Saturday 15 September 2012

Dive against debris


During the month of April, Trawangan Dive campaigned for sharks in order to raise awareness for their plight. Some of the activities we organized were screenings of Shark Water and various other conservations documentaries, a trivia night dedicated to Project Aware and lots of signatures were collected for this worthy cause.

This month, Trawangan Dive hopes to generate a similar level of interest in Project AWARE’s Dive against Debris campaign.

Since the beginnings of Trawangan Dive, we have organized cleanups to protect underwater habitats and marine species around the Gili islands. Historically, these have been a great success and help to address debris issues on a local scale.

But we realize that cleanups alone are not the answer. Now, in cooperation with Project AWARE, we’re introducing Dive Against Debris to our divers, a year-round data and debris collection effort to reduce the devastating impacts of debris each time we dive.

For the month of September, as well as a making a further donation to Project AWARE so that all of our students receive a special Project AWARE version of their certification card, we’ve also organized lots of exciting events:
  • Once again our popular trivia night included an different observation rounds to increase awareness in a fun way
  • We’ve been encouraging all divers to collect a least one piece of rubbish on each dive.
  • Our PADI Course Director Ayala is offering free AWARE Shark Conservation Distinctive Specialty to all interested instructors
  • The debris we collect will be recycled and transformed into a land-based sculpture which will raise awareness of the volume of debris in our local waters.
Of course, at the end of the month, we’re going to use the Dive against Debris data card to submit information about all of the debris we’ve collected.

Join the movement, come down to Trawangan Dive and help stop the ocean’s silent killer.

Originally published on the Trawangan Dive website for PADI professional courses: www.idc-gili.com/dive-against-debris/