News
Mauritius Joins the War on Plastics
More than just a pretty face, Mauritius is an island with an environmental protection policy that takes pollution and plastics control very seriously indeed. Littering is controlled with fines ranging from Rs 2000 (E45) for a first offense to Rs 10 000 (E250) and a year in jail if you do it again.
Within 8 hours direct flight from Europe and a 2 hour time difference, Mauritius has year-round warm water, clear visibility, and the coral reefs are re-growing. Diving in the North is exceptional, and it is a real pleasure to dive in clean, clear, warm water, to walk on beautiful white beaches, and to breathe clean air. The endangered Green Turtles are returning to the Island, and there are now 11 on Turtle Rock, various sizes.
Plastic shopping bags are banned. Textile manufacturing companies supplement the income lost to Chinese competition by sewing sturdy woven IKEA-type shopping bags. All the supermarkets sell them, branded with their logos, well designed and well-constructed. If you forget yours on a shopping trip, you might be offered a thin, recycled bio-degradable bag or a paper bag for your stuff, but its no to plastic bags throughout the island.
There are recycling bins for plastic bottles and glass outside the supermarkets, and there are more than 36 recycling companies registered in Mauritius. Recycling of bottles and other plastics has become a good business for Surf-rider, a small company in the North. They collect the plastic bottles and packaging materials, and turn them into planks, gates benches and dustbins.
The Maxi-Clean teams of ladies in their orange overalls sweep and clean the streets and beaches every day, and this policy protects the sea and the reefs from pollution.
Most hotels in Mauritius are owned by Mauritians who assist Government by spearheading the war on plastics, coral reef protection and recycling. Of course, it’s in their best interests to preserve the marine environment, as tourism accounts directly and indirectly for 26% of the Mauritius GDP and Mauritius has built its reputation on its clean sandy beaches and pristine lagoons.
It’s easy to impose fines for littering, to have clean-up days and to prosecute offenders, but at a very deep grass roots level, the Mauritius Hotel chains and the local NGO Conservationists are working together to teach the next generation about conservation.
One example, and there are many, is The Attitude Group of Hotels under the leadership of Jean Michel Pitot. He has gone much further with conservation than recycling, sewerage reticulation, water conservation and re-educating the population. He has also replanted the mangroves around the rocky parts of the island in the North to prevent coastal erosion.
It’s refreshing to meet a hotelier who refers to his staff as family, encourages them to participate in profit sharing, and who is both humble in his accomplishments and respectful of his environment. He looks at to the next generation for the future of Mauritius and wants to ensure that the island retains its benign simplicity and family values.
In addition, his family of Attitude Hotels has sponsored Reef Conservation by building the REEF Nauticaz Oceanographic Resource Centre and paying its staff. REEF visits schools throughout Mauritius, teaching kids about the reefs, the ocean, and how they can help to preserve this extraordinary Island.
Diving Mauritius is beautiful, with white sand, blue water and colourful soft corals. But even more, it’s reassuring to know that you will see only blue when you are diving with the sharks beneath Shark Island, or enjoying a safari to Confetti bay and Djabeda wreck, or checking out an Anemone Clown fish on Reef Garden.
- Words: Jill Holloway
- Images: Ian Haggerty
- Copyright: Ocean Spirit
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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