Why scuba divers get blamed for the damage they do to coral reefs...CB - AOW/Biologist
December 8, 2007 at 14:46:17Rene, the reason scuba divers get blamed for damaging coral reefs is because THEY DO DAMAGE CORAL REEFS.
Even the dive industry, which historically has attempted to conceal or green-wash the problem with "photo-op conservation" such as beach clean-ups and marketing gimmicks such as "Go Eco", reluctantly admitted that divers are part of the problem: See "PADI acknowledges scuba divers damage coral reefs" at http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e041001a/e041001a.html And of course the damage is not
limited to humans breaking fragile coral formations. Consider the impact on coral reefs of constantly expanding resort developments that cater primarily to divers. See "Malaysia orders dive operators to leave Sipadan Island" at http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e040629a/e040629a.html You stated that "Many studies and experts agree that the majority of divers and snorkelers cause little
noticeable damage to corals" but you did not cite any of the "many studies and experts". In fact, there are very few peer-reviewed scientific studies of diver impact on coral reefs. Not surprisingly, the studies that have been done conclude that coral reefs have a carrying capacity, a threshold of stress above which they rapidly deteriorate.
With the rapid growth of dive-related tourism over the past few decades, most popular dive sites around the world far exceed the carrying capacity of coral reefs in terms of total number of dives per site per year. So there is no question scuba divers are part of the problem. The question is what to do about it. | 
