Diving into Science Part 1: Understatement
John Turnbull, President of the Underwater Research Group of NSW (URG), outlines how underwater research has revealed the incredible nature found in Sydney Harbour.

Sydney has an incredibly diverse and very colourful marine community on its doorstep. There is more than twice the number of fish species in Sydney Harbour than the entire coastline of the United Kingdom. There is an amazing array of underwater gardens, particularly sponge gardens.
URG started in the 1950s before SCUBA gear could be bought in Sydney. Many of the early URG members were engineers or draftsmen so they made their own. There was very little exploration beyond how far you could dive down with a snorkel so a whole new world opened up as soon as they could make reliable underwater breathing gear.

Nowadays most people who join URG are interested in the citizen science projects like marine debris, weedy sea dragons and the reef life survey. While much citizen science is done with SCUBA more and more people can get involved on land, like with clean ups, and even from their desktops. They can click on photos and help identify what they see, being an underwater citizen scientist without getting wet!

A lot of URG’s work does involve diving and Sydney has good diving all year round. While experienced divers are well balanced underwater, newcomers have to go into these situations with an open mind and a sense of adventure. It can be cold, it is wet and it can be hard to see if visibility is down. Newcomers should join a club or dive shop and dive with people who are experienced and know the area so you can dive in the best place given the conditions.

It is very important to create as many opportunities as possible for people to experience and interact with nature, a long way from their passive lifestyles in their concrete jungle. You will see a totally different world without leaving the ocean backyard of your own city. We have to remember that nature is both on land and under water.