久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Asia-Pacific

Ban lifted, swimmers return to bathe with Palau's golden jellyfish

China Daily | Updated: 2019-01-28 10:27
Share
Share - WeChat
A visitor swims with harmless Jellyfish in Palau. REINHARD DIRSCHERL/GETTY IMAGES

KOROR, Palau - Swimming with the famous golden jellyfish in Palau can be put back on the bucket list following a two-year ban, but bathers may be stung with a hefty price increase for the pleasure.

The government ordered the famed Ongeim'l Tketau Jellyfish Lake closed to swimmers in 2016 because of dwindling numbers of the unique creature - blamed on warming waters, and some suspicion that sunscreen may also have contributed.

The conservation ban, however, proved costly for tour operators with the loss of Palau's most popular attraction contributing to a slump in tourist numbers.

But authorities in Koror State, which owns the resource, say stocks are now recovering and tourists are again being welcomed at Jellyfish Lake.

"The jellyfish are returning, tourists are visiting again," Dora Benhart, the outreach officer of Koror State's conservation department said.

Swimming with the jellyfish on Mecherchar island, about a 45-minute boat ride from Koror, is "one of the most unique attractions" Palau has to offer, according to the Visitors Authority Chairman Ngirai Tmetuchl.

It is estimated it will attract at least two-thirds of the annual visitors to the western Pacific archipelago which peaked at 160,000 in 2015.

The numbers slumped to 108,000 last year, which Tmeuchl said was caused by a combination of factors, including restrictions on access to Jellyfish Lake.

The rare species of golden jellyfish, believed to exist only in this marine lake, does have a sting but it is mild and often undetectable making swimming among them a popular experience.

Numbers rising

The jellyfish population, which once swelled to around 20 million, slumped in 2016 because of El Nino, a climate pattern linked to warming waters in the central and eastern areas of the equatorial Pacific.

Palau President Tommy Remenegsau called for the lake to be closed, and while it was never officially shut down by Koror State, the dwindling jellyfish numbers saw a self-imposed ban by tour operators who stopped taking visitors to the island rather than charge them $100 to see nothing.

With the waters cooling over the past year the jellyfish have increased to numbers strong enough to invite tourists back, but Sharon Patris, a research biologist at the Coral Reef Research Foundation said it would take some time to reach "normal numbers" of 5 to 8 million.

A proposal to increase the visiting fee to $150 is now before the Koror State legislature.

Authorities are also strictly enforcing rules about the use of sunscreen, saying it must be environmentally friendly and applied more than 30 minutes before entering the water.

Although a link between sunscreen and falling jellyfish numbers has been suggested and dismissed, authorities said they want to ensure the purity of the water.

Clothes worn by bathers must be thoroughly rinsed before swimming to eliminate the risk of taking "invasive species" into the lake.

Patris added there was a similar decline in jellyfish numbers in 1998 linked to an El Nino event and data showed "the jellyfish did not disappear because of the presence of sunscreen".

There are more than 50 marine lakes in Palau, five of them containing jellyfish but only the one - Jellyfish Lake - is open to visitors.

The Visitor Authority's Tmetuchl has called for a second lake containing the same golden species of jellyfish to be made available to the public.

This is opposed by conservationists who say it would expose another lake to the same risks as the first.

Agence France-Presse

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日本暖暖在线视频 | 精品一区二区三区在线成人 | 亚州在线播放 | 小屁孩cao大人免费网站 | 日本japanesevideo黑人 | 免费观看性欧美一级 | 美女网站在线 | 97香蕉久久夜色精品国产 | 国产一区国产二区国产三区 | 日本三级香港三级人妇99视 | 国产一区二区影视 | 美女三级在线 | 男女视频在线观看免费 | 成人免费看毛片 | 国产中文在线视频 | 扒开两腿猛进入爽爽视频 | 韩国一级毛片在线观看 | 国产91一区二区在线播放不卡 | 国产在线一区二区三区四区 | 成人看片黄a毛片 | 国产vs久久 | 伊人一级| 日本欧美高清 | 久草经典视频 | 日韩一级生活片 | 国产精品视频免费 | 久久免费香蕉视频 | 久久久一区二区三区 | 国产美女又黄又爽又色视频免费 | 三级大片网站 | 免费观看久久 | 国产成人亚洲精品老王 | 国产99视频精品草莓免视看 | 国产成人久久综合热 | 久久道 | www.av视频在线 | 欧美日本在线视频 | 高清在线亚洲精品国产二区 | 普通话对白国产精品一级毛片 | 免费观看大片毛片 | 欧美成视频无需播放器 |