A massive thank you to all of the volunteers that got involved in the latest dive against debris event and huge congratulations to Katharina Pleyer for completing her Dive Against Debris Speciality.

On Thursday the 26th of November the B.E.A.C.H. clean-up team mobilised and headed out to Lighthouse Bay, Koh tao to Dive Against Debris. Ten divers from Ban's Diving Resort collected approximately 34kg of debris from the ocean floor. The most popular litter items found were plastic drinking bottles, plastic bags and fishing gear including nets, lines, lures and hooks. Identifying the types of the marine debris we find helps us create targeted initiatives and find solutions for problems at their source.

One debris combating team discovered a group of nets entangled together that had formed an 'island' that provided a home to plastic debris, buoys and fishing line. The floating mass was caught up on rocks and corals beneath the surface. The team managed to free the nets and tow the mass safely back to the boat. They also succeeded in freeing a fish that had become entangled and by working together removed an imminent hazard from our ocean.

The dive against debris team included open water divers, advanced divers, and dive master candidates. The atmosphere on the boat was extraordinary, every single person shared a passion for the marine environment. Every diver surfaced from their clean-up dive thrilled to have played a part in keeping our oceans healthy and enthusiastic to share the message, spread the knowledge and sign up for the next event. It is always fantastic to see divers of all levels so enthusiastic to get involved and work together to tackle the issue of marine debris. Removing litter from our oceans combats the issue on several levels, the volunteers recognise the immediate benefit of removing litter and they learn more about the size of the issue and become engaged with raising awareness and changing their habits and influencing those around them to do the same.

Diving allows us to truly submerge ourselves in another world, and as dive professionals provides us with the opportunity to make that world our 'office', to share our passion for the aquatic environment and its inhabitants with others. We are thankful for the ocean, and all of the creatures that call it home. Our ocean, our responsibility.

If you would like to get involved in Dive Against Debris or any other events with us, we would love to meet you. Please 'like' the B.E.A.C.H. page (www.facebook.com/beachatbans) and come and join the team.

                                                    Educate → Protect → Conserve

Photographs by Dave Deagle.