Tomia Dive
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Sat 13 Aug 2011 23:11
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We had come up to the Wakatobi islands to enjoy the
diving and signed up for a couple of dives
with the local dive outfit to get a better
understanding of the area and the sea life and also to help
support the local economy.
 With 750 of the 850 known types of coral the area
is a magnet for lovers of coral and the smaller fish.
Over fishing by the growing population and the use
of dynamite and poisons in the 1990's and 2000's
has had a dramatic impact on some areas of the reef
and the larger fish.
 Thankfully these islands are now designated a
national park and we had the pleasure to have one of the
NP rangers come out diving with us. Through Yurdi
our dive master we learned that anyone caught
illegally fishing and in particular dynamiting the
reefs we put in prison for up to 8 years.
 As well has hundreds of varieties of hard corla the
area is renouned for the range of soft corals to be found.
 Many of these corals and anemones are home to small
fish that find protection here, including the small
clown fish of "finding Nemo" fame".
 We had acouple of really good dives with the Yurdi
and his team, the first on the edge of a large reef
system with great coral, lots of fish and a very
steep, deep wall. The second was on a seamount,
again with great coral and shoals of larger fish,
including Barracuda and Trevallay's.
We have also done a number of dives ourselves and
have seen first hand the damage done by dynamiting
and overfishing.
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