Possible southern reef closure

[JamesBon92007]

Anyone happen to know how the coral gardens are doing near Marine World? We were there in June and they still looked about the same.

 

[KDAD]

Does anyone know where all the raw sewage from theses cruise ships actually goes when the ships dock? Is it treated in a waste treatment plant? Just curious because in March these things were filling all the ports and some were the size of small cities. If Cozumel keeps building more cruise ship ports I feel like the sewage from these things will overload their systems.

I am not sure where the sewage from the cruise ships goes but I do know that food waste is ground up and released while off shore. I suspect the same with sewage. Certainly not dumped while in Port and I have never noticed that anything other than line is connected between the ship and the pier.

The areas of greatest coral die off seems to be at Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Cancun - all cruise ship stops or populated areas.

 

[Ron Lee]

BTW, if they stop diving in the south the lion fish will take over and eat all the small fish. The DMs with spears have done a good job of controlling them, but with the proposed closing there will be unintended consequences and the idiots in charge ought to be reminded of that.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

PS Before Aldora started diving Punta Sur in 1992 almost no dive op would take you that far, too much gas, so much unknown, yet Cozumel was a prime dive location without the far south.

The lionfish issue occurred to me earlier. If the area is shut down to divers for three (or more) months, will lionfish sense that and start thriving in the area? As you state, would that then lead to a major reduction in other fish species?

Maracaibo seems relatively pristine although my ability to ascertain reef health is not great.

 

[ReefHound]

Anyone happen to know how the coral gardens are doing near Marine World? We were there in June and they still looked about the same.

We saw a rectangular nursery garden for growing corals located in 25' water and about 50 yards out from Ernesto's. Is that the one you're talking about? Saw them several times in early September while doing shore dives. One dive there was a team working on them. They looked in good shape but I don't have a previous baseline by which to measure. Maybe you can tell. Here are some snapshots from a video clip.

I uploaded the clip to Youtube.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

BTW, if they stop diving in the south the lion fish will take over and eat all the small fish. The DMs with spears have done a good job of controlling them, but with the proposed closing there will be unintended consequences and the idiots in charge ought to be reminded of that.

I would like to think that someone will propose some limited permits to allow a few boats with local divemasters only, to go out and get lionfish. Maybe special flags to easily identify the boats. They could have alternating passes so that no one fights over the take (the lionfish they spear). Best, give the lionfish to local fish co-ops to sell and money goes to the marine park or a local Cozumel charity.
Wishful thinking.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Wonderful response!

It looks about the same as in June. Did you happen to notice any parrotfish? They seemed to be making a comeback.

Also, it sounds like there are enough volunteers to work on the gardens. Every time we go there we meet other people who are helping out and you just saw some more

 

[ReefHound]

Wonderful response!

It looks about the same as in June. Did you happen to notice any parrotfish? They seemed to be making a comeback.

I didn't keep count but I saw multiple parrotfish on the shore dives.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

Wonderful response!

It looks about the same as in June. Did you happen to notice any parrotfish? They seemed to be making a comeback.
Also, it sounds like there are enough volunteers to work on the gardens. Every time we go there we meet other people who are helping out and you just saw some more

I haven't noticed any comeback in the number of parrotfish. Not yet. Am always on the lookout for the beautiful big blue parrotfish, which I don't see as often. Most definitely not as many in the past two years as I am used to seeing.

Pretty sure they would not allow non-local volunteers to go out there to spear the lionfish. It's too speculative: who can and cannot go, who has skill using a spear (sling) and who claims that they do, who is allowed to decide what volunteers are able to jump on, and that could be a big issue and a source of contention. Best to keep it local. There already was a problem with that when divemasters were supposed to be the only people able to go and spear lionfish and I personally saw several dive ops allow their vip clients to jump in with spearguns. So that would most definitely be problematic. Again just my opinion.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Who cares who kills the Lion Fish, I have NEVER seen or allowed a diver to kill anything but lion fish. They taste good…But who wants to give them free reign in Cozumel.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[Manatee Diver]

Spear guns? I've never seen anyone use a speargun with lionfish, a polespear can net you hundreds because they don't typically flee.