Measured Caution for Scuba Diving's Future in Gulf After the BP Oil Disaster

One of the many industries that has suffered economic hardship from the BP oil spill is recreational scuba diving and yet of all that has happened, scuba diving may be the least touched by the oil spill in the Gulf and perhaps may avoid the larger impact of this oil industry failure. This positive assessment was expressed in a report in the NY Times on June 25^th stating that "most researchers have said that if any oil gets pulled into currents that take it past the Keys, it would probably be so diluted by then that it would pose little risk to organisms."

Tom Ingram, Executive Director of Diving Equipment & Marketing Association (DEMA) is also optimistic. "The entire recreational diving industry has been impacted by this environmental tragedy - by the actual damage to sensitive wetlands and aquatic resources, and also by the perception that all recreational diving and fishing has been halted due to the spill. This perception is far from the reality. A great majority of Florida Gulf Coastal waters are clear, clean and oil free and most of the area in the Gulf region is 'open for business' for scuba diving, snorkeling and other water-sports activities," says Mr. Ingram. ('Gulf State Diving' Website Shares Accurate & Timely News About Scuba Diving Conditions in the Gulf Region, NEW YORK, June 21 /PRNewswire)

Recreational scuba diving is a big draw in the Gulf, especially in Florida. The web-site Force-E informs us that "Florida is the center of scuba diving in the U.S. where diving is the most diverse. There are more dive shops and dive boats in Southeast Florida and they have the largest artificial reef and wreck program in the country. " The area between the mainland and the Florida Keys has some of the most aesthetically rich and appealing underwater spectacles for both novice and pro scuba divers.

This stretch of the Gulf coast line has yet to suffer the ill effects of the oil that gushed out of the BP wellhead for nearly three months until recently capped. It is in an area of the Gulf Stream that winds around Florida and up the Eastern seaboard, shooting back out into the Atlantic off of the North Carolina outer banks. So far the surface oil slicks, tar balls, underwater oil plumes and dispersant have yet to reach most of the Florida coastline and continental shelf. Pensacola and the western end of the Florida pan handle are the exception.

Another state that has not been harmed yet and likely won't be from the BP oil tragedy is the State of Texas. Because of its more westward location from the oil spill the Lone Star state has dodged the bullet that its neighboring Gulf States have been enduring. There are some great scuba diving locales off of Texas' southeastern shoreline between Galveston and Padre Island.

The most egregiously affected area for scuba diving possibly lies around the coastal waters of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama that are closest to the former Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded on April 20^th. For obvious reasons underwater oil plumes and dispersant clouds are found more abundantly in these waters. However, Mississippi and Alabama have not seen the calamity to their shores that Louisiana has suffered. The economic impact here may be more a result of tourist perception than actual threats from the oil spill as DEMA's Tom Ingram indicated

It's hard to determine though. A call to Gary's Gulf Divers in Orange Beach, Alabama that runs dive charters gets a voice mail that indicates scheduling will be impacted by conditions in the Gulf related to the oil spill. Gary's is one of the many tourism trades that have suffered from this disaster. Estimates of $7.6 billion to $22.7 billion in losses from a usual $34 billion a year tourist trade in the Gulf region are expected according to "Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, which conducted the economic study with research firm Oxford Economics USA." (Travel industry group wants BP to pay $500 million, by Roger Yu, USA Today, 7/24/10). Actual numbers for scuba diving appear not to be available at this time. And though DEMA has put together a website - www.gulfstatediving.com - that is supposed to convey scuba diving conditions and be "updated with 'rea-time' posts by dive stores,dive boat operations and other dive industry related businesses in the Gulf region," a quick check on the site reveals no such information.

Not only is the oil and the toxic elements in it a threat to people and marine life in the Gulf but the dispersant that has been used to break it up also raise health questions for the tourist trade which scuba diving is big part of. One estimate shows that "BP has added nearly two million gallons of dispersant to the waters of the Gulf". And though "the potential health and environmental effects of the use of the dispersant are not well understood" preliminary tests on the dispersant Corexit, a product that "includes 2-butoxyethanol, which is associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses" are raising legitimate concerns with health specialists and the nearly 36,000 oil containment and clean-up personnel. (Chemicals Meant To Break Up BP Oil Spill Present New Environmental Concerns, by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 4/30/10).

The EPA has authorized the use of some dispersant but continue to monitor BP's use of it and measure whether any "negative impacts on the environment outweigh the benefits". Provided that divers have checked with local and state authorities who monitor the waters for the oil spill contaminants, they pose no threat to scuba enthusiasts in authorized safe areas

Time is the enemy for scuba divers as it is for the other Gulf industries that have been adversely affected by this man-made hazard. Before the well was capped on July 16th, and assuming it holds until it is permanently plugged, the BP well spewed out somewhere between 94 million to 184 million gallons of toxic black crude into the Gulf. In conjunction with the approximate 2 million gallons of dispersant that are now a part of the marine habitat in the Gulf it is unclear how long these ticking time bombs will be around to threaten divers and aquatic life over the next decades.

There is still visible evidence of oil from the Exxon Valdez in Prudhoe Bay Alaska 21 from years earlier. Eleven million gallons spilled out of oil tanker Valdez that day and there are ecosystems that have yet to fully recover. Though some contaminant threats will assuredly remain for years in the Gulf, how great they are for scuba diving in most traditional areas where this sport is popular do not appear to be long-term.