Showing posts with label Underwater sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Underwater sports. Show all posts

Friday, February 2, 2018

How climate change threatens #Indonesia's marine #Tourism


While the Earth has only warmed around 0.74 degrees Celsius over the last 100 years, this small temperature increase is affecting ocean ecosystems and could impact upon the global marine tourism industry.

Coral reef tourism has a global value of US$36 billion per year, according to a scientific study mapping the global value and distribution of coral reef tourism. This study, published in the Marine Policy journal in August 2017, concluded that 30 percent of the world’s reefs are valuable to tourism.

Indonesia has a thriving coral reef tourism industry and also has the second largest manta ray tourism industry in the world, with an annual value of over $15 million.

While coral bleaching events and ocean acidification are well-documented effects of climate change, there are other stressors upon coral reefs that could undermine these valuable tourism industries.

Sea level rises, leading to coastal erosion, plus stronger and more frequent storms typical of the current climate, smother and destroy coral reef structures. Heavy rainfall cause land-based pollutants and nutrients to wash into the ocean, resulting in algal blooms and a reduction in available light at reefs. Changing ocean currents also affect reefs, by altering the connectivity of geographically distant reefs and water temperature profiles. These changes can lead to a lack of food sources and interrupt reef species’ ability to breed.

If left unchecked, these complex effects could reduce the value of marine tourism significantly as the quality of world-class Indonesian dive sites and idyllic tourism destinations deteriorate.
Thankfully a new global partnership to conserve the ocean, announced at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Jan. 25, should help address this. This new partnership, Friends of Ocean Action, will consist of leaders in science, technology, business and non-governmental groups aiming to deliver the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14: to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.

Individuals can also do their part to minimize the effects of climate change by reducing their carbon footprint. Measures such as driving less, reducing waste and purchasing energy efficient appliances or light bulbs are easy ways to help. Indonesia’s coral reefs can be protected with simple measures such as using fewer garden chemicals that may run-off into the ocean, choosing sustainable seafood and practicing good reef etiquette.


Wednesday, November 22, 2017

#Indonesia - Sabang, Aceh has a lot to offer for marine tourism

Weh Island is a paradise north of Sumatra. Sabang is located on the island.
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 When thinking about beach destinations in Indonesia, the top-of-mind places are usually Bali and Lombok. Rarely does the Sabang City in Aceh make it into the list of favorite places for underwater activities, while in reality the city actually has plenty to offer for marine tourism.

Take the Sail Sabang 2017 event, for example, it’s one of the highly anticipated events by the Tourism Ministry and will be held from Nov. 28 until Dec. 5 in Sabang.

The event will have 24 activities, among which include Sabang Underwater Contest, fishing competition and freediving competition.

The latter one is a form of underwater sports that relies on divers’ ability to hold their breath as long as they can until resurfacing.

The competition will run from Nov. 26 until Dec.1 and it has so far attracted 40 international diving athletes to participate.

To compete in this sport, the athletes need to spare some time ahead of the competition to prepare themselves.

“The competition is next week and they are already here, they need to train. You can’t reach a certain level of depth in short time, you need to adapt and do a survey,” explained Stanley Sradaputta, a freediving expert who assists divers in the event.


One of the early-comers is world-record holder William Trubridge from New Zealand. 
“I just finished my first training for Sail Sabang Freediving Competition, Sabang has a beautiful ocean,” said William.

During his first training, he managed to descend 90 meters down amid the nice weather. “Waves are great, the clarity of the water is good. The entire condition is exciting for us freedivers,” he added.

Through this freediving competition, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya is pushing for freediving to be developed by the locals in Sabang. He saw that the seas in Sabang are beautiful and deep enough to do this kind of sports activity. 
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