“More than 250 million tons of plastic are estimated to make its way into our ocean by 2025.” - PADI AWARE
PADI’s Dive Against Debris initiative is the world's largest citizen science movement to rid the ocean of marine debris. Since its launch in 2011 more than 2.4 million pieces of debris have been removed from our oceans and reported, through the Adopt The Blue program, into PADI AWAREs citizen science database - data that is used to inform groundbreaking research for a healthier ocean and to change government level policies globally. With over 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris already in our ocean, these changes need to happen now.
At Aqua Dive we have 5 Adopt The Blue sites which we clean on a regular basis to ensure healthy and productive reefs, free from plastic pollution.
Our current mission:
We have actively been doing clean up dives at Aqua Dive since the start, but in November 2024 we ventured out to a rarely-visited coral patch on our house reef and were shocked by what we found. Since then we have made it our mission to clean up this section of the reef. Currently we have taken over 690kg of trash out of this ~500m² reef patch and more from other areas of our house reef. If you want to keep updated on our progress, we post all updates here and on our instagram each week.
Clean Up Dives: 36
Debris Weight Removed: 1,100.5 kg
Pieces of Debris Removed: 13,652
How we do it:
Partnering with Atoll Marine Centre and Atoll Volunteers, we run our Dive Against Debris events every Friday afternoon, inviting our wonderful volunteers and visitors to the island to join.
Each week we remove between 30 and 50 kilograms of rubbish out of our ocean and after a few trials we have found that using a lift bag in neutral buoyancy and swimming with it underwater is the easiest way. Luckily our staff and partners are now experts at using a lift bag, making our removals so much easier!
22 November 2024:
Participants: 7
Location: Naifaru House Reef East
Weight: 19.5kg
Pieces of Debris: 247
Most Unusual Item Found: Men’s Underwear
29 November 2024:
Participants: 3
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 43.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 860
Most Unusual Item Found: Women’s Underwear
6 December 2024:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 44.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 749
Most Unusual Item Found: Oil Filter
13 December 2024:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 51.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 512
Most Unusual Item Found:
20 December 2024:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 32.2kg
Pieces of Debris: 356
Most Unusual Item Found: VHS Tape
27 December 2024:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 50.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 539
Most Unusual Item Found: Pencil Case
3 January 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 46.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 589
Most Unusual Item Found: IV Drip Bag
17 January 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 31.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 404
Most Unusual Item Found: Playing Card
24 January 2025:
Participants: 5
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 33.2kg
Pieces of Debris: 675
Most Unusual Item Found: Faucet
30 January 2025:
Participants: 5
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 38.3kg
Pieces of Debris: 587
Most Unusual Item Found: VCR Tape
7 February 2025:
Participants: 5
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 31.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 524
Most Unusual Item Found: Baby Bottle Nipple
14 February 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 42.0kg
Pieces of Debris: 540
Most Unusual Item Found: Lego Brick
22 February 2025:
Participants: 6
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 36.8kg
Pieces of Debris: 846
Most Unusual Item Found: Football
28 February 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru House Reef West
Weight: 28.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 139
Most Unusual Item Found: Lawn Chair
8 March 2025:
Participants: 3
Location: Naifaru House Reef West
Weight: 36.8kg
Pieces of Debris: 692
Most Unusual Item Found: Fridge Parts
14 March 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 25.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 232
Most Unusual Item Found: Toothpaste
20 March 2025:
Participants: 3
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 27.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 244
Most Unusual Item Found: Umberella
11 April 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 30.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 686
Most Unusual Item Found: VHS Tapes
25 April 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru House Reef East
Weight: 47.3kg
Pieces of Debris: 356
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic Clock
23 May 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru House Reef East
Weight: 21.3kg
Pieces of Debris: 154
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic Toys
30 May 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 20.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 273
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic TV Surround
13 June 2025:
Participants: 6
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 17.5kg
Pieces of Debris: 290
Most Unusual Item Found:
22 June 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 33.8kg
Pieces of Debris: 260
Most Unusual Item Found: Padlock
25 June 2025:
Participants: 3
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 18.5kg
Pieces of Debris: 166
Most Unusual Item Found: Child’s Shoe
27 June 2025:
Participants: 5
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 23.1kg
Pieces of Debris: 392
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic Miniature Football
30 June 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 34.2kg
Pieces of Debris: 208
Most Unusual Item Found: Kid’s Toys
4 July 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 25.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 51
Most Unusual Item Found: Machete
6 July 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 25.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 154
Most Unusual Item Found: Engine Filters
16 July 2025:
Participants: 3
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 18.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 173
Most Unusual Item Found:
25 July 2025:
Participants: 6
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 13.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 262
Most Unusual Item Found:
1 August 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 23.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 150
Most Unusual Item Found: Mens Underwear
4 August 2025:
Participants: 5
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 52.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 194
Most Unusual Item Found: More Mens Underwear
16 August 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 18.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 279
Most Unusual Item Found: Womens Underwear
20 August 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Reef Patch
Weight: 12.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 286
Most Unusual Item Found: Credit Card
22 August 2025:
Participants: 4
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 17.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 233
Most Unusual Item Found: Washing Machine Front
31 August 2025:
Participants: 2
Location: Naifaru Coral Strip
Weight: 21.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 185
Most Unusual Item Found: Bucket