To touch or not to touch?

[Diver Dennis]

I'm kind of surprised no one has commented on the marine archaeology point. We are against, for the most part, touching things while we dive but have nothing to say about tearing up 100 miles of reefs? Interesting and frankly ironic.

 

[seaducer]

I'm kind of surprised no one has commented on the marine archaeology point. We are against, for the most part, touching things while we dive but have nothing to say about tearing up 100 miles of reefs? Interesting and frankly ironic.

Just getting back online, had a day of diving yesterday and wasn't on the internet at all. I will be checking out that link, thanks for bringing it up. I don't think we can learn enough from a historic wreck, no matter how historic, to justify destroying a large reef.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Thanks Seaducer. I'm not singling out this group in particular but I'm more interested in the overall question of marine archaeology in general, considering the damage they cause. Does search for artifacts take precedence over the overall health of a reef? And is it justified in most, some or any cases?

EDIT: I didn't mean to generalize about Marine Archaeology. I should have prefaced my statement with "this type of destructive searching". There are probably different categories of Marine Archaeology and I'm certainly not against Ocean studies but I do have reservations about the knowledge gained versus the damage done in this type of search.

 

[seaducer]

Thanks Seaducer. I'm not singling out this group in particular but I'm more interested in the overall question of marine archaeology in general, considering the damage they cause. Does search for artifacts take precedence over the overall health of a reef? And is it justified in most, some or any cases?

Perhaps, if there is something profound to be learned that we will all benefit from. For example (not archeology per se) if a section of reef we to be experimented on to see what damages reef systems and what could possibly help them, by all means.

If there was a good chance that the cure for cancer was in there, I would support small sections of reef being relegated to research.

But to bring up canons? Please, we have tens of thousands of those. Coins? I bet that is the real answer.

I am not saying that you cannot find a historical wealth on a wreck, but why destroy a reef to learn next to nothing?

 

[mig_diver]

Do Not Touch Anything!

:d

 

[Diver Dennis]

I should correct one of my earlier posts, the search grid was no on staghorn coral. It was over a grassy sand area they were using a vacuum system on.

 

[montychandler]

I'll go out on a limb with this one and say what I really think - and what I tell someone I see touching critters when we get topside. You have to be amazingly stupid to touch the critters for your own inquisitiveness. This is not a gray area topic or one that needs rationalization.

 

[GA Under Water]

I'll go out on a limb with this one and say what I really think - and what I tell someone I see touching critters when we get topside. You have to be amazingly stupid to touch the critters for your own inquisitiveness. This is not a gray area topic or one that needs rationalization.

A lot of men died for your right to tell someone that. But don't get upset when the person you say this to uses the same freedom to tell you where to go and what to do when you arrive.

 

[seaducer]

I'll go out on a limb with this one and say what I really think - and what I tell someone I see touching critters when we get topside. You have to be amazingly stupid to touch the critters for your own inquisitiveness. This is not a gray area topic or one that needs rationalization.

A lot of men died for your right to tell someone that. But don't get upset when the person you say this to uses the same freedom to tell you where to go and what to do when you arrive.

Sorry for the hijack and OT post BUT:

Alot of people died so that we could express our thoughts and ideas about the government and politicians, not so that we could express our opinions about the actions of other civillians. Let's not confuse the two, it cheapens the sacrifice.

/hijack

 

[Cathy Church]

MJH--You are absolutely correct about the slippery slope. I do handle critters, such as hermit crabs, some shrimp, (depending on their mood--skittish ones, no, ...complacent ones, OK... but you are right about divers over estimating their ability at depth. Since I do handle critters, and have been doing so for 43 years, I would be hypocritical to say that no one should touch them. I guess I should have just stayed out of the discussion rather than put my name on something that said it MIGHT be OK to touch something. Your point is well taken, and I realize that I need to be more careful.

We are only guessing what might be stressful to any creature--even ones that we swim beside or scare with our bubbles. We just want to minimize our impact.

On the other hand, anyone who REALLY cares about the reef should support, in my opinion, at least THREE environmental organizations to do something that truly protects the world's environments--one world wide, one national and one local organization. Since this is really a new thread I will stop here.