Skeptic wrote:
>
> Dive gloves are an unnecessary piece of gear that is known to result in
> added reef damage vs. bare hands. Can't dive without fins, but you sure can
> without gloves. Why such a fuss over this issue? The island thinks they
> contribute to reef damage. I agree. When in Bonaire, don't wear dive
> gloves. Not really that complicated.
You basically stated the answer to your own question. We fuss over this
because we do not like to see reefs damaged and we all think that
focusing on the gloves doesn't really solve the problem.
Bad buoyancy and attitude control are the problem. Fins, knees, elbows,
snorkels, dropped weights and dragging consoles can all do as much or
more damage than hands, with or without gloves on them.
The rule should be: ``Do not touch the reef at any time, for any reason.''
I recently watched a video made here in San Diego this winter. The
squid come in near shore and lay large fields of egg sacs that they
attach to the sandy bottom. The video showed a diver over the eggs,
negatively buoyant, bouncing off the bottom repeatedly using a finger or
two. How many thousands of squid eggs did he break? Possibly none, but
it made me sick to see it.
If that diver knew how to control his buoyancy fully, he could have
gotten a closer look without ever endangering the eggs.
If you really want to protect the reef, develop great buoyancy and trim
skills and teach others. I recommend that you get a demonstration from
an experienced cave or tech diver and then video tape yourself trying to
do the same things.
I thought I had it pretty well figured out on my own at about 50 dives.
Then I took a course from GUE and watched my instructor hovering over
a platform, completely motionless. He was not moving his hands, nor
fins, nor any part of his body other than his lungs, and his body was
not moving relative to the platform, except presumably for a slight rise
and fall, but that was too small for me to notice.
You can see some videos demonstrating the skills at
http://www.breakthrudiving.com/index2.html. The back kick video is
particularly fun.
Watching myself on video from that course, I saw that I wasn't truly
motionless, ever. There were always little fin movements pushing me
forward, or I'd wave my hands to back away from something. There are
better ways and they are not that hard to learn.
Most people think that such skills are not necessary for open water
diving, but I think you'll find that most of the rec.scuba regulars,
while they agree on very little as a rule, all agree that really good
buoyancy and trim is an essential skill for enjoying dives and
protecting the environment. |