Why Would a Dive Instructor Join a Conservation Commission?
In October 2026 I was accepted as a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication. A note on why telling people on land what we see underwater matters as much as any diving skill.
Taylan Kırali · Rubelis Founder
Before every dive, the same moment happens on the boat. Kit is checked, the plan is agreed, everyone is ready to go in. That is when I tell my students one more thing: "Don't rush down there. Look."
Over the years I have realised that the most important thing I teach is not a skill. Buoyancy, mask clearing and buddy communication all come with time. The hard part is really seeing underwater. Harder still is being able to tell others what you saw once you are back on the surface.
This piece is about that second difficulty.
A New Responsibility
In October 2026 I was accepted as a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) for the 2026–2029 term.
IUCN, founded in 1948, is one of the world's largest conservation networks, bringing together governments, public bodies and civil society organisations. It is also the organisation behind the Red List of Threatened Species. The Commission on Education and Communication is IUCN's oldest commission, and its work can be summed up in one question: how do we reach people, teach them and change how they act, so that nature is protected?
It is the same question I ask myself in every dive briefing.
Why Doesn't What We See Reach the Surface?
Divers spend time in a world most people never see. We are often the first to notice that a reef has gone quiet, that a seagrass meadow is thinning, or that a species has turned up where it never used to be.
Yet most of these observations stay on the boat, around a cup of tea. We surface, say "that was beautiful", and move on. Very little reaches the people on land who know the sea only by its surface.
One of the biggest problems in conservation is not a lack of information but a lack of connection. People find it hard to care about what they have never seen. To protect something, you first need to know it exists, and then you need to care about it. What builds that connection is rarely a report. More often it is a well-told story, a photograph shown at the right moment, or someone simply saying "look".
As a dive instructor, my job is to teach people to look underwater. What I hope to learn on the Commission is how to carry that way of looking to people who will never put their face in the water.
I Am Not a Scientist; I Am a Teacher
I should say this clearly: I am not a marine biologist. Classifying species, modelling ecosystems or writing policy is not my field.
My field is the moment people meet the sea. The look on someone's face as they take their first breath underwater. The patience of a diver learning to wait for an octopus to leave its rock. The hesitation of a hand about to touch coral for a better photograph, and then stopping.
The Commission on Education and Communication works in exactly this space: how knowledge turns into behaviour. So I see myself there not as an expert, but as a teacher coming in from the field. What I can bring are observations from the time I spend with people underwater every week.
What Can I Bring?
I can think of three things.
First, a view from underwater. In discussions about nature education, the sea often gets less room than the land. Recreational diving puts millions of people in direct contact with the ocean, yet its educational potential is still largely untapped.
Second, Türkiye and the Eastern Mediterranean. The changes happening in the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean and the Mediterranean are not abstract for the people who dive here. I want to bring experience from these waters into the Commission's conversations.
Third, language. I have offered to help bring the Commission's educational materials into Turkish. Good material only works in a language people can read.
What Does Not Change
A few things need to be clear.
Commission membership is a personal responsibility. I do not represent IUCN or the Commission on Education and Communication, and the views in this piece are mine alone. This membership does not mean that Rubelis or any programme we offer is endorsed by IUCN.
Something else does not change either: the way we work underwater. Looking without touching, observing without rushing, recording what you see, and leaving every living thing as you found it. These principles mattered to us long before I joined the Commission.
What I Am Asking of You
For me, this is a beginning. But communication in conservation is never one person's job.
On your next dive, bring one thing you saw back to the surface: a photograph, a note, a small story told to someone. If you want to turn an observation into a lasting record, our diver observation project on iNaturalist is open to everyone:
→ Rubelis Beyond Divers — Underwater Observations
The first step in protecting the sea is truly seeing it. The second is being able to describe what we saw to someone who has never seen it.
I hope we can take that second step together.