Abstract
Monitoring the state of the underwater environment is particularly difficult as these areas are generally inaccessible to man. With the advent of the revolutionary technology of SCUBA, man has been able to gain access to this underwater realm, which consequently has given rise to a lucrative tourism industry. It however raises concerns for environmental protection and a balance between economic benefits and the impact made on the underwater environment. To aid in addressing this concern, The SISID Project was devised. Crowdsourcing was to be utilised to gather information from the diving community which would be integrated into an online divesite information system. Through GIS, spatial analysis was performed to identify patterns and relationships within the dive data that can be used for monitoring, management, decision making and identifying potential business opportunities. Technical and financial studies of the project itself indicate strong potential for a socially relevant, and self-sustaining, environmentally focused program.
