WtF: The Decline in Scuba Participation

[Eric Sedletzky]

I tried to link to data sites that used to be available, but they do not seem to be around now. The numbers of certifications I remember from the early 1970s to about 2000 (and cannot find now) are simply huge. The number of divers back than simply does not compare to the number of divers now. I ebates such as this, I used to go online and find the links to PADI statistics for certifications since their inception, but those pages do not seem to be out there now. (The following paragraph includes links that will tell you that the PADI numbers dominate the industry, and the sources are not PADI and are critical of them for lack of full information.)

I haven't looked at statistics like this for a while, and when I searched, it was interesting. Information that used to be available is not available now. The lack of data about scuba today is remarkable, as this article says. It suggests that information is not being given out because the agencies don't want people to see a decline. This article does a better job than I have seen elsewhere in trying to estimate current (even post-Covid) issues, but it admits that it cannot tell because of the lack of concrete data.

Are those global numbers that PADI is proud of?
Because 50 years ago it was the US that was the predominant country that was involved with scuba diving.
Recreational scuba diving started in Southern California as Sam Miller will tell you quite proudly I might add.
So in 1971 (about 20 years after it made a debut) how many tropical resorts were there around the world? Where was most of the diving happening?(excluding the very few lucky adventurous ones that were able to find their way to the far reaches of the globe to explore the oceans).
Was it the quarries in Texas somewhere or off the shores of New York? How many divers were there in Boulder Colorado at that time and where did they fly to go diving?
So let’s look at the concentration of the divers at that time in the geographical area where the diving was actually taking place. Were there more divers per capita then or now?
The LA basin is a very big place. I’m just trying to determine what the ratio was then as opposed to now, disregarding the rest of the country, and also disregarding the rest of the world.
A poster had mentioned that Asian countries are starting to develop strong middle classes and those people have disposable income are choosing to scuba dive now.
That great for them and I’m sure it’s fortifying the global numbers, but it’s not helping our domestic numbers any.
Saying that there are more divers today than 50 years ago is true, of course there is because diving has become global. But it’s also not a fair comparison because 50 years ago recreational diving was still mostly limited to smaller geographical areas, but the numbers in those areas might have been healthier.
What I do know is that diving did not actually begin to decline until the Great Recession. A lot of things seriously declined during that time.

 

[ginti]

Guys, I believe most of you are speaking for personal experiences, aren't you? Just out of curiosity - are you aware of any report from a diving industry big player with some data?

Ok, maybe I am the only one interested in these numbers... but here you are:
https://www.dema.org/store/download.aspx?id=7811B097-8882-4707-A160-F999B49614B6
Scuba Diving Participation in 2014

In 2014 there were 3.174 million divers in America, now between 2.7 and 3.5. Most of these people do not dive a lot. It seems that the population is more or less stable. Also, most OW divers are actually young: 50% of divers are younger than 26. Well, it is not very clear how they define a diver.

EDIT: I am reading now the link provided by @boulderjohn ... my conclusions may change soon

EDIT2: so, these estimates allow for an increase or a decrease, but the articles linked in previous posts highlight that it is probably a (pretty strong) decrease in volumes, but there is a huge lack of data, so reaching a "final" conclusion is hard

 

[David Novo]

Ok, maybe I am the only one interested in these numbers... but here you are:
https://www.dema.org/store/download.aspx?id=7811B097-8882-4707-A160-F999B49614B6
Scuba Diving Participation in 2014

In 2014 there were 3.174 million divers in America, now between 2.7 and 3.5. Most of these people do not dive a lot. It seems that the population is more or less stable. Also, most OW divers are actually young: 50% of divers are younger than 26. Well, it is not very clear how they define a diver.

EDIT: I am reading now the link provided by @boulderjohn ... my conclusions may change soon

An OW certified individual may not qualify as a diver for any relevant purpose, if he/she did not dive again after the course. So there are c. 3M people that dive in the US or c. 3M OW certified?

 

[ginti]

An OW certified individual may not qualify as a diver for any relevant purpose, if he/she did not dive again after the course. So there are c. 3M people that dive in the US or c. 3M OW certified?

I just reported what they say; I also provided the link - it's clearly OW divers, and often they do only 1 dive per year

 

[David Novo]

and often they do only 1 dive per year

Or never dive again! Some just do the course on a "been there, done that" basis.

 

[Centrals]

1. Plenty of local dive shops around.
2. I dive more or less solely in SE Asia and still met plenty of divers from all over the world until the virus set in.

It is a recreational sport so plenty of new comers to replace those who "retired". Similar as skiing.

