Dive Notes #2

….Over the weekend, I went diving in Anilao with some buddies to take part in the one-day International Coastal Clean-up which happens worldwide every 3^rd Saturday of September each year. Keeping our oceans clean has always been one of the top environmental issues close to my heart, in fact, marine pollution, specifically marine debris, was the main topic I chose to focus on for my  final master’s project in grad school early this year. However, I was pretty disappointed as the clean-up activity that took place was not done in accordance to the coastal-clean up procedures that the ICC governing body prescribes in order for a clean-up activity to be considered effective. ICC activities aren’t just about collecting trash --  that’s just half of the work. The other half is supposed to be identifying and tallying what was collected to come up with a quick reference to the most persistent debris found every year which can be used to target effective public education and outreach campaigns.  We didn’t do that part. And worse yet, I think the whole clean-up activity just generated more trash than the trash we all collected overall since all divers and shoreline volunteers were fed from styrofoam-packaged lunches and single-use, disposable plastic cups… how ironic considering that food packaging has always held the #1 spot in top marine debris pollutants for the past couple of years.

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Here’s last year’s dirty dozen list from Philippine coastal clean-up results and the quantity in unit pieces:

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1. Food wrappers/containers – 98161

2. Bags (paper or plastic)- 65991

3. Cigarettes/filters – 33358

4. Clothing/shoes/ slippers – 22545

5. Plastic sheeting/tarps – 20834

6. straws/ stirrers – 19678

7. Cups, forks, knives, spoons – 14691

8. Plastic bottles (2 liters or less) 12824

9. Beverage bottles (glass) – 10821

10. Caps, lids – 10691

11. Diapers  - 7866

12. Beverage cans – 7577

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….…Saturday night was party-till-you-drop for all the volunteers at the dive resort we were in…it’s been a while since I saw anything like that and Mara, our roommate from the US, kept the party going and the drinks flowing…. I had a hard time sleeping after especially since a resident lizard from one on the beams above my bed decided to unload some of his nasty, revolting gunk (it landed on my arm…luckily, not on my hair which would have been f*cking harder to wash off!) and I was too paranoid to fall asleep, lest a repulsive surprise strategically land on me again ...but I fell asleep anyway only to wake up hours later, super startled (yes, I was more shocked than pleasantly surprised at first) because the best thing that happened during my whole dive weekend was waking up Sunday morning and finding him (not the lizard, silly, but *him*...as in, u-know-who-u-are *him* =) sitting quietly at the edge of my bed waiting for me to wake up …he drove all the way there, braved the looming bad weather and rocky, muddy, slippery road conditions,  just to see me before our early 730am dive =) boy, was I super happy to see him (and not to mention, really guilty for letting him go through all the trouble of driving all the way there just for whiny lil' ol’ me!)

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….Anyways, going back to main programming…. I wish resort-operators became more aware of the essence of ICC day and do more than just conduct dives in the guise of clean-up activities but which turn out to be just superficial endeavors, really...  =(   I also wish they'd prevent more garbage from entering the wastestream in the first place by opting not to use styro packaging and/or plastic cups, especially during ICC day! …and to divers-who-smoke/smokers-who-dive, can you please be decent enough not to throw your damn cigarette butts into the ocean or by the shore as some of you did last weekend?! And for everyone else who loves the ocean (divers, swimmers, fishermen and everyone else who loves seafood, or likes dolphins and nemo) every opportunity you get by the sea should be a coastal clean-up day! =)

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All about International Coastal Clean-Up Day ...

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Comments

[Monique]

I must agree... it is sad... Most people go to party rather than to really clean up...