Swimming With Sharks, Sustainably

I’d always liked rays, but it wasn’t until my first time scuba diving that I really fell in love with them. In the Maldives, I glided above a spotted eagle ray, watching the gentle flutter of its winglike pectoral fins. A swimming ray is one of the most graceful creatures, and they didn’t seem to mind me skimming along in tandem above.

However, most divers I talk to — especially instructors — love sharks most. 

While divers are fond of sharks and rays, the general public is less enthusiastic: too toothy, too many stings. And so the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, otherwise known as PADI, recently released its new Shark and Ray Conservation Specialty course, along with the new Global Shark & Ray Census. The course explores the conservation status of sharks and rays, threats facing global populations, and responsible diving and tourism practices. The census encourages divers of all levels to help document shark and ray populations, to ultimately help protect these species.

As the world’s largest diving organization (it has certified more than 30 million people), PADI is in a unique position to help sharks and rays. And they need it. Almost a third of shark and ray species are facing increased risk of extinction, thanks to habitat loss, overfishing, and unsustainable trade.

“PADI is using this initiative to unite divers, dive centers, and ocean advocates globally to protect these species where it matters most, as they are critical to maintaining a healthy ocean ecosystem,” says Kristin Valette-Wirth, chief brand and membership officer for PADI Worldwide. 

Protecting Vulnerable Marine Species 

Ocean conservation work is not new for PADI. The nonprofit PADI AWARE Foundation has been working on issues like marine habitat loss, debris, and protection of vulnerable species for more than 30 years. Turning divers into citizen scientists is part of the reason they’ve been able to remove millions of pieces of marine debris and secure global protections for manta rays, thresher sharks, hammerheads, and many other species.

For example, in 2021, the foundation worked with dive professionals in South Africa and Brazil to successfully persuade their respective governments to support mako shark regional fishing bans in the Atlantic Ocean. In 2022, it mobilized the diving community to support a CITES global proposal, which was accepted, protecting 54 ray and shark species from unregulated trade.

The new shark and ray course is a natural extension of this kind of work.

Taking the Course

PADI courses are a mix of e-learning and in-person skills tests. The PADI AWARE Shark and Ray Conservation Specialty course has eight sections, including key threats, the global shark and ray trade, and responsible shark and ray tourism. Each is divided into short, easy-to-digest sub-sections with lots of photos, videos, and informational paragraphs.

Here are just a few shark and ray fun facts I learned from the course:

• The Greenland shark inhabits chilly Arctic waters and can live for more than 400 years. It doesn’t reach sexual maturity until the century mark, and then has an eight-year gestation period!
• Dwarf lantern sharks are the smallest known species of shark, measuring only about 3 inches long. Alas, I’ll never see one in the wild as they live about 1,000 feet deep off Colombia and Venezuela.
• Just as my husband likes to warn me before I swim in my local rivers, bull sharks can regulate the salt content in their bodies — and sometimes swim upstream into freshwater rivers.
• There are freshwater stingrays, too! They live in Southeast Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America, with more than 38 different species dwelling in the Amazon River.

The economics of dive tourism is an important part of the course. After all, people around the world must make a living. Dive tourism gives people a reason to protect marine species, rather than exploit them.

The numbers are impressive. About 45 countries offer shark diving, attracting more than half a million recreational divers per year. Shark dives alone — where, yes, divers intentionally go looking for sharks — bring in an annual average of $314 million per year and support about 10,000 jobs. 

Fiji, the Maldives, and the Bahamas especially depend economically on shark diving. In Palau, shark tourism accounts for an estimated 8% of the country’s economy. A single manta ray in Kona, Hawaii, generates about $1 million annually in local revenue. Despite their monetary value, sharks and rays are the second-most threatened class of animals on Earth, after amphibians.

One thing that disappointed me about the course was I’d expected it to improve my shark and ray identification skills. Considering that there are more than 500 shark species and 600 ray species worldwide, I didn’t think I’d become an expert. But I was looking forward to reviewing the sharks and rays that divers are most likely to see in water down to 60 feet at popular dive sites. Better ID’ing skills would make me more useful for the shark and ray census.

Becoming a Citizen Scientist 

The Global Shark & Ray Census is a three-way partnership between PADI, James Cook University in Australia, and Blancpain, a Swiss watchmaker that manufactures dive watches. The idea is simple: After a dive, divers upload what types and how many sharks and rays they saw at that site. 

How do you keep track of your sightings? If you’re an underwater photographer, PADI asks you to capture images. Any visible injuries or fishing gear stuck on the animal should be documented. You can also jot down sightings on a wetbook or slate, consulting your dive computer to note the depth and water temperature. Once back onshore or on the dive boat, you log all the details into the Global Shark & Ray Census on the PADI AWARE app.

Although the shark and ray course is designed for scuba divers, the census is open to non-divers. Boaters and shore-based observers can use the same app to log their sightings.

Preserving What You Love

This year, I got the opportunity to dive in the sharky waters of the Bahamas with Erica Wederpohl, PADI’s territory director for Latin America and the Caribbean. After a dive with the dive team at Sandals Royal Bahamian, we talked poolside about reasons for diving. 

“I think the ecological side, the conservation side, is a window to really see what’s going on beneath the water we’re all connected to, whether we get in it or not,” she said.

And since we’re connected, PADI wants divers to do more than just jump in and gawk at sharks and rays. We need to protect them, too.