Reducing User Pressure on Coral Reefs
7 December 2011, 4:11 pm

The ever increasing number of scuba divers and snorkelers is leading to growing concerns about the amount of damage these users cause to coral reefs. Underwater recreational activities, including both scuba diving and snorkeling, allow us to explore the amazing underwater world and its beautiful marine creatures – but what if we end up destroying it? We need to give serious attention to improve our diving – or snorkeling – skills and managing our behaviour underwater.

Various studies have been conducted to assess diver impact by following divers, observing their underwater behavior and recording reef damage. The studies identified the following major contacts made by divers – and some snorkelers:

-   fining/kicking against the bottom

-   kneeling/standing on the bottom

-   clutching/holding corals

-   touching corals

-   dragging equipment

How do these activities cause damage? Fin kicking is the greatest threat as it causes breakage and abrasion of living corals and reduces visibility from the stirred up sediments. Even though these impacts may be unintentional, the impact to the coral reef can be lethal and the injured corals may take years to recover. The studies also noticed that some divers hold onto corals while diving in strong currents or to gain control of their movements.

But how much damage do divers really cause? The studies measured damage rate in “frequency of break/contact per minute”, and the amount of damage was found to vary widely among individuals. Generally, increasing reef contact and damage were highest among “unlimited diving” groups and unsupervised day and night dives. It was reported that divers using cameras have significantly more contacts with the reef than those without cameras (1.6 breaks per 10 minutes versus 0.3 breaks per 10 minutes). Imagine the damage done by a group of unsupervised divers with cameras, diving for about 50 minutes. How much more damage can our remaining coral reefs take?

Here are some things divers do that contribute to reef damage. Are you one of these divers? Have you seen this before?

Harassing turtle while holding onto live coral Playing with Sea Urchins Grabbing Sea Anemone and disturbing Anemone fish Bumping into corals while searching for cryptic critters Overcrowding underwater- unregulated group sizes Photographer with bulky camera landing on live corals Standing on live coral Underwater gleaning for curio collection/personal hobby So what can we do? Any experienced diver knows that no-one can dive perfectly when they first get certified. So perhaps dive training should encompass more environmental education to educate divers on their environmental protection responsibilities, while providing them with ways to perfect neutral buoyancy. As evidence to support this, research shows that guided diving effectively reduces the frequency of reef contact from 0.3 to 0.1 contacts per minute. Meanwhile, a short briefing or educational talk prior to diving also helped in stimulating divers consciously to avoid unnecessary contacts with living reef communities.

Divers need to bear in mind that a little effort will make big difference. Coral reefs continue to deteriorate from both natural threats (such as global warming and mass coral bleaching) and anthropogenic impacts such as sewage pollution, sedimentation, destructive fishing practices, poor solid waste disposal system and coastal development. There is a clear need for more serious attention to managing our declining natural resources. If the current degradation continues unabated, more than half of the world’s coral reefs may be lost in the near future. Therefore, the remaining reefs require immediate actions to minimize localized stresses and build up resilience to help reefs adapt to the changing climate.

What can you do to save the coral reefs?

•   Be a responsible diver and snorkeler – practice good buoyancy control, never harass or  touch marine life

•   Be a responsible underwater photographer and videographer – avoid contact with the bottom, check the surroundings before landing if you must, and land only on sand or dead corals but not LIVE corals

•   Be an EcoDiver – take up the EcoDiver training course and participate in coral reef surveys

•   Support marine conservation – report observations or environmental issues noticed to the relevant authorities (dive shop, marine park, Reef Check, etc)

•   Participate in environmental awareness programmes to help safeguard our marine resources

•   Remember always: “take only photographs and leave only footprints”

Source: Reef Check Malaysia