diving7seas – Special Edition REETHI FARU / ENGLISH | Page 22

diving7seas
THE MALDIVES BECAME A LEGEND AFTER HANS HASS ‘ FILM „ THE UNDERWATER WORLD OF ADVENTURE “, A BBC CO-PRODUCTION
guaranteed and it only takes one close look to immediately discredit sentiments such as ‘ excessive diving has ruined tropical reefs anyway ’ or ‘ coral bleaching has killed it all off ’ as utter nonsense .
Of course one cannot deny that the aftermath of the latest El Nino is still visible in the global tropical coral belt . However , El Nino mainly affected shallow waters while the deeper reefs remain largely unaffected . As so often in life the truth lies in the middle , explains Robert , the resort ’ s director : “ Where the corals are close to the surface during low tide periods things aren ’ t all hunky-dory , of course . But we are most definitely nowhere near an underwater wasteland .“
Photos these pages : It ‘ s not true that all tropical coral reefs are dead or completely damaged
One of the reasons for the intact marine environment at the local reef is that it contains a healthy range of maritime life such as small cleaner fish right up to larger kinds of fish passing through the area . Even snorkelers often encounter sea turtles which flock to the area at regular intervals .
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