At Dive The World we take your feedback seriously and recently we have received a few complaints about various liveaboard operators serving “too much fish” on board.

Many divers are struck by the apparent contradiction inherent in visiting a place to marvel at its marine bio-diversity and then proceeding to lessen that diversity by eating some of the very creatures they have come to marvel at.

We had a customer who was on a Burma liveaboard who complained that fish was the number 1 source of protein during their dive trip. Another who was on a liveaboard in Indonesia who was shocked to be served the local marine life, caught by traditional methods. It is quite common for liveaboard staff to fish for food during the cruises and the writer has experienced both tuna and sailfish being caught and eaten on a liveaboard trip. They also often stock up on fish from local markets.

Is this a contradiction?

How does it make you feel?

Obviously if they use illegal methods or are fishing in a protected zone, that crosses a line. But is there not a line of morality or common sense that suggests this practice is unwise?

Fish resources are depleting. If one multiplies up the number of liveaboards every week, every month, every year that are serving up locally caught produce then the biomass starts to add up. The ‘rod and line can’t do any harm’ argument seems invalid.

Check out the article by Dive The World’s Sheldon Hey for a further investigation of this divisive issue: Open letter to dive operators worldwide

You can check out more interesting articles written over the years by contributors to Dive The World at our Newsletter archive or get in touch on +66 (0)94 582 7973 / (0)83 505 7794 or send us an email.