So ...where are we going??

Too late... for far too long....we are allowing many to purge the
oceans! Actually...not quite true! Our coastlines have a
problem...urbanization. Human beings need a place to habit...we are
merely a product of the will to have a property...and the right to
inhabit...never mind the devastation that all incurs...we as human
beings have a right to destroy all that is sacred...do we give a
stuff about anything else ...as a race...NO! Yet , in the ocean, a
foreign world...we do deem ourselves "MASTERS!" How ironic is
that...we cannot breathe underwater...yet we do have the insulation
and the man-made adaptations to survive..but yet, we persist in our
quest to master the aquatic elements! We continue to delve into the
oceans...some as photographers and others as "Hunters and Gathers"
for what purpose????
Can one not find a "Cole's" or "Woolworth's" to stem our need to
"Hunt"... or must we fulfill the possibly innate need to "take"
rather than "leave alone"? This is a question I have long asked
myself and I believe that there is no answer...we as so called
civilised beings that apparently appreciate the underwater world,
also plunder at will. I would like to see an appreciation and a tad
of respect for those that cannot speak the many languages that we
all converse in...we do not have to "hunt" nor do we have to "kill"
for sport...I do not believe that there is a need...or if it is so,
it is not in the name of "spear fishing" or "crayfish
catching"...which are both acceptable alternatives to sport diving.
As a "sports diver" and an amateur photographer" I can only wish that
this was untrue. However, it is not. Indeed these alternatives are condoned by Dive Shops that offer Environmental Speciality Courses but are also not prepared to serve as leaders for a change in attitudes towards the creatures of the underwater world. The almighty influence of the dollar outweighs a conscience. Perhaps we as divers, need to
re-affirm why we started diving in the first place. Were we not
overwhelmed and filled with a sense of speechless bewilderment at
the beauty and diversity of what we first viewed ??? What went
wrong???

Contributed by Trurina Cook added 2004-07-31