A friendly and serious reminder to the UW photographers out there...

[Christi]

I know that most of you don't need this, but it's something I feel the need to say and to emphasize, because there actually are people that need to be reminded, people who have really surprised me.

It is NEVER OK to stand on, grab on, or wedge a fin or otherwise "steady" yourself using the coral in order to get that perfect shot.

Your picture IS NOT more important than the reef, whether you are an amateur or professional photographer. I don't care who you are.

A very, very large part of underwater photography is buoyancy control. If you cannot control your buoyancy or otherwise position yourself to get the shot without destroying the surrounding coral, then you don't need the shot and/or you have no business with a camera underwater.

Love, respect and protect our reefs around the world so they will be there for future generations to enjoy.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi

Well said i totally agree, with more and more people being able to afford digital underwater cameras this is becoming a problem.

If you are going to take pictures take a peak performance buoyancy clinic first.

 

[Warren_L]

You are absolutely right Christi. I take lots of pics and am always careful not to touch anything, even the sand. My profile photo is of me taking pics on Columbia last month - that's how I take all my pics.

 

[jbisjim]

Yeah what she said

And don't swoop in on me and hit in the head with your camera or kick me in the face when you cut me off.

/end rant

 

[cdiver2]

I know that most of you don't need this, but it's something I feel the need to say and to emphasize, because there actually are people that need to be reminded, people who have really surprised me.

It is NEVER OK to stand on, grab on, or wedge a fin or otherwise "steady" yourself using the coral in order to get that perfect shot.

Your picture IS NOT more important than the reef, whether you are an amateur or professional photographer. I don't care who you are.

A very, very large part of underwater photography is buoyancy control. If you cannot control your buoyancy or otherwise position yourself to get the shot without destroying the surrounding coral, then you don't need the shot and/or you have no business with a camera underwater.

Love, respect and protect our reefs around the world so they will be there for future generations to enjoy.

and stop the dive charters saturating the same dive spots day in and day out,
for what money

 

[skeet]

Dont you make that known in your pre-dive briefings along with the implications if a person does it.

 

[ScubaFreak]

yeeha! you go girl

 

[Christi]

Dont you make that known in your pre-dive briefings along with the implications if a person does it.

Of course we do...but that doesn't stop the other thousands of divers out there.

I'm just trying to spread the word.

 

[Christi]

dive stop dive ops saturating the same dive spot day in and day out money is also not more important than the reef

That is an entirely different subject.

There are MANY stressors on our reefs all over the world: cruise ships, anchors, fishing, hurricanes, tsunami's, pollution, el nino, too many divers on the reefs, all valid concerns, but this isn't about those. We don't need to ADD to those stressors by being careless divers to get a photo.

Don't be surprised however, if you see more control and limited access to the reefs in the future.

 

[cdiver2]

That is an entirely different subject.

There are MANY stressors on our reefs all over the world: cruise ships, anchors, fishing, hurricanes, tsunami's, pollution, el nino, too many divers on the reefs, all valid concerns, but this isn't about those. We don't need to ADD to those stressors by being careless divers to get a photo.

Don't be surprised however, if you see more control and limited access to the reefs in the future.

Feel it is also wrong to pick out a small minority of the diving population when there are other things that we are doing cause a lot more damage. As I have said diver saturation some thing that doe's not pop out and hit you between the eyes, you have to do a little thinking not just do your dive and walk away and forget about it.
EG, This year we will be diving Palau one of the big hype dives there is blue corner, strong current stick your reef hook in fluter in the current whiles the marine life (particularly sharks) swim around you. Now if you take minimum numbers 2 dive ops a day each with six divers that means that reef gets at the very least (if all hooks hold at the first attempt) hooked 4,368 times and this is the bare minimum. We decided not to do this dive because of this.
CoCo view resort closed a dive site for a couple of years owing to damage it is now open again and has made a good recovery. Maybe all dive ops should think about this and not just blame one small segment.

As you said a careless photographer his excuse is he was careless whats the dive ops excuse when they know the reef is under stress but continue to take divers there.