August 21, 2008
Is Sea Life Worth It?
BY: Emily Fisher
The answer, according to our new report, is an overwhelming yes. As you may have heard on NPR’s Marketplace this morning, our report, Sea the Value: Quantifying the Value of Marine Life to Divers, asked scuba divers whether they would be willing to pay to help protect populations of ocean wildlife — and a majority of divers surveyed said they would. Divers were willing to pay the most on average for healthy corals, at around $55 per dive, but they were also willing to pay an average of $35 for sharks and $30 for sea turtles. As Suzanne Garrett, our dive program coordinator (ScubaSuz here on the blog) put it, “Divers are personally invested in the oceans and truly understand the importance of safeguarding marine wildlife and habitats.” For all you divers out there — what would you pay to see, and how much? [Image: Oceana/Juan Cuetos]