Enthusiastic divers keen to put a stop to marine rubbish are saying no to straws. It’s a small step which makes a big difference. Straws are one of the top items found by divers who regularly Dive Against Debris.

Hidden Depths Diving and Ocean Divers Koh Lanta, Thailand hold weekly cleanups. “Volunteers are surprised by the number of straws we find, these innocuous items are used by us all every day, but are adding to the detritus that finds its way into our oceans,” said Joanne Healy of Hidden Depths Diving. 

The team also found a number of scary toys and a friendly looking Spiderman.  It takes more than one superhero to save the planet and Project AWARE is proud to have a movement of ocean heroes fighting marine debris every day of the year.   

Sairee Cottage, Koh Tao, Thailand urge dive operators to be AWARE after discovering bottles filled with cigarettes that have been used as ashtrays and fallen overboard. “We found condensed milk cans, lipton tea bag packets, torch batteries and the most heart breaking of all empty water bottles filled with cigarette butts,” said the Sairee Cottage team who are now working on raising awareness about this problem.

But the message from dive centres is also a positive one. As Ocean 5 Dive Resort, Indonesia remind us: “Don’t be fooled into thinking divers only see plastic underwater. That’s not true. Our brilliant reef reveals amazing seahorses, pipefish, nudis, mimic octopus and mandarin fish.”

So how many straws will you find this Debris Month of Action? From 1 – 30 September you can Dive Against Debris, record your data, and use the power of social media to share what you see beneath the ocean’s surface.