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Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.

Recreational dive sites may be found in a wide range of bodies of water, and may be popular for various reasons, including accessibility, biodiversity, spectacular topography, historical or cultural interest and artifacts (such as shipwrecks), and water clarity. Tropical waters of high biodiversity and colourful sea life are popular recreational diving vacation destinations. South-east Asia, the Caribbean islands, the Red Sea and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia are regions where the clear, warm, waters, reasonably predictable conditions and colourful and diverse sea life have made recreational diving an economically important tourist industry.

Recreational divers may accept a relatively high level of risk to dive at a site perceived to be of special interest. Wreck diving and cave diving have their adherents, and enthusiasts will endure considerable hardship, risk and expense to visit caves and wrecks where few have been before. Some sites are popular almost exclusively for their convenience for training and practice of skills, such as flooded quarries. They are generally found where more interesting and pleasant diving is not locally available, or may only be accessible when weather or water conditions permit.

While divers may choose to get into the water at any arbitrary place that seems like a good idea at the time, a popular recreational dive site will usually be named, and a geographical position identified and recorded, describing the site with enough accuracy to recognise it, and hopefully, find it again.

Dive sites

The term dive site (from "dive" and "site", meaning "the place, scene, or point of an occurrence or event"^[1]) is used differently depending on context. In professional diving in some regions it may refer to the surface worksite from which the diving operation is supported and controlled by the diving supervisor. This may alternatively be called the diving operation control site, dive base, or control point. The professional dive site may also legally include the underwater work site and the area between the surface control area and underwater work site.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] In recreational diving it generally refers to the underwater environment of a dive. Where a site is named, it generally refers to the locality around a specific feature, which may be reasonably conveniently visited during a dive centred or focused on that feature. Conventions may vary regionally. In some places a named dive site may refer to a specific route with a given starting point, in others it may refer more loosely to a larger region which is far bigger than a diver could reasonably visit on dives with a common point.^{[citation needed]} Such regions may later be specified in more detail as they become better known, and what was originally referred to as a single site may become several sites when they are identified and described. Where a site is named for a shipwreck, it generally refers to the known extent of the wreckage, regardless of size. Synonyms include dive spot, dive location and diving site.

Bodies of water commonly used for recreational diving

Coastal dive sites

Coastal dive site scan be in the sea or inland waters, but unless specified, generally refer to coastal areas on a continental shelf, or near an island in the sea.

Sea and ocean shorelines, reefs and shoals are salt water sites and may support high biodiversity of life forms. Tropical coral reefs are the most popular diving tourism destinations. Rocky reefs are more widespread, and support a greater variety of ecosystems, though the local biodiversity is usually more limited. Shipwrecks are also common on some coasts, and are very popular attractions for a large number of divers. Unconsolidated sediment is less likely to be visited intentionally, though there are some muck diving sites known for interesting animals.

Most dive sites are in coastal waters. Mainly because that is where most of the shallow water is, and also because they are more accessible from places suitable for human habitation. However there are a significant number of regions known for good diving, which are relatively inaccessible to the traveller.

Inland dive sites

Inland dive sites are in bodies of water within the coastline of a land mass, usually beyond the influence of perceptible tides.

Lakes usually contain fresh water. Large lakes have many features of seas including wrecks and a variety of aquatic life. Depths may vary considerably, though they are shallow compared to the open ocean, and while surface water level may vary over the long term, they do not have noticeable tides, and seldom have significant currents. Some lakes are at high altitude and may require special considerations for altitude diving.

Artificial lakes, such as clay pits, gravel pits, quarries and dams often have low visibility. Flooded quarries are popular in inland areas for diver training and sometimes also recreational diving. Rock quarries may have reasonable underwater visibility if there is not so much mud or silt to cause low visibility. As they are not entirely natural environments and usually privately owned, quarries often contain features intentionally placed for divers to explore, such as sunken boats, automobiles, aircraft, and abandoned machinery and structures. Flooded mines may provide the equivalent of flooded caves with an overhead environment, though generally with a known extent.

Rivers generally contain fresh water but are often shallow and turbid and may have strong currents.

Caves containing water provide exotic and interesting, though relatively hazardous, opportunities for exploration, and are found both inland and at the coast.

