Fishermen Blast Premier Dive Sites off Indonesia

komodo-island
Komodo dragons, Komodo National Park, a 500,000-acre reserve in eastern Indonesia that spans several dusty, tan-colored volcanic islands. The area is most famous for its Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards, can kill a buffalo or any one of the intrepid tourists who flock to their deserted island habitats. Captions: The Independent, Indonesia’s dragons draw tourists to ‘Jurassic’ islands. Photograph: © SAF

Excerpts;

Coral gardens that were among Asia’s most spectacular, teeming with colorful sea life just a few months ago, have been transformed into desolate gray moonscapes by illegal fishermen who use explosives or cyanide to kill or stun their prey.

The site is among several to have been hit inside Komodo National Park, a 500,000-acre reserve in eastern Indonesia that spans several dusty, tan-colored volcanic islands…

Read Full Article, AP / The Jakarta Post

The last of the sea nomads
For generations they have lived on the ocean, diving and fishing, and rarely setting foot on land. But now these marine nomads risk destroying the reefs that sustain them…Cyanide fishing was first introduced in the Philippines by Hong Kong fishing boats looking for reef species such as grouper and Napoleon wrasse to satisfy seafood restaurants’ rising demand for live fish. It quickly spread throughout the Coral Triangle, a bio-region that spans six south-east Asian countries and is home to the planet’s greatest diversity of marine species, including 76% of all known corals.

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