Project AWARE (‘Aquatic World Awareness, Responsibility and Education’) is a nonprofit organization originally established in 1989 by PADI that works with volunteer scuba divers acting in their own community around the world to protect the ocean, with two main areas of focus: shark conservation and marine debris.
In the scope of Project AWARE’s flagship citizen-science program, Dive Against Debris®️ and the ‘Adopt a Dive Site’ initiative, dive centers can pledge to carry out monthly surveys, reporting types and quantities of litter that they see and remove each month from the same location.
During AWARE Week in September 2019 Two Fish Divers Amed adopted the site located right in front of the shop (House Reef), and it is now time to proceed with the monthly clean up and survey!
Cleaning up underwater
DMT House Reef Cleanup
We assembled a team of 7 divers (including 3 guests whose help was really appreciated!), equipped buddy pairs with mesh bags and divided the area amongst us, based on depth. My buddy Shanu (who just started her DMT) and I went for the deeper area around the ferry boat wreck while the rest of the team took care of the shallower portion of the site. After 45 minutes, we all regrouped at the surface with about 10 kilograms of trash recovered, ready to identify and record it.
Following the guidelines we all agreed upon beforehand, we did not remove glass bottles or containers in which fish and small moray eels established their home, artifacts on which aquatic life developed or objects that were not safe or too heavy to lift (regarding those we took note of their location and will recover in a subsequent dive with adequate equipment).
Our awesome cleanup team!
Though it is the human nature to wish to retrieve as many items as possible when on a collection mission, it is actually a very good result to have only a few kilos of trash in our bags (mostly food wraps and unidentified plastic fragments): it means that our adopted site is clean and well cared for (as we use each dive as a clean up opportunity)!
This has been one of the most fun activities of my DMT to date – and one which really makes a difference too!
Blog written by: Marie, Two Fish DMT
Would you like to join us for scuba diving in Bali? Did you know that Amed is a great location for PADI Divemaster Training? Not only do you have an incredible House Reef, but there are also muck dives, reefs and the USAT Liberty shipwreck all close by! Amed is also easy to link with some of our other Two Fish locations including Nusa Lembongan, Gili Air and South Lombok!
For more information or to make a reservation, fill in the form below and we will get right back to you!
