Interesting Article by UTD Instructor Tyler Phelps

[Unified Team Diving]

Definitely think this is a very interesting article by UTD Instructor Tyler Phelps. Share as you see fit.


How many times have you seen a group of divers kneeling on the bottom?


Whether it was on a dive boat or from shore, how many times have you looked over and seen a group of divers either kneeling or stirring up the bottom? As a marine scientist, it pains me to see corals and other “benthic” (aka bottom dwelling) organisms become smothered by sediments. It requires an enormous amount of energy for corals to remove these sediments, leaving them in a state of stress if the sediment doesn’t kill them from suffocation. Many times I have acted like an underwater “dust pan” swatting the material off my coral friends from these kinds of divers.
Read More.....


UTD Instructor Tyler Phelps Article · UTD Scuba Diving

 

[decompression]

Great article, thanks Tyler.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dbulmer]

Though I agree that learning to dive while planted on the bottom is not a good idea both for the environment and for developing diver skill I do take issue with the quote:-

Divers that learn on their knees, dive on their knees.

It is not a foregone conclusion that divers continue to do so and there are plenty of scuba instructors both on Scubaboard and in the wider world that do whatever they have to do to train students to a high standard.

UTD is known for producing high quality divers - if you are going to do marketing stuff please make it interesting and informative. I may be in a minority of one but come on guys and gals you can do better than that - if you are going to do it , do it right

 

[BRT]

If that silt is really bad for corals we can assume that Hurricanes just kill them.

 

[seeker242]

If that silt is really bad for corals we can assume that Hurricanes just kill them.

Apparently, they do.

"Disturbances are integral features of coral reefs, but since the 1970s they have degraded reefs throughout the world."
Edmunds, Peter J., and Sara C. Gray. "The Effects of Storms, Heavy Rain,
and Sedimentation on the Shallow Coral Reefs of St. John, US Virgin Islands."
Hydrobiologia 734.1 (2014): 143-58. Web.

 

[BRT]

No doubt. A hurricane can put and keep more silt in the water than all the divers in the world for 100 years. I'm not in favor of sprinkling sand from the bottom over the coral but Mother Nature makes us look pretty small. And I don't think hurricanes started in the 70's.