We were delighted to have our hard work in marine conservation recognised at the PADI LIVE Awards Ceremony at DEMA, in Las Vegas. Action Scuba won the 2012 Project AWARE Award for Environmental Achievement.

But our real reward is the change we are helping to bring about for our planet. 

Over the last 12 months, we've done a lot of work to promote the protection of our oceans, lakes and rivers, as well as all the amazing creatures that live there. 

• We were the first dive centre in Canada (and one of the first in the world) to adopt the 100% AWARE program.
• We hosted Finn, one of Project AWARE's mascots, right here in Montreal on his global tour promoting shark protection.
• We raised money for Project AWARE through events, raffles and activities.
• We collected shark petition signatures.
• We promoted Project AWARE to all of our customers and divers.
• We organised numerous beach clean-ups and dives against debris, and logged in the data we collected.
• We became one of the first dive schools in Montreal to offer the AWARE Shark Conservation Diver course, and we encourage all of our customers joining us on trips to at least participate in the theory portion (which we offer for free).
• We incorporated cleaning up debris into our standard PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course as part of a seach and recovery dive.
• We included an emphasis on Project AWARE in all of our student and professional level PADI courses.
• The list goes on...

But what we think is the best thing we've accomplished is creating a community of divers who are aware and acting as evangelists for the underwater world. Our divers now promote conservation through their own networks, and help spread the word that our oceans need our help.

All of the things on the list are business as usual for us at Action Scuba. Tomorrow we'll continue working with the great team at Project AWARE to advance the cause of educating the general public that out of sight should not be out of mind.

Why not join us in helping to protect the underwater world we all love so much!