Sustainable Diving Practices

DIVING BEST PRACTICE

Did You Know?

Sustainable definition: “causing, or made in a way that causes, little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time.”

So you know the environmental implications of poor diving, you’ve planned the dive according to your customer’s skillset and given them fantastic boat and pre-dive briefings, now it’s time to get your divers into the water!

Here are some ways to be a good role model for your guests:

Keep a safe distance away from the seafloor.
Even if you are an experienced diver and are able to swim close to the reef without touching it, your divers may not have the same skills. Staying away will ensure that you don’t kick up any sediment either.
Act calm around wildlife.
Do not chase or touch any marine life during the dive, and definitely don’t rest against the seafloor.
Where safe and possible without causing further damage, collect plastic and other marine debris.
If it is stuck, leave it. You might cause more damage than you are trying to prevent if you don’t have much time. You can always make a note that it could be a future underwater cleanup site.

Take a look at the other best diving practices below (and don’t forget to download a copy!):

Environmental Best Practice for Diver

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Finning techniques

Impress your divers by changing your finning techniques to more environmentally friendly versions. Flutter kicks are a fast way to get around, but it does pose more risk of accidentally kicking delicate corals. Have a read of the three environmentally friendly finning techniques and then get practising!

An example of the perfect diving position and the way to begin the frog kick

Frog kick – this is similar to the kicking technique of breast stroke swimming. As your fins are never lower than your body in trim position, the chances of grazing against wildlife are extremely low. It also reduces downward fin wash that can upset small habitats, move sand onto corals and disturb wildlife. It’s also the best energy saving technique!

Back kick – kick the opposite way to the frog kick to move backwards seamlessly in the water! This is a really useful technique for moving away after looking closely at some corals, critters or moving away from a wall reducing the risk of causing physical damage to corals.

Helicopter turn – Rotate in the water by creating circles with your ankles, and look just like a helicopter! You’ll take up a lot less space, and get where you need to go faster. Use this when you need to turn in a tight position so you don’t have to push off from any marine life or accidentally come into contact with corals or other marine life.

Did You Know?

The frog kick not only is more environmentally friendly than flutter kicks but also takes a lot less effort to do, so uses up less air. Tell your divers that they can save the reefs and have longer dives!