Recreational Diving Impacts on Coral Reef Ecosystems

Over the past decades, recreational diving has emerged as a powerful driver of both economic opportunity and ecological disturbance in coral reef regions worldwide. Divers’ fin kicks, buoyancy errors and momentary reef contacts can break delicate coral branches, abrade living tissue and alter benthic habitats. Repeated physical disturbance may reduce coral cover, simplify community structure and favour opportunistic macroalgae, undermining reef resilience and diminishing biodiversity. Beyond direct contact, diver presence can stress reef-associated species, suppress key ecological processes such as cleaning interactions, and encourage behavioural shifts among reef fauna. At the same time, dive tourism underpins livelihoods in many coastal communities and has stimulated environmental education initiatives, responsible operator programmes and the development of artificial reefs to divert pressure from natural sites. Contemporary research aims to quantify diver impacts under realistic visitation levels, assess the efficacy of management interventions—from pre-dive briefings and guide-led diving to regulatory measures in marine protected areas—and explore novel approaches such as artificial habitats or temporary closures during peak seasons. Synthesising these insights reveals the complex trade-off between the social and economic benefits of diving and the conservation imperative to safeguard reef health. Effective management will require combination strategies that include diver education, operator compliance with environmental standards, spatial planning and the institutional support to enforce sustainable diving norms.

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Recreational Diving Impacts on Coral Reef Ecosystems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in recreational diving impacts on coral reef ecosystems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Artificial reef: A man-made structure placed on the seabed to simulate natural reef habitat and distribute recreational pressure away from sensitive coral areas.

Reef contact: Any physical interaction between a diver or their equipment and coral or other benthic organisms that can result in tissue damage or breakage.

Benthic community: The assemblage of organisms living on or near the seabed, including corals, algae, sponges and invertebrates, which form the structural foundation of reef ecosystems.

Marine Protected Area (MPA): A designated region of the ocean where human activity is regulated to conserve marine biodiversity and ecosystem processes.

References

1. Make a difference: Choose artificial reefs over natural reefs to compensate for the environmental impacts of dive tourism. The Science of The Total Environment (2023).
2. Beneath the lens: Exploring the impacts of underwater photographers in marine-based tourism. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism (2024).
3. Recreational Diving Impacts on Coral Reefs and the Adoption of Environmentally Responsible Practices within the SCUBA Diving Industry. Environmental Management (2016).
4. Marine Resource Recovery Following the COVID-19 Event in Southern Thailand. Civil Engineering Journal (2022).