather was not top notch as it was either grey or raining for the first 6 days.

Macro, macro, macro... If you want to see little tiny things then this is a great place to be. Nutibranchs in all shapes sizes and colors. 4inch Seahorses literally galloping along the sea floor, all the way down to the pigmy seahorses that you need to bring your magnifying glass along for the dive to see. As well as some fabulous soft and hard coral reefs..

The diving was great, however they are very lucky the macro stuff is so abundant as the local fisherman have absolutely no clue what management is about. They are still using dynamite to blast all living things from the water. It's not the most pleasant thing while diving either.. The fishing nets have scored trail marks on the sandy bottom and not 1 fish I saw the whole time would have been big enough to eat. No schools of any fish anywhere, one of the saddest things I've seen in 10years of diving. The locals are lucky diving has taken over their island as the fishermen have all but killed themselves..

Now to the main event the "Shark Dive".. The shops have made a rotating time slot so that everyone doesn't all get there at 6am. So depending on when you go will change what you see. This is my first shark dive was a 5:30 departure, which meant I got to the site at it's fullest the early folks haven't left yet and the late group will show up before I leave. I think I would have rather been at an aquarium.. Most of these divers are (I hope) just tourist divers, come in for a weekend see a shark, go home and show everyone the photo.. The problem.. this is a Reef and it's fragile.. 30 people are sitting, standing, kneeling, swimming, kicking and well completely smashing the living daylights out of the reef that has brought the cleaners, thus the sharks, thus us here. I found out the site I was at was only "found" about 4 weeks ago and it looks as if a cable drag came trough and pulled everything down to its base. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years the sharks wont be found here any more cause the cleaner fish don't have a home to live on. We as divers have to be responsible for our actions or we wont have these precious sites to visit anymore.

Would I go back? The dive shop was one of the best I've used. The diving was great but with the fishing and "tourist diver" devastation a little disappointing.. I think I'll probably check out some of the other islands before going back to
Malapascua..

 

[Centrals]

.... Most of these divers are (I hope) just tourist divers, come in for a weekend see a shark, go home and show everyone the photo.. The problem.. this is a Reef and it's fragile.. 30 people are sitting, standing, kneeling, swimming, kicking and well completely smashing the living daylights out of the reef that has brought the cleaners, thus the sharks, thus us here.... We as divers have to be responsible for our actions or we wont have these precious sites to visit anymore.

I have been diving around 15 yrs and always consider myself as a tourist whereever I dived aboard. 100% of the divers that I had met are tourist. And I am yet to come across any academic doing research on under-water creatures.

I am pretty sure the fishermen had been using dynamite before the appearance of divers all those yrs ago. There used to be a watchman stationed(2001/2002?) at Gato Island to warn off potential offenders but I suspected the practice never worked. Any solution? I doubt it!

BTW, dynamite fishing is not limited around Malapascua or Philippines.

 

[Mucksavage]

For 2 years Evolution has been asking customers not to destroy the reef at Monad Shoal and for 8 months we have had an etiquette / rules board hanging for all divers to see. We have invited all other dive resorts to adopt and use this board. So far TSD has also placed one for their divers to see but they still permit kneeling.

This 'new' dive site was discovered in October 2010 but has only been common knowledge for the last few weeks hence the rush there. Sadly divers are destroying it daily. Dive operators cannot accept all the blame though. Many divers do not have the adequate skill base not to destroy the area they demand vociferously to enjoy.

If you are a diver planning on coming to Malapascua please ask yourself if you are capable of visiting a dive site and leaving it with zero environmental impact? Not touching the bottom, not clawing the coral, not lying on your back when sharks swim nearby. If the answer is no then please don't contribute to the problem the original poster referred to. Invest in a small amount of additional training such as a proper Buoyancy class and you can enjoy this magical dive without knowing you are part of the problem cited above. I have seen working instructors crawl across the reef using a pointer like a walking stick and I have seen divers who have done done less then 10 dives fiercely making sure they touch nothing. The right attitude is paramount.

 

[Interceptor121]

There is a good video that explains a bit the status Here

I had originally planned to go to Malapascua after watching a number of those videos on this excellent youtube channel and more than that checking what is the weather in Malapascua at this time of year (seems a good decision) I cancelled and diverted to Dauin

If you watch that you tube video you see these guys from Evolution are really on the right track with their poles but ultimately as a dive professional you know already how good is the buoyancy of the people you are taking in the boat with you and more over the areas where such animals are seen have mild to strong currents so in order to stay there people land on the coral and grab anything making a mess of the place.

