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Research at the University of Sydney has found that scuba-diving tourism – widely promoted as a sustainable way to experience coral reefs – is causing frequent and often hidden damage to fragile marine ecosystems.
The study, led by Dr Bing Lin from the University of Sydney’s Thriving Oceans Research Hub in the School of Geosciences, analysed the behaviour of more than 700 scuba divers across tourism hotspots in the Philippines and Indonesia, including Bali.
It is published today in Conservation Letters.
Drawing on data from more than 300 hours of underwater observation, the researchers recorded 4981 reef contact events among 411 divers. Around 41 percent of these contacts caused observable damage to coral, from direct breakage to the stirring of sediment that can smother reef life.
