Observations were carried out in the Pas Mohammed National Park (Sharm
el Sheikh, Sinai, Egypt) both to determine the rates of damage to cor
als by SCUBA divers and to assess the effectiveness of environmental e
ducation in reducing these. A single environmental awareness briefing
reduced the rate of divers' contact with reef substrates from 1.4 to 0
.4 contacts per diver per 7 min observation period. At the same time,
the proportion of contacts that were voluntary, and so mainly directed
at non-living substrate, increased to 63.8%. As a result, the rates o
f contact with living corals (as opposed to nonliving substrates) decr
eased from 0.9 to 0.15 instances per diver per 7 min. This rate of con
tact prior to briefings is estimated to correspond to c. 500 potention
ally damaging contacts per day at the most heavily used dive sites, eq
uivalent to c. 15 incidents m(-2) year(-1). Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevie
r Science Limited