Message to new divers

[muratkorman]

Hello to all divers who share their experiences and knowledge in this forum.

I consider myself a new diver who needs more experience to claim being a "real" diver. Although I have been diving more than 2 years having PADI AOWD certification and I had 50+ dives, I believe it takes more effort and focus to reach enough experience to enjoy diving as well as being concious about marine life.

In my recent dives, I have witnessed quite frequently selfish attitude of new divers trying to get the best out of their dives without thinking what they leave behind. I totally agree that diving is for fun and every diver wants that. However, it doesn't give anyone the right to damage coral reefs, disturb marine life or avoid other divers to enjoy their dives just because you want to see everything and want to be everywhere. In most cases, I have met new divers, who haven't developed enough buoyancy skills, damaging coral reefs every time they turn around or stirring the sandy bottom with their fins causing bad visibility and disturbing marine life.

First of all, we have to respect the marine life. We are not a part of it, but we are guests having a look at it each time we dive. We may not imagine the consequences of our acts while diving if we just focus on having fun and nothing else. It takes years to replace the coral you just damaged by hitting with your fins. The packaging of energy bar you dropped into the sea will stay there for centuries unless some diver with environmental awareness collects that. When you stirred the sandy bottom with your fins, you destroyed homes of many marine life.

I see on some occasions dive masters warn these divers, but in most cases they ignore as they don't want to lose customers. We are responsible for protecting marine life if we would like next generations to enjoy diving like we do. We have to warn divers who damage marine life and we have to improve our skills such as buoyancy control to avoid any accidental damage.

I believe if we keep these in mind, our dives will be full of fun and marine life will be less affected. Enjoy your dives and protect marine life as much as you can.

Murat

 

[Supershark]

An excellent, well thought out and well presented post.
I do disagree with you in one thing. You start your post stating that you do not believe you can call yourself a real diver. For you to have the understanding of the aquatic eco-system and a desire to protect it puts you as a real diver in my book.

I too have seen many divers of all certificationn levels damage reefs, touch sharks, mantas etc etc etc.

I run a zero tolerance policy on my boat. If you are seen damaging anything, or touching aquatic life you are banned from the next dive. If the behaiviour continues you are banned from the boat, forever, no refund.

All of my customers sign a form stating that they will abide by these rules. I have banned people from the next dive, but never had to ban someone completley. Unfortunatley this is a competative industry where profit margins are small and you need customers, however I believe that by educating the divers about the damage that they can do and offering course to assist with their bouyancey and reef conservation we can all work together to end this problem.

So to sum up: "Take nothing but time, Leave nothing but bubbles, Touch nothing but yourself (or your buddy if you are that friendly)"

Dive safe, dive AWARE

 

[iztok]

Since it seems we have a few experts. Perhaps some info in comparing the damage of the divers vs. other damages caused to the marine life by non-divers would put this into a perspective?

Yes I will probably catch some flames for this but I would seriously like if someone would compare the damages by ALL divers. vs. a single trolling fish boat on a single day.

I take it people here are all vegetarians and eat only organics? After all, we don't want to leave any pesticides and herbicides do we? Nor we want to eat all those farm raised animals producing mass quantities of pollutants, do we?

 

[Walter]

Iztok,

Are you saying it's OK to destroy part of the reef if someone else is doing something worse? We all need to do our part to make things better. Part of that is not damaging the reef while we're diving.

 

[SelkieDVM]

Since it seems we have a few experts. Perhaps some info in comparing the damage of the divers vs. other damages caused to the marine life by non-divers would put this into a perspective?

Yes I will probably catch some flames for this but I would seriously like if someone would compare the damages by ALL divers. vs. a single trolling fish boat on a single day.

I take it people here are all vegetarians and eat only organics? After all, we don't want to leave any pesticides and herbicides do we? Nor we want to eat all those farm raised animals producing mass quantities of pollutants, do we?

Well I guess since we can't all be perfect then there is no sense is trying to improve at all.

