2 dive spots in El Nido recognized for minimizing environmental impact

El Nido Resorts' Pangulasian and Lagen Islands topped a list compiled by a United Nations initiative of member companies striving to adhere to a set of standards to reduce their impact on the marine environment.

The Green Fins project of the United Nations Environment Programme - Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (UNEP-COBSEA) operates in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Maldives and Vietnam and lists 250 companies and dive sites among its members.

The top 10 Members list, said the Green Fins site, "[ranks] those businesses who have managed to get the lowest assessment scores out of all of the assessed Green Fins dive centers within the last 18 months. The lower the score, the less environmental impact or threat there is to the coral reefs and other marine life."

Only scores collected from the last 18 months are considered because “[t]hese are considered active members who are doing their best to reduce their score, and subsequently their impact,” said Green Fins project coordinator Samantha Craven in a statement released by El Nido Resorts.

“Being on the list affirms our quadruple bottom line of putting environmental stewardship and community engagement as priorities together with financial growth and organizational development. Our conscious efforts in keeping our guests and the townsfolk involved in environmental protection prove to preserve El Nido’s beauty,” the statement also quoted El Nido Resorts president Laurent Lamasuta as saying.

Rounding out the top 10 list are Adventure Scuba (El Nido). Blue Abyss Dive Shop (Moalboal, Cebu), Oceans 5 (Nha Trang, Vietnam), Cocktail Divers (Puerto Galera), Dolphin House (Moalboal, Cebu), Seadog - Plankton Diving (El Nido), Down Under and Wave (North Ari Atoll, Maldives), Shark Diving School (Kaafu Atoll, Maldives) and MB Ocean Blue/ Blue Ring (Moalboal, Cebu). — BM, GMA News