So if this has to be preserved a limit to the number of divers together with tools to hang are the way forward.

It is not just Malapascua, I have seen similar problems in Bali at the blue corner for example where over 30 boats full of divers with average skills are taking onto a corner where the current is absolutey ripping to see a Mola Mola, typically there will be plenty of Japanese and Chinese guys and those folks just love their gloves and use them extensively to throddle on the coral, rocks, sand anything. I am not suggesting all divers from those countries are like that but I have definitely seen a trend with the combination of junior divers, bad buoyancy and gloves

Sadly making some bucks in the short term and preserving the environment do not go well together and if the law can't stop the fishermen certainly dive operators can do something about it establishing self discipline and quotas and not taking people that they know will make a mess of the reef to those sites, actually a perfect opportunity to sell a buoyancy course

 

[Centrals]

I do not know anything about the new site but Monad shoal is supposed to be a advanced dive site. It is painful to see those divers who are clearly do not know the meaning of neutral buoyancy there.
The inadequacy of their trainings are so obvious. You can be a "advanced" diver after 9 supervised dives. It is a joke.
Check out dive perhaps is imperative for all divers concerned. And perhaps destinated veiwing areas should be set up for divers.
It is NOT going to be easy.

 

[Wantonmien]

Just after I visited Malapascua in early June this year I saw some Facebook and other links amongst dive centres in Malapascua discussing the setting up of designated areas on monad shoal, and thought they had all agreed to do ? I also thought dynamite fishing there was a thing of the past - so is the area still being destroyed ?

 

[sonar]

It will be difficult to set up since it can't be forced legally but it would be good to have everyone, who wants to dive the cleaning station, do a test. Not some easy mask skills but buouncy tests and other dive site related skills. Make the test cheap (non profit) and have someone independent do the test. Someone from another store or some very experienced older diver who lives there (and is strict and can take some heat)

You will save the reef and limit the number of divers and therewith get a higher quality

 

[Centrals]

How about installing some artifical shelter/reef on Monad Shoal?
Chris Dearn at General Santos had installed 5000 domes all over the coast around General Santos. They provided sanctury for smaller fish as well as foothold for corals. I believe they are NOT expensive to make. And the positive publicity it generates would make the initial expenditure a "money" well spent.
How about charging every diver extra P20 or more per dive at Monad Shoal to finance this project?

A compulsory check out dive on the first day is a must.

 

[Interceptor121]

I believe the depth of the site is already in what is considered 'advanced' range, having said that there are plenty of advanced divers that don't have good buoyancy
The artificial props is what evolution diving is putting on as you can see in the you tube

I would think a minimum number of logged dive (50+) and a responsible dive operator that does not take people there for the first dive of the trip should be sufficient together with the dive shop judgement

How about installing some artifical shelter/reef on Monad Shoal?
Chris Dearn at General Santos had installed 5000 domes all over the coast around General Santos. They provided sanctury for smaller fish as well as foothold for corals. I believe they are NOT expensive to make. And the positive publicity it generates would make the initial expenditure a "money" well spent.
How about charging every diver extra P20 or more per dive at Monad Shoal to finance this project?

A compulsory check out dive on the first day is a must.

 

[Terryb]

Just to throw in my 2 cents worth on this discussion.
It really is up to the dive guides and the shop to ensure all people on the dive are qualified and capable for the trip they are on. It does not matter where you are, Philipines to the Great Lakes, or a quarry dive. Protecting the dive site and environment will ensure you have a good site to take people to for a long time. To allow your diver's actions to destroy or damage that site is just short term thinking, ultimately not good for your income or the shop's future. I've experienced both the good and the bad from shop's and guides. It seems in my experience, the focus is on getting divers on a dive and keeping them happy, rather than ensuring they don't damage the site they are diving. Having said that, it remains, with good training, up to the individual divers to ensure their actions and impacts at the dive site are minimized. Dive guides cannot watch everyone at every moment. I've got lots of diving to do around the world and would hope that those dives sites are still there for my daughter and her kids.