Male' Housereef, Rasfannu
26 October, 2019
- Team Leader
- Adam Ashraf
- Number of Participants
- 6
- Total Debris Collected
- 41.8 kgs (measured)
4.176495, 73.501714
Survey Information
- Location Name
- Male' Housereef, Rasfannu
- Organization/Dive Centre
- Dive Desk
- City
- Male'
- Country
- Maldives
- Date
- 26 October, 2019
- Survey Duration
- 40 Minutes
- GPS Coordinates
- Latitude: 4.176495
Longitude: 73.501714
- Weather Conditions
-
Stormy, windy and rainy for the three days following up to the day of the event; sun broke through and beautiful weather and calm seas on the day of the cleanup.
- Survey Depth Range
- 8–29 meters
- Area Surveyed
- 630 m2
- Dominant Substrate
- sand
- Ecosystem
- coral reef
- Wave Conditions
- Calm (glassy to rippled) for waves 0 – 0.1 meter high
Survey Photos
Debris Items Collected
| plastic materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Bags-grocery/retail (plastic) | 63 |
| Beverage Bottles: 2 Litres Or More (plastic) | 22 |
| Beverage Bottles: Less Than 2 Litres (plastic) | 45 |
| Fishing: Line | 11 |
| Foam Insulation & Packaging | 27 |
| Plastic Fragments | 8 |
| Rope (plastic/nylon) | 2 |
| glass materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Beverage Bottles (glass) | 5 |
| metal materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Beverage Cans (aluminium) | 13 |
| Gas Bottles/cylinder, Drums-more Than 4 Liters | 1 |
| Metal Fragments | 8 |
| wood materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Furnishings (wood) | 16 |
| cloth materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Bags (burlap) | 8 |
| mixed materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Clothing | 72 |
Additional Information
The second dive of the 3-dive cleanup surveyed roughly 30m of Male' housereef adjacent to Rasfannu Artficial Beach and Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital. Plastic water bottles was the main problem - bottled water bottle is the dominant source of drinking water in Male'. Government policies to reduce single use plastic lack firm commitment; an event here and there to make a headline but no real long-term strategy to phase out single-use plastic.
Plastic water bottles
Fishing lines
Comments and Feedback
The cleanup event was a big success and the enthusiasm and positive feedback from the volunteer divers have motivated us to conduct more clean-up events.
This part of the house reef is beautiful with spectacular coral cover. Fishing is prohibited in this area but a number of fishing lines found entangled in coral growth. The cleanup event was conducted in close collaboration with Male' City Council, Waste Management Corporation (WAMCO) and Parley Maldives. Although the number of scuba divers that worked to extract debris from the ocean was 26, over 50 individuals were involved in the event, cleaning debris from shoreline, mostly plastic bottles and aluminium cans. The total number of plastic bottles collected, including land and ocean, came up to 1,176 bottles. All plastic collected was handed over to Parley for recycling.
