June 2005
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What makes a great dive?
What are the ingredients for an excellent dive? CRC Reef and James Cook University postgraduate student Dean Miller has put this question to dive tourists visiting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Working in conjunction with the CRC for Sustainable Tourism, Dean’s PhD research aims to help the tourism industry create the best possible dives and to conserve species and sites that are particularly important to divers. The interest in SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef is growing, with hundreds of thousands of dives on the Reef every year. This is the first time anyone has asked live-aboard divers what they experience at a dive site, and what animals they are looking for. The study uses questionnaires and biological surveys to compare what lives at a dive site with what divers enjoy seeing. Finding out about divers’ expectations will benefit both tourism operators and the environment. If divers hope to see specific animals such as sharks or potato cod at dive sites, then these animals have a high value for the tourism industry. This information can be used to support conservation efforts for these species and their habitats. During his research, which he says forges an integral link between industry and researchers, Dean has been glad of the continuing support and enthusiasm of the crews and management of the boats Undersea Explorer, Nimrod Explorer, SuperSport, Taka II, Spirit of Freedom and Diversity which visit the Ribbon Reefs, north of Cairns, and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. “Live-aboard operators provided essential in-kind berth space,” says Dean, “and it was the crews who handed out my questionnaires, and made it possible for me to run surveys on six different boats at once.” His surveys cover tourists with a wide range of experiences, from complete beginner to specialist diver with over 10,000 logged dives. Dean is investigating the effect of dive history and skill level on perceptions of a site. “One aim of this research is to find new ways to enrich divers’ experiences by educating them about the Reef and the animals that they are likely to see. This will help minimise diver impacts on the Reef,” he said. Results should also indicate how Australian sites rate against other locations visited by worldly SCUBA divers. Dean’s project forms part of ongoing research on the ecologically sustainable management of marine wildlife tourism by Dr Alastair Birtles and Associate Professor Peter Valentine. It has been based on their successful work on ecologically sustainable dwarf minke whale tourism. Dean is currently writing up his PhD, and says he has some very interesting results. “Tourists most want to see sharks, rays and big fish,” he says, “but there is obviously a lot more complexity in the results - and they’ll be available soon!” |
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PO Box 772 Townsville
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