“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 block 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. If you want to keep updated on our progress, we post all updates here and on our instagram each week.
Clean Up Dives: 21
Debris Weight Removed: 740.7 kg
Pieces of Debris Removed: 10,369
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
Weight: 19.5kg
Pieces of Debris: 247
Most Unusual Item Found: Men’s Underwear
29 November 2024:
Participants: 3
Weight: 43.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 860
Most Unusual Item Found: Women’s Underwear
6 December 2024:
Participants: 4
Weight: 44.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 749
Most Unusual Item Found: Oil Filter
13 December 2024:
Participants: 2
Weight: 51.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 512
Most Unusual Item Found:
20 December 2024:
Participants: 4
Weight: 32.2kg
Pieces of Debris: 356
Most Unusual Item Found: VHS Tape
27 December 2024:
Participants: 4
Weight: 50.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 539
Most Unusual Item Found: Pencil Case
3 January 2025:
Participants: 4
Weight: 46.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 589
Most Unusual Item Found: IV Drip Bag
17 January 2025:
Participants: 4
Weight: 31.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 404
Most Unusual Item Found: Playing Card
24 January 2025:
Participants: 5
Weight: 33.2kg
Pieces of Debris: 675
Most Unusual Item Found: Faucet
30 January 2025:
Participants: 5
Weight: 38.3kg
Pieces of Debris: 587
Most Unusual Item Found: VCR Tape
7 February 2025:
Participants: 5
Weight: 31.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 524
Most Unusual Item Found: Baby Bottle Nipple
14 February 2025:
Participants: 4
Weight: 42.0kg
Pieces of Debris: 540
Most Unusual Item Found: Lego Brick
22 February 2025:
Participants: 6
Weight: 36.8kg
Pieces of Debris: 846
Most Unusual Item Found: Football
28 February 2025:
Participants: 2
Weight: 28.9kg
Pieces of Debris: 139
Most Unusual Item Found: Lawn Chair
8 March 2025:
Participants: 3
Weight: 36.8kg
Pieces of Debris: 692
Most Unusual Item Found: Fridge Parts
14 March 2025:
Participants: 2
Weight: 25.7kg
Pieces of Debris: 232
Most Unusual Item Found: Toothpaste
20 March 2025:
Participants: 3
Weight: 27.4kg
Pieces of Debris: 244
Most Unusual Item Found: Umberella
11 April 2025:
Participants: 4
Weight: 30.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 686
Most Unusual Item Found: VHS Tapes
25 April 2025:
Participants: 2
Weight: 47.3kg
Pieces of Debris: 356
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic Clock
23 May 2025:
Participants: 4
Weight: 21.3kg
Pieces of Debris: 154
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic Toys
30 May 2025:
Participants: 4
Weight: 20.6kg
Pieces of Debris: 273
Most Unusual Item Found: Plastic TV Surround