Bonaire Marine Park Rangers Ask for Help from Visiting Divers
It has recently been discovered that many divers have been putting dead pieces of coral rubble on top of living colonies to act as markers and ease their navigation back to the starting point of the dive. Unfortunately, such actions cause the same result as any other contact from a diver--they can cause the corals to die.
In the image above, one can see the “marker” which was placed on top of a living colony of star coral. Unfortunately, in the image below, one can see the tissue mortality which occurred from the “marker.”
Besides being illegal, this practice is entirely unnecessary if the diver has mastered a minimum of navigational skills. The wounds produced by these markers are possible points of infection for different diseases such as black band disease or yellow blotch and can cause the corals to die. The Bonaire National Marine Park is asking for the cooperation of divers to cease using such actions to mark an entrance or exit. Instead, divers are urged to make inquiries with their diving facility as to other, non-injurious ways to find their way on a dive. (Source: Bonaire National Marine Park)
