Debris Month of Action has seen divers all around the world taking the plunge to fight back against trash in the ocean and Dive Against Debris. Last weekend Hannah Pragnell-Raasch, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Project AWARE Foundation was lucky enough to join Dive 2000 and Mosman Council in their Dive Against Debris in Sydney, Australia.
“It was a perfect sunny day to get in the water. We collected a weird and wonderful mixture of items from action figures to cutlery to mobile phones and of course the usual culprits – plastic bags and bottles! A huge thanks to Dive 2000 and Mosman Council for letting me join in and help. It was a great day!” said Hannah.
The great efforts don’t stop there - 100% AWARE Partner, Big Blue Vanuatu in Port Vila, Vanuatu had great support with 22 volunteers taking to the waters and removing over 800 lbs of trash including 131 glass beverage bottles. “One of the unusual items was a bottle of perfume, which was still working and smelt a lot better than most of the other items!!” said Christina Shaw, co-owner of Big Blue Vanuatu.
Atmosphere Resorts and Spa in the Philippines rallied 85 divers together who helped haul a total of 326 lbs from the water. They even got all the kids from ONE International School to come along and learn all about marine debris - from puppet shows to arts and crafts, a great day was had by all.
Marine debris really is the ocean’s silent killer - it’s choking our ocean planet, injuring and killing thousands of marine animals and seabirds every year. The data submitted to Project AWARE by ocean heroes all around the world as part of the Dive Against Debris surveys is a crucial part of painting an accurate picture of the underwater marine debris crisis and contributes to a growing database about what rubbish is being found in our ocean all around the world. A big thankyou to everyone that is taking the plunge to Dive Against Debris and contributing to making the ocean planet a cleaner and healthier place.
It’s never too late to make a difference – start your Dive Against Debris action today!
