Prevention of Coral damage

[Conor]

I was looking at the following article and noticed the picture. Does it seem odd to anyone else that the person suveying coral reef damage has one of his fins stuck in the coral ?

http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e030223/e030223.html

 

[diverkim]

Surveying coral damage while at the same inflicting damage on the coral.

It seems to me that UW photographers are particularly egregious offenders of the UW environment. Studies have been done that bear this out. I have dived with some of the more renown photographers and many of them I have no respect for us divers and photographers.:nono:

 

[Big-t-2538]

Advantage number 2 to diving in OH...no coral to damage

 

[Conor]

......

I see a flaw in your argument. No coral = less fish, less entertainment and usually colder water with poorer vis. What was advantage number 1 again ?

As for the photographers, I guess they are judging their diving on the quality of their pictures, not their skills.

The first time I had a dive over a field of Coral, I got a lecture on how avoid damaging it, and found that abiding by those rules makes you work on your skills more and enjoy diving more.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Conor once bubbled...
......

I see a flaw in your argument. No coral = less fish, less entertainment and usually colder water with poorer vis. What was advantage number 1 again ?

We have lots of fish. And...they look like fish as opposed to those weird funny colored things in the ocean. LOL

I like watching my fresh water fish.

 

[Big-t-2538]

Conor once bubbled...
......

I see a flaw in your argument. No coral = less fish, less entertainment and usually colder water with poorer vis. What was advantage number 1 again ?

As for the photographers, I guess they are jusdging their diving on the quality of their pictures, not their skills.

The first time I had a dive over a field of Coral, I got a lecture on how avoid damaging it, and found that abiding by those rules makes you work on your skills more and enjoy diving more.

Advantage one is that you get to work on your bouyancy on every dive with a 7 mil john and shorty combo because a dry-suit is much too expensive for me.....

Also, you get to be entertained by sunken planes, boats, tubes, and Dr. Pepper machines....

 

[runvus4]

Looking at the pic, there appears to be a very small band of light between the fin and the coral, so it is quite possible that the fin while very close to the coral didn't actually touch. The resolution of the pic is too low to tell with any certainty.

 

[Conor]

So all your diving is cold fresh water, of course, makes sense now I think about it.

I must admit my preference is to see coral on the way to or from a wreck. but the warm water and colour is just so luxurious.

 

[Conor]

I saw the band of light you are talking about, but I thought that was a gap at the end of the footpocket, with the blade of the fin bent back against the coral

 

[cstreu1026]

Its amazing that the editor of the article would have chosen that picture. I would guess that he or she isn't a diver.

Cold water diving does suck and the viz in quarries is usually terrible. But there are a lot of fish, at least at the one i have visited, and it is much cheaper than a weekend trip to the carribean.