The Scripps Institution of Oceanography revealed scuba diving generates up to $20 billion annually, a finding that points to dive tourism as an economic force.
Researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla have co-authored an international study finding there is substantial revenue from scuba diving, contributing between $8.5 and $20.4 billion to the global economy annually.
As scuba diving depends on healthy ocean ecosystems, the study suggests a new argument for marine conservation, couched in economic incentive.
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, SIO
The research, published July 25 in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability, also estimates scuba diving supports up to 124,000 jobs across 170 countries.
This is the first comprehensive estimate of the scuba diving industry’s global economic impact, according to SIO.
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, SIO
The study is part of Atlas Aquatica, led by Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a marine biologist at SIO and co-author of the study.
“Scuba diving is pretty unique because it makes you spend time underwater,” Fabio Favoretto, a SIO postdoctoral researcher and study co-author as coordinator of Atlas Aquatica, said in a press release. “You can sail or surf above a dead ocean, but scuba divers notice if there are no fish.”
Divers willing to pay higher prices for more diverse marine life could be an argument for increased ocean conservation, the study indicates, as nearly 70 percent of all marine dives happen within marine protected areas.
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, SIO
Aburto-Oropeza began studying the economic impact of diving in 2019 and found that dive tourism in Mexico generated $725 million annually, nearly as much as the entire fishing industry.
The current study, supported by the National Geographic Society, expands that 2021 study worldwide.
Compiling a list of more than 11,500 dive operators across 170 countries using data from Google Maps and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, the researchers validated their database with local experts and conducted an online survey that netted responses from 425 businesses across 81 countries, among other research.
The survey also revealed dive operators’ concerns about environmental degradation, with most reporting negative changes at their dive sites over the past decade.The researchers recommend establishing standardized monitoring systems across the diving industry and formally including dive operators in marine management decisions, recognizing ecotourism as a central component of sustainable ocean-based or “blue” economies.
