The primary attraction for most of these scuba divers is coral reefs. Last year, more than one million divers visited the coral reefs in the Florida Keys alone. Because coral reefs around the world are seriously threatened, scuba divers are starting to play an important role in helping to keep this extraordinary undersea would alive. Although divers are sometimes blamed for hurting coral reefs by inadvertently kicking or bumping into the reefs, the amount of diver damage done on a global scale is negligible compared with the global impact of over-fishing and dumping of sewage, fertilizer and sediment in the water. So, while divers can help protect the reefs by taking care while diving, their most important contribution to coral reef conservation may be the economic incentives that their tourism dollars create to keep the reefs alive.
Dive tourism is often a primary source of employment and foreign exchange in coral reef areas.
If the local reefs die, divers will not return to that destination and this critical revenue is lost. Some governments have created marine parks and other specially protected areas to preserve their reef resources. We must preserve all our reefs in Tobago and the one in Toco. Buccoo Reef, although the most famous, is not the only one.