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Enjoying
The Marine Life Of Thailand
By:
Chris B. Dawson – Aqua Vision Dive Centre
Does
It Bite? ... Generally no, it doesn’t. The Oceans of South
East Asia are by far the most bio-diverse waters of the planet.
The waters are literally teaming with bizarre and beautiful
aquatic life. Obviously some of it is potentially dangerous
to the man in the water then? Nope, not particularly, divers
are in fact probably the safest water users out there - primarily
because we can see and interact with what’s around us, and
avoid the nasties.
There
are of course jellyfish out there, and typically the ones
hardest to spot are the ones with the nastier burn. Great.
Fortunately, as you’ll be diving with a mask you can see them,
and since you’ll also have a wetsuit it's unlikely you’ll
get burned. Even for swimmers in Thailand the incidence of
jellyfish hits is pretty low, even with all that bare flesh
and no idea what’s around. There are also toxic fish about,
with Lionfish and Stonefish being the main protagonists. Lionfish
are wonderful; you’d have to be blind to miss these peacocks
of the sea. They are garishly striped, bug-eyed beauties,
sporting feather-like fins like with poison tipped quills.
The lionfish family use their unique colouring and spread
fin displays to tell you to stay away, so no problem there.
The Stonefish unfortunately use their fins as a means of camouflage,
and very good at it they are. It takes a very practiced eye
to spot these nasty little buggers, so your best way to avoid
an “unbearably painful” encounter is to follow
safe diving practices and not touch anything.
"Jaws!"
We’ve all seen and probably been scared pantless by it, but
it’s all very wrong. Even though, to his good credit, Peter
Benchley has said he wouldn’t have written it had he known
the damage it would do to the reputation of sharks, most people
who come to Thailand still have the “Jaws!”
image of sharks firmly embedded, “Kill them before they
kill us!” As most divers are happy to attest, this
is just plain ignorance. Sure, it sounds great when you go
back home and casually announce to your friends at the pub
that you were, “Diving with Man Eating Sharks in Thailand”.
Impressed they may be but fooled also, because the sharks
here are not dangerous. White tip, black tip, leopard ,
nurse, gray reef and if you’re really lucky whale shark are
the ones you’ve likely been swimming with. Most of them look
the business for sure, what shark doesn’t, but they are all
safe if treated with respect - i.e. don’t try to play air
guitar with them or grab their tails for a ride and you’ll
be fine.
Blood
Everywhere... Thanks mainly to shark fin soup, but also to
the “best shark is a dead shark” image, the
devastation of all shark species is mostly ignored. Shark
finning is a barbaric practice - after being hooked and gaffed
onto the boat, the sharks fins are sawed off before the agonized
shark itself is thrown back into the sea to drown. Not nice.
Over a hundred million sharks every year are slaughtered like
this, and in case you’re wondering - over the last 100 years
on average less than ten people per year have been killed
by shark, not very fair odds. Since sharks are very slow to
mature and reproduce, their existence is very much under threat.
DO
NOT EAT SHARK in the form of shark fin soup or as a steak
from a seafood restaurant and, please, boycott any restaurant
that sells shark meat. The Real Threat To Your Safety... Well
that would be you. Be careful, learn properly and treat all
sub-aquatic life with respect and you should have great fun
and a very memorable experience. Take risks, try to take an
animal for a ride, get drunk, stoned or otherwise chemically
enhanced before you go diving and you’re asking for any trouble
you may get.
Stop
- Think - Act... With the rapid increase in diving as a sport
over the last several years in Thailand as well as a more
positive interest in the environment, a realisation of the
amount of harm being done to the oceans, reefs and wildlife
in the region has come about. With rampant commercialism and
the strains of burgeoning tourism, some untreated waste undoubtedly
ends up in the seas around Thailand, and therefore also inside
the fish. These toxins work their way up through the food
chain to the top predators like barracuda and shark, Ciguatera
food poisoning is the result, extremely nasty stuff and often
lethal, so don’t eat it. Do not buy, collect or damage coral
or any other tourist trinket derived from the ocean, including
the blown up puffer fish mobiles. Leave something for the
people who follow you to enjoy, and enjoy doing it.
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