Names of sites

Divers may choose to get into the water to explore any arbitrary place where conditions appear to be good enough to justify the effort, but do not necessarily record what is there, or even that the site exists, but a popular recreational dive site will usually be named, and a geographical position identified and recorded, describing the site with enough accuracy to recognise it, and hopefully, find it again.

Names for the sites themselves range from descriptive through quixotic to pretentious, as they are chosen at the whim of whoever dives there and names the site. There is often no standardisation, and the same site may be known by different names to different divers. Few sites are reliably mapped or have a published description with an accurate position, and many of these are caves or wrecks of identified ships. It is also common for a dive site to be named after a charted feature, such as a reef, exposed rock, promontory, or other navigational landmark, and like landmarks, the same name may be used for more than one dive site. Other sites are named for ecological features, like a species common at the site, or one that was seen there on an exploration dive. Sites that are frequently used by commercial service providers may be given names which are intended to promote the site to potential customers.

Popular features of dive sites

There are a wide range of underwater features which may contribute to the popularity of a dive site:

Accessibility is important, but not critical. Some divers will travel long distances at considerable cost to get to a site with exceptional features.
Biodiversity at the site: Popular examples are coral, sponges, fish, sting rays, molluscs, cetaceans, seals, sharks and crustaceans. Colourful organisms generally increase popularity of a site.
The topography of the site: Coral reefs, walls (underwater cliffs), rocky reefs, gullies, caves, overhangs and swim-throughs (short tunnels or arches) can be spectacular. Terminology for the topography of dive sites is generally consistent with oceanographic practice, with occasional more eccentric usage.
Historical or cultural items at the site: Shipwrecks, sunken aircraft and archaeological sites, apart from their historical value, form artificial habitats for marine life making them more attractive as dive sites.
Underwater visibility: This can vary widely between sites and with time and other conditions. Poor visibility is caused by suspended particles in the water, such as mud, silt, suspended organic matter and plankton. Currents and surge can stir up the particles. Rainfall runoff can carry particulate matter from the shore. Diving close to the sediments on the bottom can result in the particles being kicked up by the divers fins. Sites which generally have good visibility are preferred, but poor visibility will often be tolerated if the site is sufficiently attractive for other reasons.
Water temperature: Warm water diving is comfortable and convenient, and requires less equipment. Although cold water is uncomfortable and can cause hypothermia, cold water sites can be interesting because different species of underwater life thrive in cold conditions, and many interesting wrecks, caves and other features happen to be in cold water.
Currents and tidal flows can transport nutrients to underwater environments increasing the variety and biomass of life at a site. Currents can also be dangerous to divers as they can carry the diver away from the surface support or the planned exit point. Currents that flow over large obstructions can cause strong local vertical currents and turbulence that are dangerous because they may cause the diver to lose buoyancy control risking barotrauma, or impact against the bottom terrain.

Rating of sites

Sites are generally rated for quality by people who do not have an exhaustive experience of the full range of sites throughout the world, and preferences differ. Criteria used for rating may differ, and are seldom specified. It is unlikely that any published ratings are unbiased, and they are not usually accompanied by a conflict of interest disclaimer. Conditions at most sites vary from day to day, often considerably, depending on various factors, particularly recent weather. The quality of the diving experience will also vary depending on the conditions at the time.

Scuba diving tourism

Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental tourism.^[7]^[8]

Customer satisfaction is largely dependent on the quality of services provided, and personal communication has a strong influence on the popularity of specific service providers in a region.^[7]

Motivations to travel for scuba diving are complex and may vary considerably during the diver's development and experience. Participation can vary from once off to multiple dedicated trips per year over several decades. The popular destinations fall into several groups, including tropical reefs, shipwrecks and cave systems, each frequented by its own group of enthusiasts, with some overlap. Temperate and inland open water reef sites are generally dived by people who live relatively nearby.^[9]^[10]

Scuba diving tourism services are usually focused on providing visiting recreational divers with access to local dive sites, or organising group tours to regions where desirable dive sites exist.

