Eco diving is a form of scuba diving with an environmental purpose; taking steps to safeguard marine environments while mitigating divers’ adverse impact.
This can mean making sure that any equipment does not collide with coral reefs or marine life, or keeping a safe distance.
Cut seafood out of your diet and encourage your students to do the same.
Respect for marine life
Eco diving requires showing deep respect for marine life, which can be accomplished both through training and personal choices. Training provides invaluable guidance on how to navigate through the underwater environment without disturbing marine life, and not touching marine creatures directly which could result in injury and stress for them.
Eco-friendly divers often choose reusable dive equipment and refillable water bottles in order to reduce plastic use, using coral-safe sun products that protect marine ecosystems from chemical pollution, as well as regularly participating in community clean-up efforts above and below water.
Eco-friendly divers require exceptional buoyancy control to avoid damaging marine life and reefs, and inexperienced divers with poor buoyancy control can do substantial harm even with good intentions; their finwash can send particles of silt into the water, killing visibility and potentially smothering delicate corals or stationary marine life. Divers with perfect buoyancy control rarely cause any harm as they position themselves perfectly to avoid contact between themselves and stationary marine life or coral.
One way to be an eco-friendly diver is to choose a sustainable dive operator. Many operators prioritize eco-friendly initiatives, such as using mooring buoys instead of anchors and providing reusable water bottles on board their boats. Furthermore, they educate clients about marine conservation efforts while encouraging participation in marine life protection efforts.
Eco-conscious diving encompasses more than simply selecting an environmentally sustainable dive operator; you can become an active part in marine conservation by participating in local cleanup efforts and increasing awareness about protecting aquatic life. You could also volunteer at a marine park or sanctuary and assist with park monitoring, animal care and research, education or even just monitoring of the facility itself.
Finally, you can support marine conservation by opting for eco-conscious travel and spreading awareness of eco-conscious diving practices. By informing others about marine preservation’s importance to our ocean planet for future generations, you can make a significant difference in its preservation.
Buoyancy control
Buoyancy control is one of the keystones of scuba diving – it allows you to efficiently glide through the water, saving energy while also avoiding potential wrecks in an underwater paradise. Reaching neutral buoyancy also forms part of eco diving practices by helping reduce environmental impact on delicate underwater ecosystems.
Although achieving proper buoyancy may appear easy at first, achieving it can actually be quite complex for new divers. With practice and guidance from an experienced divemaster or instructor, however, achieving proper buoyancy becomes second nature for all scuba enthusiasts. Buoyancy control enables divers to balance weight against buoyancy to remain motionless in the water like a helicopter does in the sky.
Attaining neutral buoyancy not only enhances your dive experience, it has a beneficial impact on the surrounding marine ecosystem. Not only can proper buoyancy prevent accidental contact with marine life and sediment disturbance that harm coral reefs; maintaining proper buoyancy can also reduce how often you put your hands onto subaquatic surfaces which disturb microscopic sea life.
Also, when you can achieve and maintain neutral buoyancy, staying underwater longer becomes much simpler as energy expenditure decreases and air consumption decreases significantly.
Eco-conscious divers are constantly mindful of their environmental footprint, both above and below water’s surface. This includes not leaving trash at the end of each dive as this can do irreparable damage to marine life and coral reefs – this means collecting all food wrappers, plastic bottles and even cigarette butts before disposing of them properly.
Outstanding buoyancy control is a crucial component of this effort, as it makes collecting and disposing of debris easier while not disturbing the surrounding marine environment. This feature is especially relevant when performing activities like disassembling ghost nets or surveying marine life – both require being able to glide across the underwater surface with ease while reaching for objects with ease.
Don’t touch marine life
Any certified diver knows that touching marine life is unwise; yet many still do it unawarely, such as tourists or snorkellers who follow advice given by tour guides or divemasters.
Touching marine animals disrupts their natural behavior and may harm them, as well as be detrimental to humans who touch them. Furthermore, many marine creatures carry bacteria on their skin which could spread disease to people touching them; coral is particularly fragile and even light contact can damage it; polyps depend on a slimy mucous layer for protection from infection that can be damaged when touched directly.
Some marine animals like manta rays and sharks can defend themselves by biting or stinging when provoked, however most do not become aggressive when threatened and will simply retreat away from you if they feel threatened. Chasing or trying to grab any creature such as fish, crab, octopus or sea turtle will cause stress that disrupts its behavior, possibly forcing it back into their shell or home which increases chances of them being lost or eaten.
Marine species such as manta rays can quickly become familiar when handled by scuba divers and snorkellers, providing exciting experiences for visitors while becoming too dependent upon humans for survival. While this might seem exciting to people visiting, this behavior could endanger its inhabitants as the creature starts becoming used to humans and eventually loses its ability to leave its habitat or swim together as necessary for its own wellbeing.
Concerns are being voiced around touching sea turtles for photo opportunities – an act that not only distresses these endangered animals but may put humans and spearfishermen at greater risk. Touching turtles should never be done. It may cause distress to both sides as well as increases its likelihood of being caught.
Eco diving involves being mindful of your impact on marine ecosystems and working to minimize this. While good buoyancy control helps, other steps can also help minimise its effect. These include not shining your torch directly at marine life at night as this disrupts them hiding inside mucus sacs for protection from predators; collecting trash such as food wrappers or plastic bottles from ocean floors; participating in beach or marine clean-up events and collecting them yourself from ocean floors when diving; as well as participating in beach and marine clean-up initiatives.
Don’t litter
An important part of being an environmental marine enthusiast is leaving no trace of your visit behind, particularly if diving at tropical locations where non-biodegradable products such as plastic are commonly used – these may harm marine life if swallowed and pollute the seafloor with toxic chemicals that pollute it further.
Chemicals may make it more challenging for future divers to return and enjoy what makes the site special, yet there are several solutions available to prevent this from occurring.
One effective strategy is becoming an eco diver! This type of diving emphasizes leaving no trace, showing people that not all divers are bad. If everyone became eco-friendly scuba divers, the ocean would become much safer!
As an eco-friendly scuba diver, you must have impeccable buoyancy control in order to navigate without bumping into coral or disturbing marine life. Furthermore, you should also be able to identify trash that harms the environment and pick it up without harming itself in return. In order to do this effectively and work as part of a team while upholding proper diving etiquette.
Eco-friendly diving also involves engaging with local Eco-friendly programs and beach cleanup initiatives, giving back to your community while showing people that not all divers are bad. At Khao Lak Explorer we strongly support this philosophy and actively participate in many such programs each year.
As part of Project AWARE’s Clean Up The Lake program, divers are invited to survey their favorite dive sites for marine debris like plastics, glass bottles and mono-filament fishing lines. Once collected we record it using Project AWARE’s Dive Against Debris app.
