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*NEWS* Photos Must See!
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Underwater Cleanup - Koh Sak,
Pattaya Thailand, 20 February 2008
Why? Because I care about where I dive and what I am diving with. It also means that we can surface well away from the boat, seemingly lost (yet again) - OK, so I can not navigate, I just enjoy exploring too much to worry about where the heck I am ;-), but today I have an excuse, loads of trash. Moving on... I am here in Thailand to further my dive career as a Dive Instructor and to see how other Diver Centres operate - Mermaids was recommended by some fellow Instructors, I am glad that I took their advice. I did an Underwater Cleanup at home in Malta, shortly before coming to Thailand, so it was going to be interesting to compare notes, as it were. I also had the amazing opportunity to do a couple of Beach Cleanups at Rayong with a big group of local schoolkids prior to the Underwater Cleanup at Koh Sak, Pattaya, Thailand. So, on the big day, the 'Green Team' met at
Mermaids for 0830. All the usual gear and organization for a days diving plus
loads of bags, scissors, gloves and lifting bags for those bigger items. All
loaded up and off to Bali Hai Pier and our boat awaits. The weather dictates
that we have to go to the South side of the All loaded up and off we go. As with all dives, safety is first, so we have the usual Boat, Safety & Dive Briefings, though today we have a few more important messages. We need to be especially careful as we are touching things! We need to be careful that we do not put ourselves at risk and also that we do not put the environment at risk. For example, a car tyre may have been underwater for so long that it is being colonized and becoming a part of the reef - so leave it be; winding up that length of fishing line may be breaking up coral - maybe just cut it up into short lengths; check that something has not made that old bottle home... So having met at the shop for 0830, we are ready to dive for 1000. About 10 groups of 3 divers - 1 armed with the trash bag, 1 armed with scissors/knife and 1 searching for trash we set out. Our team headed in shore - the tide usually washes things in... At first I was amazed - so little trash! A few bottles - no worse than home. 30 minutes and very little. Quite a nice, shallow dive. Then we headed back to the boat and slightly deeper water. Suddenly the bag I was carrying got heavier and heavier - eventually I needed help and then a lift bag to safely control it. As we got to the deeper water where the various local boats usually anchor up we found plenty of bottles - plastic and glass (mainly drink bottles), tyres, fan belts, cans - drink and food - food packaging, cutlery, mugs, plates, electrical wire, fish nets/cages, sparkplugs, tools, an MP3 player, a few playing cards and a host of other trash. Sadly a couple of BCD low pressure inflator hoses where found, definitely discarded by fellow divers! We did a second dive after a suitable surface interval and this time stayed in the deeper water - we collected far more trash this time in a far shorter time. On the way back to shore we logged, sorted and counted the trash, returning a few small fish back to the ocean in the process. What was very noticeable was that it was trash or rubbish, predominantly stuff dropped over the side of the boats anchoring up, not sewage. This is promising as the trash should be able to be reduced with education and failing that by legislation. I say this because of the nature of the trash found. It would indicate that vessels are anchoring up, probably being lived on and maintenance is being carried out. Why you may wonder the numerous tyres? These are used as fenders on boats and on our arrival back at Bali Hai Pier at least two of these were quickly "recycled" for use on other boats. As a diver I apologise on behalf of the
divers who dumped their broken inflator hoses over the side - not a very good
example. (Many thanks to David for the write up and the 35 others that participated in the days activities.) |
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