Almost as soon as I came back from my PADI CDTC in March this year, I certified my first instructors-level candidates as PADI Seahorse Distinctive Specialty Instructors, in a series of training sessions in Singapore, as well as one in Jakarta.
It felt right, doing this amalgamation of things that preoccupy me; Observation of Nature, Conservation and Education. Also because the next generations are going to be more environmentally minded, interested in, and care deeply for these issues as they become more apparent in the coming decades.
Experts say we entering the sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history, and humans are to blame.
Our greed and unsustainable consumption of all things, is destroying the planet, and everything with it. And we need to start the change within, first understanding the situation and then taking personal responsibility, if we are to overcome it.
So – Why Seahorses?
Seahorses are recognizable and unique ambassadors for the threats that face many marine creatures, such as habitat loss and overfishing. They have interesting behaviour and special biology, but we also do not know enough about them. And they are being fished in the millions yearly, mainly for consumption. We can use peoples natural curiosity of these interesting animals to lead them to the broader issues that are affecting the marine environment and its inhabitants.
PADI Seahorse Specialty Course – What is it about?
This is actually an non-diving Distinctive Specialty with optional Open Water dives. You can teach this course for people that are interested in learning about Seahorses biology, how to identify them and what threats they face. Also, the main point of the Course is to get divers involved in Reporting their seahorse sightings on iSeahorse. This is a citizen science program, getting people involved in seahorse research in an extremely useful way!
What is involved in the PADI Seahorse Specialty Instructor Training.
We do it in one evening session of about 3.5 hours. And you will learn the following.
So if you are a PADI Instructor and are interested to teach this course, just <a href="/contact/"reach out to Asia Dive Academy, it would be my pleasure to get more Seahorse Instructors out there.