Diving industry $20 billion/year. PADI citizen science. COP15 30x30 agreement: protect 30% of oceans. Underwater cleanups and marine litter inventories. Divers are direct witnesses of environmental degradation.
Divers are privileged observers of ocean deterioration and, increasingly, actors in its defense. Initiatives are shared such as cleanup days in rivers and coastal areas, campaigns against shark finning (Stop Finning), and proposals for fishing reserves. How to organize activism from diving communities and the role of organizations such as Sea Shepherd are also debated.
The global diving industry generates approximately 20 billion dollars annually, and a growing portion is channeled toward conservation. PADI has driven citizen science programs in which millions of divers act as environmental monitors, collecting data on biodiversity and reef status. Expanding marine protected areas to cover 30% of the oceans — the objective of the "30x30" agreement from COP15 — is estimated to help recover overexploited populations and improve resilience to climate change. Seabed cleanups and underwater litter surveys are part of the routine at many dive centers.