The Coral Triangle & sea nomads
February 6, 2011
Changing times for the world’s center of marine biodiversity and the communities who depend on and harvest the sea’s resources.
“Photojournalist James Morgan is working with WWF, and spent eight months getting to know the Bajau Laut community – who for centuries have lived at sea, but are now being encouraged to settle on land and join the monetary economy. Hear from him – and see how the Bajau are having to adapt.”
An interesting short story in pictures with audio on how the sea-harvesting techniques of the Bajau Laut community are changing from traditional diving to the use of improvised explosives and potassium cyanide – devastating vast areas of coral reefs in *the* most pristine marine ecosystem on the planet…
Full report from BBC News HERE.
Photojournalism by James Morgan
The Coral Triangle
Spanning eastern Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands (see the map), the Coral Triangle is the global center of marine biodiversity and one of the world’s top priorities for marine conservation.
This extraordinary expanse of ocean covers an area of 2.3 million square miles (5.7 million km2), the equivalent to half of the entire United States. It is home to over 600 reef-building coral species, or 75% of all species known to science, and more than 3,000 species of reef fish. Over 150 million people live within the Coral Triangle, of which an estimated 2.25 million fishers are dependant on marine resources for their livelihoods. Applying the latest science, The Nature Conservancy is working with a range of partners to protect the coastal and marine ecosystems of this vast area by addressing key threats, such as over-fishing, destructive fishing, and mass coral bleaching.
Source: Coral Triangle Center
Top tip: Dive destination, Tawali resort, Papua New Guinea PNG
June 26, 2008
“PNG is perhaps the Last Diving Frontier. It’s not the easiest of places to get to but it is a destination for divers who want undiluted adventure”.
At BB-Films.com we usually plan our diving trips at least a year in advance and recently we’ve been considering out 2009 summer trip. After considering Galapagos, Hawaii, and Papua New Guinea, we’ve settled on PNG. Our reasons are simple, its relatively undiscovered and we don’t think it will be that way for much longer.
Getting to PNG truly is a monumental undertaking involving no less than 4 flights from Europe, 2 stop-overs each way and no doubt some bone-cruncing speed boat trips for the final leg. But we learned something from a previous trip to Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras that still strikes a note of truth 2 years later:
If it takes 3 days to get to, then its going to be empty… Perfect 
)
In all likelihood we’ll be staying at the Tawali resort near Alotau:
“Tucked away, only accessible by boat, sits what may be Papua New Guinea’s best kept scuba diving secret – Tawali Resort. Welcome to the exotic culture of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and to Tawali Resort. Located on a volcanic bluff overlooking the clear protected waters of Milne Bay, Tawali offers travelers a unique location to dive, relax and enjoy the unspoiled wonders of this magnificent part of the world.”
Have you been diving in PNG? Any recommendations/comments/tips? Please post and let us know.
