Are you a Marine Biologist? Are you actively and carefully participating in a reef or ocean clean-up? If not, observe and do not touch! When researching online, “why divers should not touch marine life,” more than 90 percent of the results were about how marine life could be dangerous – even deadly – to humans. Fine; fair point! But, what about the impact humans have on marine life? Things like corals and fish have an anti-bacterial layer of mucous covering them to protect them from parasites. This covering also helps fight infection and keeps them healthy, so when someone comes along and molest them, it removes much of the protective coating. Moreover, tourists and “fun divers” often feed marine life to get the animals closer for photos or so tourists can “pet” the aquatic life. This disrupts the natural feeding behaviors and can cause long-term – and sometimes, still unforeseen – problems in the ecosystem.