Bali, Ekuatorial – Lack of control and infrastructure, Tulamben diving site may face environmental destruction in not so distant future, said a scientist on Friday (29/8), in Bali.
Tulamben, a small fishing village located in the north-east coast of Bali, has been a favorite diving site for divers who are eager to explore the wreckage of a US army ship, the Liberty, which was torpedoed by Japanese submarines back in 1942.
“Hundreds of divers go underwater to US Liberty [shipwrecked] every day. [However] there are no controls, no management, and no infrastructure. This is a big issue,” said Emre Turak, Australia’s James Cook University scientist to Ekuatorial.
“There are too many divers in Tulamben [coastal areas]. Bali will lose its charm if they don’t protect [the environment]. Hundreds of divers descend every day. It is too much [for the environment]. As a result, corals were destroyed,” he said.
Based on his research, a diving site’s carrying capacity or has the limit for 2,000 divers per year. More than that, its ecosystem will be degraded. On the other hand, with better management, the capacity might increase to 5,000 divers per year.
“There are 200 or more divers at Liberty. In total, it could reach 67,000 divers per year and that is a lot of pressure for corals,” said the man who has been researching corals for three decades.
Besides US Liberty site, Tulamben also has other diving sites including Coral Garden, Drop off, Batu Kelebit, Emeral Point, Tukadabu Segara Point, and Seraya Secret.
Turak cited Emerald Point diving site which was in still in good condition in 2011 but had shown degradation this year.
Aan, a diving instructor in Tulamben, said that there were 150 divers per day and can even reached 200 to 250 divers per day during holiday season at the Liberty ship wreck diving site. In total, he said that there were around 500 to 700 divers come to the village’s diving sites during peak season.
“There is still no regulation from local government, especially on diving tourism. They usually just collect the tax. Conservation and coral reefs [protection] are usually initiatives from companies or private sectors,” he said adding there are 15-20 diving companies operating in the village but none has specific limitation on their diver’s quota.
He said that local people, companies, and divers need to sit and work together to arrange and set up an agreement on better management for the sites. IGG Maha Adi, Ratih Rimayanti