I listened to a very informative presentation by the Hol Chan Marine reserve last night at our dive shop. The Hol Chan group is making the rounds presenting to tour guides information about the reserve to help the guides be aware of rules and plans for the reserves expansion.
Interesting info about mangroves and sea grass beds, also it seems it is against the law to cut mangroves, or at least with out a permit from forestry dept. in or outside the reserve.
Hol Chan did a superb presentation to the guides very impressive.
It is comforting that they understand the importance of the sea grass beds as well as the mangrove.
Another interesting thing came out in the meeting, 'slow growth of mangrove isn't necessarily true, its directly related to nutrition.'

White Sands Dive Shop
https://whitesandsdiveshop.com/