The motivations of scuba divers to travel have been attributed to adventure, learning, escape, social interaction, stature, challenge and excitement, and while these are probably valid for most novice divers and some long term divers, the motivation of long term enthusiasts may be more complex. The development of a recreational diver from novice to experienced diver is usually associated with acquisition and improvement of skills, and is often accompanied by a shift in motivations to dive. Similarly, expectations of the diving experience, satisfaction with the experience available at different dive sites, and attitudes towards the underwater environment will change in divers who continue to dive over the longer term and relatively frequently. The desire to improve and learn for personal growth and the long term satisfaction and fulfilment derived from this learning is common in such divers. This could be an important factor informing the planning and management of diving tourism.^[9]^[10]

Regions of notable biodiversity

Temperate

The Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area around the Cape Peninsula is a popular diving region in the Atlantic Ocean, in the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa, with more than 250 named dive sites, many of which have been surveyed and mapped. The Cape Peninsula marks the boundary between the cool temperate Benguela ecoregion, which extends from Namibia to Cape Point, and is dominated by the cold Benguela Current, and the warm temperate Agulhas ecoregion to the east of Cape Point which extends eastwards to the Mbashe River. The break at Cape Point is very distinct in the inshore depth ranges, and the waters of the east and west sides of the peninsula support noticeably different ecologies, though there is a significant overlap of resident organisms. There are a large proportion of species endemic to South Africa along this coastline.^[11]^[12]^[13]

The Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area in the south coast of South Africa is another temperate region of high biodiversity and endemism, but the tourism infrastructure is not optimised for diving, as the sea conditions are somewhat unpredictable.

Tropical

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system,^[14]^[15] composed of over 2,900 individual reefs^[16] and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi).^[17]^[18] The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, separated from the coast by a channel 160 kilometres (100 mi) wide in places and over 61 metres (200 ft) deep.^[19] The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms.^[20] This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.^[21] It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.^[14]^[15] CNN labelled it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World in 1997.^[22] Australian World Heritage places included it in its list in 2007.^[23] The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland in 2006.^[24]

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff of humanmade pollutants, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, dumping of dredging sludge and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish.^[25] According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, a finding reaffirmed by a 2020 study which found over half of the reef's coral cover to have been lost between 1995 and 2017, with the effects of a widespread 2020 bleaching event not yet quantified.^[26]^[27]

Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over AUD$3 billion per year.^[28] In November 2014, Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef.^[29]

A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought, seriously affecting the northern parts of the reef as a result of warming ocean temperatures.^[30] In March 2017, the journal Nature published a paper showing that huge sections of an 800-kilometre (500 mi) stretch in the northern part of the reef had died in the course of 2016 of high water temperatures, an event that the authors put down to the effects of global climate change.^[31] The types of corals that reproduced also changed, leading to a "long-term reorganisation of the reef ecosystem if the trend continues."^[32]

In March 2022, another mass bleaching event has been confirmed, which raised further concerns about the future of this reef system, especially when considering the possible effects of El Niño weather phenomenon.^[33]

The Australian Institute of Marine Science conducts annual surveys of the Great Barrier Reef's status, and the 2022 report showed the greatest recovery in 36 years. It is mainly due to the regrowth of two-thirds of the reef by the fast-growing Acropora coral, which is the dominant coral there.^[34]

Indonesia
The Red Sea
Caribbean Sea
The iSimangaliso Marine Protected Area is a coastal and offshore marine protected area in KwaZulu-Natal from the South Africa-Mozambique border in the north to Cape St Lucia lighthouse in the south.^[35] There is a diving resort area serving this MPA at Sodwana Bay. The recreational diving area is in the tropical Delagoa ecoregion in the north of kwaZulu-Natal, which extends from Cape Vidal northwards into Mozambique. There are some species endemic to South Africa along this coastline, but most of the species are tropical Indo-Pacific.^[13] This is one of the very few places that coelacanths have been seen in their natural habitat by divers.

Types of dive sites

Dive sites may be classified under various types, and some sites fall under more than one of these types.

Wreck dive sites

Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures is visited.^[36] Although most wreck dive sites are the remains of ships sunk by accident or enemy action in times of war, there are a large number of ships scuttled to create dive sites at places where the conditions are more suitable for recreational diving.^[37] The recreation of wreck diving makes no distinction as to how the vessel ended up on the bottom, though this may be of importance to the individual diver, and some wreck hunters spend large amounts of time and money in searches for unlocated wrecks. There is a large overlap between recreational and archaeological wreck hunting and diving, and in some cases between recreational wreck diving and unauthorised recovery of artifacts. Some wreck diving involves penetration of the wreckage, making a direct ascent to the surface impossible for a part of the dive. Only a small fraction of the world's shipwrecks are in known positions suitable for access by divers, and their condition deteriorates over time.^[38]

Reef dive sites

In the context of recreational diving, a reef may be a coral reef or a bottom of predominantly consolidated inorganic material, like rocky reef, and in the broader sense includes artificial structures and even ships sunk as artificial reefs.

