A Divers Responsibility
Topic: Scuba Diving
A Divers Responsibility

I learn to Dive in Kenting Taiwan 11 years ago. Since that time I have enjoyed almost 2000 recreational dives and many training dives at various dive sites around Kenting. The Dive sites around Kenting offer a variety of hard, soft and mixed coral sites and in the last few years the fish have been returning making the diving even better. The coral is in good shape especially the soft coral sites, and as long as we divers do our part to help keep things clean under the surface the corals should continue to thrive.
I have always been into conservation and have spent many dives cleaning by myself or organizing a group to go on cleaning dives with me. I don't believe we should just clean on days like Earth Day, after all Its only once a year and when coral has garbage or a net on top of it, it only takes a few days to block the sun and coral starts to die, so we should as divers take the responsibility to carry an onion bag ( best bags I have found so far) with us and if we see anything that shouldn't be there just pick it up It won't kill you. Out of the ten years I have been diving I have been an Instructor for almost nine of them. All my students that I teach I try to imprint on them just how important it is for us divers to help keep the corals clean since all peoples lives are connected to the sea and will be even more so in the future. Corals provide a means to giving us food, medicine (new medicines every day coming directly from corals) shelters for fish which we eat and for fish that attract other fish that we eat , corrosion protection on our shores, and as well as other reasons that benefit everybody.
During my dives I have noticed that the cleaner and healthier a reef is the more sea life there is to see, so it only makes sense that if we do our part and help clean up then the reef is healthier the sea life is better and everybody is happier.Organizing a cleaning dive does not take any more work than a normal dive, just pack an onion bag in your BCD call your friends and say lets go Its that simple.If you are one of these people that say I’m just there to dive then think of it this way everything is connected to everything else in one way or another so if the reef dies then those fish that live there will eventually be gone and the other life, life that depends on them will be gone to and the sea life that we people depend on is gone as well why? Because you said I’m just a diver and didn't want to help benefit everybody else. Nobody is asking you to clean the world just do what you can. I know this all sounds a little preachy and if you find picking up garbage is a little beneath you personally then organize a cleaning dive where you are the organizer and you don’t have to get your hands dirty.