Idea 1

Diving Related -?

- The role of divers in marine conservation
- How do divers benefit the underwater environment?


Research sources to be used:

Websites:
- www.coralcay.org
- www.bite-back.com
- www.mcsuk.org
- www.diveworldwide.com


Magazines:
- relevant articles in magazines such as Diver, Sport Diver, Scuba, Divernet etc.

Organisations:
- Coral Cay Conservation
- Manta Trust
- Marine Conservation Society
- BSAC
- PADI
- WSPA

Events:
- London Dive Show


Key Themes:

- Role of tourism and diving - costs and benefits
- Recreational diving vs. scientific diving
- effect on marine organisms - good or bad?

Strengths

- able to form a balanced argument to incorporate into an essay
- websites are easily accessible and I can get in touch with people through my diving club
- project should be large enough to take a year, but not too great a task
- I am passionate about diving and therefore the topic should interest me

Weaknesses

- time pressures
- would cost a lot of money to experience an expedition myself and will therefore mostly be secondary data
- may not be stretching enough

Opportunities

- I may be able to get in touch with people involved in these organisations in order to improve my understanding of the topic and thus produce a better project
- this EPQ will improve my knowledge about Oceanography and will therefore be valuable if I decided to pursue an Oceanography course or may link in with some elements of Physical Geography

Threats

- the project may be too loosely based on Geography and therefore will not necessarily help my university application if I want to study a Geography degree