The global scuba diving industry generates between $8.5 billion and $20.4 billion each year, while also providing widespread marine conservation benefits, a new study has found.

The diving sector supports up to 124,000 jobs across 170 countries on an annual basis, contributing to both ocean ecology and local communities, according to the study, published Friday in Cell Reports Sustainability.

“Scuba diving is pretty unique because it makes you spend time underwater,” co-author Fabio Favoretto, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in a statement.

“You can sail or surf above a dead ocean, but scuba divers notice if there are no fish,” added Favoretto, who also runs the Atlas Aquatica Project, part of a U.N.-based marine biology initiative.

The very act of diving, he explained, relies on the health of the ocean — thereby fostering a net “positive for conservation because it makes divers allies.”

Previous studies have suggested that improved conservation could raise dive revenue, by attracting people who are willing to pay higher prices for the experience, the authors noted. Some of that same research, they noted, has also shown that about 70 percent of all dives occur in marine protected areas — a testament to diver preference. 

While ocean-based tourism is a widely recognized contributor to the economy, the authors said that the specific role of scuba diving at global scale has long been a mystery.

Co-author Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a marine biologist at Scripps, previously  focused solely on Mexico, finding in 2021 that the dive industry there produced $725 million annually for the country’s economy — almost as much as the entire fishing sector.

In the new study, the researchers expanded their reach to the entire world, compiling a list of more than 11,500 dive operators in 170 nations and using data from Google Maps and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. After validating their data with local sources, they conducted an online survey of 425 businesses across 81 countries.

The authors then used the survey responses to calculate money spent on diving activities, as well as indirect funds spent on hotels, food and transportation by the world’s estimated 9 million to 14 million annual recreational divers. They then used statistical modeling to extrapolate the figures to gauge approximate global impact.

Ultimately, the analysis concluded that total spending amounts to between $8.5 billion and $20.4 billion, with between $900 million and $3.2 billion going directly to diving.

Regarding workforce, the researchers observed that 80 percent of employees are local or national residents.

Meanwhile, dive operators widely cited deep concerns about ecosystem degradation from other industries over the past decade, according to the study. Changes reported were related to biodiversity, species abundance, coral bleaching, pollution and water quality.

“We show that diving generates a lot of income, and it does this without degrading the environment like extractive industries such as fishing or mining,” Aburto-Oropeza said.

“We hope that showing the scale of the economic impact from this activity will encourage policies that invest in diving by increasing marine protections,” he added.

Aburto-Oropeza and his colleagues positioned dive tourism as a model for a “Blue Economy” — an internationally recognized concept that shows how coastal communities can thrive while also protecting their resources. 

“Unlike mass tourism operations that can harm local communities and marine environments, dive tourism, when managed well, can be economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable,” lead author Anna Schuhbauer, a fisheries scientist at the University of British Columbia, said in a statement.

“With a vested interest in healthy ecosystems and abundant marine life, dive operators are natural allies in conservation efforts,” Schuhbauer added.