Busy Crusading
It’s been a minute since I have posted a new blog but not for lack of information to share. I’ve been fortunate to have traveled to reefs, oceans and aquariums, dove, listened, and learned about corals. It has been illuminating.
This summer I traveled for two days across multiple time zones, date lines and oceans to a liveaboard, The Black Pearl. Based in Palau, we explored historical wrecks and healthy reefs across this island nation. The people on the Pacific archipelago of Palau firmly believe in the old saying, “We do not inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children.” For centuries, they have been managing their delicate marine ecosystem sustainably through the practice of “bul.” This involves making certain parts of the reef off-limits to fishing during spawning and feeding to allow its 1,300 species of fish to thrive. Now, bul has become the philosophy on which the island nation has based its new protected marine reserve, which will ban fishing on its marine territory of over 310,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of France.
Former President Remengesau Jr says, “There’s a deeper meaning to bul. It’s prohibition in the sense that you’re doing this to benefit your children, because you have to think about tomorrow and the day after and the years coming.”
In Palauan tradition, families pass down through generations the idea of having a positive impact on the planet. “Always leave your island a better place for your children,” says the president.
The next dive trip was to work in Curaçao with Reef Renewal, check out the next blog post for details.
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