Reef diving regions are geographical regions of arbitrary size known for including more than one named reef dive site, while a reef dive site is a specific part of a reef known by a name, which recreational divers visit to dive.

Coral reef areas generally refer to reefs built by tropical stony corals, but soft corals and other non-reef-uilding corals may be found over a much wider range of sea temperatures and depths, an in many cases are more colourful than the reef-building corals. The attractions of tropical reef building corls are more in the structure of the reef, which cn ve very complex, and the high biodiversity of animals of these reefs.

Rocky reefs are more widespread, and though the structure is usually relatively simple, they may support a wide variety of seaweed and benthic invertebrates, some of which may be very colourful, and form a dense layer on the geological reef structure, to the extent that the actual rock may seldom be visible. Much depends on the biological productivity of the reef, which can be strongly affected by currents, river inflow, and particularly areas subject to deep-water upwellings, such as on the temperate west coasts of several continents and islands.

Cave dive sites

Cave diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be considered an extreme sport due to the range of hazards and the difficulty of mitigating them to an acceptable level. The equipment used varies depending on the circumstances, and ranges from breath hold to surface supplied, but almost all cave diving is done using scuba equipment, often in specialised configurations. Recreational cave diving is generally considered to be a type of technical diving due to the lack of a free surface during large parts of the dive, and often involves decompression.

A distinction is made by recreational diver training agencies between cave diving and cavern diving, where cavern diving is deemed to be diving in those parts of a cave where the exit to open water can be seen by natural light. An arbitrary distance limit to the open water surface may also be specified.^[39] There are relatively few practitioners of cave diving. This is due in part to the specialized equipment and skill sets required, and in part because of the high potential risks due to the specific environment. Despite these risks, water-filled caves attract scuba divers, cavers, and speleologists due to their often unexplored nature, and present divers with a technical diving challenge. Underwater caves have a wide range of physical features, and can contain fauna not found elsewhere.

Artificial reefs

Constructing an artificial reef using concrete breeze blocks^[40]

An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets,^[41] or improve surfing.

Many reefs are built using objects that were built for other purposes, such as by sinking oil rigs (through the Rigs-to-Reefs program), scuttling ships, or by deploying rubble or construction debris. Other artificial reefs are purpose-built (e.g. the reef balls) from PVC or concrete. Shipwrecks may become artificial reefs when preserved on the seafloor. Jetties and breakwaters are secondarily artificial reefs. Regardless of construction method, artificial reefs generally provide hard surfaces where algae and sessile ebibenthic invertebrates such as barnacles, corals, and oysters attach; the accumulation of attached marine life in turn provides intricate habitat and food for mobile benthic invertebrates and assemblages of fish.

Occasionally sculpture works have been placed underwater singly or in groups, as attractions for divers, and they also function as artificial reefs.^[42]^[43]^[44]^[45]

Quarry dive sites

Scuba diving quarries are depleted or abandoned rock quarries that have been allowed to fill with ground water, and rededicated to the purpose of scuba diving. They may offer deep, clean, clear, still, fresh water with excellent visibility, or low visibility in turbid water from surface runoff. They have no currents or undertow. They are often used as training sites for new divers, where classes and certification dives are carried out. Many have a dive shop on site to rent out equipment and sell air fills and diving equipment. Lodging or camping areas may be available on site.^{[citation needed]}

Quarries in stone may have clear water, with greater visibility than in many inland lakes. Ground water is the primary source of the water that fills these quarries once they are no longer pumped out for mining operations. Many quarry mining operations are located in areas where filling from other, less clean sources, such as rivers and surface runoff of rainwater is not as likely.

Over time, most quarries tend to be contaminated with erosion products and nutrients from surface runoff, causing many to develop a green tint due to algae growth, and accumulations of silt on the bottoms and other surfaces.

