funny to note this topic was started in 2004 but wanted to bump it to the front as it is becoming ever more important!
It is interesting looking back over the opinions expressed over the time and slightly comical aswell to look at the people's attitude who were trying to defend the original point. There seem to have been a few attempts to say it but what i felt they missed was simple... any damage that divers / photographers do to the reef is too much. It doesn't matter if it is the main cause of reef degredation or not.. it all adds up.
Interestingly enough, recently i was watching a photographer who shall remain nameless but is in the esteemed ranks of a National Geographic photographer working on a project. First of all i found it hysterical that he appeared to be terrified of just about all the sealife there was, couldn't help but thinking he picked the wrong area to work in... but most of all i was completely appauled by the complete and i mean 100% disregard for the reefs. To my great distress i was forced to sit back and watch as he smashed repeatedly into the reefs and would tread all over them in the attempt to get the shot he wanted. And before you say, why didn't you say something.. i did.. but have you ever tried talking to some of those guys. His arrogance was mind blowing. Over the course of the project the amount of coral destroyed has been mind blowing but due to certain contracts that i had to sign i am unable to do anything about it, though am trying to get them to make a biorock project when they have finished at a vague attempt at compensation.
I work full time in the dive industry, being an instructor first and foremost and it is very interesting to see the varying approaches from divers, especially when you look at their level of diving. Quite often i find the worst and biggest offenders are not so much the new divers but actually the far more experienced divers. I happen to work in kenya and at our dive base we take a very strict approach to people touching the reef and will most seriously reprimand people for doing so and have gone so far as to refuse to allow a couple to dive any more with us as they refused to take any notice of our warnings and continued to hit the reefs. Sadly this approach is pretty much only at the place i work and have not noticed any enviromental awareness at the other dive schools. This is mainly as the manager and i have strong opinions on the area and are in the position to be able to enforce them.
But i would also say for people who are new to diving and are keen to enter into the world of underwater photography; please, please, please focus on your buoyancy first, before you try to pick up a camera. First of all it will make a massive improvement in the shots you take but also just a point and shoot makes a difference to your buoyancy let alone a bigger rig as your concentration shifts to your camera rather that your buoyancy. In their eagerness it kinda slips peoples minds. If you are totally insistant on taking a camera on dive 1 after your open water then please stay back from the corals just a weee bit till you are more totally in control. If you are learning throug PADI then the Peak Performance Buoyancy speciality is a great thing to do but like all specialities make sure you have an instructor that vaguely cares for you to really get the most out of the course.
It is a very common sight to see photographers in their eagerness to get extra close grabbing hold of stuff, that stuff turns out to be living coral. On the funny side i did see one person grab hold of some "coral" to get a close shot of something. That "coral" turned out to be a scorpion fish. That most certainly taught them a lesson and i bet they never grab anything again! hehe.
There are some terryfying stats out about the rate of coral reef destruction and it is safe to say that our grandchildren will never see a fraction of what we have been able to, especially for those of us that have been diving for 20 years plus. We have apparently wiped out 92% of sharks at the moment and show no signs of slowing down and tragically it is not "if" any more but "when" we wipe them out.
Most people are just trying to live their lives and survive. So long as they can get their fish in the supermarket they really don't care. They just don't have the time too, it is not malicious and to get angry with them for not caring is pointless. It is not so much they dont care, they just simply dont have a clue. We are in such an amazing position as divers and even more so as photographers/videographers and i really hope more and more people start to fully understand the reality of where we are at with the destruction of reefs and fish levels. But that is most certainly a morbid subject.
Back to the relevant subject. As a dive guide and especially as an instructor you have a huge influence on divers habits under water and it is vital that you try to introduce proper methods to people but you dont have to be a guide or instructor to make a difference. If you see someone lying all over the reef, in a non aggresive manner try to get them to stop. As more and more people get in to the water we easily forget that they simply have no clue about it. Instead of just ranting and raving to them, try explaining it, make them understand why and you will see a huge change in the approach. There are just too many angry enviromentalists that just give them grief. They forget that everyone has to start somewhere. They also forget they too had to start somewhere and i bet that their love for the ocean grew massively once they started to dive, so try to remember that they are new to it, and just learning about it, so try a little patience and you will get a far far better response.
Well that's my two pennies worth for the moment, clearly it is sunday evening and have had a nice slow day, but missing being out of the water for a while. Remember that it just doesn't matter if photographers are the most responsible or not, that fact that we do contribute to reef damage in any way is enough and we must try to remember that and adjust out behaviour. Man, i sound like a boring preacher so will stop, but just hope that you all remember the next time you go underwater. Most of all, make sure you really enjoy ever second when you are down there as they are quite simply not going to be there for that much longer!
Hope you all had a good weekend! 
I hate to bring this up but we have all contributed to the gradual demise of the ocean reefs. Global warming has had a far greater impact than a hoard of clumsy photographers/videographers. Just look up the studies on that subject. Most of us on this site are probably very careful. Most of the time it's the average consumer with a camera that are not as careful. Someday quite possibly in our lifetimes the reefs will disappear and only exist in our memories, photographs and videos!
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