The Reef-World Foundation is now carrying out the regional coordination of the Green Fins project in South East Asia.

Green Fins is an innovative project launched bringing together governments, the private sector, NGO’s and local communities. The project was launched in 2004 in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines and in 2008, Malaysia by the United Nations Environment Programme COBSEA office. The Green Fins mission statement is "to protect and conserve coral reefs by establishing and implementing environmentally friendly guidelines to promote a sustainable diving tourism industry". More details of the Green Fins programme and participating countries can be found at the website www.greenfins.net

Dive Operators join the project for free and agree to abide by the Green Fins 15 Code of Conduct points. These include:

• Implementing a no touch policy
• Deal with garbage and boat discharges responsibly
• Give thorough environmental briefings to customers

For more details of the code of conduct, click here.

Reef-World assisted in Thailand in the early years by carrying out assessments of participating dive operators and by implementing training for the Reef Watch reef monitoring method used by Green Fins Thailand. In 2008, this role was taken over by the Green Fins Association (GFAS) Thailand as well as more focus on activities. The Green Fins team conducts training in best environmental practice with dive staff, and environmental assessments of dive operations to see how well they are implementing the Code of Conduct. Following this, dive and snorkel business managers are given advice and support to help them improve their environmental practices. Reef-World developed the current www.greenfins.net website and the online Code of Conduct assessment system that helps members improve their environmental practices by providing a benchmark and guidelines for each Code of Conduct item.

As Green Fins works within the diving industry, project members and their customers are an effective tool to raise awareness and educate people about the threats posed to coral reef ecosystems and how to help reduce these. Green Fins Operator Members display environmental materials for their customers to see and are obligated to carry out underwater clean ups and coral reef monitoring. Green Fins provides them with the materials, training and advice to facilitate this.

Green Fins in Thailand is now a success story.

GFAS Thailand has been committed to involving not just the dive operators, but also local communities in learning about the marine environment and how they can help to preserve this precious resource. Green Fins Thailand has over 100 dive operator members situated in some of the most heavily dived and important biodiversity hotspots of the world, and are working together to create a more sustainable diving industry.

It is Reef-World’s vision to give all dive operators across the region the opportunity to be involved in Green Fins.

To find out more about how the Reef-World team out in South East Asia are doing with the Green Fins project please see Latest News.