DIVING INTO THE PAST
TO CATALOGUE CHANGE & PROJECT INTO THE FUTURE
Diving into the past…
Reef ecosystems contain an amazing diversity of marine life, from vibrant fish and nudibranchs to the less charismatic, but no less important, sponge gardens and seaweed forests.
Marine diversity photographed in Sydney between 1998 and 2004 by Erik Schlogl. Top left to bottom right: Male Senator Wrasse, Velvet Sea Star, Kuiter’s Nudibranch, Giant Sea Tulips, and Female Senator Wrasse. Licence: CC BY-NC
Reefs are constantly changing due to natural cycles, as well as human activities. Because underwater monitoring is challenging, these changes often go unnoticed and unrecorded.
Old dive photos can help us study how reefs were in the past
In particular, there is a distinct lack of historical data on the past conditions of many reefs.
School of Eastern Pomfred by Erik Schlogl. Licence: CC BY-NC
This valuable information
is often hidden away
as slides in shoe boxes
in some dark and dusty corner
or on hard-drives forgotten in drawers…
(or lost in the Cloud somewhere)
Your photos and videos could hold more than precious memories of early dives, great holidays and exciting adventures.
They could hold valuable scientific data on the past health of reefs and the species that were present.
In Bygone Dives is unlocking this information by using old photos and videos, shared by recreational divers, to see what changes have occurred
Scuba divers from the Swinburn Sports Assoc. at Black Rock in 1974. Swinburne University of Technology. Licence: CC BY-NC-ND
Understanding the past will help protect and conserve reefs into the future
Top Banner Image: The earliest dive photo captured in 1898 by Louis Marie Auguste Boutan. Licence: Public Domain
Every dive, every photo...
…reveals part of a reef’s past
