Have you damaged a dive site ?

[AltonK]

We've all done it accidently and everyone including myself should be more aware of it.

Tell me what happened the last time you accidently damaged a reef or whatever benthos you dive and what you can do to prevent it.

Down here in Florida we get a lot of new divers and I think it would be great for them to hear from some of the seasoned vets how they dive to avoid damaging the enviroment, and what they see as the most common causes of damage.


My personal pet peeves are that sea fans are not subway handrails to stop in a current. And of course the tail dragers that plow the reef with their fins.

Dive head down, feet up and don't touch.

 

[AltonK]

I've been diving for more than 20 yrs. and no matter how careful I am, If I'm honest to myself I probaly did some small amount of damage everytime I'm down there. It's not on purpose mind you, but you get focused on a gear or buddy issue and drift a little low, scraping the bottom with a fin.

You want to get that great shot and hold on to what looks like dead rock to stop against the current damaging the thin layer of encrusting sponge that to 3 years to establish itself there..

You land fins down to write something on your slate in whats looks like benign sand and crush the home of a jawfish that you wouldn't even se unless you hung out there for 20 minutes.

by talking about the mistakes maybe we can help some of the begginers be aware and help save our favorite places.

 

[AllenG]

I must certainly acknowledge that I have, on occasion, damaged coral due to my own mistakes. On reflection, however, I am struck by the fact most of my "Close Encounters" (whether actually resulting in the clipping of coral or just an avoided hit) were the result of another diver running into me or my trying to quickly get out of the way when another diver was about to do someting perilous like fin me in the face. Divers (new and old) seem to lose awareness of their body size and parts; they become like a teenager who, after a growth spurt, trips over his own feet. Perhaps some instructors can orient their students to this issue of body part awareness and dive etiquette?

 

[ikan bilis]

had damaged some rocks with possibly some corals on them while finning against a current...that was during my advanced course...

now what i do is to survey the ground first and always to know my whereabouts in relation to the surrounding features

 

[jonnythan]

What's a reef?! You mean like those cars I find in the quarry? I moved the steering wheel around.. does that count?

 

[vicky]

A few years ago we were diving in Ras Um Sid (Sinai) and we met a group of Italian divers who were diving from a boat. The guide provided the divers with gloves. Not neoprene gloves. He gave them rugged-canvas gloves, the type used for gardening, so they can hold the corals without damaging their delicate hands...
One of the divers was distracted taking photos and didin't noticed that the current threw him right into a huge gorgonian fan coral which he tore out of place (RIP). In total, A single group of about 10 divers made such an amount of damage... Most probably that it was because of the attitude: giving them these types of gloves was like telling them "it is OK to grab anything, just be careful not to get scrathes on your hands"...

And I feel so bad when accidentally I touch a coral or raise a bit of sand. Fortunately it seldom happens...

 

[AltonK]

I agree Bonaire and many other places are outlawing gloves so that the corals can fight back

 

[MissAmberDiva]

Not that I am aware of. I am always very very very careful. I always make sure I am not kicking the coral with my fins. I've been on dives where I look I up and there's someone standing on top of the coral and I want to kick em' in the head!!!
I may have done some minimal damage on my dives, but nothing major that I know of.

 

[Bob3]

As a marine contractor we'd sometimes have to rip old wrecks apart to run walls, pipelines, etc. Some of the good stuff would wind up at the local museum (after the crew got their choice of lawn ornaments).

 

[caymaniac]

not done some damage to a piece of coral or gregorian. Now I believe that when something like this happens you must think to yourself how can I avoid this in the future. Incidents like this make a great reason to learn better bouancy skills as well as reconfiguring your hoses. One of the reasons that I have an A.I. computer, and my octo is a AirII type, is because when I might come back to this dive site, I want it to look as good as when I first came to it.

Change is a difficult aspect in our lives and yet it is one thing that is inevitable.
Caymaniac