Sub aqua

Snorkelling

This activity has a wide range of participants, with young to middle-aged men and women taking part.

Tuition is necessary to gain the skills required for the activity. A number of representative bodies offer appropriate diving tuition, including, the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and the Sub Aqua Association.

Environmental information provided by trainers is likely to be effective in reaching target audience.

This group is likely to be associated with clubs or national bodies, particularly in the novice stages of the activity. Once the participant has gained the level of ‘sport diver’ there can be a migration away from clubs to informal participation with friends or family.

Voluntary codes of practice and education programmes which are run through local or national representative clubs, and in conjunction with equipment suppliers, effectively target participants. PADI runs a project called AWARE (Aquatic World Awareness, Responsibility and Education) which runs educational programmes in the UK targeted at divers, snorkellers and water enthusiasts.

Diving areas are usually accessed by motorised craft. The size of the craft can vary with small craft launched from public access points and larger craft from moorings.

Known access points to the water can be good locations for promoting environmental information to this group.

The main targeted publications for this activity are Diver and Scuba World with circulations of 52,300 and 22,000 respectively. Other important publications include Sport Diver and Scuba World.

Education programmes run in conjunction with user magazines can raise awareness of marine environmental issues and management schemes.

This activity has a wide range of participants including the very young and very old and is undertaken by both men and women.

Tuition is not necessary to gain the skills required for the activity.

Many sub aqua clubs have junior and snorkelling sections. However, snorkelling activities which are undertaken outside of a club environment do not have a representative body.

There is no publication focusing on this activity.

Tourist information centres, coastal tourist attractions, equipment suppliers and areas where this activity is commonly undertaken are likely to be the only means of targeting environmental information at snorkelling participants.

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