Redefining the Healthy Reef

We had an amazing snorkel yesterday, with more fish and more variety of fish than I've ever seen. It was stunning - we've spent quite a lot of time in the water at this point and to see so much that was new was a big surprise.



After getting out of the water, I learned that the area we were in had been declared a marine reserve. Not the whole group. Not the whole island - just that small bay. It was a startling demonstration of the effect that we're having on the oceans. I don't understand how it's possible that such a small area could sustain so much life without broader and more far reaching protections, but there you have it. I can't imagine what it would look like if the whole ocean was protected.



It reminds me of a scene from a BBC documentary (Life? Planet Earth? Something like that...) which showed an aerial pan of a particularly vital part of the Great Rift Valley. I was struck at the time by how healthy the ecosystem seemed to be - it was heartening. I'm realizing now that my focus should have been on the fact that you have to fly to remote parts of Africa to get that shot.



Did the whole world used to look like this?

What are we doing?