Top 10 World’s Most Eco-Friendly/Sustainable Dive Operations

The damage that is done to the earth and our environment can be better noticed when diving underwater. If there is just one thing that a diver can easily learn from this activity, it is the importance of being eco-friendly and protecting the environment. With scuba diving becoming more important every year, and more divers coming to understand nature better and respecting it, diving might just be having some strong ecologic impacts that are still unsung.

The lack of education on the environmental impact of our actions is very worrying, and many divers without knowledge can also do more harm to the environment while underwater than they can do in 10 years on land. This highlights how important it is for divers to not be misinformed but should be environmentally friendly.

In order to achieve eco-friendly and sustainable diving operations, there are things that you must do or pay attention to. 10 of them are:

Control your buoyancy

Practicing good buoyancy and improving your skills as a diver is very important for reducing the risk of accidentally damaging the coral reefs.

You have to learn to position your body properly underwater and also fine-tune yourself in this environment so that you do not disturb or intrude on it. Your natural instincts of touching must also be curbed and dealt with.

Adding up the impacts of unintentionally kicking the fin, or a diver pulling out a reef, might have a damning effect on the environment over time even if it seems innocent and harmless at the time.

Dive at an eco-friendly center

There are many eco-friendly centers suggested in an article by authors at writemycollegeessays , in different parts of the world where you can dive. Going to dive at one of them is your own little way of promoting eco-friendliness.

If you are also facing the daunting but exciting quest of picking a dive school, one of the things which you should look at is their safe dive practices and how they take environmental awareness, whether they add it to their courses. Choosing a dive school is your way of creating awareness for environmental friendliness and sustainability.

Do not feed the fishes

This is one action that you can do innocently as a diver, but according to diving experts, this is riskier than it is helpful.

Divers that do this only create a new feeding environment in the ocean. The fishes become used to this and they become dependent and stop to eat from what is their natural food source. This, therefore, affects the marine food chain and ecosystem, as a whole.

Once the fishes become used to this free snack, they become reliant and create a gap in the natural order of marine life.

Dispose of wastes properly

Major sources of pollution to marine life are from cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and food wrappers, etc. and all of these pollutants are caused by humans and they are capable of causing great harm to coral reefs and other marine life.

The item that is most littered in the world is cigarette butts with more than 6 trillion cigarettes manufactured yearly. Most of these butts all end up in the sea and hurt marine life.

Some diving schools clean up beaches and ensure that cigarette butts, plastics, and other debris are properly disposed of or recycled. Being a part of this is important to maintain natural order in the ocean.

Do not touch

There are so many things to see in that environment underwater but there are not many things to touch. If you do so much as touch anything, you will disrupt the ecosystem there. That is why buoyancy is very important for divers.

There are divers that have taken souvenirs out of the ocean. Even though it seems like nothing (apart from the fact that it is illegal), you are actually causing serious ecological problems.

You can easily prevent injury or pain from poisonous wildlife underwater by avoiding contact and you also ensure that the ecosystem is undisturbed. Win-win for everybody.

Make sure your weight is appropriate

It is common for divers that are newly certified to add some more weight before they start to descend, but the moment divers master their skills in diving and buoyancy, it is important that they start to re-evaluate their weight.

According to content writers at bestessaywritingservice , it is extremely important that you have the right weight. So, frequent weight checks before diving are ideal. You will be in better shape and state to remain in your trim position, and this will invariably ensure that your fins are not dragging against the reef by accident.

Do not wear gloves

Do not wear gloves – especially if you know you will struggle to not touch the reef. Although the issue of divers wearing gloves has caused contention, it is for a noble cause. In fact, there are dive centers with a strict no-glove policy.

The reason for this is because of the false sense of security which gloves offer. Divers are more likely to think that their hands are protected in the gloves and are then likely to touch or hold the reefs intentionally or not. If you are worried about being injured on the mooring line while descending, use a glove and keep it pocketed afterward till you are ready to ascend.

Shop Sustainably

If you are someone that shops for souvenirs, as much as you possibly can, you should abstain from buying ocean products, especially shells. These shells have a big role that they play in the ecosystem of the ocean.

The shells make mollusks that are important for the marine ecosystem. One such role is that they graze on algae and this prevents the overgrowth of algae on the coral reefs. When these shells are also broken down, they help in maintaining the ocean’s chemical balance which ocean acidification (caused by man) alters and also replenish sand.

Shells do have a huge International trade market, but your decision to not be involved in destroying the environment can help make a difference, said John O. from bestessaywriters.

Tip that eco-friendly guide

If you have an inclination to tip your guide, then you might want to take this opportunity to promote positive traits such as correcting underwater behaviors that are damaging. These tour guides have an understanding of why the reefs need to be protected, at the very least, depleted reefs will attract no tourists. Neither will a reef that is not in good shape attract anybody to the dive shop.

But because they are not willing to lose their customers, the guides might be reluctant to correct you or show you the right direction if needs be. So, if you find one that does so, compliment them. These guides will more likely be willing to protect the reefs and prevent them from damage

Do not forget your right to refusal

We all have our parts to play in ensuring that we maintain eco-friendliness. It is no longer a secret that we have a responsibility on our hands to protect our environment. If we are going to protect the reefs in the world oceans, then it is time to start refusing the urge to eat seafood.

Our oceans are also threatened by overfishing due to our constant act from the surface of the sea. So, we all have a duty to stop our purchase of other fish options that are not sustainable for the environment such as parrotfish. We can lower the demand for parrotfish with grouper and snapper which negatively impact the reef’s ecosystem.

We can reduce the supply by reducing the demand. Be sure that the seafood you are eating is sustainable if you want to eat at all.