Impact from SCUBA Diving
Researchers have concluded recreation divers cause significant deterioration to coral reef.24-26 However some major diving companies such as BSAC still deny that SCUBA divers are damaging to the environment (Louise Whitehouse, personal communication, January 28, 2015) and some SCUBA divers do not think diving causes ecological damage.27 There is no denying that SCUBA divers damage coral reef to some extent, some will kick it or bump into it, therefore the question is whether they cause significant damage. Damage will usually be minor but there is evidence that the cumulative effects can cause more serious declines in coral health.24,28,29 SCUBA diving is constantly increasing in interest, the equipment is becoming
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Broken and abraded coral has been clearly injured and or killed. However this abraded coral is less resistant to diseases and will have slower reproduction and growth due to redirected energy.24 Originally studies focused on coral breakages, however more recent studies have found that just the re-suspension of sediment can affect the health of reef. The removal of sediment from the coral surface results in the redirection of energy and makes the coral more vulnerable to disease.33 The study of this is more difficult and less reliable as weather has a huge impact on sediment suspension. Observations by Barker and Roberts accounted for sediment re-suspension, but the extent of damage caused to the coral was not …show more content…
For instance Luna et al. found that inexperienced divers, those with less than 100 dives were more likely to cause damage to the reef.27 However they only used a 10-minute observation period to observe more divers, the monitoring of divers started 10 minutes after the entry into the water, after equipment had been adjusted. This a relatively short observation period, and the first 10 minutes of a dive is when damage is most likely to occur.1 Out of the 181 divers observed 96.7% made at least one contact with the seabed, however due to the short observation window it is possible that 100% of the divers made contact. Diver qualification had no significant affect on the amount of contact made, however those that had completed more dives made significantly fewer contacts. Other studies such as Harriott et al. found no such correlations.34 However Harriott et al. only separated experienced and non-experienced divers into two groups, those with less than 100 dives and those with over 100 dives.34 However the maximum number of dives was over 1000, so this does not seem to be a fair distribution. Also this only looks at the number of contacts made by the diver and does not look at the type of contact; it does not look at the significance of the damage caused by divers. Barker and Roberts also found that dive qualification level did not vary with
Tourism has a large impact on the reef system at Lady Musgrave Island with the millions of people who have and will visit the island at one point in their life. These results did not give an accurate picture as there were many other parts of the reef that weren’t included in these results. Due to this, there could have been more coral impacts or more animals surrounding the reef in other areas that were not included in these results collected. Therefore, the reef ecosystem creates many positive effects for humans and animals alike. However, it can be ruined easily with a simple touch or by leaving waste behind that could damage the reef or hurt the animals living in that
Coral reefs are greatly hurt by tourism. When tourism first began, people had little regard for the delicate balance in the reefs. They would often break off parts of the coral to keep as souvenirs, damaging the area and hurting both the corals and the fish or other animals that relied on it. While humans today are more aware of the damage they cause, regular visitations can still create great damage by snorkelers or divers accidentally hitting and damaging the reefs.
Furthermore, extraction of building materials such as sand affects coral reefs, mangroves, and hinterland forests, leading to erosion and destruction of habitats. Overbuilding and extensive paving of shorelines can result in destruction of habitats and disruption of land-sea connections such as sea-turtle nesting spots. Coral reefs are especially fragile marine ecosystems and are suffering worldwide from reef-based tourism developments. Evidence suggests a variety of impacts to coastline ecosystems result from shoreline development, increased sediments in the water, trampling by tourists and divers, ship groundings, pollution from sewage, overfishing, and fishing with poisons and explosives that destroy coral
Because the GBR is such a highly visited tourist attraction for snorkeling and diving, there has been a large number of human structures that have been built in natural areas. Every five years, the Australian government publishes an Outlook Report that examines the Great Barrier Reef’s health, pressures, and likely future. “The report is required under Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (section 54) and aims to provide a regular and reliable means of assessing reef health and management in an accountable and transparent way.” The report shows the actions that have been taken since 2009, including the focus on improving the quality of water that runs off the land. The increased freshwater run-off is in direct relation to the coastal development that has occurred since the major bleaching events have begun. The report released in 2009, states that the greatest risks to the Reef are still climate change, land-based runoff, coastal development, and some remaining impacts of fishing and illegal fishing and poaching. The report points out climate change as being the main cause of the destruction or bleaching of the reef (Department of Environment and Energy 2017). Most observers conclude that the climate change is a direct result of human
Located in tropical ocean waters, coral reefs provide priceless resources to both human and marine life. The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Other natural causes are earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. The destruction to the coral reefs from these natural disasters is minimal compared to the dangers caused by man. Man-made destruction has a much wider impact on the health of the coral reefs. This destruction includes over-fishing, damage from anchors, aquarium industry, overgrowth of seaweed, and being smothered by sediments.
"Coral reefs… are fragile structures living within a narrow range of temperature, clarity, salinity and chemistry. Even a slight increase in ocean temperature, or increased CO2… can cause stresses such as bleaching… These stresses slow the rate of growth of the corrals… With some 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs now losing productivity, it’s becoming a global crisis and a scientific mystery."