Fresh water scuba diving does not require much difference in equipment from diving in the sea. Water temperatures generally decrease as depth increases, and may be as low as 4 °C (39 °F) at depth. In those temperatures dry suit diving is recommended, but in warmer temperatures, wetsuits may be sufficient. Diving in clean fresh water generally requires less post dive maintenance.

The operators of scuba diving quarries may add objects or debris fields to the bottom of the quarry for divers to explore while scuba diving. Mostly these are man made objects such as boats, cars, and trucks. Some quarries have such large objects as school buses, small buildings, or commercial airliners on the bottom. These sites may be mapped out and marked with guide lines under the water, particularly if visibility is poor.^{[citation needed]}

The owners or operators of quarries may stock the quarry with fish to provide entertainment for divers. These are commonly the same species of fish that thrive naturally in local lakes and rivers, but some quarries are stocked with more exotic fish. The ecology is usually very limited.

Environmental impact of recreational diving

The environmental impact of recreational diving is the effects of diving tourism on the marine environment. Usually these are considered to be adverse effects, and include damage to reef organisms by incompetent and ignorant divers, but there may also be positive effects when the environment is recognised by the local communities to be worth more in good condition than degraded by inappropriate use, which encourages conservation efforts.

During the 20th century recreational scuba diving was considered to have generally low environmental impact, and was consequently one of the activities permitted in most marine protected areas. Since the 1970s diving has changed from an elite activity to a more accessible recreation, marketed to a very wide demographic. To some extent better equipment has been substituted for more rigorous training, and the reduction in perceived risk has shortened minimum training requirements by several training agencies. Training has concentrated on an acceptable risk to the diver, and paid less attention to the environment. The increase in the popularity of diving and in tourist access to sensitive ecological systems has led to the recognition that the activity can have significant environmental consequences.^[46]

Scuba diving has grown in popularity during the 21st century, as is shown by the number of certifications issued worldwide, which has increased to about 23 million by 2016 at about one million per year.^[47] Scuba diving tourism is a growth industry, and it is necessary to consider environmental sustainability, as the expanding impact of divers can adversely affect the marine environment in several ways, and the impact also depends on the specific environment. Tropical coral reefs are more easily damaged by poor diving skills than some temperate reefs, where the environment is more robust due to rougher sea conditions and fewer fragile, slow-growing organisms. The same pleasant sea conditions that allow development of relatively delicate and highly diverse ecologies also attract the greatest number of tourists, including divers who dive infrequently, exclusively on vacation and never fully develop the skills to dive in an environmentally friendly way.^[7] Low impact diving training has been shown to be effective in reducing diver contact.^[46]

Environmental impact can expand in scope when a destination is commercially developed to provide more facilities to encourage the expansion of tourism.

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^ Aspinall, Richard (2016-09-20). "From concrete to coral: breeze blocks make a splash regenerating reefs". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
^ Gray, Denis D. (2 June 2018). "Cambodia volunteers step up battle against illegal fishing". asia.nikkei.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
^ Perdomo, Gabriela (12 March 2012). "Is Art Better down Where It's Wetter?". Maclean's. Vol. 125, no. 9. p. 82.
^ Mackley, Brian (5 August 2019). "The first underwater veterans memorial is open for divers". Sightline Media Group: Military Times. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ Vance, Erik (August 2013). "The Art of Distraction". Scientific American. 309 (2): 16. Bibcode:2013SciAm.309b..16V. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0813-16. PMID 23923197.
^ "Underwater sculpture saving coral reefs". BBC World Service. 14 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b Hammerton, Zan (2014). SCUBA-diver impacts and management strategies for subtropical marine protected areas (Thesis). Southern Cross University. Archived from the original on 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
^ Lucrezi, Serena (18 January 2016). "How scuba diving is warding off threats to its future". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2019.

External links

Media related to Recreational dive sites at Wikimedia Commons

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[CoP_Scientific-3] Diving Advisory Board. Code Of Practice for Scientific Diving (PDF). Pretoria: The South African Department of Labour. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.

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[Dimmock_et_al_2013-7] Dimmock, Kay; Cummins, Terry; Musa, Ghazali (2013). "Chapter 10: The business of Scuba diving". In Musa, Ghazali; Dimmock, Kay (eds.). Scuba Diving Tourism. Routledge. pp. 161–173. Archived from the original on 2021-07-23. Retrieved 2019-12-29.

