Coral is the canary that stopped singing in the climate change coal mine a long time ago. Bleaching here would just be another reminder that those who contribute least to the greenhouse effect will still be the ones who often suffer most.
I have a fitful sleep. There was a wedding in the village yesterday which turned into a Papuan ‘rave’ – the music blares until 6am when finally the church bells ring out and bring things to a halt.
So I half stumble into the day’s first dive. This is a mistake, because I know from experience that Cape Kri is not only Raja Ampat’s signature dive but also that its currents can be challenging.
Kri was made famous years ago when Dr Gerald Allen identified 374 fish species on a single dive. This may or may not be some kind of world marine biodiversity record.
Today‘s dive is relatively sedate. We start at 40m and swim through a massive school of sweetlips. Between them and the surface there are just too many things to describe. The three of us have the place to ourselves in good visibility. I want to look everywhere at once.
After the dive we spend time walking around a local conservation project. This one is reintroducing the charismatic zebra shark to the area after raising pups from the eggs that are shipped to them from aquariums in places like Sydney. They are endemic but quite rare in this area, and they are relatively easy to breed in captivity.
I love the sharks themselves. So much that with permission I get in their sea-pen and take a selfie with them. They’re gorgeous, how could you not!? But I’m not sure what I think about this obviously expensive project when my friends back at the village can’t get a few tens of thousands to protect nesting leatherbacks. Something seems a little out of whack.
Charismatic megafauna have a lot to answer for.
That afternoon I head out for another dive. We glide over the village reef in the current. Arnaud takes photos of me stretching my arms as I fin over giant corals to provide some scale, and I spend quality time up close with a grazing turtle.
I come to the surface exhilarated but Arnaud looks concerned … which is very rare for him. He sees early signs of stress in some of the corals, a precursor to bleaching. Even here.
Coral is the canary that stopped singing in the climate change coal mine a long time ago. Bleaching here would just be another reminder that those who contribute least to the greenhouse effect will still be the ones who often suffer most.
Source: LinkedIn | Greg Johannes
Photo: Greg Johannes
Past Entries:
About The Author: Greg Johannes, Ambassador – The SEA People. Greg spent 2 weeks aboard the Galaxea with us and documented his experience in his daily entries into ‘The SEA People Diaries’.
Day Ten – Read here
Day Nine – Read here
Day Eight – Read here
Day Seven – Read here
Day Six – Read here
Day Five – Read here
Day Four – Read here
Day Three – Read here
Day One and Two – Read here
Day Zero – Read here