Conservation

Work is also underway in the area to help make the local communities and the government of Mozambique more aware of and involved in the issues of dive tourism development and protection and preservation of the marine environment. Conservation International has identified this part of the Mozambique Channel as being “one of the most diverse and threatened areas in the world” and it is hoped that with the support of the donor community and major conservation organizations, that steps can be taken to protect it.

“Our biggest concern right now”, according to Roy, “is illegal commercial fishing”. Each season, more than 100 illegal Asian long liners are known to be fishing and finning in the waters off Mozambique, in violation of international law and Mozambican commercial fishing zones. “Our next biggest threat”, he continues, “is ourselves. If we can learn from the mistakes that have been made in over developing the diving in other parts of the world, or developing too quickly, then we can preserve what we have. If the dive businesses here only think in the short term, then this area could be in trouble”.

Steps are being taken to try and limit large scale development and to put an eco-tourism emphasis on the dive activities here. Dive standards for diver supervision and diver behavior on the reefs and when observing Mantas and Whale Sharks are being established and it is hoped, will be adopted by the dive businesses in the area. We are very pleased to say, that in our experiences diving with The Mozambique Experience and Tofo Scuba, that an extreme emphasis was places on the protection of the reefs and dive behavior that would not impact on the marine life we were observing.

Our last day of diving in Tofo ended up being our best. The day before we had ventured further off-shore to the outer reefs, the Office and Amazon, where we had seen quite a few different reef sharks and some wonderfully pristine reefs. In addition, we had taken the time to sample some of Tofo’s shallower reefs and we had been blown away again by the amazing variety of macro life and photo opportunities. On one dive on a site call the Salon, we were able to photograph Leaf Fish, Ghost Pipefish, Harlequin Shrimp and juvenile Pineapple Fish.

But the last day we were back for more Mantas and Whale Sharks. Already having more great Manta photos than we needed, we were still looking for that perfect Whale Shark shot and we were going to drop with the Whale Sharks on SCUBA in hopes of getting it. Coming into the “whale shark zone” after more than 20 Mantas combined on Giant’s Castle and Manta Reef; it took us only a few minutes to find the first Whale Shark. Keeping up with a Whale Shark with full kit is hard work and after a couple of times on and off the boat, more than a little tiring. It became easier in the end, when after we fell behind with one Whale Shark, we turned in the water to find another coming straight for us. We dropped underneath it and had it silhouetted perfectly against the sun – the perfect shot we had waited for!