Split from Coral Bleaching - What are Sea Walkers?

[limbo]

bowmouth, have you never noticed that with any dive related incident, the reporters tell in about 90% of the all articles that the divers had oxygen in their tanks. Something to look out for next time you see an article in a paper about a dive incident.

 

[lord khram]

Not only news reporters, a common misconception all round in my experience.

 

[Bowmouth]

bowmouth, have you never noticed that with any dive related incident, the reporters tell in about 90% of the all articles that the divers had oxygen in their tanks. Something to look out for next time you see an article in a paper about a dive incident.

Besides the Digital Phuket Gazette and Thai Visa.com I do not read much "news" at all.
Over the years I have of course noticed that Thais (and most other Asian people) believe we divers use oxygen rather than air. I really wonder where that misconception comes from.

 

[tvh13]

It's not that bad.
Sea walker "dives" are normally done at the same place every single day. Popular places for sea walkers are often reefs with shallow water, some hard corals, lots of sand and rubble.
Damage is limited to a fairly small area.

Scuba divers inflict imo quite a bit more damage to the reefs than a relatively small number of sea-walkers in a relatively small area somewhere off a beach on a hard coral reef.

Maybe we should start another thread about this subject and get out of this coral-bleaching thread....

Yeah when I heard the term sea walker what immediately sprung to mind was the DSD guy I saw who was being dragged across the reef at Racha Yai by his tank valve last month.

 

[Bowmouth]

Yeah when I heard the term sea walker what immediately sprung to mind was the DSD guy I saw who was being dragged across the reef at Racha Yai by his tank valve last month.

Uhuh.. it's not a nice sight, often not good for the reef and not always a nice experience for the DSD "student" either.

On top of that most Instructors aren't all that thrilled either about having to do the DSD course with 1, 2, 3 or more DSD "students" who in many cases haven't ever been in a pool or other confined water place with scuba equipment on their backs.
Chances are BIG with such courses at such reefs, that the students leave a bad mark on the reef.

 

[Quero]

Not sea-walkers with surface supplied air, but similar behaviour on the part of the tour operators and the tourists. See the photo and report. Time for Phuket to Stop Killing its Coral Treasures - Phuket Wan While not scuba, the entire dive industry is painted with the same brush in this article.

 

[Arizona]

That is disturbing and no doubt a serious threat to our reefs. Sadly, even with educational efforts you will get those that don't care. Can tour operators be more accountable? If not greater supervision would most likely eventually come about. In some ways that can be sad for responsible snorkelers/divers, as I really enjoy the freedom one has when diving and snorkeling in Thailand.

 

[Bowmouth]

Thailand has chosen the path of unsustainable, barely controlled, low-quality mass-tourism rather than sustainable, controlled, high quality (eco- friendly) tourism.

That's where the real problem lies.

 

[lord khram]

Thailand has chosen the path of unsustainable, barely controlled, low-quality mass-tourism rather than sustainable, controlled, high quality (eco- friendly) tourism.

That's where the real problem lies.

Couldn't agree more.
Over the years I have been visiting / living in Thailand I have noticed that the authorities, companies and individuals alike, that are involved with the tourism industry only seem to care about todays profit, none of them seem to think about what is going to happen in the future.
Lets all hope something changes before it is too late, but somehow I very much doubt it.

 

[Bowmouth]

Lets all hope something changes before it is too late, but somehow I very much doubt it.

I doubt so too.

If history has taught us something, it is that we "humanoids" hardly ever learn from our mistakes...