[Dimmock_and_Ghazali_2015-8] Dimmock, Kay; Musa, Ghazali, eds. (2015). Scuba diving tourism system: a framework for collaborative management and sustainability. Southern Cross University School of Business and Tourism. Archived from the original on 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2019-12-29.

[Kler_and_Tribe_2012-9] Kler, Balvinder Kaur; Tribe, John (2012). "Flourishing Through Scuba: Understanding the Pursuit of Dive Experiences". Tourism in Marine Environments. 8 (1/2): 19–32. doi:10.3727/154427312X13262430524027. Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-21.

[Lucrezi_et_al_2019-10] Lucrezi, S; Milanese, M; Cerrano, C; Palma, M. (5 July 2019). "The influence of scuba diving experience on divers' perceptions, and its implications for managing diving destinations". PLOS ONE. 14 (7): e0219306. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1419306L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0219306. PMC 6611629. PMID 31276482.

[Pfaff_et_al_2019-11] Pfaff, Maya C.; Logston, Renae C.; Raemaekers, Serge J. P. N.; Hermes, Juliet C.; Blamey, Laura K.; Cawthra, Hayley C.; Colenbrander, Darryl R.; Crawford, Robert J. M.; Day, Elizabeth; du Plessis, Nicole; Elwen, Simon H.; Fawcett, Sarah E.; Jury, Mark R.; Karenyi, Natasha; Kerwath, Sven E.; Kock, Alison A.; Krug, Marjolaine; Lamberth, Stephen J.; Omardien, Aaniyah; Pitcher, Grant C.; Rautenbach, Christo; Robinson, Tamara B.; Rouault, Mathieu; Ryan, Peter G.; Shillington, Frank A.; Sowman, Merle; Sparks, Conrad C.; Turpie, Jane K.; van Niekerk, Lara; Waldron, Howard N.; Yeld, Eleanor M.; Kirkman, Stephen P. (2019). "A synthesis of three decades of socio-ecological change in False Bay, South Africa: setting the scene for multidisciplinary research and management". Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. 7 (32). Bibcode:2019EleSA...7...32P. doi:10.1525/elementa.367. hdl:2263/75633. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)

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[16] The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, which is 348,000 km squared, has 2900 reefs. However, this does not include the reefs found in the Torres Strait, which has an estimated area of 37,000 km squared and with a possible 750 reefs and shoals. Hopley, Smithers & Parnell 2007, p. 1

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[economics-28] Cite error: The named reference economics was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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[Aspinall_2016-40] Aspinall, Richard (2016-09-20). "From concrete to coral: breeze blocks make a splash regenerating reefs". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2021-01-04.

[nikkei-41] Gray, Denis D. (2 June 2018). "Cambodia volunteers step up battle against illegal fishing". asia.nikkei.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.

[Perdomo-42] Perdomo, Gabriela (12 March 2012). "Is Art Better down Where It's Wetter?". Maclean's. Vol. 125, no. 9. p. 82.

[Mackley-43] Mackley, Brian (5 August 2019). "The first underwater veterans memorial is open for divers". Sightline Media Group: Military Times. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.

[SciAm-44] Vance, Erik (August 2013). "The Art of Distraction". Scientific American. 309 (2): 16. Bibcode:2013SciAm.309b..16V. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0813-16. PMID 23923197.

[BBC-45] "Underwater sculpture saving coral reefs". BBC World Service. 14 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.

[Hammerton_2014-46] Hammerton, Zan (2014). SCUBA-diver impacts and management strategies for subtropical marine protected areas (Thesis). Southern Cross University. Archived from the original on 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2019-12-29.

