Article: The Number One Rule In Scuba Diving: No Touching!

[RainPilot]

There are many examples of habitats that have been preserved through funding that came from people coming to see it. A lot of recreational diving is ecotourism at its heart and that is a good thing.

Until the tourists start damaging the things they came to see.

 

[RainPilot]

@JohnnyC i believe the tech diver comment came from a conversation with me. I remember someone, @tbone1004 i think, saying that the average lifespan of a tech diving career is 3 years or so.

I also personally know several individuals who did their full trimix course and have never done a deco dive since. I believe, especially at the Tec40-50 levels, that there are a LOT of divers who just did it to get the t-shirt.

@kensuf was also talking about how many divers do a cave course just for the badge.

The number of people that do an OW course just to post an underwater selfie on FB is, to me, quite staggering. Not that I want to yuck their yum, but someone who is diving purely to feel good about themselves is much less likely to take active care of the environment they are in.

IMHO, YMMV etc

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@JohnnyC i believe the tech diver comment came from a conversation with me. I remember someone, @tbone1004 i think, saying that the average lifespan of a tech diving career is 3 years or so.

I also personally know several individuals who did their full trimix course and have never done a deco dive since. I believe, especially at the Tec40-50 levels, that there are a LOT of divers who just did it to get the t-shirt.

@kensuf was also talking about how many divers do a cave course just for the badge.

The number of people that do an OW course just to post an underwater selfie on FB is, to me, quite staggering. Not that I want to yuck their yum, but someone who is diving purely to feel good about themselves is much less likely to take active care of the environment they are in.

IMHO, YMMV etc

Wow! That's a lot of time and money for a t-shirt/badge.

 

[RainPilot]

Wow! That's a lot of time and money for a t-shirt/badge.

Yep. That being said, my local PADI Tech centre can do the full Tech sequence in 10 days for around 2500$ so it’s not THAT crazy.

A Tec40 course is 3 days and around 700$, that’s around the same price as a tandem skydive here. Plus you get to say “I’m a Tech diver” on social media. Cheap!

 

[Saniflush]

I'm just making the point that if we really, really want to save the ocean we should stay away from it. Those fish do not benefit from seeing us.

I'm gonna have to see your data on this.
I have it on good authority that fish benefit from seeing me and I have a calming affect on their mental well being.

 

[doctormike]

Because the killing of the fish serves a purpose: food. The playing around with the octo is simply for personal gratification and the stress placed on the animal may result in its failure to survive.

I’ll give you an example. There’s this guy in Vancouver BC that was/is part of this program to introduce children to sea life. Divers go pick stuff up, show it to the kids who handle them, then the divers dump them back. I’ve hear complaints from someone that dives there regularly how a significant number of creatures wind up dying.

Yeah, but those kids are actually more likely to care about the ocean because of those programs, and become informed citizens who push the drive for ocean conservation, etc...

Sort of like the objection to zoos and aquariums because of the impact they have on the captive animals' lives. Yes, they do, but they also are huge proponents of environmental stewardship, and they expose millions of city dwelling people to nature that they might otherwise not care at all about.

I think that a little perspective is in order. If you are so concerned about the impact that a few divers have on a few starfish, then focus that energy on fighting against any restaurant that buys seafood from commercial fishing organizations. The impact that has on marine ecosystems both in terms of decimating breeding populations, culling and discarding top level predators, and the unimaginable tonnage of bycatch dumped back into the water to die is many, many orders of magnitude beyond that of the occasional octopus handling.

 

[RayfromTX]

If you want to save the oceans then don't fly to your dive vacation. Nobody believes that scuba divers are causing the die off of the Great Barrier Reef or the acidification of the oceans or the introduction of nuclear waste material or the fertilizer run off or the huge problem with plastic in our oceans, at least not by scuba diving. Maybe you can blame industrialization but not bubble blowing with the fishes. I keep my hands off the coral to keep it nice for the next diver, not because I think I am the real threat to the coral reefs.

 

[doctormike]

If you want to save the oceans then don't fly to your dive vacation. Nobody believes that scuba divers are causing the die off of the Great Barrier Reef or the acidification of the oceans or the introduction of nuclear waste material or the fertilizer run off or the huge problem with plastic in our oceans, at least not by scuba diving. Maybe you can blame industrialization but not bubble blowing with the fishes. I keep my hands off the coral to keep it nice for the next diver, not because I think I am the real threat to the coral reefs.

Exactly. And only eat meat or fish that you (or someone you know) sustainably harvests from wild stocks. Do that and you will have a much greater impact on the health of the oceans and the marine life that they contain than by implying that the worst thing that you can do (violating the number one rule!) is to pick up a starfish.

 

[RayfromTX]

Well intentioned conservationist volunteers have put in countless hours to help restore the sea turtles that were decimated previously by humans. This was and is a worthwhile endeavor that may or may not have a meaningful impact. I took the following video last week in Cozumel. While being careful to cause no impact to the environment I enjoyed watching this impact made possible by the reintroduction of the sea turtle. I'm just saying, it's complicated.

watch

 

[Saniflush]

Well intentioned conservation have put in countless hours to help restore the sea turtles that were decimated previously by humans. This was and is a worthwhile endeavor that may or may not have a meaningful impact. I took the following video last week in Cozumel. While being careful to cause no impact to the environment I enjoyed watching this impact made possible by the reintroduction of the sea turtle. I'm just saying, it's complicated.
watch

Oh sure we get the sea turtles back but look at what they are doing to the reef with their careless swimming due to their hormones running rampant. I suppose next, we are just gonna give them a pass when they start dragging their hoses along the bottom and aren't maintaining horizontal trim?


In all seriousness, awesome video!