Christina Shaw organizes Dive Against Debris surveys once every three months. She's been surveying sites with dive center, Big Blue, on the beautiful South Pacific islands of Vanuatu since 2013.

Despite the tropical forests, magnificent underwater coral gardens, caverns and drop offs, her volunteer dive team have removed and recorded over 4,000 kilograms of trash to date.

Their efforts to cleanup and help protect marine life have not gone unnoticed. 

In December 2017 the Vanuatu Government announced a ban on the import and local manufacturing of non-biodegradable plastics. The Government’s decision to ban certain non-biodegradable plastics was based on the outcome of field study reports done by environmental marine coastal groups including Big Blue.

We catch up with Christina who shares with us how Dive Against Debris data helped champion the change. 

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Christina hopes to work more with the Government to reduce the use of more single use plastics in the future.

For more information on Big Blue visit their Facebook page or check out their My Ocean profile.