Talge,-H.  Impact of recreational divers on coral reefs in 
	the Florida Keys.  DIVING-FOR-SCIENCE-1990.-PROCEEDINGS-
	OF-THE-AMERICAN-ACADEMY-OF-UNDERWATER-SCIENCES-TENTH-
	ANNUAL-SCIENTIFIC-DIVING-SYMPOSIUM,-OCTOBER-4-7,-1990,-
	UNIVERSITY-OF-SOUTH-FLORIDA,-ST.-PETERSBURG,-FLORIDA. 
	Jaap,-W.C.-ed. 1990. pp. 365-374.

Recreational divers were systematically observed in the 
Florida Keys between May 10 and August 13, 1989. A total of 
206 divers were observed during 66.6 hours of diving. Divers 
wearing gloves were responsible for 72% of the 1164 
interactions observed. Out of the 135 scuba divers, 26% had 
one or less interactions with corals; 10% had 11 to 20 
interactions; and 4% had 30 or more interactions per 30 
minutes of diving time. Of the 71 snorkelers, 61% had one or 
less interactions with corals and none had more than 5 
incidents. However, snorkelers treading water stir up large 
clouds of sediments and are more apt to stand on corals than 
scuba divers. Wilcoxon Two-Sample Tests show that divers with 
gloves have significantly higher numbers of interactions with 
corals than divers without gloves, that men have more 
interactions than women, and that scuba divers have more 
interactions than snorkelers.