With Earth Day – April 22 – just one week away, Project AWARE is celebrating all things rubbish!

Over the past two decades, our supporters have helped us tackle the global issue of marine debris. From small changes in their daily lives to onshore and underwater cleanups, local actions have helped contribute to cleaner, healthier marine environments. And, we’re gaining traction.

Through our global Dive Against Debris program, we are now hosting more regular and comprehensive surveys of trash, reporting the quantities and types of debris to provide geo-targeted insight to ocean health around the world.

All of this would not be possible without help from you – our supporters, volunteers and the dive community. In honor of all of your contributions, we’d like to shine a light on some of our most outstanding leaders, that is, our Dive Against Debris Heroes!

This April, Earth Month, we’re honoring Loutraki Divers as our first-ever Dive Against Debris Hero.

Loutraki Divers, an inspiring group of eight, have set an incredible goal – they aim to completely clean and restore the seabed in the Greek region to its natural state.

Since making their pledge in August 2014, Loutraki Divers have conducted 47 Dive Against Debris surveys. Uniting dive professionals to drive positive change – the team remove the marine debris they encounter underwater during their surveys, bring it back to the surface, weigh and report all debris items removed before sending it off to be recycled.

Loutraki Divers have learned to dive with great attention in order to avoid interrupting the tranquility of their fragile underwater environment. They explain, “It is our obligation to retain the natural state of our seas by keeping them clean and intact. The sea covers 70% of the planet. It is our source of life.”

To date, Loutraki Divers have recovered more than eight tons of debris from the ocean floor without the assistance of any mechanical device. Despite the challenges they face, the team doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. Not only do they aim to continue their current Dive Against Debris efforts, their next area of focus will be on educating youth about the issue of marine debris. Alongside the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, they’ll begin participating in campaigns aiming to inform Greek students and schools about Project AWARE’s Dive Against Debris program, as well as other ways to take daily actions to protect marine life from deadly ocean trash.

Their philosophy? “If we, as a team of eight, can recover eight tons of debris from the ocean floor in Greece, just imagine what eight hundred, or even eight thousand divers are capable of doing all over the world.”

Thank you, Loutraki Divers, for your leadership in Dive Against Debris and for inspiring our next generation of ocean conservationists.