Determination of marine environmental awareness level of Turkish SCUBA divers

Tuğçe Şensurat Genç; Kaan Kırşan

doi:10.12714/egejfas.42.1.04

EN TR

Determination of marine environmental awareness level of Turkish SCUBA divers

Abstract

Human beings have been benefiting from ecosystem services for a long time. Recreational diving, as a Cultural Ecosystem Service, engages millions of divers worldwide. Because divers have a strong motivation to support biodiversity conservation, they have been involving in ecosystem assessment studies. In this study, an online survey was conducted to investigate on the marine environment awareness of people who actively dive on the coast of Türkiye. The collected responses of the divers were evaluated according to the participants' demographic characteristics and diving experiences. The questionnaire was conducted with 111 people, 32% of them were female divers. Divers' certificates vary from 1 star (1*) diver to 3 star (3*) instructor diver. On the questionnaire, we presented photographs of 13 fish species that are frequently encountered at diving areas and/or have ecological importance in our country's waters were asked to identify the species with their Turkish names. It was determined that there was no significant difference between genders, ages and the levels of education in species identification (p>0.01). However, there was a significant relationship between the identification of Coris julis, Epinephelus marginatus and Chromis chromis and the level of diving (p<0.01). Participants were asked which of the 13 fish species given in the survey is completely prohibited to catch in our country's waters. More than half (61%) of divers know that fishing for dusky grouper is prohibited in the coasts of Türkiye. Within the scope of this study, divers were asked "What tools do you use to get to know marine life better?". Thirty-five percent of the divers responded by watching documentaries and 33% by following some social media accounts. It is very important for divers to obtain accurate information about marine life and disseminate it to society with appropriate tools for the protection, planning and management of our seas.

Keywords

Türk aletli dalıcıların denizel çevre bilinç düzeylerinin belirlenmesi

Öz

İnsanoğlu uzun zamandır ekosistem hizmetlerinden faydalanmaktadır. Kültürel Ekosistem Hizmeti olan rekreasyonel dalış, dünya çapında milyonlarca insanı cezbetmektedir. Dalıcılar biyoçeşitliliği korumada güçlü bir motivasyona sahip olduklarından, ekosistem değerlendirme çalışmalarının bir parçası olmuşlardır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye kıyılarında aktif olarak dalış yapan kişilerin denizel çevre bilinçlerini araştırmak için çevrimiçi bir anket çalışması yürütülmüştür. Dalıcılardan toplanan yanıtlar, demografik yapıları ve dalış tecrübelerine göre değerlendirilmiştir. Anket 111 kişi ile yürütülmüştür, katılımcıların %32’si kadın dalıcılardan oluşmaktadır. Dalıcıların bröveleri 1 yıldız (1*) dalıcıdan 3 yıldız (3*) eğitmen dalıcıya kadar çeşitlilik göstermektedir. Ankette, ülkemiz sularındaki dalış alanlarında sıklıkla karşılaşılan ve/veya ekolojik öneme sahip olan 13 balık türünün fotoğrafı gösterilmiş ve dalıcılardan bu türleri Türkçe isimleri ile tanımlamaları istenmiştir. Dalıcıların cinsiyetlerine, yaşlarına ve eğitim seviyelerine göre tür tanımlamada önemli bir farkın olmadığı belirlenmiştir (p>0.01). Ancak Coris julis, Epinephelus marginatus and Chromis chromis türlerini tanımlama ve dalış brövesi arasında önemli bir ilişki vardır (p<0.01). Katılımcılara, ülkemiz sularında 13 balık türü içinden hangisinin avcılığının tamamen yasak olduğu sorulmuştur. Dalıcıların yarısından fazlası (%61) Türkiye sularında orfoz balığının avcılığının yasak olduğunu bilmektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında, dalıcılara “Denizel yaşamı daha iyi tanımak için hangi araçları kullanıyorsunuz?” sorusu sorulmuştur. Dalıcıların %35’i belgesel izleyerek ve %33’ü bazı sosyal medya hesaplarını takip ederek cevabını vermiştir. Denizlerimizin korunması, planlanması ve yönetimi açısından dalgıçların deniz canlıları hakkında doğru bilgilere ulaşmaları ve bunu uygun araçlarla topluma yaymaları büyük önem taşımaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Supporting Institution

This study did not receive any financial support.

Ethical Statement

The ethical approval of this study was received from the Board of Scientific Research and Publishing Ethics of İzmir Katip Çelebi University.

Thanks

We thank all the recreational divers who made significant contributions to the existence of this study. We also thank to the reviewers who improved the article with their detailed revisions.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Conservation and Biodiversity , Environmental Management (Other) , Fisheries Management

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Tuğçe Şensurat Genç ^*
0000-0002-5528-3322
Türkiye

Kaan Kırşan
0009-0001-7640-7515
Türkiye

Publication Date

March 8, 2025

Submission Date

October 17, 2024

Acceptance Date

January 17, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 1970 Volume: 42 Number: 1

DOI

https://doi.org/10.12714/egejfas.42.1.04

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA37FT84DX

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Şensurat Genç, T., & Kırşan, K. (2025). Determination of marine environmental awareness level of Turkish SCUBA divers. Ege Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 42(1), 27-32. https://doi.org/10.12714/egejfas.42.1.04