Determination of marine environmental awareness level of Turkish SCUBA divers

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.