Abstract
Intentional and unintentional physical contact between scuba divers and the seabed is made by most divers and multiple times per dive, which often results in damage to corals and other marine life. Current efforts to reduce reef contacts (e.g., voluntary dive operator recognition programs and voluntary dive standards) can be effective, but lack sufficient incentive structures for long-term compliance. In their current capacity, these programs fail to reduce reef contacts to tolerable levels. Regulatory policies can facilitate pervasive and permanent shifts in human behavior, but have been underutilized to change unsustainable underwater norms. Most coral reefs open to recreational diving lie within territorial waters of individual countries, and many already have existing forms of protection with legislation that can be easily modified. Successful policy precedents in Marine Protected Areas (e.g., bans on underwater glove use) and elsewhere (e.g., anti-smoking laws in public spaces and legislation enforcing seat belt use) demonstrate the largely untapped potential of using effective governance to change destructive diving norms for good. To reduce intentional reef contacts, policy-makers can enact regulations in MPAs directly banning all contact between divers and the seabed. To reduce unintentional contacts, policy-makers can create policy safeguards that preempt such occurrences (e.g., requiring divers to keep a certain distance from the seabed). Crucially, such policies will need accompanying formal and informal enforcement measures that are equitable, effective, and efficient to motivate compliance and effect lasting behavior change. Having a robust, well-enforced, regulatory framework to tackle both types of reef contacts lends credence to the efforts of existing conservation programs, and is key to permanently changing divers’ underwater attitudes and fostering sustainable scuba diving behavior to the benefit of all.
Highlights
Intentional and unintentional physical contact between scuba divers and the seabed is made by most divers and multiple times per dive, which often results in damage to corals and other marine life
Well-enforced, regulatory framework to tackle both types of reef contacts lends credence to the efforts of existing conservation programs, and is key to permanently changing divers’ underwater attitudes and fostering sustainable scuba diving behavior to the benefit of all
Indirect impacts associated with higher diving pressures include sediment deposition from fin kicks (Zakai and Chadwick-Furman 2002), elevated rates of coral disease (Lamb et al 2014), and shifts in ecosystem dominance and structure (Hawkins et al 1999)
Summary
Coral reefs are inordinately important to marine biodiversity and humans (Moberg and Folke 1999; Spalding et al 2017), yet are on a steep global decline (Bellwood et al 2004; Hoegh-Guldberg et al 2007; Halpern et al 2008). Studies find that between 71 and 98 percent of all scuba divers make (intentional or unintentional) reef contact at least once every dive (Krieger and Chadwick 2013; Toyoshima and Nadaoka 2015), with an average reef contact rate for divers ranging from 0.2 to over 4.0 reef contacts per minute of diving (Harriott et al 1997; Medio et al 1997) Of such contacts, over a quarter can cause visible damage to corals or other marine life (Chung et al 2013; Roche et al 2016). When reef contacts and their associated damages to marine life are compounded across millions of divers every year, multiple times a dive, and all over the world, the cause for conservation concern becomes clear
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