CORAL publishes first ever regional standards for diving, snorkeling and boating activities. In areas of high volume tourism, repeated direct contact with the reef poses an immediate threat. Hundreds of boat groundings and hundreds of thousands of tourist interactions each year reduce sections of coral reef to rubble. Human contact also reduces coral’s resilience to other stressors such as rising sea temperatures and diseases.
CORAL's "Voluntary Standards for Marine Recreation in the Mesoamerican Reef System" (PDF 668 KB) provides detailed requirements for environmentally friendly and safety conscious marine tourism businesses in the areas of diving, snorkeling, and boating and can be used by a variety of different groups such as:
- Concerned tourists to help them choose sustainable and safe marine excursions
- Marine Tourism Businesses to evaluate their own practices
- Non Governmental Organizations and Governments as a basis for creating standards in their area
- Bulk purchasers such as cruise ships to select sustainable and safe business partners
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