 

[Doc]

...comparing the damage of the divers vs. other damages caused to the marine life by non-divers would put this into a perspective?

Empirical data? Not available.

Simple logic would dictate that all of the damage that we have caused by actual diving since the sport began has been easily surpassed by the impact of infrastructure supporting us our non-dive time while on shore. (Sewage, airports, the local population boom and strain for/by service workers, construction run-off, boats running aground, spilling petro-chemicals and more)

When we are actually under water, sucking air, we are are a mere drop in the bucket....

 

[Crowley]

To give clear examples for itzok's benefit:l I work in the Red Sea now - and some of the reefs here are classic examples of what happens when an unregulated dive industry goes into boom time. I've been coming here off and on for 10 years now and when I first came here it was a small resort with almost pristine reefs - now most of the local fringe reefs are dead. This has been caused by a massive excess of divers, and a huge amount of coastal devlopment - the resort area is huge and there are probably 500 dive shops when there used to be maybe 20. I have watched the reefs deteriorate in the time I've been diving here and after a 5 year absence it was heart rending to see the state of some of them now. Take a day boat out of Cairns in Australia - you'll dive on a part of the great barrier reef which is also almost dead after years of non-stop visits by boats transporting thousands of people to the same places every day. Go further north where there is less diving and you'll see what it really used to be like. In both cases it is very clear who is responsible.

Fortunately, here in Egypt a new regulatory body has been put into action and it actually seems to be having an effect (if slow). I'm seeing what looks like new coral growth in places.

There are lots of things that damage reefs - many man made of course but many perfectly natural. I recall diving here in Sharm one time when a pod of dolphins came by to say hello - they then proceeded to roll and twist in the corals in what I imagine was dolphins having a damn good scratch. We watched somewhat googly eyed as bits of gorgonian fan corals drifted down into the depths! I've dived on reefs in Thailand that were shredded by the 2004 tsunami and they are recovering well - partly I suspect because they are only accessible by liveaboard!

In many places, reef damage is more likely to have been caused by other man made endeavours as opposed to diving - increased runoff due to coastal deforestation, of course pollution, overfishing etc. - however there are two clear examples where divers and the dive and tourism industries have been almost solely to blame.

Cheers

C.

 

[CamG]

Greetings fellow divers or soon to be divers to get to the heart of this matter buoyancy is the key to so many issues. It will improve your dives by making them more enjoyable. A better air consumption rate, longer dives, less impact on aquatic life, not to mention safer for you and your buddy. It is not rocket science but a learned skill that takes time and dive experience to gain. This learning curve can be accelerated by taking a class that focuses on buoyancy, "Peak Performance Buoyancy" and it is probably the best class every diver should take. Just my opinion though there!
As a diver we need to be in constant awareness of our body position at all times, descending, ascending, or hovering. Finning techniques are another great skill to master that takes time and experience as well. Everything takes practice and determination to be your best. Hey to practice you get to dive and I say dive every chance you get. Just be aware of your surroundings and be sensitive to aquatic life, fire coral will help in that pursuit! Always remember strive to have stellar buoyancy work at it and you will not be sorry. Good luck fellow divers!
CamG Keep diving....Keep training....Keep learning!

 

[iztok]

Iztok,

Are you saying it's OK to destroy part of the reef if someone else is doing something worse? We all need to do our part to make things better. Part of that is not damaging the reef while we're diving.

No I didn't say that. I am merely asking to put things in perspective.

We are saving a small piece of coral reef while under water and are careful. Then in the evening ordering some nice fish caught by a trolling fish boat that destroyed a lot more.

This is what I am pointing out. I am pointing out that while we should be careful under water it is MORE important how we behave above it as it usually has much higher impact.

Got it?

 

[Walter]

I am pointing out that while we should be careful under water it is MORE important how we behave above it as it usually has much higher impact.

I'm glad to hear it. You are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, it didn't come across that way.