Abstract
Abstract: Recent growth in the popularity of recreational scuba diving has generated concerns about resulting impacts to coral reefs, particularly in locations such as the Republic of Palau, a world-renowned dive destination with rapidly increasing numbers of visitors. Divers were observed in-water at three of the most visited dive sites in the Rock Islands—Southern Lagoon Area: German Channel, Ngerchong, and Big Drop-off. Dive guides were interviewed about diver impacts at German Channel and Ngerchong. Divers' contact rates with hard coral ranged from 0.87 ± 0.27 to 2.98 ± 0.59 contacts diver-1 10 min-1 (mean ± SEM). Three instances of obvious physical damage were observed. Holding and fin contacts were the most common potentially damaging behaviors of divers, particularly those with cameras or gloves. Guides identified natural impacts (63% of respondents) and divers (34% of respondents) as the primary causes of damage to coral. Proactive management is essential to mitigate any negative impacts of recrea...
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