8 brakes on a 50min dive caused by photographers???

[Stephan]

Hi, Stephan here,

I am an underwater photographer using an Oplympus in housing - according to a sceintific study about diver impact on coral reefs, the would make me a 'apecailist photographer'. Startling to me were the facts this scientific study presented about coral breakage caused by UW photographers. Here are just two:

* Photographers cause an average of 0.3 coral reef breaks every 10 minutes
* Specialist photographers cause on average 1.6 breaks every 10 minutes.

That would amount to an average of 8 breaks on the coral reef during a 50 minutes dive for someone like me!

I found it interesting, especially as this is a scientific study, conducted by renowned scientists and published in one of the most respeced scientific publications, Elsevier.

Are we really that bad? I invite you to vsit my blog and podcast that talks this week about this study and I invite you to leave your comments either here or directly in my blog. The blog address can be found in my signature.

Fun diving!
Stephan

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Is there a link to this study? At best, this seems deliberately inflammatory.

"There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics." -Mark Twain

 

[HowardE]

You're probably correct Frank... Somewhat inflamatory.

I dive with photographers all the time (and I am one myself), and the easiest way NOT to break coral is to NOT hold on to it.

 

[DennisW]

I can say for a fact that I have never broken any coral while taking pictures. I would bet there is no way for a study like that to be accurate.

 

[victor]

Quoting from his site
We learned that fins cause the most damage to the reef, followed by hands, knees and then equipment gauges. We also learned that contact by divers with the reef were common, with most occurring during the first 10 minutes of a dive, when divers were more likely to adjust their equipment and become familiar with the underwater environment. I also gave some advice on how to avoid diver impact on the reef….

So what else can we learn from this study? Well, hold your breath (although not literally while diving!!!)… as these scientists followed divers in Saint Lucia, they discovered that specialist underwater photographers (those using bulky and expensive camera equipment , such as Sea and Sea MMII-EX and cameras in housings) caused on average 1.6 breaks every 10 minutes, and non-specialist photographers (those using single-use and point-and-shoot cameras, such as Sea and Sea MX5 and MX10, Bonica Handy Snapper, Aquion Splashshot and Oceanic Aqua Snap cameras) caused an average of 0.3 breaks every 10 minutes.

End Quote

Fins cause the most damage, this is without reference to photographers.
There are a lot more divers than dive photographers.
So what are the figures for non photographers doing damage.
Did they only follow photographers or have they just not published the figures for others?
More Information please? :06: :06: :06:

 

[Stephan]

Hi there, Stephan here,

I was just as surprised as you in respect to UW photographers causing supposedly 1.6 breaks every 10 minutes... In reponse to your questions, I have made a search to see if the original study is openly available on the web, and I found a link to it ( I have the original but would not have been authorized to distribute it without the consent of the publisher) - so here it is, openly available to everyone and posted by the University of Tübingen, Germany:

http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/evoeco/...inar/15 Barker and Roberts diving impacts.pdf

In answer to some of you mentioning this study would be deliberatlely inflamatory, well this is hard to support as its a very rigourous scientific study, done while observing 353 divers - scientific studies do not aim to be inflamatory or to discredit anyone - its about obervation and applying scientific methods to give a true picture, based on statistically valid methods. As for myself, I never hold on to the reef either - and do not have the impression of braking anything while taking my shot - but here it is, the figures don't lie. Maybe not all photographers take the same precautions as you do... ? I would be intrerested in reading from photographers that REMEBER brakes while taking a shot - but would they post an answer here? Unlikely... Enjoy your reading,

Stephan

 

[reidman]

Well I take a lot of underwater pictures and I can safety say I have never broken anything off a reef. I am very careful where I rest and have lost a lot of shots because I wont damage a reef for a shot. One technique I use is to hang upside down so I can point the camera in a hole or between coral for a shot. You need to have your buoyancy set right to do this takes a little practice but works.
What I have seem is Newbie's stomping all over the reef as they cant stay buoyant, usually with 10 pounds to much weight. I watched in horror as 2 snorkelers broke the top off a entire section of reef because they were in too deep water and stood on the reef to play with each other. When I surfaced and confronted them I was given the FxxxOff. In our group we had 4 people taking serious picture and I did not see any of them break the reef.
And about bulky camera's I use the MMII ex with strobe and I don't consider it any more bulky then the other guys in my group with dual strobe digitals. I can use less light to get the same shot with film and my setup was overall smaller then theirs.

 

[Jcsgt]

Was this a regional study? I know I have dived with several groups of people from, let's just say, a country not on the American continent. Divers belonging to those groups seemed to have no regard for the safety and security of the coral nor the marine life (running into and breaking coral, trying to grab turtles to "ride" them, etc.). I also might add that this conduct appeared to be purposeful and not accidental.

Just my two cents worth.

 

[JRScuba]

His statement was to inform the dive community as to an observatuion done by scientist to an area of what causes reef damage.

I do not know why divers on this board feel his post was in any way " Inflamatory". I think putting personal ego's aside would make this a much better thread.

As stated previously, divers do a lot of damage to the reefs.

Neither one of the of the above remarks were slated to any individual and everyone hopes that we all do our best to insure the above does not happen.

I think as divers we should take this information and insure " We All " do
our best to protect the reefs that the dive community enjoys to look at.

Stephan, Thank you for this information and I'm sure everyone will do their best to help
protect our reefs.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Agreed, JR. Nicely stated.