TY - JOUR

T1 - DiverReef: A global database of the behavior of recreational divers and their interactions with reefs over 20 years

AU - Giglio, Vinicius

AU - Roche, Ronan

PY - 2025/2/20

Y1 - 2025/2/20

N2 - Recreational diving is an important activity in reef environmentsworldwide, providing income and employment for coastal communitiesand connecting visiting divers to these ecosystems promoting conserva-tion and stewardship. However, if poorly managed, diving has thepotential to cause detrimental effects on benthic communities viamechanical damage caused by physical contact of divers with the reef,often in the form of unintentional fin kicks resulting from poor buoy-ancy. Understanding diver–reef interaction patterns is important to elu-cidate the potential impacts of diving tourism on the reef biota. TheDiverReef database provides the first public dataset on the underwaterbehavior of recreational divers in shallow reef environments (<25 mdepth) globally and their interactions with the reef seascape and/or reefbenthic sessile organisms. The dataset comprises 20 years of data(2004–2023) by observing the behavior of 2311 recreational divers innine countries at 19 diving destinations and 176 diving sites; 93% of theobservations were in marine protected areas. The data were collectedthrough on-site observations of divers’ behavior during tourism activi-ties and their physical interactions with the reef structure and/or ben-thic sessile reef organisms. Observers discreetly followed divers andrecorded their behavior and interactions with the reef over set periods.Interactions were described as“contact” or “damage,” the latter refer-ring to when physical damage to a benthic organism or the reef struc-ture was observed. Besides behavior, observers also recorded data on thetype of diving activity (scuba or snorkeling), profiles of the divers (gen-der and experience), use of cameras by the divers, visibility, type of reefformation, and marine protection status of the dive site. The authors ofthis research expect that the data provided will be useful in advancingknowledge of how divers interact with reefs and in developing strategiesto mitigate the potential detrimental effects of the diving industry onreef biota. Part of the data has already been used in reports and scientificarticles. This dataset can be freely used for noncommercial purposes; werequest that users of these data cite this data paper in all publicationsresulting from the use of this dataset.

AB - Recreational diving is an important activity in reef environmentsworldwide, providing income and employment for coastal communitiesand connecting visiting divers to these ecosystems promoting conserva-tion and stewardship. However, if poorly managed, diving has thepotential to cause detrimental effects on benthic communities viamechanical damage caused by physical contact of divers with the reef,often in the form of unintentional fin kicks resulting from poor buoy-ancy. Understanding diver–reef interaction patterns is important to elu-cidate the potential impacts of diving tourism on the reef biota. TheDiverReef database provides the first public dataset on the underwaterbehavior of recreational divers in shallow reef environments (<25 mdepth) globally and their interactions with the reef seascape and/or reefbenthic sessile organisms. The dataset comprises 20 years of data(2004–2023) by observing the behavior of 2311 recreational divers innine countries at 19 diving destinations and 176 diving sites; 93% of theobservations were in marine protected areas. The data were collectedthrough on-site observations of divers’ behavior during tourism activi-ties and their physical interactions with the reef structure and/or ben-thic sessile reef organisms. Observers discreetly followed divers andrecorded their behavior and interactions with the reef over set periods.Interactions were described as“contact” or “damage,” the latter refer-ring to when physical damage to a benthic organism or the reef struc-ture was observed. Besides behavior, observers also recorded data on thetype of diving activity (scuba or snorkeling), profiles of the divers (gen-der and experience), use of cameras by the divers, visibility, type of reefformation, and marine protection status of the dive site. The authors ofthis research expect that the data provided will be useful in advancingknowledge of how divers interact with reefs and in developing strategiesto mitigate the potential detrimental effects of the diving industry onreef biota. Part of the data has already been used in reports and scientificarticles. This dataset can be freely used for noncommercial purposes; werequest that users of these data cite this data paper in all publicationsresulting from the use of this dataset.

U2 - 10.1002/ecy.4519

DO - 10.1002/ecy.4519

M3 - Article

VL - 106

JO - Ecology

JF - Ecology

SN - 0012-9658

IS - 2

M1 - e4519

ER -