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@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 ===Tropical===
 *[[Great Barrier Reef]]
+[[file:ISS-45 StoryOfWater, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.jpg|thumb|Image of part of the Great Barrier Reef adjacent to [[Queensland]], taken from the [[International Space Station]] ]]
+The '''Great Barrier Reef''' is the world's largest [[coral reef]] system,<ref name=UNEP>{{cite web|author=UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre |year=1980 |title=Protected Areas and World Heritage – Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area |url=http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/data/wh/gbrmp.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080511100752/http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/data/wh/gbrmp.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 May 2008 |publisher=[[Department of the Environment and Heritage]] |access-date=14 March 2009 }}</ref><ref name=GBRWHV>{{cite web|title=The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Values|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/great-barrier-reef/values.html|access-date=3 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509112200/http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/great-barrier-reef/values.html|archive-date=9 May 2013}}</ref> composed of over 2,900 individual reefs<ref>The [[Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area]], which is 348,000&nbsp;km squared, has 2900 reefs. However, this does not include the reefs found in the [[Torres Strait]], which has an estimated area of 37,000&nbsp;km squared and with a possible 750 reefs and shoals. {{harvnb|Hopley|Smithers|Parnell|2007| p= 1}}</ref> and 900 islands stretching for over {{convert|2300|km|mi}} over an area of approximately {{convert|344400|km2|mi2}}.<ref>{{cite web|author=Fodor's|title=Great Barrier Reef Travel Guide|url=http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=great_barrier@230&cur_section=ove|access-date=8 August 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514032401/http://www.fodors.com/world/australia-and-the-pacific/australia/queensland/great-barrier-reef/|archive-date=14 May 2013}}</ref><ref name = 1975review>{{cite web|author=Department of the Environment and Heritage|title=Review of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975|url=http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/gbr-marine-park-act.html|access-date=2 November 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061018005108/http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/gbr-marine-park-act.html |archive-date = 18 October 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> The reef is located in the [[Coral Sea]], off the coast of [[Queensland]], [[Australia]], separated from the coast by a channel {{Convert|100|mi|km|order=flip}} wide in places and over {{Convert|200|ft|m|order=flip}} deep.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leong|first=Goh Cheng|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhJ4RAAACAAJ&q=certificate+physical+and+human+geography|title=Certificate Physics And Human Geography; Indian Edition|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-562816-6|pages=81|language=en|access-date=21 January 2022|archive-date=20 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620214553/https://books.google.com/books?id=XhJ4RAAACAAJ&q=certificate+physical+and+human+geography|url-status=live}}</ref> The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from [[outer space]] and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/media/releases/2002/1013133456_20385.jsp |title=Great Barrier Reef: no buried treasure |author=Sarah Belfield |publisher=Geoscience Australia (Australian Government) |date=8 February 2002 |access-date=11 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001045912/http://www.ga.gov.au/media/releases/2002/1013133456_20385.jsp |archive-date=1 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as [[coral]] [[polyp (zoology)|polyp]]s.<ref name=billions>{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_1_57/ai_65370824 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708000309/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_1_57/ai_65370824/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 July 2012 |author=Sharon Guynup |date=4 September 2000 |work=[[Science World (magazine)|Science World]] |title=Australia's Great Barrier Reef |access-date=11 June 2007 }}</ref> It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a [[World Heritage Site]] in 1981.<ref name="UNEP"/><ref name="GBRWHV"/> [[CNN]] labelled it one of the [[Seven Wonders of the World#Seven Natural Wonders of the World|Seven Natural Wonders of the World]] in 1997.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=CNN |year=1997 |title=The Seven Natural Wonders of the World |url=http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9711/natural.wonders/ |access-date=6 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721011803/http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9711/natural.wonders/ |archive-date=21 July 2006 }}</ref> Australian World Heritage places included it in its list in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment |title=National Heritage List: The Great Barrier Reef, Queensland |url=https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/gbr |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422152822/http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/gbr |url-status=live }}</ref> The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|author=National Trust Queensland|title=Queensland Icons|url=http://www.nationaltrustqld.org/qldicons.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210082849/http://www.nationaltrustqld.org/qldicons.htm|archive-date=10 December 2006|access-date=27 April 2021}}</ref>
