The Green Fins approach for monitoring and promoting environmentally sustainable scuba diving operations in South East Asia

Sustainable scuba diving tourism and resource use: Perspectives and experiences of operators in Mozambique and Italy

“…Others have documented the positive environmental impacts of scuba diving tourism, such as conservation efforts (Biggs et al, 2012a), increased environmental awareness (Biggs et al, 2012b), and participation in Citizen Science and monitoring activities (Cerrano et al, 2016). Others yet have reported the negative environmental impacts of this sector, including direct damage to underwater ecosystems through physical contact with habitats and organisms (Barker & Roberts, 2004;Rouphael & Inglis, 2001;Worachananant et al, 2008); and indirect harm through urban development of coastal zones and land degradation (Wongthong and Harvey, 2014), sewage pollution (Lamb et al, 2014), food waste disposal (Hunt et al, 2013), eutrophication (Musa, 2002) and carbon emissions (Lindgren et al, 2008). The literature counts numerous works making particular reference to the direct harm caused by scuba divers to the environment.…”

“…Based on what is available, it is assumed that scuba diving being a non-consumptive form of marine tourism, depending on the quality of the marine environment, operations would pay attention to environmental issues including waste management, carbon emissions, and water use through actions such as recycling, education, renewable energy use, and responsible travelling (Byrnes et al, 2016;Haddock-Fraser & Hampton, 2012;Hunt et al, 2013). Approaches proposed to promote sustainable resource use by scuba diving operations include self-regulatory (Byrnes et al, 2016), third-party controlled (De Groot & Bush, 2010), meta-governance controlled (De Groot and Bush, 2010; Project AWARE, 2016), government and policy controlled (Hunt et al, 2013), and a mixture of these (Hunt et al, 2013). These approaches enable the implementation, oversight and monitoring of environmental standards, such as the consumption of water and energy, ensuring compliance with environmental goals (De Groot & Bush, 2010;Hunt et al, 2013).…”

“…Approaches proposed to promote sustainable resource use by scuba diving operations include self-regulatory (Byrnes et al, 2016), third-party controlled (De Groot & Bush, 2010), meta-governance controlled (De Groot and Bush, 2010; Project AWARE, 2016), government and policy controlled (Hunt et al, 2013), and a mixture of these (Hunt et al, 2013). These approaches enable the implementation, oversight and monitoring of environmental standards, such as the consumption of water and energy, ensuring compliance with environmental goals (De Groot & Bush, 2010;Hunt et al, 2013).…”

Quantifying Coral Reef Composition of Recreational Diving Sites: A Structure from Motion Approach at Seascape Scale

“…This information would then enable appropriate risk management approaches to be developed. These could include: restricting the numbers of dives allowed at certain locations and during particular environmental conditions; allowing recovery periods for areas where no diving is allowed; access for beginners being restricted to particular areas; clear instructions and educational programs for divers and those running diving schools so that they are aware of and avoid certain activities known to cause damage [81]. To this end, information collected from scuba diving can support marine conservation in the context of marine citizen science [82].…”

Tourist value orientations and conflicts at a marine protected area in Hawaii

“…Some characteristics of participants that can lead to these impacts include poor buoyancy, weak swimming ability, inappropriate training, lack of awareness, and minimal experience. Damage to coral reef areas is of concern because these areas often take decades to restore, which is more challenging with the continued presence of anthropogenic and natural stresses (Davenport & Davenport, 2006;Hunt, Harvey, Miller, Johnson, & Phongsuwan, 2013;Sheppard et al, 2009).…”