Back in March 2020, when the pandemic arrived in the Dominican Republic, as with everywhere else, all tourism activities came to an abrupt halt. This of course, meant all Green Fins activities and assessments across this major tourist destination had to be put on hold. Unfortunately, this is the situation for the majority of the countries Green Fins is active in until international tourism starts to pick up again.
Filed trip to Boca Chica
Although tourism activities have been reduced to a fraction of what they once were, with the majority of tourists now being domestic rather than international arrivals, Reef Check Dominican Republic, Green Fins implementation partner, pushed forward with the Youth Ambassador Coral Reef Conservation Programme, a joint program of Reef-World and Reef Check DR’s funded by the TUI Care Foundation.
Despite losing direct access to school children across the country, they have continued to deliver a specifically designed curriculum to children across the country via online platforms in partnership with the government. The course was one of many different classes that the government helped promote to school children who could not attend school. The Youth Ambassadors course soon became the 2nd most popular course in the country with children wanting to know more about how to protect and conserve their coasts and marine ecosystems, a topic that is largely absent in the national curriculum!
Fast forward a year later, tourism around the world is slowly reopening, and with the continuous support from TUI Care Foundation, the Reef Check DR team is able to reassess and assess new Green Fins members again. While Green Fins assessments might be able to restart, the pandemic is still ongoing and this presents its own challenges.
Getting to some dive centres can take up to two hours or needs to be done overnight so arranging for the assessments and training sessions has not been an easy task as travel restrictions and curfews are still in place. Simply driving by the dive centres is no longer an option, and communications are taking longer than usual, with reduced staff capacity — all slowing down the process. Sadly but not surprisingly, the pandemic has taken its toll on many, if not all, businesses. Many of the calls and emails were answered by dive operations that have since closed down or are on a hiatus waiting for things to return to normal. Some of them were existing Green Fins members or operations that have expressed an interest in joining the initiative.
For businesses that are still operating, a low number of tourists has made it tricky for dive operators to keep up with the environmental work, such as organising beach and underwater cleanups. Everyone is worried about keeping their livelihoods going in unprecedented times like these and unable to put as much effort into environmental awareness and education compared to pre-pandemic. Understandably, the pandemic has shifted the importance and emphasis of environmental protection and sustainability back to the bottom of the priority list whilst businesses are in a critical state of survival.
However, behind all the challenges, there is still a silver lining. The process to arrange for assessments might be slower than usual, involving multiple calls and emails, but the Green Fins members that are open are still looking forward to being reassessed. Currently, 12 dive centres are waiting to be reassessed, and Iker, a Green Fins assessor, said he’s getting more calls from dive centres expressing their interest in becoming Green Fins members.
The positive impact of having Green Fins implemented in the Dominican Republic can be seen as more and more dive centres are aware of Green Fins and what it represents, even by dive centres that are not yet Green Fins members. Environmental best practices such as mooring buoys usage are becoming the norm instead of dropping anchors on coral reefs. Businesses are more aware of the importance of shifting away from single-use plastic, and awareness of more recent threats such as using non-reef safe sunscreen becoming more common. These impacts will benefit Dominican Republic’s tourism in the long run as the country aims to become a major dive tourism destination in the region.
With this, Reef Check DR will keep reaching out to the dive centres and build trust in the community. Their goal is to continue to inspire and empower the local people to protect their coastal resources. Whether it be through children involved with the Youth Ambassador Coral Reef Conservation Programme or the awareness raised by Green Fins members; the aim will always be to maintain this valuable ecosystem for the benefit of the local community, visitors and future generations.