How to Become a More Eco-Conscious Diver

A question that I hear from a lot of divers is how can I become a more eco-conscious diver? We may feel helpless with the current environment of our oceans and plastics are becoming such a huge problem. But all the small things make a huge difference when it comes to reducing plastic consumed on the planet or helping to make a difference with the ocean's health.

Within this blog, I’ll be sharing the ways you can become an eco-conscious diver, both at home and during your underwater diving adventures.

First up, let's discover the things you can do while you're diving that can help the ocean environment and marine life.

Underwater Diving Clean-Ups

Participating in both underwater and beach clean-ups are a great way of helping to reduce plastic in our oceans. You don’t have to do every dive with the aim to collect rubbish. But as long as you’re prepared by taking the necessary equipment, you can help with ridding ocean plastics and decrease the likelihood of plastic being ingested by marine life.

Check out the blog on Equipment Needed for Underwater Clean-Ups for a more in-depth overview of underwater clean-ups and the equipment you need.

Maintain Your Buoyancy

By maintaining your buoyancy, you’re less likely to touch the reefs surrounding you. Make sure that you are aware of your surroundings throughout your dive. Make sure you breathe properly and adjust your weights and BCD air accordingly.

If you need tips and advice on proper buoyancy control, make sure to check out our blog on Tips and Advice on Proper Buoyancy Control.

Use Reef-Safe Products

Make sure to use reef-safe products when you’re diving. So I'm talking reef-safe sunscreen, mask wash and other products that you may be using before diving. 97% of sunscreens on the market contain chemicals that are toxic to coral reefs, even at small concentrations. This is because of the chemicals that these sunscreens are made from. By choosing a reef-safe opinion you are minimising damage to the reef from sunscreen that leaves your skin when diving.

Don’t Touch Anything While Diving

Never, under any circumstances touch anything when you’re diving. It is never beneficial for them and it can often damage or hurt the corals and marine life. Avoid this at all costs as many marine creatures are very fragile, even the gentlest of touches could be damaging to delicate structures such as corals and could destroy years of growth.

The only things you can touch is plastic or waste that shouldn’t be in the ocean. But when you’re collecting rubbish, check your surroundings and assess the situation before removing the plastic. Check out the blog on Equipment Needed for Underwater Clean-Ups for a more in-depth overview of underwater clean-ups, tips, advice and the equipment you need.

Be Prepared for Your Dive Trip

Be prepared for your dive trip by taking all the necessary items needed to collect rubbish as you see it. Take a mesh bag with you on all dives so you can pick up plastic wherever you see some and can easily store it away to dispose of after your dive. Make sure to also bring a knife to cut the plastic and a pair of gloves so you don’t cut yourself on the plastic.

How to Become an Eco-Friendly Diver From Home

Next up is how can you become more eco-friendly at home as a diver. There are many different ways that you can help from home. From reducing your plastic waste to making more eco-conscious decisions, here are some of the stand-out ones that you can implement in your daily life as a diver.

Invest in Eco-Friendly Diving Gear: There are diving brands that pride themselves on making sustainable diving gear that helps to protect the ocean, one being Fourth Element. As an example, their newest fins, the rec fin, is made out of 97% recycled plastic!
Take Care of Your Diving Equipment: By doing this, it will ensure that your kit lasts longer and you won’t have to replace parts or the whole gear as often.
Reduce your plastic waste: Opt for more sustainable options and reduce your single waste plastics consumption.
Make eco-conscious purchasing decisions: Purchase from companies that use as little plastic packaging as possible: For Instance with us at Mike’s Dive Store, we aim to ship all our packaging with minimal packaging as possible and we recycle our packaging. We don't want to waste a perfectly decent box, so we reuse our suppliers. We're also the first dive shop not to use extra plastic packaging, only paper tape and cardboard bubble wrap.