Living Reefs

Wakatobi Dive Resort is considered by many to be a model of sustainable dive tourism. One explorer heads there to discover if this Indonesian operator in the heart of the Coral Triangle really does live up to the hype.

- Wade Hughes FRGS

IT DID CAUSE a bit of a stir. I was a panelist at the Brunei National Environment Conference a few years ago. The panel’s topic was conservation of the oceans and the conference venue, the Empire Hotel, had shark-fin soup on the menu. When the moderator for the panel discussion called for a show of hands to indicate who would support boycotting the soup, I voted against it. In fact, I think I was the only one that did. Given that I’d just made some remarks about my own efforts to promote the conservation of sperm whales, there was some lively reaction from other panel members and some members of the audience. That was understandable. But when the temperature cooled a little, and I was asked to explain, I offered the idea that “Should we boycott shark-fin soup?” was the wrong question.

THE BETTER QUESTION?

To be clear. Shark-finning, and the demand for it by people who inanely and selfishly support it in order to consume tasteless, nutrition-less boiled sinews, is a devastating blight on the oceans. Healthy oceans underpin innumerable economic and biological benefits for the human race, not least the provision of such life-support “conveniences” as atmospheric oxygen. People who buy shark fins and shark-fin soup are effectively undermining all that for the rest of us. So, I have little sympathy for their behaviour.