An incredible 33 million dives take place in the ocean every year, but only 15% of the sites scuba-dived are fully protected from fishing and other destructive activities, according to new peer-reviewed research by National Geographic Pristine Seas. Yet reviving these areas would unlock diving’s potential as a valuable economic engine, it says.
Safeguarding recreational diving hotspots would deliver a host of benefits to tourists, local communities and marine life but, most notably, would generate an additional US $2 billion in revenue, derived mainly from user fees paid by divers directly to local communities.
Global South coastal communities host some 62% of recreational dives and are poised to gain the most from such a move, according to the study, which was carried out by ocean experts from Australia, Mexico, the USA and Canada.
They assembled a database of dive-centres, dive-sites and prices from thousands of locations worldwide to estimate the number of dives annually, the extent to which protection would increase biomass and biodiversity in an area, and divers’ willingness to pay access fees for diving in a Marine Protected Area (MPA).
They found that while 67% of all dive-sites were located within MPAs, only 15% were within highly or fully protected areas.
They then determined that enforcing highly and fully protected MPAs within existing recreational-diving locations would increase demand for diving and the number of dives by 32% (10.5 million extra dives per year) and boost dive-industry revenue by $616 million annually.
The consumer surplus – what someone is willing to pay for a scuba-diving experience versus its actual cost – was put at $2.7 billion per year. Divers would willingly pay more for the experience, says the report, driving up the profitability of the sector.
Nations set to gain
“If you protect a marine area, more recreational divers will show up – and they’ll pay more for the privilege of seeing sensational underwater life,” says lead author Reniel Cabral, a senior lecturer at James Cook University in Australia. “Communities and businesses are leaving money on the table by overlooking the benefits of marine sanctuaries.”
“In Mexico alone, the diving industry generates annual revenues comparable to the country’s entire fisheries sector, making marine conservation not just an environmental necessity but an economic imperative,” is the view of study co-author Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“From the vibrant reefs of Cozumel to the fully protected marine reserve of Cabo Pulmo, this industry welcomes up to 1.7 million divers each year.
“Strengthening conservation efforts and fostering small-scale, community-led ecotourism will not only elevate the diving experience, but will also ensure the long-term sustainability of marine tourism worldwide.”
Egypt, Thailand and the USA were found to host the most scuba dives at almost 3 million a year in each location, while Indonesia, Egypt and Australia host the most dives in fully or highly protected MPAs.
The Philippines, USA and Indonesia host the most dives in unprotected waters – and are the contries that would benefit most from designating sanctuaries in diving hotspots.
The popular sites account for less than 1% of the entire ocean, but protecting them would attract more and bigger marine life and in turn make them far more attractive to divers.
The spillover pay-off
Research indicates that fully protected MPAs can help restore fish populations by 500% on average, yield bigger fish over time and help replenish fishing grounds around the area through marine-life spillover.
A recent study shows that fishing-catch per unit effort increases by an average 12-18% near the boundaries of large fully protected MPAs.
The cost of creating and maintaining the MPAs could be rapidly offset by additional tourism profits, says Pristine Seas.
The research calculated that the operation of additional MPAs (including enforcement) that total 1% of the global ocean would cost up to $1.2 billion but that scuba divers’ access fees could generate more than enough revenue to cover those costs.
In contrast, in 2020 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other large fishing nations spent more than $10 billion of public money on supporting their fisheries.
“Bottom line: Ocean protection benefits marine life, coastal communities and businesses,” says Pristine Seas founder Enric Sala.
“Protecting diving sites from fishing and other damaging activities can generate new streams of income and benefit more people. It's increasingly clear that efforts to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 are even more beneficial than we thought.”
Pristine Seas is part of the National Geographic Society dedicated to science and film-making but is independent of National Geographic publishing and its media arm. Its new study, Marine Protected Areas For Dive Tourism appears in Scientific Reports.
Also on Divernet: NIUE LOVE: A VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT FOR DIVERS, ‘TIME-MACHINE’ MARSHALL ISLANDS GET FIRST MPA, WORLD’S BIGGEST CORAL DISCOVERED IN SOLOMONS, CASE CLOSED? STRICT MPA ENFORCEMENT IS WIN-WIN
