Green Fins is an approach to sustainable marine tourism activities operating in

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, Caribbean and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

that works with business operators, communities and governments. It helps to implement environmental standards for the diving and snorkelling industry through a code of conduct. The overall aim of the initiative is to mitigate damaging impacts to the marine environment from the marine tourism sector and improve sustainability. The code of conduct is a set of 15 points designed to tackle the most common and detrimental effects of SCUBA diving and snorkelling activities on the habitat in which they operate.

The Green Fins Approach

Dive centers and snorkel tour operators sign a membership form pledging to adhere to the Code of Conduct. Trained Green Fins assessors visit members annually to assess their compliance to the Code of Conduct and provide consultations for improvement, and environmental training to all staff at the member centre to support and build the capacity of those individuals to reduce their environmental impacts. Members often receive printed materials to support their efforts to reduce impacts to the marine environment including the Green Fins ICONS, which visually outline best practices for divers and snorkellers. These materials are available in many different languages.

History

Green Fins was established in 2004 as an initiative by the

United Nations Environmental Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

(UNEP) and was first implemented by the Secretariat of the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA). Green Fins was initiated and coordinated by COBSEA's secretariat as part of the effort to increase public awareness with an overall aim to better management practices that will contribute to the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

(and other associated marine

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

such as seagrass beds and mangroves) and reduce current unsustainable tourism practices.

Present

Currently there are eight active member countries of the Green Fins initiative with Singapore also supporting the initiative.

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

started in 2004,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in 2007 and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in 2008, the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

starting in 2013 and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

in 2018. Each individual country is autonomous, running the approach to their governments own targets and objectives to fulfil the mission statement. This is done under the supervision of the Network Leader with the Network Leader Assistant as a supporting role. The position of the Network Leader is usually fulfilled by government staff who work under a relevant department overseeing the protection and control of either marine habitats or tourism. The initiative is supported by the UK

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

The Reef-World Foundation. Their role as International Coordinators of the project is to assist countries with training and technical assistance under the direction of

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...

whilst helping to promote the countries various projects and successes on a global scale. In addition to this, Reef-World are also tasked with looking for additional funding to support the implementation and continued training of those that manage Green Fins in their respective countries. The Reef-World Foundation developed the Green Environmental Assessment Rating System (GEARS) to enable a results-based management approach through the Green Fins assessments that take place. The GEARS system allows a simple monitoring system that is able to measure the success of several objectives or milestones required to reach the overall goal enabling a results-based management approach . It does this with a green/yellow/red rating system, based on a weighted score for each objective, allowing for industry wide problems to be easily isolated and monitored. In December 2012, The Reef-World Foundation in partnership with UNEP was successfully awarded a grant through the IUCN Mangroves for the Future Regional initiative. This saw the Green Fins network expand to

and the

over a two-year project ending in November 2014. In April 2013 a research paper was accepted by the scientific journal Ocean and Coastal Management titled “The Green Fins approach for monitoring and promoting environmentally sustainable scuba diving operations in South East Asia” and was published in Volume 78, June 2013, pages 35–44. The authors of this paper are from The Reef-World Foundation with co-authors from Green Fins Thailand based at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC), Phuket, Thailand. January 2014 saw the launch of the Green Fins website, which aims to provide a platform of information for Green Fins members, volunteers and coordinators of the initiate, government staff who help manage the project in their country and the general public who can download materials (posters, videos, leaflets, guidelines) to help provide educational information to divers, snorkellers and dive centre staff. The website also provides tourists the chance to search for Green Fins members and to view the environmental scores of diving areas as an average, helping them to decide which are the most environmentally friendly businesses and areas to dive or snorkel in. In 2019, Egypt announced its adoption of the Green Fins initiative, in the

South Sinai Governorate South Sinai Governorate ( ar, محافظة جنوب سيناء ') is the least populated governorate of Egypt. It is located in the east of the country, encompassing the southern half of the Sinai Peninsula. Saint Catherine's Monastery, an Easte ...

from September 2019 and in the

Red Sea Governorate Red Sea Governorate ( ar, محافظة البحر الأحمر ) is one of the 27 governorates (States) of Egypt. Located between the Nile and the Red Sea in the southeast of the country, its southern border forms part of Egypt's border with ...

from March 2020. The Green Fins initiative is free to join and all dive operators have the opportunity to be involved in the approach to help in battling to reduce their negative impacts. There are no costs involved in joining but members are expected to enter into the spirit that they can always improve their management policies in an effort to adhere to the Code of Conduct and protect the marine environment.

Outreach and Environmental Activities

Green Fins encourages dive centres to engage staff, tourists, local businesses and communities in environmental activities such as beach and reef clean ups. Reef monitoring is also promoted, Green Fins does not endorse a particular methodology leaving it to the choice of the dive centre depending on the resources available to them. Several spin-off projects may be run alongside the annual assessments to further promote marine conservation, these have included 'Say No to Plastic' awareness campaigns, shark awareness with local communities and schools, and marine conservation education programs with local fishing communities. In 2012, Green Fins ran the first Green Fins Ambassador Program in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. The program works with the most enthusiastic dive guides in the area, providing them with additional environmental training and encouraging these individuals to be environmental ambassadors within the diving, and surrounding communities. The pilot program was a huge success and has now been replicated in Moalboal and Malapascua, Cebu, Philippines, with plans to reach out to other diving locations.

The Green Fins Approach

History

Present

Outreach and Environmental Activities

References

External links