WtF: The Decline in Scuba Participation

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boulderjohn

Technical Instructor
Scuba Instructor
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Location
Boulder, CO
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I wanted to publish this over several posts. I wrote it out as a word processing document first, planning to copy/paste it into ScubaBoard, but I discovered that I could only copy/paste a few lines at a time for some reason. That was too much work, so I saved it as a PDF, which is attached here.

There have been too many threads over the years about the decline in scuba participation, but I believe the perspective in this post is different from what I recall in those threads. Those past threads focused on what the scuba industry can do to turn it around, but, sadly, I question if there is much of anything they can do at all.
 

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It's a worthy topic. If you look at little kids, the work-to-fun issue is key; an activity has to get fun fast to engage and hold them. The main exception comes when some get older and play school sports; the workouts building athletic capability for the actual games are not 'quick fun.'

A number of adult activities look like more trouble than they're worth on the face of it. You wrote of the diminishing payoff of a deteriorating underwater coralscape, which led me to ponder what I get out of the dive hobby. I enjoy...

1.) Planning the trip.
2.) The diving itself, and some of the topside experience.
3.) Amassing my snapshot photos of it.
4.) Writing trip reports and research notes to share on the forum in hopes they'll help someone else.
5.) Reminiscing over time about the trip, and a sense that my life has been enriched by having these special experiences as a part of it.
6.) Hoping to inspire our daughter to have a well-traveled life taking advantages of opportunities she's blessed with.

But a lot of prospective divers aren't thinking like that. They think in terms of seeing what's down there while they're there as the main payoff. If that's all there is to it, then yes, the coralscape better be mind-blowing.

But there's more to diving than coral. A number of destinations offer good diving without a strong coralscape. I'm thinking of...

1.) Morehead City, North Carolina - deep offshore wrecks with sand tiger sharks and other creatures.
2.) Jupiter, Florida.
3.) California (where the kelp has suffered greatly, granted).
4.) The Galapagos Islands.

I know we have a member who enjoys wreck diving in the Great Lakes. Some people love cave diving.

Perhaps the recreational scuba 'industry' needs to market a broader spectrum of experiences more so than it does now?
 
the industry only feels like it is dying, the numbers per dema are fairly flat and can be argued is mainly a consequence from reaching market saturation in the west. not everyone wants to become a diver. the crowd being older is just due to finances.

if the industry wants growth, it should be looking at the middle east and asia.
 
I think as a species, fewer humans go out an "do" things than we did before. We don't go on multi-week camping trips, cross-county motorcycle rides, we don't split our own firewood and grow gardens. Instead we watch documentaries about the many ways our environment is declining and we think "Someone should do something about that" as we go to the fridge for another beverage. If it is not web-connected, hobbies are dying off. I don't know how to turn that around though. Unplug?
 
A discouraging PDF for sure. I've only had one tropical trip (Panama), which I thought was great, but nothing to compare it to other than videos.
The shop where I worked here seems to be going strong as always (started in 1997). But there is only one other in the area, then none for maybe 100 miles. Seems they're always doing OW and con ed courses (at times in winter even) and getting new stuff in the shop.
Agree that you have to have goals that make the work of diving worth it. Any goal will do. For me of course it's shell collecting, but also the idea of just getting wet. For a while it was the DM thing. But yeah, sometimes just diving locally makes me think about whether it's worth it. Lots of sites (12-13?), but the same ones all the time. And I have found specimens of most northern shells, which are less attractive than in the South. Before Covid and other reasons (health for one), we spent 3 winter months on the FL panhandle. There was a reason to go diving for sure, shore or boat.

Since moving from the boonies to the suburbs, I don't seem to have a reason to do stuff outdoors, other than lawn mowing & snow shoveling. That's maybe another reason to keep diving regularly (weekly in summer, bi-weekly winter). Gives me a reason to go somewhere and do something outdoors. It's been a while since I've just gone for a swim, and you can walk to the water from our house here.
Like playing the clarinet, you have to have a reason to practice. A place to play. Maybe in 2022 I'll get across the border for my NYC summer gigs. That will make it a full 3 years without.
 
I've been meaning to do some research and make a thread similar to this, except more about costs of diving vs. disposable income now and "then". I'm very curious how wages, cost of living, and cost of diving for young people compared in 1970 to now. I think that's a bigger factor than fun or health of reefs. People just have less time and money due to depressed wages now. By definition "shifting baselines" mean new divers don't know what they're missing on the reef.

The shifting baselines in marine ecosystem degradation are very sad and disturbing though. Even here in New England I hear a lot of "fish stories" about what it was like decades ago. So many species have been overfished, invasives have moved in, and offshore the bottom has been crosshatched by trawls. But other things are getting better. Water quality is drastically improving with pollution controls. Some fisheries are well managed and there is hope for the future on that front.

