As the year comes to an end, the Green Fins IYOR Campaign does too. After much hard work three new infographics were released, #RedefineTheDive, #AlternativesToAnchoring, and the last one: #DoNotFeedTheFish. Being one of the most controversial and least communicated items of the Green Fins Code of Conduct, Reef-World decided to give it its own space and gather all the available scientific research in one place. As tourists, sometimes we are made to believe that certain activities are “fine” just because they are popular and “everyone does it”, but usually this is far from the truth.
I remember back in 2015, first time ever coming to the Philippines - and to Asia, whilst doing my preliminary research of ‘things to do in the Philippines’ was to visit the tourist attraction in Oslob, Cebu. It promised an interaction with the worlds largest fish – the whale shark! I was already getting very excited with the idea of visiting this magical place… little did I know the controversy around it and the fact that it was deemed unsustainable by UN Environment, Reef-World’s big boss! We still need to dig deeper into the impacts surrounding fish feeding, but there are facts that are clear to the naked eye.
When fish feeding takes place there is an immediate impact in their behaviour, such as an alteration in the social structure of the animal communities and changes in their spatial distribution. (Milazzo et al 2006)
Also…
Scientific studies have shown that while the provisioning is taking place, sometimes animals attack one another and some fish may be injured in attempting to obtain the food first. Source: Milazzo (2011)
Take a look at the new infographic and help us spread the word! Even though there isn’t loads of information on the subject, what is out there is worth the read. We went through the task of reading several research papers, definitely not created for people outside the sciences, and translated them into everyone’s language! With the aim to make it as reader friendly as possible.
Also the new and last Action Point of the campaign is out, #HealthyOceanHealthyBusiness, follow Green Fins on social media to see some of the pioneering businesses that are leading by example to make sustainable diving the social norm!