Split from Coral Bleaching - What are Sea Walkers?

[JTinSD]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Discussion split from: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/thailand/336454-coral-bleaching-thailand-2.html#post5455452

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Just a pity the coral cant recover from the effects of boat anchors and sea walkers etc as readilly as it seems to do from the bleaching.
Did my first dive in Pattaya yesterday for some months and some of the things I saw were nothing short of disgracefull.

What are "sea walkers?"

 

[Bowmouth]

What are "sea walkers?"

People with fish-bowls on their heads walking on the bottom of the sea (or on the reef) looking at the reef and its inhabitants.

 

[lord khram]

People with fish-bowls on their heads walking on the bottom of the sea (or on the reef) looking at the reef and its inhabitants.

And destroying it in the process. Then simply move on to another location.

I want to know what they are going to do when they have run out of places to destroy, or is that too much to expect some people to think beyond todays profit?

 

[Bowmouth]

I want to know what they are going to do when they have run out of places to destroy...

They'll probably make the hoses (whips) a bit longer and go a little deeper...

 

[lord khram]

They'll probably make the hoses (whips) a bit longer and go a little deeper...

Unfortunately I dare say that could not too far from the reality of things.

Mind you, it could make it quite entertaining, 40m long hoses to the surface, people on the bottom weighted down with lead in strong currents!!

 

[Bowmouth]

Unfortunately I dare say that could not too far from the reality of things.

Mind you, it could make it quite entertaining, 40m long hoses to the surface, people on the bottom weighted down with lead in strong currents!!

It's what the sea-gypsies do.
They would make great sea-walker instructors...

 

[JTinSD]

I just googled "sea walker" to see what you are talking about, as I had not heard of this before.

"Seawalker Green Island"

Appalling.

 

[Bowmouth]

Appalling.

It's not that bad.
Sea walker "dives" are normally done at the same place every single day. Popular places for sea walkers are often reefs with shallow water, some hard corals, lots of sand and rubble.
Damage is limited to a fairly small area.

Scuba divers inflict imo quite a bit more damage to the reefs than a relatively small number of sea-walkers in a relatively small area somewhere off a beach on a hard coral reef.

Maybe we should start another thread about this subject and get out of this coral-bleaching thread....

 

[limbo]

Hi Arizona,

The only thing missing is some tourists to walk on top of the coral

 

[Quero]

The only thing missing is some tourists to walk on top of the coral

Or grab it and hold it like a bouquet of flowers while posing for a photo.
The blog the photo illustrates was published in 2008 and describes the author's experience in Pattaya, yet this Pattaya Mail article from 2006 reports an agreement by sea walker operators to safeguard the environment. Sadly, the blog evidence doesn't appear to support the notion that conservation efforts are taken seriously.