Reflecting on my relationship with diving, what it means to me and what it could mean for science and decision-making for a healthier ocean.
With a background in marine science and sustainable management, I founded C-marine, providing freelance support to organisations in marine science, policy and advocacy. Through C-marine, I’m thrilled to be working with Scuba Network, a global citizen science diving platform, leading their science and policy work and guiding their strategy on climate and conservation action.
What’s your role at Scuba Network?
I’m heading up the science and policy work at Scuba Network. Currently this means working to shape our data (the data that divers are logging on the platform) for scientific standards and policy requirements so that we can have a tangible contribution to the science that will improve ocean health. With tens of millions of divers around the world, we have the potential to collect an incredibly large and valuable dataset, but ensuring that this is standardised and applicable for scientific use and evidence-based decision-making is a challenge that we’re working hard on.
The ocean is central to climate action and conservation efforts to promote biodiversity, and I’m also working on guiding Scuba Network’s strategy on these priority areas.
How long have you been diving for?
I started scuba diving when I was 18, on my first big trip away from home. My first fun dive was on the Great Barrier Reef, chasing unbleached corals north of Port Douglas. As a first experience, it’s fair to say this might have spoiled me, but I’ve followed it up with some pretty great diving in Thailand, Indonesia and Panama.
A couple of years ago, I found myself drawn away from the clunky tanks and regulators, to the slightly more free practice of freediving – it’s in the name.
What is your most memorable dive?
Scuba – it has to be diving the cauldron in Komodo National Park on my birthday. The currents there are wild and they pull you into a large hollow in the rock (the cauldron). The shape of the rock formation means that the water shoots out through a narrow channel on the other side and you fly along with it. This is why the site gets its nickname ‘shotgun’ – there’s not much you can control except your buoyancy. It was like being on a rollercoaster! Manta rays during the safety stop was the cherry on the cake.
Freediving – probably one of the dives from my very first session diving on a line. I remember lying on my back in the warm, salty Med, looking up at the blue sky and feeling completely calm, almost gooey. This is the best feeling before a dive. Then pulling myself backwards and down along the line and hitting, with surprising ease, the weight at 20m deep.
What does diving mean to you?
Diving, be it scuba or freediving, is unlike anything else. It’s different to being on the surface, where you feel the adrenaline of not knowing what’s below you. Once you descend, it’s not scary. You feel like you are a part of it all.
Diving can be humbling, when you realise that you are not in charge, and it can be challenging, when you push yourself to new limits. You learn about yourself and you learn about the ocean. You meet new people and connect on a deeper level with those that you dive with.
What is the most striking impact of human activity you’ve seen?
Litter, plastic pollution and ghost fishing gear are all examples of human impact that can feel pretty obvious when you dive. I’ve rescued coke cans from the seafloor and tucked crisp packets up my wetsuit sleeve. I’ve untangled fishing line caught up in beautiful forests of seaweed. There’s a lot you do see as a diver, but there’s a lot we might not notice! This is why education and ocean literacy are so important, so that we can understand what we’re seeing and recognise what’s changing.
Where do you see the value of the Scuba Network platform and what mission do you want to contribute to?
It’s been really exciting and motivating to see the appetite for a platform like Scuba Network. Divers want an interactive place to log their dives, see where other people are diving, and connect with other divers, dive centres and organisations working in marine conservation. But more than this, we really have an opportunity to contribute towards protecting the place that is so important to us. Sustained monitoring of the marine environment is vital to build the datasets that inform evidence-based policy and support the sustainable management of our ocean, and this is what we’re working towards. It’s not the whole solution – we need continued investment, with long-term political commitment and international collaboration – but as divers, we can be a part of the solution simply by doing the thing that we love – diving!
