They say the diving industry is in decline. I hope not. However, we have all heard the stories about the individual who gets OW SCUBA certified because they are taking a trip to some great dive location, but then they stop diving afterwards. Or the ones who take it up and just get "bored" in a few months.
Obviously we need to maintain a level of excitement in diving, and make each successive diving a learning experience, to keep people "down under." How do we do that?
Today SCUBA certifications are largely based on skills and knowledge about diving techniques and equipment itself. For equipment junkies this may work. Tech divers enjoy improving their knowledge of techniques and practices well beyond the standard recreational diving certs. However, it is my opinion that for most people, learning about equipment and techniques and practicing skills is NOT what will keep them interested.
The reason I've not become bored of diving despite nearly 50 years is that I continue to learn new things (OK, so I'm a slow learner). I see new species, or observe new behaviors in species I'm already pretty familiar with despite having dived the same waters for 40 years now.
Specialty "classes" like naturalist just don't cut it. They are brief, superficial and occasionally poorly or inaccurately taught because SCUBA instructors are not trained marine biologists for the most part. They teach the fundamentals of SCUBA, but often are not equipped to expand the diver's knowledge of the marine ecosystems even in their own waters (I have seen so many make mistakes in identification and "facts").
IMHO one good way to keep divers diving, to keep them coming into retail shops for air fills and equipment, is to give them reasons to dive. REAL classes about the marine environment which bo beyond simple fish, invertebrate or algae ID would enhance the diver's understanding of what they are seeing underwater. I'm talking courses that last several sessions including topside presentations and diving.
Another focus might be for those who wish to hunt underwater. These classes would focus on fish and invertebrate identification (maybe algae ID for vegetarians?), local fish regulations, how to accurately estimate size underwater, etc.
Perhaps I'm just being a bit self-serving as my own efforts over the course of the last 40 years have been focused on marine education. However, I've met a number of divers who, after watching one of my videos, have commented on finally understanding what they were seeing underwater... or that they saw a certain behavior for the first time because they had been primed to look for it by watching one of my videos.
Obviously we need to maintain a level of excitement in diving, and make each successive diving a learning experience, to keep people "down under." How do we do that?
Today SCUBA certifications are largely based on skills and knowledge about diving techniques and equipment itself. For equipment junkies this may work. Tech divers enjoy improving their knowledge of techniques and practices well beyond the standard recreational diving certs. However, it is my opinion that for most people, learning about equipment and techniques and practicing skills is NOT what will keep them interested.
The reason I've not become bored of diving despite nearly 50 years is that I continue to learn new things (OK, so I'm a slow learner). I see new species, or observe new behaviors in species I'm already pretty familiar with despite having dived the same waters for 40 years now.
Specialty "classes" like naturalist just don't cut it. They are brief, superficial and occasionally poorly or inaccurately taught because SCUBA instructors are not trained marine biologists for the most part. They teach the fundamentals of SCUBA, but often are not equipped to expand the diver's knowledge of the marine ecosystems even in their own waters (I have seen so many make mistakes in identification and "facts").
IMHO one good way to keep divers diving, to keep them coming into retail shops for air fills and equipment, is to give them reasons to dive. REAL classes about the marine environment which bo beyond simple fish, invertebrate or algae ID would enhance the diver's understanding of what they are seeing underwater. I'm talking courses that last several sessions including topside presentations and diving.
Another focus might be for those who wish to hunt underwater. These classes would focus on fish and invertebrate identification (maybe algae ID for vegetarians?), local fish regulations, how to accurately estimate size underwater, etc.
Perhaps I'm just being a bit self-serving as my own efforts over the course of the last 40 years have been focused on marine education. However, I've met a number of divers who, after watching one of my videos, have commented on finally understanding what they were seeing underwater... or that they saw a certain behavior for the first time because they had been primed to look for it by watching one of my videos.