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Green & Blue – Uepi Dive Report
September 2009

“IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN” said Kermit the Frog. Providing opportunities for others to dive on coral reefs has, amongst its varied responsibilities, the task of limiting damage to the reef environment. At Uepi our aim is to provide as free & unrestricted access to the reef as we can to maximise the experiences & enjoyment of our visiting divers. We figure the more divers there are appreciate the coral reef environment, the more influence there is to protect & save it. As divers come from varied backgrounds & have different personal & cultural outlooks, this is not as easy as it may appear. In fact, it can be quite difficult. As Kermit the Frog said, “It’s not easy being green”. And sometimes it is the case that those who express all the right sentiments are not helping at all because of lack of understanding or knowledge.

Individuals & organisations that have ideas based on dogma, or have their own agendas, are less than useful & can themselves cause damage. I recall from fairly recent years a senior fisheries officer, based in Australia, telling me yellowfin tuna produce offspring so prolifically & these grow so quickly that tuna stocks will always be healthy. That was even then an outdated view as the reality was & is undeniably quite different. And in recent years a major NGO has been strongly condemned for its arrogant, know-all & damaging interference in eastern PNG. In the Solomon Islands the efforts of major NGO, or conversely lack of effort, have often become a hindrance to real progress at the time & this influence impacts into the future. Failed projects give the wrong message to local people. Contrived motivation for local people can also give the wrong message to those taking part & to others. Projects that are unsustainable from environmental, economical or social perspectives are all way too common.
I have been disappointed at many of the attempts, in particular by NGOs, International Organisations & Aid Donors to carry out meaningful & productive programs that achieve lasting & beneficial results. And these entities are not homespun identities but are serious global players. Look for example at the fiasco with Carbon Trading & the ongoing dramas with Global Warming, both issues that have implications for the Solomon Islands. Disconcertingly, in the Solomons, it seems that when environmental programs are ineffective or unsustainable this is not even recognised at the time. Our observation is that within the ‘Aid’ industry the environment sector suffers the same fate as other sectors addressed by these entities, that is limited success. Lack of cultural understanding looms as the most prevalent cause for failure. And it is important to accept that the environment is not a stand-alone consideration, it is an inherent part of the wider world & must of necessity be understood as integrated with the economic & social sectors.

Along with the failures, there are some definite successes, which are underpinned by outstanding & dedicated individuals who are committed personally & professionally. It seems that the people running these successful projects have one thing that unsuccessful projects lack, realistic cultural awareness.

For our part, we try & manage both the day-to-day activities & the broader issues to minimise impact & maximise interaction & enjoyment. This is definitely an ongoing learning process that will evolve as long as those who run Uepi remain open minded & concerned. Hopefully that will be forever. Uepi is a clear example of the mutual dependency of economy, social environment & natural environment. Without one the others fail.

Our conservation efforts begin when guests arrive, with some specific directions about snorkelling & diving behaviour & practice. For example no touching of corals, invertebrates, turtles, manta rays, sharks, pygmy seahorses, cuttlefish, sleeping fish, the effects of bubbles, fin damage, diving in currents: We explain the fishing ban around Uepi itself & species which may be fished, our restrictions on the amount of diving activity in some areas and much more. Questions are often asked about waste disposal, sea level observations & coral bleaching.
Sharks are a fascination for most people & as we have a lot of sharks to which we feed our kitchen scraps, invariably there are questions. Some people do not approve feeding wild animals. However based on many years of deliberation & evaluation of a complex issue we feel that in our situation the benefits outweigh any perceived disadvantages.

Included amongst our more general practices are; removing Crown of Thorns starfish; helping corals thru periods of bleaching by cross populating of algae; removing gastropod parasites from corals, removal of certain algae from seafans, encouraging locals to observe beche-de-mere prohibitions & the protection of fish spawning aggregation sites, careful waste disposal, re-establishing corals in damaged areas. The result of taking such care of the reef environment should show results. From comments by experienced divers & researchers it seems the results are definitely apparent. At Uepi, we are remote from large populations, urbanisation, large industry (although in Marovo we suffer from logging & fishing activity). So compared to many places we have advantages they do not. Unfortunately we hear stories of many coral reefs around the world that are damaged & deteriorating. We hope at Uepi we can make a difference.

SEPTEMBER BLUES
During most of September the visibility has been great. A lot of H2O fell from the sky, mostly at night, but although at times the top metre was a mix of fresh & salt with some plankton, below was good, at times fantastic. The SE trades persisted & air temp was slightly cool, which suits most people. By the month’s end it was slightly warmer with more blue sky.
The Samoa Tsunami warning extended to the entire Pacific but was quickly lifted for the Solomons. Good news is the sea surface temperature has fallen & this was very noticeable. Those of us acclimatised went for the long disregarded wetsuits but most of the guests stuck with rashies or less.

Our “Mantasizing” was uninterrupted with everyone getting a close Manta experience. Managing access so that the Mantas are not stressed is something we are concerned with. Our ‘stacka sharks’ continued to be a huge attraction with many kids taking back images & video of themselves right amongst their toothy friends. The Ghost Pipefish also stuck around in September, coming & going. With incoming currents the fish schools attended the points despite it being school holidays.

With blue skies the water gets that amazing colour which makes looking out of the Office unbearable. So ….. imagine a bit of Blues guitar ……
We dropped in the deep right out from Uepi Point. Blue sky then blue bubbles then blue heaven. Feeding schools of smaller fish darted about with large dark ominous shapes being avoided as they cruised around. Below I could see the Point itself a mass of fans with sharks & fish gliding in the current. We dropped quite quickly & I found myself amongst that mass of fans which now radiated colour. A bit below looked irresistible so I let the current take me around the outside as I ascended. The water clarity was exceptional so way down below me the colour was vivid. A school of large yellowtail barracuda ignored me as our paths met. Several large Spaniards steamed past, causing all the smaller fish to panic momentarily. The outside of the Point at this depth is very colourful & this continued on the channel side. I could see down to at least 70m where swirling Bigeye lazily sketched patterns. Whitetips sat resting on the sand. As I ascended I was immersed in blue - below, above, around. We drifted into the channel then finned slowly against the current back to the reef front where I hung in the current amongst feeding Anthias, Perch, Snapper & cruising Whalers. Blue trevallies swept around in packs scaring the hell out of the smaller fish.

It was difficult to negotiate the wider sandy channel up onto the coral gardens. Masses of Midnight Snapper, Mangrove Jacks, Red Bass & Sweetlips blocked the way. I was greeted by swaying garden Eels & I could see about 50 meters along the sand patch. I headed over to the reef lip that runs along the channel, settled & watched thousands of Bigeye swarm around & around, coming right up then away. Butterfly fish, Sweetlips, Bannerfish, Moorish Idols & wrasses all came very close, checking me out. A Moray came from nowhere seemingly out of the rock I rested my hand on. I could almost feel the warmth of the sun as the bright sunlight reflected off the coral array.

September Blues!
Explore the website to get your dose of Blues

Grant, Jill, Josh & the Uepi Team

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We sincerely wish to thank the following people for use of their photographs in our website:

Peter Lange, Peter Pinnock, Oceania Films/Matt Guest, Eric Cheng, Fred Bavendam, Andy Belcher, Manuela Kirschner, Louise Murray, Roberto Rinaldi, Mark Strickland/Oceanic Impressions, Jill Kelly, Grant Kelly, Wes Kelly and Jason Kelly.