Carla Norris, age seven from Australia inspires friends and family with her incredibly kind and selfless act; donations instead of gifts at her ocean themed birthday party.

Gone are the days when Natalia was often the only woman on a dive boat. Since joining Fathoms Free – a volunteer marine conservation group conducting regular Dive Against Debris® surveys in the South West of the United Kingdom – she has found a community where women often outnumber men. What unites them all this PADI® #WomensDiveDay and every day is their passion for the ocean and drive to protect it from the pollution and other threats it is facing today.

While this year’s Shark Week, July 23-30, might still be a bad week to be a seal, it’s also a good week to be a real shark fan and help support shark conservation. The week-long series of programming dedicated to sharks will once again place the shark conversation at an all-time high around the world with its 29th season premiering for the first time in more than 220 countries and territories. Are you ready to be a shark #Finbassador?

Entries open today for the world’s first student competition to find the next generation of solutions to the global problem of marine litter. Organized by UN Environment and Think Beyond Plastic, the Marine Plastics Innovation Challenge invites university students worldwide to submit fresh ideas in the fields of engineering, communications, economics and data modelling.

In this week’s Community Spotlight, we chat with Elvis Bottega who uses his love of diving to create action in the corporate and underwater world.

Meet Gabriele Bonfa, lead Cleanup Instructor at Oceans 5, Gili Air, Indonesia. He's cleaning up the local beaches every week - and involving tourists along the way.

Marine mammals, birds and fish see plastic bottle caps as food, which can have deadly consequences. Over 10.000 caps were analysed one by one. This is the first time pollution from plastic bottle caps has been researched this thoroughly. This research is important for successfully addressing this pollution at its source.

Meet Caio Salles, a scuba diver from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil who gave up a world of film, travel, and surfing to transform action underwater into public policy changes.