It can never ever replace football(soccer) as the most popular sport in the world.

 

[EdC]

This may not be widespread and possibly just anecdotal, but I see divers in my area sometimes being poor ambassadors for the sport. I have seen excited kids and families asking questions to divers at lakes, beaches etc. get some pretty crappy answers about local diving.

instead of telling them how great being underwater is regardless of the scenery/animal life, they get the it’s cold, not much to see, it’s not like the Caribbean type answers. They make it seem like you have to go through BUD/S in Coronado to be able to float around in a cove in NE. I think it is an ego thing to make diving seem like an elite accomplishment but, the attitude definitely puts people off. I try to let people know how beautiful NE waters are in a very different way than warmer places, and kids love to hear that with patience and a little broken open mussel you can pet a fish.

if you wanted to promote hiking in Yellowstone, you are not going to harp on bear attacks and blisters over the benefits of getting out there and seeing the place up close.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

This may not be widespread and possibly just anecdotal, but I see divers in my area sometimes being poor ambassadors for the sport. I have seen excited kids and families asking questions to divers at lakes, beaches etc. get some pretty crappy answers about local diving.

instead of telling them how great being underwater is regardless of the scenery/animal life, they get the it’s cold, not much to see, it’s not like the Caribbean type answers. They make it seem like you have to go through BUD/S in Coronado to be able to float around in a cove in NE. I think it is an ego thing to make diving seem like an elite accomplishment but, the attitude definitely puts people off. I try to let people know how beautiful NE waters are in a very different way than warmer places, and kids love to hear that with patience and a little broken open mussel you can pet a fish.

if you wanted to promote hiking in Yellowstone, you are not going to harp on bear attacks and blisters over the benefits of getting out there and seeing the place up close.

This is not just divers doing this. It is instructors, shops, and DEMA. I have to walk away at various inland training sites when I hear instructors tell students on checkouts that "now that they have a card, they never have to dive here again." Instead of trying to get them excited about even being underwater and showing them the diversity of life in a local spot, they start trying to sell a shop trip to some warm water destination that will eat up many people's budget for diving for the next two years or more if they had used it to dive locally.
Instead of getting them to slow down and focus on the blue gill nests where there may be hundreds of eggs just getting ready to hatch, or newly hatched schools swimming in the grass, they rush them in and out.
Then instead of creating a diver who dives locally and may spend a lot of money on gear at they shop to do that, they sell them the trip where they will rent gear. Then the shop whines about on line sales.
A few years ago the then DEMA board president had a another board member who knew me pretty well, call me. He called me to tell me to tone down my criticism of their lack of support for local diving and independent instructors.
None of which was false and is still true of them. I told that member to relay the message that when they actually did something useful, that I would. And I became more vocal until it became clear that they don't care. Then I decided to move into another area of focus.
The industry does little to support local diving and get people excited about it. Instructors have to do that. I am proud of the fact that I try to get my students to the point where they nearly have an orgasm over getting face to face with a bluegill or catfish. I don't promote trips to long distance locations. Every student is welcome to come back and join me on the local dives that I do within their level of training and experience.

 

[boulderjohn]

they start trying to sell a shop trip to some warm water destination that will eat up many people's budget for diving for the next two years or more if they had used it to dive locally.

Sadly for many shops in inland sites like that, those trips are their prime source of income. Without divers on those trips, they would go out of business. If you read those articles to which I linked, you will see that PADI is not releasing the kind of information it did only recently, and SSI is primarily bragging about taking shops away from PADI. SSI did indeed take a lot of shops away from PADI here in Colorado, and it all happened in a matter of months. The reason was that PADI went into the travel business and began advertising its travel business to the people whose emails were in their database because of certification. The shops saw PADI as a competitor for their chief source of income and switched, and they were conferring with each other when they did.

 

[Bigbella]

When I first began diving, it was well before shops became glorified travel agencies; and they stressed local diving above anything else. The YMCA program certainly wasn't selling junkets to Roatan -- nor was NAUI, when I hit college; regardless, I was a near-broke kid at that time, hunting for yet another Summer job; and travel, aside from a few hours on the road, pitching in for gas, was definitely out of the question.

A friend, who ran a shop in the late 1970s-80s, anticipated those eventual changes to the industry, having commented that, once expensive gear was purchased, it was seen as "one and done," outside of air-fills, repairs, and the few classes then offered -- that it was the tightest of niche markets, even then. His first shop was run, part-time, from his garage; and his primary gig, was as a lineman and lifer for PG&E . . .