I dive year round in the Red Sea without gloves, even on wrecks (sharp intake of breath from all the wreckies...) and in hundreds and hundreds of dives I have never had a serious cut - perhaps the odd scrape when penetrating the Rosie, but nothing more.
I have to ask, why do divers actually need to wear gloves on a wreck in warm water?
The argument that it is for protection doesn't wash - your not going to be rumaging around (cue David Bellamy) so sharp edges are not an issue. If a diver has to haul himself along with his hands he really has other issues that need addressing first, like buoyancy control and finning technique.
When wearing gloves people will forget themselves and inadvertantly touch down. No only does touching coral do it no good, even potentailly killing it, but by contacting with a wreck, which is a finite resource, you may in your small way add to it's deterioration. I have seen people touch down on coral while wearing gloves, and when I've had a gentle chat back on the boat they genuinely believe that they did not touch it - they were just not aware they had. If you really do need to touch a wreck or coral for whatever reason you will do so with much greater care with unprotected hands!
Consider that the hard and soft corals which grow/grew on wrecks are sensitive to contact and that your contact with what is now a barren (external) surface will interfere with recolonisation of that area - you may crush/kill/wipe away the potential new colonists of that site.
Mulitiply your single (inadvertant) touch by the hundreds of thousands of divers that visit these places and that's a whole lot of damage and a whole lot of regeneration that is not going to happen.
You think I'm being over-dramatic? Look at the photos of the Thistlegorm when she was rediscovered and compare them to the virtually sterile wreck we see now. Most of the corals are long gone, and they will not grow back due to diver pressure. Also, look at the physical damage to the fabric of the wreck. An extreme, but relevent, example.
If you want a Red Sea, etc, that resembles what we dive now in another 20 years, then may I suggest that divers leave the gloves at home. Justification that it's okay to wear gloves because others do so is missing the point - we are all responsible for our own actions, so we can all do our bit. We can all set a good example, and help educate our fellow divers.
All my guests were told no gloves or no diving and I only ever once had a stand off... however, that said, I have made exceptions for a couple of older divers who claimed they had a medical condition that gave them poor circulation, but they knew and agreed the terms of use beforehand!
We do impact on our environment when we dive, so let's try and keep the damage to a minimum.
Oh, and it is law in the at least the Sinai Marine Parks that divers don't wear gloves... (or a knife!).
TG
Tree / wreck / coral hugger (but without contact...)
