Scuba diving study suggests marine conservation economically benefits coastal economies

Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography Photo courtesy of Birch Aquariam The global economic contribution of the scuba industry shows the sector s unique annual fiscal impact but also a driving reason for marine conservation according to a new evaluation by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography The research is part of Atlas Aquatica a project looking at the distribution of dive operators and dive sites around the world and calculating the annual global economic value of scuba diving The scrutiny revealed that direct spending on diving generates between million and billion annually The scrutiny also examined indirect contributions from scuba diving such as food accommodations and other expenses The sector s annual global contribution was between and billion when including indirect spending Ocean-based tourism has been studied before but the scuba diving sector has never been focused on specifically The assessment not only shows the sector s importance it also suggests that the economic benefits of scuba diving could help drive marine conservation We show that diving generates a lot of income and it does this without degrading the conditions like extractive industries such as fishing or mining stated Aburto-Oropeza co-author of the scrutiny We hope that showing the scale of the economic impact from this activity will encourage policies that invest in diving by increasing marine protections Scuba diving might have a large global contribution but it also supports local economies It supports almost jobs across countries with of the employees being local or national residents of the dive operator locality Roughly of all marine dives at this moment occur in a marine protected area The Atlas Aquatics scrutiny suggests that with improved marine conservation the diving sector will continue to grow Improved conservation that promotes sealife will draw in divers interested in seeing unique marine life Scuba diving is pretty unique because it makes you spend time underwater noted Fabio Favoretto who co-authored the evaluation as coordinator of Atlas Aquatica and as a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps You can sail or surf above a dead ocean but scuba divers notice if there are no fish it s really an activity that is dependent on the healthcare of the system That s a positive for conservation because it makes divers allies The UCSD review shows the prominence of scuba diving within the ocean-based tourism industry but it also suggests scuba diving as a model for a Blue Business activity Blue economies sustainably use ocean tools for economic rise scuba diving would use ocean materials to promote dive locations and operators drawing in tourists to see unique marine ecosystems Unlike mass tourism operations that can harm local communities and marine environments dive tourism when managed well can be economically viable socially equitable and environmentally sustainable commented Anna Schuhbauer lead investigation author and fisheries scientist at the University of British Columbia The Scripps assessment suggests establishing standardized monitoring systems across the diving industry so dive operators can formally contribute to marine management decisions