+A large part of the reef is protected by the [[Great Barrier Reef Marine Park]], which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other [[Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef|environmental pressures on the reef]] and its [[ecosystem]] include [[Surface runoff|runoff]] of humanmade pollutants, [[climate change]] accompanied by mass [[coral bleaching]], dumping of dredging sludge and cyclic population outbreaks of the [[crown-of-thorns starfish]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/20/great-barrier-reef-authority-gives-green-light-to-dump-dredging-sludge|title=Great Barrier Reef authority gives green light to dump dredging sludge|last=Smee|first=Ben|date=20 February 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=21 February 2019|issn=0261-3077|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221130431/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/20/great-barrier-reef-authority-gives-green-light-to-dump-dredging-sludge|archive-date=21 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> According to a study published in October 2012 by the ''[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]'', the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, a finding reaffirmed by a 2020 study which found over half of the reef's coral cover to have been lost between 1995 and 2017, with the effects of a widespread 2020 bleaching event not yet quantified.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|last=Eilperin|first=Juliet|title=Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals since 1985, new study says|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/great-barrier-reef-has-lost-half-its-corals-since-1985-new-study-says/2012/10/01/c733025c-0bda-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html?wprss=rss_social-nation-headlines&Post+generic=?tid=sm_twitter_washi|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=1 October 2012|date=1 October 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209051801/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/great-barrier-reef-has-lost-half-its-corals-since-1985-new-study-says/2012/10/01/c733025c-0bda-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html?wprss=rss_social-nation-headlines&Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washi|archive-date=9 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Amy Woodyatt|title=The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals within 3 decades|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/great-barrier-reef-coral-loss-intl-scli-climate-scn/index.html|access-date=2020-10-17|website=CNN|date=13 October 2020 |language=en|archive-date=15 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015211707/https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/great-barrier-reef-coral-loss-intl-scli-climate-scn/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
+Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over [[Australian dollar|AUD$]]3&nbsp;billion per year.<ref name="economics"/> In November 2014, Google launched [[Google Maps#Street View|Google Underwater Street View]] in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/11/16/240622233/Google-Launches-Underwater-Street-View |title=Google Launches Underwater Street View |date=16 November 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129030153/http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/11/16/240622233/Google-Launches-Underwater-Street-View |archive-date=29 November 2014 }}</ref>
+A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought, seriously affecting the northern parts of the reef as a result of [[effects of global warming on oceans|warming ocean temperatures]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching more widespread than first thought|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://www.smh.com.au/environment/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-more-widespread-than-first-thought-surveys-reveal-20160331-gnux7x.html|date=31 March 2016|access-date=2 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403042953/http://www.smh.com.au/environment/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-more-widespread-than-first-thought-surveys-reveal-20160331-gnux7x.html|archive-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> In March 2017, the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' published a paper showing that huge sections of an {{Convert|800|km|mi|adj=on}} stretch in the northern part of the reef had died in the course of 2016 of high water temperatures, an event that the authors put down to the effects of global climate change.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/science/great-barrier-reef-coral-climate-change-dieoff.html|title=Large Sections of Australia's Great Reef Are Now Dead, Scientists Find|last1=Cave|first1=Damien|date=15 March 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=19 February 2018|last2=Gillis|first2=Justin|issn=0362-4331|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220033229/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/science/great-barrier-reef-coral-climate-change-dieoff.html|archive-date=20 February 2018}}</ref> The types of corals that reproduced also changed, leading to a "long-term reorganisation of the reef ecosystem if the trend continues."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-04-04/great-barrier-reef-changes-coral-bleaching-recruitment-plummets/10962054|title=Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching causes numbers of baby coral to plummet|date=4 April 2019|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410133255/https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-04-04/great-barrier-reef-changes-coral-bleaching-recruitment-plummets/10962054|archive-date=10 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
+In March 2022, another mass bleaching event has been confirmed, which raised further concerns about the future of this reef system, especially when considering the possible effects of [[El Niño]] weather phenomenon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60870239|date=25 March 2022|title=Great Barrier Reef: Australia confirms new mass bleaching event|website=BBC News|access-date=25 March 2022|archive-date=25 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325065956/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60870239|url-status=live}}</ref>
+The [[Australian Institute of Marine Science]] conducts annual surveys of the Great Barrier Reef's status, and the 2022 report showed the greatest recovery in 36 years. It is mainly due to the regrowth of two-thirds of the reef by the fast-growing Acropora coral, which is the dominant coral there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2021-22|date= 4 August 2022|title= Annual Summary Report of Coral Reef Condition 2021/22|website=AIMS|access-date= 2 January 2023|archive-date=13 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113075129/https://www.aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2021-22|url-status=live}}</ref>
 *[[Indonesia]]
 *[[Red Sea#Tourism|The Red Sea]]