Wrecks are also on the decline - since the advent of better navigational safety protocols and technology like GPS and AIS, there are simply fewer new wrecks. Those that do happen get commercially salvaged quickly. The old wrecks are collapsing debris fields picked clean of brass and artifacts. Efforts to make artificial reefs are few and far between.

But there is still so much incredible beauty to see out there. It is critically important that people go out and experience these places, to be there, to feel connected, and to become stewards and ambassadors. We need to get more young people into diving. And we need to make it more accessible and affordable. I'm one of the youngest ""hardcore"" divers around here, but I'm only able to feed this obsession because I have more disposable time and income than most people in my cohort.
 
I wanted to publish this over several posts. I wrote it out as a word processing document first, planning to copy/paste it into ScubaBoard, but I discovered that I could only copy/paste a few lines at a time for some reason. That was too much work, so I saved it as a PDF, which is attached here..

Don’t feel bad, my iPad just ignored my download clicky thingie of your pdf
 
I've been meaning to do some research and make a thread similar to this, except more about costs of diving vs. disposable income now and "then". I'm very curious how wages, cost of living, and cost of diving for young people compared in 1970 to now. I think that's a bigger factor than fun or health of reefs. People just have less time and money due to depressed wages now. By definition "shifting baselines" mean new divers don't know what they're missing on the reef.

The shifting baselines in marine ecosystem degradation are very sad and disturbing though. Even here in New England I hear a lot of "fish stories" about what it was like decades ago. So many species have been overfished, invasives have moved in, and offshore the bottom has been crosshatched by trawls. But other things are getting better. Water quality is drastically improving with pollution controls. Some fisheries are well managed and there is hope for the future on that front.

Wrecks are also on the decline - since the advent of better navigational safety protocols and technology like GPS and AIS, there are simply fewer new wrecks. Those that do happen get commercially salvaged quickly. The old wrecks are collapsing debris fields picked clean of brass and artifacts. Efforts to make artificial reefs are few and far between.

But there is still so much incredible beauty to see out there. It is critically important that people go out and experience these places, to be there, to feel connected, and to become stewards and ambassadors. We need to get more young people into diving. And we need to make it more accessible and affordable. I'm one of the youngest ""hardcore"" divers around here, but I'm only able to feed this obsession because I have more disposable time and income than most people in my cohort.
I don't know about artificial wrecks being few & far between. Seems I'm always reading about the latest thing that's been sunk.
 
I've been meaning to do some research and make a thread similar to this, except more about costs of diving vs. disposable income now and "then". I'm very curious how wages, cost of living, and cost of diving for young people compared in 1970 to now. I think that's a bigger factor than fun or health of reefs. People just have less time and money due to depressed wages now. By definition "shifting baselines" mean new divers don't know what they're missing on the reef.

The shifting baselines in marine ecosystem degradation are very sad and disturbing though. Even here in New England I hear a lot of "fish stories" about what it was like decades ago. So many species have been overfished, invasives have moved in, and offshore the bottom has been crosshatched by trawls. But other things are getting better. Water quality is drastically improving with pollution controls. Some fisheries are well managed and there is hope for the future on that front.

Wrecks are also on the decline - since the advent of better navigational safety protocols and technology like GPS and AIS, there are simply fewer new wrecks. Those that do happen get commercially salvaged quickly. The old wrecks are collapsing debris fields picked clean of brass and artifacts. Efforts to make artificial reefs are few and far between.

But there is still so much incredible beauty to see out there. It is critically important that people go out and experience these places, to be there, to feel connected, and to become stewards and ambassadors. We need to get more young people into diving. And we need to make it more accessible and affordable. I'm one of the youngest ""hardcore"" divers around here, but I'm only able to feed this obsession because I have more disposable time and income than most people in my cohort.

Wrecks are definitely on the decline but at least where I'm at in the Northeast they are far from being picked over -- artifacts come up every trip. We are still out there finding new wrecks to dive too.
 
There's loads of wrecks around the UK and loads of artifacts too.

The main challenge is diving on them. Aside from the weather, many of the "nicer" wrecks are at the limits of recreational diving or beyond, requiring some deco time in cold, dark, tidal and frequent poor visibility.

Thus there's the training and skills development commitment; the kit and caboodle required; gas, etc. And our lovely British weather which cancels a large proportion of the dives. In other words, it's no OW bimble with newbies. It really does require some commitment and experience.

Given that in the past decade or so people seem to not be so bothered at putting the time and effort into "traditional" passtimes, there's a definite feel of decline in numbers. Certainly a decline in the number of dive boats going out and a drastic reduction of local dive shops.


Chatting to the skipper last weekend (three days of lovely English Channel wreck diving), he's being screwed by the Covid restrictions of only 6 divers on the boat (it takes 12) and is saying that if this doesn't continue, our diving rates will be pushed up a lot (currently around £60/€70/$80).

Diving's a lovely day out though. Nice to be on the sea, chatting to some nice people, enjoying a dive, then giving the boat back afterwards.
 
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