Low impact diving is recreational scuba diving that is intended to minimise environmental impact by using techniques and procedures that reduce the adverse effects on the environment to the minimum that is reasonably practicable for the situation. To a large extent this is achieved by avoiding contact with sensitive reef life, but it also applies to diving on historical wrecks and in caves with delicate rock formations. It is in the interests of diving tourism service providers to help protect the condition of the dive sites on which their businesses rely. They can contribute by encouraging and teaching low impact diving and following best-practice procedures for diving in sensitive areas. Low impact diving training has been shown to be effective in reducing diver contact with the bottom, the most common cause of reef damage. The environmental impact of scuba divers has a behavioural component and a skill component. The diver needs to pay attention and actively avoid harmful contact with the surroundings, and it is only possible to do so if the necessary will and competence exist. Many of the skills are not included in entry level diver training, but they are part of technical diver training. There are also training programmes specifically focused on low impact diving in various environments.
Scope
Techniques The techniques are intended to minimise the effects of recreational scuba diving activities on the environment.
Care is taken during shore entries and exits, paths are used and shore habitats are treated with due care. Water is entered over sand and gravel where this can allow adjustments and gear checks with least impact. Equipment is rigged and operated to avoid contact with the benthos. No equipment is left to dangle below the diver. The divers should be weighted correctly so that neutral buoyancy can be achieved with minimal inflation at any point in the planned dive. (for safety the diver must be able to float at the start and sink at the end of the dive) Divers maintain neutral buoyancy throughout the dive to avoid requiring upward thrust to maintain depth, as downward fin-wash will disturb the bottom. Divers remain aware of their depth and proximity to the bottom, particularly in darkness and low visibility, in tight quarters, and when taking photographs. Divers check the size of a gap they intend to pass through to ensure that they will not contact sides, bottom, or where it exists, the overhead. If contact with the reef is unavoidable to prevent drift, rock or dead coral is used. Finning techniques are chosen to minimise risk of contact and fin-wash impingement on sediment or loose objects. Contact with living organisms is avoided. Disturbing and harassment of animals that might affect their natural behaviour is avoided. This particularly includes feeding, chasing, blocking, and riding animals. No living or dead organisms are collected. Photographs are taken with minimum disturbance and minimum exposure to bright light at night. Some sources recommend the use of a short metal probe (reef hook or muck stick) to make minimal area contact with the reef when it is necessary, but this practice is controversial.
Causes of diver damage to the environment
Behavioural problems Dive guides are expected to provide a good example for their clients, and should refrain from physically handling marine life, or making contact with sensitive benthic organisms, but they have often been observed to do these things while pointing out items of interest. This behaviour may vary regionally. Dive guides are commonly certified at divemaster level, which includes rescue skills and relatively advanced buoyancy control skills, so they should generally already have the skills to avoid contact with the bottom, and they are usually familiar with the local environment through experience.
Competence problems
Entry level diver training does not routinely put much emphasis on the skills of low impact diving. Most entry level courses are trimmed down to the minimum consistent with acceptable risk to the diver, so that they can be completed in the least time reasonably possible for the average participant. A large proportion of recreational divers do not take training that teaches the skills required to effectively limit contact with the solid environment, though this aspect of diving skill is part of most training for diving in overhead environments, where the skills are relevant to diver safety as well as environmental conservation, so the greatest recorded impact is in open water diving in easily accessible and popular but sensitive ecosystems, where fragile and often brittle organisms can be visibly damaged by clumsy and careless divers, and the damage remains obvious over long periods and is seen by many. Tropical coral reefs have received more attention than most other diving environments by researchers, and there are a relatively large number of papers in the literature covering diver impact on these environments.
Diver training
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
