Reef-World: The Scuba Diving Industry Holds Optimism for Reef's Future

7 May, 2021 - Scuba diving and snorkelling is one of the few industries that can create seismic shifts in their customer’s environmental perspectives on an almost daily basis. We’ve lost count of the number of times a newly minted diver has “fallen in love” or had their “mind blown” by their first glimpses of the hustle and bustle on a reef.

Sadly, we know that these colourful and charismatic ecosystems are already significantly degraded from their natural states. Perhaps if we’d been able to spend time on reefs 100 years ago we would have had trouble swimming through dense schools of fish or keeping a respectful distance from sharks and other apex predators. Today, in many places, we’d be lucky to spot either; a sign of a weaker ecosystem and a food web unable to support its trophic levels. 

Reefs are threatened by global scale threats - most significantly the impacts of climate change - and by local threats like overfishing or irresponsible tourism. Continuing with ‘business as usual’ means we’ll lose functioning reefs by 2050. 

This is hardly a surprise to the scuba diving and snorkelling industry; they see the daily changes on the reefs, help monitor the impacts of vast bleaching events and clean up our trash from the beaches and oceans. Many are taking further action by ensuring their operations don’t add to the laundry list of threats faced by coral reefs. Initiatives like Green Fins, from the UN Environment and The Reef-World Foundation, help set the standards for dive and snorkel operations and support these committed businesses to meet those standards through training and consultations.

Likewise, the scientific community has been trying to underscore coral reefs as the canaries in our global coal mine for years - they are set to be the first ecosystems that may disappear due to the impacts of climate change, likely in our lifetimes. Increasingly, the international political community has been recognising the need to address threats to coral reefs in multilateral environmental agreements, like the Convention of Biological Diversity. The agreements set humanity’s intentions for preserving and sustainably using biological resources that trickle down through national to local action. 

The scuba diving and snorkelling industry are loud and proud reef allies, just take a look at these quotes from Green Fins members around the world:

PEI SEE - BUBBLES DIVE CENTRE, MALAYSIA

“When we started Bubbles, we had a vision to run a conservation project as well as an education station for anything related to marine studies. We are located on a very unique cove in which the coral formation is very interesting. We can show the guests what a “stable coral reef” looks like. Through real life show and tell we find that our guests learn a great deal about coral reefs while staying with us, and they will carry the message in continuing to educate and protect the great treasure we have. This not only gives us a growth in business, it also creates job openings for young Malaysians who want to pursue this field. It is always our pleasure to share the beauty of nature, and to conserve them.”

DAVID MCCANN - SCUBA JUNKIE MABUL, MALAYSIA 

“We believe that, as divers and snorkellers, we are fortunate to experience the joy and beauty of the underwater world and with this comes a duty to protect and conserve. As a dive operator, this is not just a moral obligation, but also a sound business decision. From a moral perspective: we love diving, so we should do what we can to protect the reefs, and be sensitive to the needs of the local communities whose livelihoods and sustenance comes from the reefs on which our operations are based – for both now, and for the generations in the future. From a business perspective: we want our operations to continue to exist so we need to take care of the reefs. Healthy reef means healthy business.”

KIM SOKKAR - SCUBA SEEKERS, EGYPT

“While coral reefs only comprise a small fraction of the seafloor, their importance to both the natural and human world is complex and multi-faceted, making conservation of this unique ecosystem imperative. Not only are coral reefs nursery grounds to 25% of all known marine species and 33% of all known fish species, but marine plants account for our largest source of oxygen. They also protect an estimated 200 million people from natural disasters and rising sea levels as reef systems quite literally absorb wave energy which lessens the effect of storm damage as well as coastal erosion. Throw in new medical discoveries derived from coral inhabitants and the revenue streams the diving and snorkelling tourism industry brings in and you can see why preserving coral reefs should be a global priority.”

KELVIN LIM - FLORA BAY DIVERS, MALAYSIA

“Coral reefs play a very important role in the ecosystem. It's the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet. Without corals, it's like living in a world without trees. Malaysia is part of the Coral Triangle; home to more than 75% of the world's coral species. It provides food sources and employment for millions around the world, especially coastal communities. “

TOVA BORNOVSKI - FISH ‘N FINS, PALAU

“The Republic of Palau in the western Pacific has been isolated since the end of March 2020 and closed its gates to incoming flights. This resulted with Palau being one of the few countries without any cases of COVID19 but no income at all for tourism related businesses.

The reefs and marine life have been thriving as minimum boats visited the dive and snorkelling spots. Increased number of reef fish, huge schools of sharks and mantas are coming over to check the “strange” creatures called divers, that rarely visit the sites, as if they are saying, we miss you!”

The international government community has historically been slow to recognise marine biodiversity issues within international environmental agreements (the blueprints used by governments to create their environmental programmes) but this has ramped up significantly in the last decade or so. The International Coral Reef Initiative is an informal partnership of countries, academic institutions and NGOs with a vested interest in coral reefs and their protection. They act as the global advisory committee for the numerous international environmental conventions, ensuring the latest science and methodologies are integrated into global policy. 

ICRI has been working on gathering recommendations from scientists and other experts to shape the next set of indicators for coral reef targets to be ratified by the member countries of the CBD. The setting of these indicators has been dubbed the Post-2020 CBD Global Biodiversity Framework. Once passed, this will act as the blueprint to create national biodiversity action plans that define a government’s environmental programmes and targets. That’s why ICRI’s recommendations are so important; clear, tangible and scientifically sound indicators are critical to shaping impactful action plans and approaches to create positive changes for our reefs.

We face a grave future without reefs, so let’s be the first generation to save an entire ecosystem. Will you join the advocates in the scuba diving and snorkelling industry?

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This article is reposted with permission from The Reef-World Foundation, an organisation that empowers the conservation and the sustainable development of coastal resources, and valued PATA Member. PATA proudly supports discussions around sustainability through the Sustainability Matters guest post initiative. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the article may not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or views of PATA or any of its employees.