Litter

1. Take Only Photos, Leave Only Bubbles Use mooring buoys, not anchors Do not chase or touch the marine life • Buoyancy Control • Improve your buoyancy control when diving • Wear a floatation device when snorkelling • Lie flat in the water and keep your legs straight • Kick from the hips rather than the knees • Do not kick up sand with your fins • Do not touch, stand or rest on corals • Litter • Fish and reptiles such as turtles can mistake plastic bags and cigarettes for food, which can be fatal • Batteries release toxic chemicals into the water poisoning the marine life and corals • Always take your rubbish with you and dispose of it properly Reef Facts • Corals are living organisms which evolved 200 million years ago, making humans very young with only 10,000 years on the Earth • Corals grow incredibly slowly, no more than 10cm per year. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the longest reef extending 2,300km, and has taken millions of years to build. • Seafood Restaurants • Boycott restaurants which serve dishes of endangered species such as turtle soup or steak, shark steak and shark fin soup • Coral reefs cover only 0.5% ofthe world’s ocean floor, but are home to 25% of all marine species on the planet • There are700species of corals worldwideproviding habitats to4,000 species of fish • Up to 35 million people are dependent on the global reef economy which is valued at29.8 BILLION US$/year! • Greenfins • Choose Greenfins accredited dive operators • For more information go to: • www.greenfins-thailand.org • If you see any damage to the reef, littering or bad conduct please inform: • info@greenfins-thailand.org • Feeding Fish • It is bad practice to feed reef fish as it changes their feeding behaviour and they stop eating algae • This then overgrows the corals and kills the reefs • The coral reef protects the coast fromstorms and tsunamis • At present: 20% of coral reefs are effectively destroyed! • 24% are surviving but in critical condition and • under imminent collapse! • 26% are threatened by man’s activities! Learn about and Respect the reef Do not buy souvenirs of coral or marine life www.projects-abroad.org Tel: 075 700 691