Coral reefs around the world are in danger. One of the causes is global warming, which has been increasing the temperature of the ocean water resulting in coral bleaching. This essay will focus on damage occurring to the Great Barrier Reef.
Corals build colonies that secrete calcium carbonate to form ocean reefs. When they're healthy, coral reefs provide shelter and food for animals all along the food chain, including the top: us. Across the planet, half a billion people rely, directly and indirectly, on corals for their living. That's why what happens to the 9,000-year-old Great Barrier Reef, as well as to other reefs worldwide, is critical. The floods in Queensland have hurt the Great Barrier Reef by funnelling into the ocean vast plumes of freshwater and agricultural runoff that could severely damage the coral. Besides the extreme rain that sparked the floods, rising ocean temperatures, changes to the ocean's chemistry and the global trade in natural resources — all symptoms of our fossil-fuel economy — are waging a multiform war on the marine
Two million tourists visit the coral reef every year. This is great for the economy; however it can have huge negative impacts on the coral reef. The tourists are carried around the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) by over 500 commercial vessels which drop fuel, anchors and other forms of pollution that damage the reef. The tourists also break the fragile corals by touching and reef walking as well as
R., & Chadwick, N. E. (2013). Scuba diving and snorkeling are two longstanding pastimes of Florida natives as well as tourists. But the relationship between recreational diving and coral reef degradation is no coincidence. Krieger and Chadwick’s study took place in 2011 on the coral reefs at Key Largo, Florida. Each site was based at flat patch reefs, at four to thirteen meters deep. These sites were selected in order to control confounding variables varying topography might have on the reef damage. Wanting to discover what, if any, effect pre-dive briefings had on recreational divers, the behaviors of divers were also observed. During each trip, divers were followed by trained observers, and data was collected and monitored. It was noted whether or not each of the divers made contact with the reefs and, if so, with what; hand, fin, scuba gear, or other. The divers were not told that they were being observed. The results showed that most recreational divers (70.8% N=240) contacted live corals at least once per every seven minutes observed. It is thus estimated that during any hour-long dive, a diver would contact live corals about eighteen times. It wasn’t shown that any intentional damage was done. But divers would make contact with their hands to steady themselves, dive gear would accidentally make contact, corals would be
The coral reef surveyors were instructed to find the best sites that they believed had the most living coral and were thought to be least affected by human activities. This would allow Hodgson to determine if human activities were having an appreciable effect on the supposed pristine coral reefs, which were distant from urban centers. The invertebrate survey was undertaken at two depth intervals of 3m and 10m. Four 0.5 m wide by 20 m long belts were placed on the coral reef. Over a period of 3-5 minutes the observers counted the number of invertebrates found on the belts. The coral survey was performed, by placing four 20 m long belts on the coral substrate. At 0.5 m intervals the substrate on which the belts were lying was examined and recorded.
Consisting of less than 1% of the world oceans, the coral reefs are ancient animals comprising of thin calcium carbonate deposits within the photic layer. Aside from its biologically diverse ecosystems, coral reefs are major source of food for millions and provides habitats and nursery areas for many marine organisms. Coral reefs also act as a physical buffer to protect the coastlines from tropical storms and erosion. In addition, many local communities rely on coral reefs to generate an income through activities such as fishing and diving. However, 75% of the coral reefs are under threat from induced impacts of humans and climate change (Burke, et al., 2011). This essay looks at the human impacts constantly being inflicted on coral reefs.
Evidently, the challenge is creating an attractive artificial reef, with an abundance of fish. This creates an opportunity for alternate dive programs that are developed specifically to enhance the attractiveness, and marine life populations. Alternative dive programs can recruit experienced divers for artificial reef development, citizen science projects, fish population studies, or developed with the feedback of experienced divers, ensuring their interest. Additionally, for new and novice divers, dive programs can be developed to: “(1) transfer all introductory courses and in-training dives to artificial reef sites, (2) reinforce the environmental education of divers through the provision of educational materials positioned on artificial reefs, and (3) use more ‘in-depth’ conservation education dive briefings” (Kirkbride-Smith, Wheeler, and Johnson 9). To illustrate, let us consider a dive in which two experienced divers, one of which being the author, are seeking advanced scuba certifications. This certification takes place within 50 yards of dive operation and requires two consecutive dives, the first of which exhausts the divers’ air supplies while the second dive leaves thirty minutes of air. This presents an opportunity, in which the instructor presents an artificial reef he has established with a tire, rocks,
Coral reefs are continuously being both built up and decomposed, so different parts of a reef are in varying stages of succession (Richmond, 1993). Coral reefs are very fragile, because reef-building organisms cannot thrive if the surrounding water changes significantly. Coral reefs require very specific conditions in order to grow: a solid structure for the base; warm and consistent water temperatures (averaging between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius); stable salinity; moderate wave action; and clear water that is low in nutrients and plankton. The water on a healthy coral reef is clear because there are very few nutrients, so plankton that would cloud the water are few. In general corals grow slowly, but they are extremely efficient at living and reproducing in these conditions (American Zoologist, pg 524-536).
The deterioration of coral reefs is mainly linked to human activities – 88% of coral reefs are threatened through various reasons as