Each and every year, thousands of holidaymakers jump a plane to trek half way across the world to scuba dive on some of the most beautiful pristine coral reefs on the planet, stretching from Australia to Indonesia, the Maldives to the Seychelles.

This at a time when the threat to coral reefs throughout the world is both widely known and almost universally accepted.

Thoughtless, careless or maybe even willfully destructive fishing practices, allied with widespread ocean acidification and sedimentation are all taking their toll.

Now scientists estimate that almost 25% of the world's coral reefs are already damaged beyond repair and that, if trends continue, perhaps 70% of the worlds coral could disappear in our children’s lifetime.

Without any doubt, the biggest single threat to the remaining coral reefs remains rising sea temperatures caused by global warming. How ironic and unfortunate therefore, that one of the biggest causes of this global warming could be the emissions caused by all these long haul flights, ferrying divers from one side of the world to the other!

Put more succinctly, the long haul flight from JFK or Heathrow to survey the splendors of the Barrier Reef or the Bahamas is probably the most damaging thing a tourist can do to the reef.

So, what can the more responsible scuba diver (obviously, that is, all of them!) do to protect the rapidly declining reef stocks of the world? Padi, the world's largest diver training organization, provides some fairly straightforward guidelines for eco-tourists and also offer courses in sustainable dive practice.

Moreover, there are a few simple steps that a more eco-aware amateur diver can take, such as practicing buoyancy control skills before diving to avoid accidentally kicking the reef, never standing on or collecting coral, to avoid causing irrepairable coral damage.

But perhaps the most apposite piece of coral reef friendly advice that can be given to any scuba diver is, dive closer to home! Although it is probably far more glamorous to do so, it is absolutely not totally necessary to take a twelve to eighteen hour flight to the far side of the world to find clear, warm waters to dive in.

In Europe, a visit to some parts of the Mediterranean should provide all of the clear, warm waters that you could ever need for a perfect scuba diving vacation.

Likewise, most parts of America are not short of clear, warm water diving conditions off the coast, within a short haul flight of most places. Even places that are not near the coast can offer some fairly reasonable inland dive locations.

The key is to understand that, by flying to far flung corners of the world at each and every opportunity to pursue your own scuba diving pleasures, you may just be helping to deprive your children of those same pleasures.

It really is that serious!

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