The purpose of this paper is to examine the change of rural community with the introduction of scuba diving in the settlement of Futo in Ito City in Shizuoka Prefecture as a typical case of a tourist area for divers. The results are as follows.
1. The inhabitants on Futo have depended upon coastal fishery and subsistence farming, forming a tight rural community. But the occupational structure of this region has been changed remarkably by its development as a tourist area since the 1960s.
2. After the opening of a diving spot of Izu-Kaiyo-Koen (Marine Park of Izu) in 1964, the number of divers has rapidly increased. The Futo fishermen's cooperative began to open more diving spots expanding a diving business in 1988. And now, there are about 94, 000 visits by divers per year.
3. In Futo, many diving service shops have been established after the 1990s and 35 shops are in business now. The scale of each shop is generally small. And the main business of many shops is diving guide service under the sea, because all diving shops except two shops are prohibited to filling tanks with air as a service for divers by the fishermen's cooperative.
4. The fishermen's cooperative has made a lot of profit by levying a charge on each diver and lending air tanks to divers. Fishermen also earn income by transporting many divers to diving points. But recently, the income of hotels and minsyuku (cheap lodging house in tourist resorts) is declining, because many diving service shops are offering lodging service for divers without permission.
5. Fishermen's cooperative of Futo was amalgamated by Ito City fishermen's cooperative in 1994. Members of the community of Futo feel an antipathy against the Ito City fishermen's cooperative since the fishermen's cooperative does not return profit from the diving business on Futo to the community. Therefore, the sutbor considers that the fishermen's cooperative should return profit to the community which accept many divers for the development of its community.