How Do You Identify a Conservation-Friendly Dive Shop?

In this installment of Ask a Marine Biologist, Dr. David Shiffman answers the following question from Jason G.

Question: How can you identify the most welfare-oriented and sustainable dive and snorkel tour operators? – Jason G, California

Answer: There are many scuba operators that do a great job of being environmentally responsible, helping the ocean in lots of different ways. One important thing to keep in mind when vetting a dive operator is the kinds of environmental harms that a not particularly eco-friendly dive operator can inflict. This includes obvious stuff like damaging coral reefs or other habitat through careless anchoring practices or not preventing divers from touching the habitat. It also includes pollution stemming from the boats they use, engaging in wildlife harassment and, of course, the large carbon footprint associated with travel in general. Sometimes it’s difficult or even impossible to know in advance what a given operator does with respect to these issues, but you can often identify the worst offenders through word-of-mouth and online reviews.

So what actions do good dive operators take to be eco-friendly? Some donate money or in-kind services like free dives to marine biologists so that we can learn more about ocean animals and use that information to protect them. Another method is taking care to educate—with factually correct information vetted by experts—both their customers and their surrounding communities about ocean conservation issues and how people can help.

An eco-conscious dive operator will always go above and beyond to make sure that its frequent visits to nearby reefs or other dive spots don’t cause harm, and many will also actively improve the environment by participating in cleanup efforts or culls of invasive animals.

And some offer carbon offsets (which can themselves be a bit of a mixed bag, but some absolutely work and help—I personally recommend the World Wildlife Fund Gold Standard of carbon offsets to my friends and family), or use solar or biodiesel powered vessels like this one. Scuba operators who especially value this stuff tend not to be shy about promoting it, and you can usually find it on their websites and advertisements pretty quickly—especially true if a particular operation has won awards for its public conservation education efforts, or is certified by an independent third-party organization that looks for this stuff (one prominent example is Green Fins).

Most dive operations that aren’t particularly eco-friendly don’t try to trick you. They likely won’t say anything about their environmental practices at all. But every once in a while, you might come across an outfit that’s just straight up lying, claiming to be an environmentally responsible operation while causing harm to the marine environment or to wildlife through their unnecessary practices. (When talking about land conservation issues, the term for pretending to be eco-friendly to attract money from people who care about the environment is called “greenwashing.”)

One huge red flag is repeated claims to be eco-friendly without ever noting specific practices or past successes, or independent conservation organizations that have praised their efforts. Another is touting relatively simple practices like shunning plastic cutlery and water bottles on board while being conspicuously quiet about their greater environmental impact (sure, we should all reduce our single-use plastic consumption, but a dive vessel that anchors carelessly does more harm than is fixed by serving food with reusable forks). And lastly, one of the biggest issues I encounter as a marine conservation biologist is people who claim that they are helping, but are…not helping. An example in the scuba community is the problematic trend of people riding, grabbing, or harassing wildlife, often but not always with sharks. One of the first things divers learn in open water training about marine life is to look but don’t touch. If someone associated with the dive shop you’re considering giving your money to violates this rule, no matter why they say they’re violating it, I’d suggest that you go elsewhere. Someone who says that they are helping the ocean while regularly harming animals for no reason other than a cool picture with a big scary animal is someone to avoid—and no, before you bring up shark tagging, common marine biology research methods like telemetry tagging are not wildlife harassment.

With this information in mind, you can hopefully identify a (relatively) eco-friendly dive operator next time you go diving!

Ask a Marine Biologist is a biweekly column where Dr. David Shiffman answers your questions about the underwater world. Topics are chosen from reader-submitted queries as well as data from common internet searches. If you have a question you’d like answered in a future Ask a Marine Biologist column, or if you have a question about the answer given in this column, email Shiffman at WhySharksMatter@gmail.com with subject line “Ask a marine biologist.”

Dr. David Shiffman is a marine conservation biologist specializing in the ecology and conservation of sharks. An award-winning public science educator, David has spoken to thousands of people around the world about marine biology and conservation and has bylines with the Washington Post, Scientific American, New Scientist, Gizmodo and more. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where he’s always happy to answer any questions about sharks.