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,” said co-author Fabio Favoretto, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in a statement.
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