Leaving our aquatic friends alone.

[bdejong11129]

Ok, new diver here. There, thats out of the way. I hve been watching some you tube videos of a wreck that I was interested in diving this next weekend. What I saw on one of these videos kind of made me a bit angry. The diver and his friend were constantly touching, picking up and moving the wildlife. From picking up a sea slug and then just letting it go to float back to the sand bottom, to peeling a star fish off the coral to chasing an eel in the cracks of the wreck. It seemed like they had to touch and move everything that moved. One clip showed the poor sea slug being thrown about by the other divers fin action as he was on the bottom kicking away.

Maybe I am just to new to this but in my training they stressed a look but dont touch rule. We should observe but be aware of our fragile friends including the living coral. How do we handle this type of behavior if it observed in real time?

 

[2airishuman]

I think it is important to maintain a sense of perspective and realize that what is reasonable varies from one dive site to the next, and that some well-meaning divers may disagree on specifics.

At one end of things are frequently-visited, delicate coral reefs where the cumulative effect of carelessness around the reef is very real. Typically these are marine sanctuaries where there is some sort of legal protection.

At the other end of the spectrum are dives in rarely-visited freshwater areas where major disturbances due to fishing, boating, dredging, etc., render the relatively minor activities of divers moot.

What you describe does not sound wise or appropriate, but some information about the location might help contextualize it.

 

[bdejong11129]

I think it is important to maintain a sense of perspective and realize that what is reasonable varies from one dive site to the next, and that some well-meaning divers may disagree on specifics.

At one end of things are frequently-visited, delicate coral reefs where the cumulative effect of carelessness around the reef is very real. Typically these are marine sanctuaries where there is some sort of legal protection.

At the other end of the spectrum are dives in rarely-visited freshwater areas where major disturbances due to fishing, boating, dredging, etc., render the relatively minor activities of divers moot.

What you describe does not sound wise or appropriate, but some information about the location might help contextualize it.

Good questions and I agree that context is important. The specific video was one I found about what is called The Dredge Wreck. This is located off the coast of Masonboro Inlet in NC. I have watched a bunch of videos like this about dive sites. Its nice to get a quick view of what to expect. One in particular caught my attention due to the repeated handling of the wildlife. Trying to gauge if I am overly sensitive about it due to being new to the sport.

 

[drrich2]

For more discussion on the broader issue, consider NYCNaiad's thread on The Observer Effect?

As for how you handle it, if on a dive boat and staff don't appear to instigate or encourage it, notify staff discretely. Some people seem to have a comfort level policing others confrontationally, but you just never know what sort of person you're dealing with, and discretion may be the better part of valor.

Richard.

 

[2airishuman]

The specific video was one I found about what is called The Dredge Wreck. This is located off the coast of Masonboro Inlet in NC.

This is sort of a middle-of-the-road site when it comes to sensitivity.

To be clear, I personally would not engage in the sort of conduct described in the video. Those are not the sort of interactions I seek out while diving, and chasing an eel is an activity that, how shall we say, does not have a 100% chance of ending well for the diver. That said, I believe The Dredge Wreck is a relatively low-traffic site where the practical impact of those sorts of shenanigans is more limited, because there aren't 5 dive boats a day every day out there visiting.

Some years ago, in my misspent youth, I participated in a 23 day expedition in a remote part of the Sangre de Christo mountain range in southern Colorado. The outfit organizing the trip was big into leave-no-trace camping and had notoriously sent a group hiking 6 miles back through the mountains to a campsite they had just vacated because they found one wire tie from a bread bag and decided to make them go pick it up to teach a lesson. I internalized these messages perhaps too deeply and ended up getting sideways with some friends upon returning to Minnesota because they left a campfire scar in the woods.

At this point, I do my best to lead by example and say as little as possible, in conservation as well as in such other values as I hold dear. There will always be uncaring oafs and a few people who don't know any better. Usually they aren't going to listen to me anyway, so absent questions or other indications that a teachable moment is at hand, I keep my mouth shut.

There are already plenty of things to screw up a dive vacation without getting in a fight with someone over whether or not it is OK to play underwater frisbee with a starfish.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah I agree with the above posts. This has been rehashed a lot on SB. Context is important. Touching a piece of living coral on the GBR is different from grabbing a wad of sea grass or seaweed in the North Atlantic. I have no urge to touch anything (other than my much discussed shell collecting hobby). I'm not that great a guy, I just have no interest in touching stuff. Then there is the discussion about how touching something can do severe damage to it by scaring it half to death vs. the ideas about species populations (ie. some may say "What's the difference if I toss a starfish around, there are a zillion of them"---that's what SOME may say, not what I say).
Anyway, I wouldn't let such videos get under your skin too much.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be bothered by them, but there are far more devastating things affecting the oceans to get pissed off about.

 

[Single]

Maybe I am just to new to this but in my training they stressed a look but dont touch rule. We should observe but be aware of our fragile friends including the living coral. How do we handle this type of behavior if it observed in real time?

I just watched the video and became a little annoyed too. I merely clicked the 'Thumbs Down' button. Just avoid diving with the hyper types who waste gas and scare off the marine life.

 

[Dogbowl]

That kinda stuff irks me too...I try to stay away from such things be it YouTube, tv, etc.

 

[Kharon]

Every dive over 2 weeks at CCV and every boat dive and some shore dives on Bonaire I've seen muppets doing seriously dastardly stuff. Some very deliberately (CCV - digging up blennies or gobies from their burrows to watch them re-dig and laughing on the boat afterward how a larger fish swooped in and ate them). Some because they have zero situational awareness (crashing through one giant bryozoan after another because they just were'nt paying any attention). And everything in between.

I just can't watch it anymore without beginning to cut air hoses so I dive solo, avoid boats and group gropes. I can't/don't want to be the scuba police - but I can't tune it out nor watch it without reacting either. So I avoid it. It makes for much more serene diving.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah makes you wonder, no? Then again, there have always been those who like taking a magnifying glass to burn ants, etc.