I posted this on Bonaire forum just because that's where i plan to go next, but it could have gone into any other forum. I've been thinking about whether we are doing a bad thing by night diving. Although diving at night is one of my favorite things in the world to do, I've read about how the flashlights wake up fish, causing them to swim around when they would normally be at rest. This can give an edge to the predator species that they wouldn't normally have. I wonder about the long term impact on a reef when it is visited by divers night after night. Does anyone else have thoughts about this?
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You can use a red light such as found with the Sola 800 and 1200 focus lights, that's what I use during night dives as well as when I get close to fish in dark daylight conditions when photographing them.
Especially in bonaire you can see the impact very well.
Tarpon started to hunt with the flashlights of the divers at night.
This is not a natural behavior and they eat way more fish in the shallow reef where night diving is done.
Tarpon started to hunt with the flashlights of the divers at night.
This is not a natural behavior and they eat way more fish in the shallow reef where night diving is done.
Does that not wake them up too? Does everything look red?
tarponchik
Contributor
No. Yes.
Ministryofgiraffes
Contributor
Personally I think that anyone who is on the fence about the ethics of nightdiving should probably skip it. Better if you don’t feel guilty about it. IMO.
This will be my first year of NOT visiting Bonaire, in over 10 years.
I really cannot see much indication that night diving is having too much impact on the reef, even off of Buddy Dive, where there is never a night that there are not groups of night divers, poking around.
Tarpon are opportunistic hunters. My brother and I once shadowed a monster Green Morey Eel as he was hunting the wall at @65' , from Captain Don's South, well past BD.
That monster eel had 5, maybe 6 tarpon shadowing him as he moved rapidly down the reef. No dive lights at all were involved in this hunting behavior.
When you are night diving try not to light up prey, much like we are being warned to NOT try to "teach" predators to eat Lionfish by feeding the carcasses to predators.
THAT has truly change the behavior patterns of predators all over the Caribbean.
I really cannot see much indication that night diving is having too much impact on the reef, even off of Buddy Dive, where there is never a night that there are not groups of night divers, poking around.
Tarpon are opportunistic hunters. My brother and I once shadowed a monster Green Morey Eel as he was hunting the wall at @65' , from Captain Don's South, well past BD.
That monster eel had 5, maybe 6 tarpon shadowing him as he moved rapidly down the reef. No dive lights at all were involved in this hunting behavior.
When you are night diving try not to light up prey, much like we are being warned to NOT try to "teach" predators to eat Lionfish by feeding the carcasses to predators.
THAT has truly change the behavior patterns of predators all over the Caribbean.
OTF
Coney Island Whitefish Biologist
^ this is clearly a tarpon propaganda post based on your name and picture
As to the actual topic of the thread -
As an avid night diver I've wondered the same thing. And if modern super bright LEDs can cause damage to marine creature's eyes at night. Or the lights on vehicles used in deep ocean exploration where the wildlife is adapted to very low light levels.
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