My primary function for diving is to protect the kelp forest where I usually dive by removing sea urchins, whose population has exploded, killing the kelp. This is done in conjunction with the department of fish and wildlife.
Any scuba diver knows never to touch the coral, the ground, or anything like that. Fairly simple
It seems that the Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, which killed off most sea stars along the western North American coastline, might have been exacerbated by unusually warm water in 2014-2016 which stressed those animals. The death of those predators caused the purple sea urchin population to explode and they ate up most of the kelp. So it's all connected. (I'm sure your aware of this, just providing a little more context for others.)
The best way not to effect nature is to not interact with it.
Obviously that's not 100% possible nor pleasurable, but for more sensitive systems, it's more necessary.