Managing the Impacts of SCUBA Divers on Thailand's Coral Reefs

Importance of environmental briefing and buoyancy control on reducing negative impacts of SCUBA diving on coral reefs

“…Factors that have been assessed include diving experience, gender, and use of photographic equipment. Worachananant et al (2008) found divers with increased levels of experience caused less damage than inexperienced divers, while Rouphael and Inglis (2001) found no correlation between dive experience and coral breakage. Regarding gender, Rouphael and Inglis (2001) reported that male divers were more likely to cause damage, while Worachananant et al (2008) reported that female divers caused more damage.…”

“…Worachananant et al (2008) found divers with increased levels of experience caused less damage than inexperienced divers, while Rouphael and Inglis (2001) found no correlation between dive experience and coral breakage. Regarding gender, Rouphael and Inglis (2001) reported that male divers were more likely to cause damage, while Worachananant et al (2008) reported that female divers caused more damage. Some researchers found divers carrying photographic equipment were more likely to cause more damage (Barker and Roberts, 2004;Rouphael and Inglis, 2001;Krieger and Chadwick, 2013), whereas Worachananant et al (2008) reached the opposite conclusion.…”

“…Regarding gender, Rouphael and Inglis (2001) reported that male divers were more likely to cause damage, while Worachananant et al (2008) reported that female divers caused more damage. Some researchers found divers carrying photographic equipment were more likely to cause more damage (Barker and Roberts, 2004;Rouphael and Inglis, 2001;Krieger and Chadwick, 2013), whereas Worachananant et al (2008) reached the opposite conclusion. In this study, the effects of personal dive experience, buoyancy control skill, and use of photographic equipment were tested and correlated to diver contact rates with the substrate.…”

O Santuário Ecológico de Ilhabela como área marinha protegida a ser incorporada ao SNUC: panorama atual e próximos passos

“…Segundo Hall (2001), se mal planejadas, atividades turísticas podem gerar danos a ambientes naturais. Os dados levantados por Sá (2016) indicam que na área do SEI há distintas atividades, associadas principalmente ao turismo, que podem causar danos aos organismos marinhos, como, por exemplo, o trânsito de embarcações, que ameaça, entre outros animais, tartarugas marinhas e cetáceos que utilizam o Canal como área de passagem; fundeio em áreas indevidas (Milazzo et al, 2004); pisoteio e contato com animais marinhos, que prejudica organismos como corais, invertebrados e algas (Roman et al, 2007;Worachananant et al, 2008;Di Franco et al, 2009;Giglio et al, 2016); coleta de espéci-mes, que pode causar desequilíbrio das populações das espécies coletadas além de menores taxas de crescimento e de sucesso reprodutivo (Davenport & Davenport, 2006;Lucas & Smith, 2016); alimentação de animais, que pode causar dependência dessa alimentação suplementar, desenvolvimento de comportamento agressivo, competitividade entre espécies e habituação à presença humana (Milazzo et al, 2006;Milazzo, 2011;Dubois & Fraser, 2013); pesca amadora e por meio de redes, podendo causar captura incidental (Peckham et al, 2007;Wallace et al, 2013); pesca predatória, com a utilização de arpão, entre outros.…”

Wastewater discharge degrades coastal waters and reef communities in southern Thailand

“…With the rapid growth in tourism in coastal areas of Thailand and associated growth in marine based tourism, concern for damage to marine environments has attracted considerable attention (Kenchington, 1993;Davis and Tisdell, 1996;Rouphael and Inglis, 2001;Worachananant et al, 2008). This concern has focused on the declining quality of coastal ecosystems, particularly nutrient and light sensitive coral reefs, and has been attributed to both natural phenomena and anthropogenic activities (Bryant, 1998;Spalding et al, 2001;Fabricius et al, 2005;Rinkevich, 2005) and their compounding effects.…”