Wreck-reation Outdoor Issue Essay Diving into the Environment Benjamin Griswold PRM 346W Northern Arizona University Abstract This essay will be focused on discussing the different possible environmental repercussions of scuba diving. Scuba diving is an immensely popular past time with millions of participants in the United States alone. The articles this essay look at focus on one of the ways that scuba diving can possibly damage the environment. Scuba diving can have different impacts depending on where you dive and what the local rules and regulations are. However, what we will primarily be focusing on will be reefs. In this essay, we will be looking at the effects that diving can have on the reef. We will also look at potential …show more content…
Diving is one of the primary causes for the creation of artificial reefs, as they are popular tourist draws for the diving industry and can be used to slow reef loss. The creation of artificial reefs is a common and widespread activity along the coastlines of many nations. They are popular as they lead to the creation of new ecosystems and areas for fishing and diving. The creation of these artificial coral reefs has led to many raising questions about the potential impacts of these reefs, both positive and negative. There is controversy about whether there are enough long-term benefits to out way the short-term drawbacks and if they should become more tightly governed. Artificial reefs have proven to very popular among tourists, especially those artificial reefs that are created by the sinking of boats. In addition, there are proven economic benefits to the creation of artificial reefs, mainly because of the fact that artificial reefs lead to a boom in commercially important species of fish and marine life forms. In addition, the creation of artificial reefs is a huge booster for industries such as recreational fishing and tourist scuba diving. (Feary et al.) Studies have shown that as a general rule, artificial reefs are capable of holding more fish then natural reefs. This combined with the fact that over the last sixty years coral reefs have seen a decline of over nineteen percent and will lose another twenty percent by 2050 means that any method of restoring coral reefs is worth an appraisal (Feary et al.). There are definitely downsides to artificial coral reefs, however the benefits seem to vastly out way the downsides. One of the benefits of artificial coral reefs is that they can be created purposely in places where there will be low diver impact on them or in places where they will be very beneficial to the environment. They