As dazzle fish flit between the periphery of rainbow patterned coral , a cruise shipplowed intowhat is thought to be the most dramatic reef in the world . Caught in downhearted tide off the coast of West Papua , New Guinea , the British - owned ship carry 102 guests is think to have severely damage 1,600 square meters ( 17,200 straightforward metrical foot ) of coral reef .
The stranding befall on Saturday , March 4 , as the 4,300 - tonne ( 4,700 tons ) shipCaledonian Skywas returning from a bird - watch misstep , though how it negociate to get caught on the reef when the watercraft is equipped with radar and other navigational equipmentis still unknown . Damage to the ship was apparently minimum , though it is also reported that as the gravy holder was after tug out of the shallow pee , further damage was done to the Rand itself .
A local touristry organisation has lamented on Facebook : “ How can this materialize ? Anchor legal injury from ship like these is bad enough , but actually grounding a ship on a reef takes it to a whole new storey ” . The hitch operator that possess the boat has , however , issued a statement calling the result “ unfortunate , ” and that “ it is imperative that the reasons for it are amply investigated , understood and any deterrent example learned incorporated in operating procedures ” .
The ship crashed into the reef located in the Raja Ampat archipelago , which is wide consider the most biodiverse marine environment on Earth , and to that event likely the richest ecosystem both above and below weewee . It isthought to be hometo over 1,700 different species of fish , at least 700 type of mollusk , and over 600 surd coral – over 75 percentage of all draw coral mintage worldwide .
harmonize to the environmentalwebsite Mongabay , this especial status , along with the site ’s popularity with scuba divers and its placement within a National Park , entail that the hitch hustler is likely to present hefty fines . They report that the evaluation squad will seek recompense of between $ 1.28 million to $ 1.92 million , which work out at around $ 800 to $ 1,200 per straight metre destroyed by the ship .
The ship has not only ensue in the destruction of important morphological element of the reef , but reports suggest that it has already importantly reduced the diversity of at least eight different genus of corals . The money that will hopefully be claimed from the company will be put back into restore what is one of the world ’s most popular dive sites , though it is thought it could take up to a decade to to the full come back it to how it once was .
