Sadly, coral does not have the same value as diamonds; actually the coral does not have a lot of value at all”. Coral is a polyp organism that lives in symbiotic with algae witch gives the coral its beautiful color and as by product there is calcium what makes the skeleton for the polyp. Coral grows, you can cultivate it and just like a diamond, it’s rare. One percent of the world oceans is covered by reef, reef is considered endangered but still not valuable. 99% of Bonaire’s shoreline is covered by Coral. Coral reefs are the largest structures created by any group of animals in the world.

See with your own yes visit: youtube.com/scubavisionfilms and select The value of Coral

Corals have serious value. The coral on Bonaire bring in divers and snorklers who pay to see it thereby providing revenue for the island - more revenue than any cruise ship ever will I'd bet.

Nice video's. Enjoyed watching them; especially the economic value of a sea horse.

Lovely works, Hendrik, just beautiful! cb

So why is it that the government does not see this, if you have something special that people are willing to pay for,…don’t you need to keep it special for this reason?
Make Bonaire as every other island and we will loose all what we have.
For me, I don’t need the tourism, and tourism are not the ones that will protect nature it has to be the islanders and the people running the island who have that responsibility.
And here it is again, we don’t protect nature so we can sell it, WE NEED TO PROTECT NATURE FOR ITS BEAUTY AND FOR THE HAPPYNESS IT CAN GIVE TO OUR LIVES.

Nice work Hendrik. I would like to add something if you wouldn't mind.

Beyond beauty and happiness...One key reason that we also need to protect nature and coral specifically is so it continues to produce the oxygen necessary to live. Without the rainforests and the coral reefs there would be minimal life on earth, if any. Now THAT is something that the governments do not get or at least fail to acknowledge.

Not all people think that the same things are beautiful, but the continuation of life...now that supercedes beauty, for most.