As part of Project AWARE’s Marine Debris Month, I organized a Clean-Up day on the 23rd October. Divemaster Trainees, Divemasters and Scuba Instructors from Buddha View 5 Star Career Development Centre gathered together to help keep the beautiful island of Koh Tao clean.
We started at 9.00am and spent the morning cleaning up the beach and surrounding area at Chalok Bay; where Buddha View Dive Resort is located. At first sight the beach appeared fairly free of litter, but once we got started, we discovered numerous discarded drinking straws, plastic and glass bottles, plastic bags, bottle tops, cigarette butts and lighters. Once more, it really highlighted just how much plastic and glass we unnecessarily use and discard carelessly on a daily basis. Do we really need a drinking straw when we have a drink?
After we had finished cleaning up the beach area we had a well deserved break, with a lunch of quesadillas kindly provided by Darren at Buddha Café! In the afternoon we went out on the Buddha View boat armed with net bags to clean up underwater. For the first dive we headed to Liem Tien on the east side of the island. We spread out around the dive site. Instructor Marco from China, and I went in very shallow, where we expected that rubbish would have washed in from the beach. We were right, and spent a full hour filling our bags with everything from plastic bottles, to old shoes and batteries. For the second dive we went around the corner to Aow Leuk bay. Again we went in shallow and spent our dive searching for and recovering discarded litter that had washed into the sea.
The day’s events were photographed by Divemaster Juan from Columbia, who is doing his PADI Instructor Exam with Buddha View in November. Find the great shots he took in the Flickr slideshow at the bottom of this post.
Small clean-up days such as these may seem like seem like insignificant events in the grand scheme of things. When we consider the immense amount of indecomposable materials we produce annually, it can seem overwhelming. It is easy to be cynical and think that there is little that we can do to help as individuals.
80% of ocean pollution comes from land based activities. Land-based pollution comes from many sources, but discarding rubbish into our oceans is one. Annual plastic production has grown from 1.5 billion tons in 1950, to 230 million tons in 2009. Unfortunately when this plastic is discarded much of it ends up in our oceans, and studies have found that a large percentage of marine life ingests this plastic.
However if we can all reduce the amount of indecomposable materials we use in our daily lives, and make sure that we dispose of what we do use properly, we can at least START to make a change. It is important to remember, that as divers, we really can make a difference. We can help to educate non-divers about the impact that man has on our oceans, and remind them that just because they cannot see the problem, it does not mean it is not there. It is odd that we should call this planet Earth, when its surface is 71% water. Whether or not people have daily interaction with the ocean, damage to the oceans will have an effect on everyone on earth. The time to do something about the pollutants and rubbish we dump into our oceans is NOW.
[miniflickr photoset_id=72157627857651231&sortby=date-posted-asc&per_page=20]