Ecotourism
 As an ecotourist, you should...
- Enjoy nature, but don't chase or touch animals
- Not remove anything that is part of the natural environment
- Not remove anything from a wreck or other cultural resource
- Urge your guides to act responsibly and tip them for their cooperation
- Stay on trails or other designated areas and leave the site cleaner than before
- Report environmental damage to authorities and encourage responsible behavior
- Patronize locally owned businesses, but avoid items made from endangered species or threatened species, coral, or tropical hardwoods
- Interact with and show respect for local people, their culture and their traditions. Talk with them about environmental issues affecting their area. Visitors respecting a destination are key to ecotourism
- Protect threatened fisheries by carefully choosing seafood items caught or harvested from sustainable native fish populations
- Practice buoyancy control skills in a pool or sandy area before swimming near a coral reef or any sensitive environment. Secure your equipment, weight yourself properly and be careful not to touch, stand on or collect coral.
- Be an AWARE diver--enroll in a Project AWARE Specialty course to increase your knowledge about the environment and learn sustainable dive practices
- Participate in local conservation activities when available
- Support parks and reserves
- Visit Project AWARE
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