Ignorance and stupidity are the two primary causes of diver environmental damage.
We would like to think that we, divers, are paragons of positive environmental behavior....truth be told we are anything but.
Ignorance is what most of us divers suffer from.
Bad buoyancy; swimming under overhangs, through tunnels, or sensitive environments, like into wrecks covered in squid eggs are a bit of a short list of environmental damage divers can potentially do persuing our past time.
From around February to the end of June, most types of wrasses build nests to lay their eggs. These are rather delicate structures made of algae, some are a combination of algae, sand and small stones, others make a simple bed of small stones and broken corals.
Those that survive the frequent storms at Cirkewwa, are subjected to other as, or possibly more disastrous storms created by bad buoyancy and finning from divers ignorant of what they are swimming over.
Another example would be creating a gnome garden, destroying various environments created by the rocks that were used as decorations.
The fact that these have now created another environment does not detract from the fact that other established environments were destroyed to build this amusing garden.
Recently an instructor was witnessed distributing souvenirs in the form of shells to divers. While the intention may sincere, the fact that these shells were removed out of their environment goes against the principle of protecting the environment.
One may argue that it was just a one off event. Let us assume that this is a recurring habit, or let us take it farther, and assume that each of the 60,000 divers that dive Cirkewwa at least once, take a souvenir, or that each or more than one of the 100 instructors that work the island give a souvenir after every dive there....this would mean that within a short period collectively the damage would be unsustainable.
It is not just a matter of bringing one shell up. The shell could very well be, in fact often is, a habitat to other creatures, often to creatures that we may either not see or recognize. Have a look at this album I posted earlier.
It is also disappointing to see instructors allowing shells to be brought up as souvenirs by divers. Shells that can become future habitats for amongst others, hermit crabs.
Fortunately for us there are fewer instructors or divers that indulge in this souvenir collection which in most cases ends up in some rubbish bin or forgotten in some garage.
Ignorance stems from divers not understanding or bothering to learn MORE about this wonderful, mysterious world we are privileged to visit.
Ignorance can be overcome by informing oneself, through the Internet, purchasing any of the many informative books that are around. Some of the best can be found at various diving centers. Or, for a more complete education, enrolling in courses on marine biology for laymen as organized and advertised by Alan Deidun amongst others.
I have often advised underwater photographers, that they can be better photographers by understanding what they are photographing and how it relates to its environment.
Having said that, its ironic to see divers resting on marine life destroying the the very marine environment in pursuit of the perfect photo.
STUPIDITY, now, is a completely different matter.
After being forced out of the water for some 15months, I was pleasantly surprised at the lush and rich growth of algae, plants and invertebrates that now covered the P29.
So I was truly dismayed when I saw that some diver/s scraped away some 3 years' growth from the stern deck of the P29, to spell out ROZI in letters ONE METER high with an accompanying arrow.
THIS KIND OF STUPIDITY IS UNFORGIVABLE.
That this kind of thing often happens under the eyes of dive guides and diving instructors is inexcusable.
