DIVERS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ON INTERNATIONAL CLEANUP DAY
Phuket's diving community and local residents are being called upon to celebrate International Cleanup Day on Saturday, 15 September.
Dive Asia and Sea Fun Divers, Phuket's Leading PADI 5 Star Career Development Centers need your help to target underwater debris in our local area. Project AWARE Foundation, the dive industry's leading environmental organization, coordinates underwater clean up events and urges divers and volunteers to jump in their wetsuits, pull on their gloves and make a splash for trash!
"Project AWARE is pleased to support Dive Asia and Sea Fun Divers. Divers are the guardians of our underwater environments - they often see first hand the effects of marine debris on our delicate ecosystem. This event is the largest single day volunteer event on behalf of our underwater environment. It's a fantastic example of how people can work together to take action." said Henrik Nimb, Director of Project AWARE Foundation.
"It's not too late to get involved," said Juergen Schenker of Dive Asia.
"If you're interested in participating, drop by our stores at Kata and Kata Noi Beach or give us a call: Dive Asia: 076 330 598 or Sea Fun Divers: 076 330 124. Participants must be certified divers and must pre-register due to limited space on our boats. Come along and help make clean waters a reality. All divers need to confirm equipment needs before the day and will be required to bring their diver certification card."
The clean up will held at Raja Noi Island. Meet at Chalong Tourist Pier at 8:30 am. For further information call the Site Organizer Juergen on 076 330 598 or Rene on 076 330 124.
Participation is free of charge! Everyone is welcome! Breakfast and Lunch is included.
About Project AWARE Foundation Project AWARE is a leading nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action. Project AWARE Foundation offices located in Australia, United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland combine efforts to conserve aquatic resources in 175 countries of the world. For further information visit www.projectaware.org
Some facts about last years clean up:
2006 Thailand
- 36 Dive Centres took part (in 2005 we had 20) Nearly 4000 people Collected approx 30,000lbs of rubbish Plastic bags were the top item collected in Thailand So far this year we have 31 dive centres registered
2006 Worldwide
- 358,617 volunteers cleaned 34,560 miles and collected 7 million pounds of rubbish
- Top item collected was cigarette filters/cigarettes
- Top most dangerous item was bags - 691,048
- 1074 animals were found entangled in fishing wire
Please let me know if they require anything else. We have downloadable Marine Debris facts on http://www.projectaware.org/asiapac/english/activities/icd.asp
