Do you touch?

[NadMat]

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.

On that note, on Dec trip to Coz(first bluewater in way too long) we were drifting along the sandy bottom between a couple of coral pinnacles on the first day when I saw what looked like a spear from a spear gun sticking out of bottom. first impulse was to grab it, but instead got DM's attention and showed it to him. He swam around to side and used his little metal rod that he used as tank banger to gently poke at sand, low and behold, large stingray hidden under sand, with nothing but 'stinger' showing rose and swam off. Had I been a FINGER PERSON, I would have recieved a very nasty lesson.

 

[porsc]

first off, touching just about anything will not kill it. as one of my degrees is in marine biology, i did a lot of research while in school, and afterwards, and furthermore worked with a great many marine aquariums over the years.
people need to understand that the marine world is not a delicate world, it is a very harsh world. these animals are at war 24/7, both physically and chemically. 98% of the animals on the reef are more hardy than you or i. they can withstand greater trauma than we can, and continue on with life. people are always so worried about breaking a piece of coral, but that is actually a natural method of reproduction for a great variety of coral species; it's called budding, or asexual reproduction.
now, all of that said, i am definitely not advertising or condoning divers breaking corals or bumping into them, or any other drastic interactions with them. but our interactions with all of the marine life, unless it's intentionally abusive, is not a bad thing. there are very few species on a reef that aren't running for their lives everyday. so *GENTLE* interactions with od-ball creatures like us, isn't nearly as stressful for most of them as we tend to think. however, i can understand the notion of teaching new divers not to touch for the obvious reason of the slippery slope, and the fact that there are definite safety issues with touching the wrong things. and the fact is that most divers don't bother to educate themselves well enough to know what they can and can not touch.
so, while i agree with teaching the "no touch" system to new or uneducated divers, i further support the pursuit of becoming more educated on as many of our submarine friends as is possible.

 

[siebharinn]

Forbidding gloves as a means to keep divers from touching things make about as much sense as forbidding seatbelts as a means to keep drivers from speeding or driving recklessly. "Experienced" divers not needing gloves makes about as much sense as "experienced" drivers not needing seatbelts. It's a piece of safety gear, not an excuse to do something stupid.

 

[Argos]

How did this come about? Is Greenpeace/PADI putting this out? I have yet to see the dead fish washing ashore near some of my favorite sites.

I have seen a fish with a large chunk taken out of him, and then a month later see the same (i think) fish, a little thinner, but I'm guessing the same albeit missing some flesh. I've wrestled a large tako (octopus) that got away whom I believe had a run-in with an eel (it only had 6 arms). What about all those wild dolphin encounters, are they causing wide spread destruction? I firmly believe that our environment is stronger than most people think (notice I did not say healthier).

Yes, don't hold down that turtle, don't wiggle your fingers in front of a moray and don't chip away at the coral... but why shouldn't you touch the pretty fish? What is the harm in flipping over that rock to get that lobster? I'm personally in the opinion that what little contact we scuba divers have, the educational benefits are much greater. Now gill nets, that's a different story...

Again, I'm not trying to start a fire here, but I fail to see the negative impact that scuba divers cause in the large scope of things.

I will try to answer your various questions in a short manner without being detrimental to other divers...........Point is you know what you can touch. Did you know this when you first started diving? I doubt it. Secondly there are a lot of divers out there that have, unfortunately, no respect for the U/W life forms so a general "BAN" on touching things seems to me to be in order. Of course there are always exceptions about interaction with wild animals.
I remeber one occasion whilst working on Bonaire. I had the "pleasure" of seeing a diver get the flesh ripped off his finger by a Moray that he had hit on the head with one hand so he could get a good shot with the camera he was holding in the other....It was the first day of his diving holiday, also the last cos he couldn't dive again for 1 month. Personaly I don't touch animals or corals.........Getting back to that pirates treasure..............

 

[NadMat]

Forbidding gloves as a means to keep divers from touching things make about as much sense as forbidding seatbelts as a means to keep drivers from speeding or driving recklessly. "Experienced" divers not needing gloves makes about as much sense as "experienced" drivers not needing seatbelts. It's a piece of safety gear, not an excuse to do something stupid.

But both would work wonders with idiots who could then kill themselves off, or a least come near enough that perhaps they would stop and think about possible consequenses (sp?) of their actions in future. Think of it as "evolution in action". Nothing teaches hot as well as a burned hand. The world is overcrowded with idiots anyway, a few less might be a good thing. I know lack of gloves in cozumel made me extra aware to keep from any contact with coral, although I would have been careful anyway.

 

[fishb0y]

Did you know this when you first started diving? I doubt it. [\QUOTE]

I remeber one occasion whilst working on Bonaire. I had the "pleasure" of seeing a diver get the flesh ripped off his finger by a Moray that he had hit on the head with one hand so he could get a good shot with the camera he was holding in the other[\QUOTE]
I didn't think many people need PADI to tell me not to fondle the eel with the sharp jagged teeth... I am also a believer in Darwinism and I am sure that the guy learned from his experience.

 

[Scuba Jerm]

I've been taught never to touch the reef. Even if I see the dive master touch a dead part I still won't do it. Bit of a "reef hugger" ya know.

 

[StSomewhere]

Forbidding gloves as a means to keep divers from touching things make about as much sense as forbidding seatbelts as a means to keep drivers from speeding or driving recklessly. "Experienced" divers not needing gloves makes about as much sense as "experienced" drivers not needing seatbelts. It's a piece of safety gear, not an excuse to do something stupid.

Bull. People without gloves (experienced or not) will learn very quickly to keep there damned hands off the live coral. That is a less, IMO, they need to learn early on. I didn't always believe this, but my last two dive trips have convinced me there is no other way for some people to get a clue.

 

[DiverBuoy]

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!!!!

how will that stop divers from diving places where they don't check the cert at all?

 

[Calamari68]

Some countries have banned the use of dive gloves to protect their reefs. This is an excellent move, more should implement such a ban. With the exception of cold water diving and wrecks.

Why cold water diving? Is there no underwater life in the cold water? Let's ban gloves all together! And wetsuits too.... as they allow ppl to kneel, rub up gainst, and brush up on coral!

I totally agree and to follow that, there are some really unsafe intersections on some roads around here. some people drive through them carlessly and cause accidents and injure people. So people should be required to get out and push their cars through the intersection, then get back in and drive off! Think of the savings in lives and pollution. I mean just because some idiots drive carelessly, we need to create a law that applies to everyone!

While you are at it, there are many people that put gum under desks. This causes germs and disease to spread. Not to mention that people get it on their clothes and such. Therefore we should implement a gum-free world. I mean just because most people don't put gum under their desks is of no consiquence. NO ONE should be allowed to chew gum.

Finally, I think a quick study would find that 99.99999999% of all incidents of people physically causing harm to underwater life happens when the person is underwater for longer than five breaths. So to help save the underwater world, I think we should ban any equipment that allows a person to be underwater for longer than five breaths. So people should not be allowed to carry anything but a 2-liter plastic container.... This should solve everything!

Sarcasm filter back on....

Please don't save me from myself!!!!!