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Understanding the Underwater Behaviour of Scuba Divers in Hong Kong

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Abstract

Diving-related activities may constitute a major threat to coral reefs. This study aimed to quantify the impact of diving in Hong Kong on hard corals and understand how socio-economic characteristics and experience level of divers influence diver-inflicted damage. We recorded and analysed the underwater behaviour of 81 recreational divers. On average, a diver was in contact with marine biota 14.7 times with about 40 % of contacts involved corals and 38 % were damaging contacts with corals or other biota in a single dive. The most harm-inflicting groups included inexperienced and camera-carrying divers. Although Hong Kong divers did not make many damaging contacts with corals, there is still an imminent need to determine the scale of damage from diving activities on the marine ecosystem given the rapid development of marine-based tourism and the limited coral-inhabited areas in Hong Kong where the marine environment is already under stress from anthropogenic activities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Environment and Conservation Fund, Hong Kong (ECF Project 9/2009) and the Faculty Research Grant of Hong Kong Baptist University (FRG1/11-12/018). The authors thank the volunteer divers who helped conduct the underwater observations: Ko-kwan Chan, Marcus Chan, Wilco Cheung, Eian Kee, Hoi-ling Ma, Mimi So, Alan Tam, Joe Wan and Sarah Yiu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Shan-shan Chung, Alfred Au & Jian-Wen Qiu

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  1. Shan-shan Chung
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  2. Alfred Au
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  3. Jian-Wen Qiu
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Correspondence to Shan-shan Chung.

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Mr. Alfred (Cheuk-sun) Au deceased.

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Chung, Ss., Au, A. & Qiu, JW. Understanding the Underwater Behaviour of Scuba Divers in Hong Kong. Environmental Management 51, 824–837 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0023-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0023-y

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