Do you touch?

[fishb0y]

It is a big pity that diving certs cannot be pulled.
As a PADI professional it would be just perfect if I could pull the cert off an idiot who shouldn't be diving.
Then I would be pretty busy at PG in the Phillipines!!!!

Wow, do you think PADI would let you wear a badge as you play scuba police?

I will go back to my original statement, the minute amount of damage done by scuba divers pales in comparison to the education that is provided though scuba diving. I think you would get a better response on trying to make someone a better diver, than badgering people into believing in your opinions.

 

[BlueDevil]

This is an interesting thread. I too am skeptical of the claim that simply touching coral will kill it. I have dived on many 'home reefs' at resorts where the coral looked perfectly healthy despite bing frequently dived and snorkelled, often by beginners. I also know of specific areas of coral that have been touched numerous times without any adverse affect. I think the likelihood of damage to coral from touching pales into insignificance if compared to the potential for damage from fins and dangling gauges etc. There also seems to be a great scarcity of credible scientific evidence to support this notion.

I am not suggesting that we should haphazardly touch everything we see - it is reasonable to avoid contact unless necessary. But in conditions of current and surge it is likely that a carefully placed hand or fingers may well prevent you from being pushed into coral which could cause significant damage to the coral and possibly injury to the diver.

As far as the 'no gloves' idea I think this is simply ridiculous. I agree with others that gloves can be considered a safety item in some environments. A friend of mine is a school teacher and a few years ago he took a group of school kids on a trip to a tropical location. One of the kids cut his foot on some coral. The wound was scrubbed out and disinfectant applied as per generally accepted procedures for treating coral cuts. The wound healed but some weeks later the kid became unwell and was hospitalized. A short time later he died of massive infection that had entered via the coral cut. The purpose of recounting this story is to illustrate just how serious coral cuts and wounds sustained in a marine environment can be. It leaves me wondering as to the potential for litigation against dive operators who enforce a rule of no gloves on their boats.

 

[drbill]

To those who advocate touching if we know the creature, take note of a recent encounter with a Great White here in Hawaii. The op owner was free diving and "stroked" the shark. This is not a story. There is video.

My guess is he weighs in on the "OK to touch" side of this debate!

About 5 years ago Jean-Michel Cousteau rode a great white shark while free diving by holding onto its dorsal fin as it passed underneath him. Now I don't have big enough cajones to try that, but...

 

[skippy77]

i was diving in aus on the barrier reef (i am an aussie)and i saw a divemaster break a piece of coral of the reef and give it to the guest i did report him and he did loose his job the only thing u should touch is the water if u ask me

 

[coachrenz]

Hello.

My name is Tim

and I touch marine life.

As a Pacific Northwest diver and as a biology teacher, I think that touching of marine animals in moderation is just fine. Now harassing them is a different thing, but there is something to be gained from the experience of interacting with the organisms. I can argue that on a coral reef or in a more fragile environment that I would have a different perspective.

Don't get me wrong, I don't go and touch everything that I see, but I am in the camp that lifting a sea star to see what it might be eating does no harm.

I am also a beach naturalist with the Seattle Aquarium and work the beaches during low tides and remind people to return stuff to where and how they find it. Same rules underwater.

So, flame me if you want, but you know that there are more touchers out there than non-touchers, they are just afraid to admit it.

And yes, I dive solo as well. Just come and try to get my cert card from me.

Tim

 

[NadMat]

When divin' in Coz in Dec. we were told " No Knives, No Gloves, per rules of the marine sanctuary." I was fine with that, we were drift diving, no mooring rope to ascend, and I had no intentions of touching the reef. I did reach out and touched a turtle lightly that was about to run me down, and later held my hand out hoping that one of the three juvenile eagle rays circling me might come close enough for a touch. And the DM gently picked up a conch off of the bottom to show us the creature inside before placing it back on sand. The only reasons I would usually wear gloves anyway is the cold, or when diving the rigs, or to handle mooring lines, and in all cases would try to prevent actually needing to use them. So my belief is that usually best approach is hands off, but sometimes better a hand on the reef than a bodyslam, and if a marine animal approaches you then they initiated it. And if a shark tries to eat me I feel it is only fair that I get to pet them before I die

 

[scubavince]

I generally agree with the don't touch rule unless hunting, but could careless for the no gloves rule. I was hanging on a mooring line during the safety stop and got stung. Wore gloves for the rest of the dives and still manged not to touch anything.

Phil, this is the same kind of *stupid* logic that made a certain western government reject the whole idea of pollution control (the Kyoto accord) because pollution was not their sole responsibilty.....

Do you want to associate yourself with a phenomenon that shows the collective IQ of a hamster?
R..

I'm sure your not referring to the US. Home of the catalytic converter adopted mid-70's but not till '93 in the EU. So whole idea of pollution control is contained within with the Kyoto accord is absurd. It's a pretty worthless accord, China, India and Brazil are allowed to pollute to their hearts content. Very logical. Certain major western goverments on the eastern side of the Atlantic will not be able to meet their obligations under the accord. Yet, demand, in a typically arrogant holier-than-thou tone, that others sign up. Very logical. It appears that certain countries will always be seduced when an authority figures present a piece of paper with signatures.

V

 

[JMcD]

This seems to be centred on "touching" which I don't really see as the major issue. Yes, I think we should, in general, keep our hands to ourselves and avoid touching anything.

However, a recent dive in Cuba was a prime example to me of how this dialogue seems to be addressing a drop in the ocean. A number of divers on this trip were merrily swimming along with fins crashing into coral or turning around in the water and losing boyancy control (since they were no longer moving forward and didn't know how to control properly) and stepping on plant and coral life. The scope of damage made by the insensitive or incompetent diver is far in excess of the skilled exploring diver that ventures to gently touch a fish swimming by or touching a hardy lobster that is not stressing.

I agree with the concept that almost any physical interaction with the underwater world will take energy from that which I interact with. If at some point later that animal needs the energy that I forced it to expend, then perhaps it will not have what it needs to survive. So obviously no chasing or stressing: I want to simply be aware of the impact and avoid any iteractions with my fragile friends in the water.

Lets get real - the engaged and interested diving community reading this board are not the largest source of damage - the "4 vacation dives a year" diver who plows through the environmnet like a bull in a china shop is having the largest impact from the diving community. The people reading this thread - even those who will "touch" - are not impacting this environment more that a drop impacts the water level of the ocean. IMO

 

[NadMat]

Touching means to come in physical contact with, whether that be your hands (gloved or ungloved), your fins, your overly large butt, your tank as you negotiate a swim thru using poor bouyancy skills and bounce off the top, your anchor as you toss it overboard, etc...

At least IMAO

 

[getwet2]

I just came back from the Dominican and I managed to squeeze in 10 dives while I was there. I had a small dive party with me and the dive shop we were with put some people with us.

I noticed though that one of the women in the dive party was always touching stuff on the reef, or going after the fish.... and I have always held the belief... you don't touch.

Do you touch?

She must have been one of those SEEING FINGER PEOPLE, I've encountered a few of these critters in my travels. One day, hopefully, they will touch something they shouldn't and they will learn a lesson. Hopefully it will be the very painfully type of lesson with some of their young around so they will all learn together.