Abstract

SCUBA diving activity has been increasing in the V.S. Caribbean without any statistics on the number of people involved as users of the marine resources. SCUBA diving schools, stores and centers were identified from the telephone boak, the tourism guides and diving magazines. A telephone survey, conducted by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council during 1998 - 1999, aimed at (1) identifying these centers to establish a database; (2) gathering information on the (a) number of divers using the resource; (b) areas visited; (c) number of visits per area; and (d) activities carried out by the divers at these sites.\Preliminary results indicate that there are over 100 diving operations in the area. Of these, most are involved in taking divers sightseeing. All levels of expertise are reported, but the beginner and intermediate divers predominate. Diving activities take place at depths between 10 and 20 meters (U.S. Virgin Islands) and 10 - 33 meters (Puerto Rico) over coral reef areas. The preliminary results of the survey show that on average, there are two dive trips per day, five days per week, which include nine divers per trip. As a first approximation, there could potentially be over 300,000 divers per year in the U.S. Caribbean. There were over 90 named diving locations which were reported as visited over to times per week. Further analyses of the data will include the number of areas frequented by divers (chartered activities) and the number of dives to each specific reef or wreck. This information, along with descriptions of changes in the species diversity and condition of the reef, could help in determining the effect of divers on reefs.

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