Last month, interesting news was circulating in Pakistan’s private TV channels and newspapers that a Scuba diver found an old sunken ship in the depths of the Gaddani sea, Pakistan. My interest in this news was the recreational activity of Scuba Diving.
In todays fast and furious mechanical society we humans gets tired of work, sleep, entertainment, and social duties, and to renovate oneself we try to find solutions in such recreational activities.
Recreation is an activity that people engage in during their free time, that people enjoy, and that people recognize as having socially redeeming values, Recreational activities are endless and include sports such as horse riding, crafting, skiing, surfing, body building or Scuba diving.
Surprisingly, in Karachi with a population of 23 million people only a handful people know Scuba diving. I don’t think any surveys are needed in this case, if I look in my family or family members, I can assure you that no one knows how to Scuba dive.
In Sweden, most of the lands are islands surrounded with water, weather gets severely cold and snow falls. To appreciate environmental surrounding children gets primary training and education in swimming, skating and skiing, and it follows by events, entertainment, sports, training and competitions. So why basic training and teaching of swimming and scuba diving is not being given to the children as Pakistan is surrounded by ocean and the possibility is there.
In order to get more information about Scuba Diving in Pakistan, Urdu Qasid contacted its associate Mr Syed Khizar Sharif who eagerly loves adventures and appreciates Nature. Khuzar Sharif has been doing scuba diving since 2015. Sharif is also a underwater photographer and loves to capture hidden beauty of the under water life, Often he spends his weekly holidays with his friends scuba diving.
His pictures taken in blue transparent water are astonishing, and if they are rightly promoted, they can attract tourists interested in scuba diving and Marina biology.
Syed Khizar Sharif said that the tourism sector around the world has acknowledged that the tourists are particularly interested in such recreational activities. That is why government supports such recreational Tourism operations as it generates revenue to the country and proceeds should be ploughed back into conservation and community development.
Khizar Sharif said that at present, there are two Professionals Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certified centers in Karachi City. PADI is an international and leading authoritative agency. More than 60% of the divers are certified from PADI and around 70% of Scuba Instructors are from PADI. PADI’s strictly trained practice and its international presence mean that you get the best scuba training and your PADI certification is recognized throughout the world.
He also said that there are also training courses for children. Children can join the open water course from the age of 10.
He said that coastal areas of Pakistan are of importance to Marina biology and tourism.
Due to non-focus of institutions, there is danger risk to marine biology perseverance. One reason for this is that the majority of local people do not know about marine life and when they turn the beaches for leisure, plastic bottles, Used disposals and dirt are spread, which is causing marine biology life and making fishes harder to thrive.
There is a dire need to create awareness campaigns about marine life, which is also our social responsibility.