NDLI: Sustainable dive ecotourism on a South African coral reef

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Walters, R.D.M. Samways, M.J.
Copyright Year	2001
Abstract	SCUBA ecotourism provides economic support for local human communities and for conservation. Such support should be sustainable and as ecologically non-destructive as possible to its coral reef foundation. In recent years, the major increase in SCUBA activity has become a significant consideration at some locations. Among these are the South African coral reefs at Sodwana Bay, which receive 80 000 dives per year. Between May 1998 and January 1999, assessments using line-intercept and belt transects showed that 5.9% of hard corals and 4.0% of soft corals were damaged from various causes, while only 0.02% of the hard corals were dead. Of the 222 diver contacts observed, only 1.63% produced instant and visually-clear damage, with no measurable decline in overall coral reef health. Direct observations on 89 recreational divers showed that photographers made damaging contacts on nine out of ten dives, while novice divers made one such contact per six dives, moderately experienced divers about once every 14 dives, and very experienced divers about once every 123 dives. Increased time lapsed since the last dive increased diver damage by novices. We calculated that the 80 000 dives were equivalent to 1 m2 of reef receiving 2.3 diver contacts per year. Acropora austera was by far the most significantly damaged coral, with one out of four branches broken per year. But as this species accounted for only 0.2% of reef benthos cover, this impact was not representative of overall reef health. This heavy species-specific impact makes A. austera a good bio-monitor.
Starting Page	2167
Ending Page	2179
Page Count	13
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09603115
Journal	Biodiversity and Conservation
Volume Number	10
Issue Number	12
e-ISSN	15729710
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers
Publisher Date	2001-01-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Evolutionary Biology Tree Biology Plant Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation

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