SEAS THE DAY WITH A DEEP BLUE DIVE CENTER
IN HONOR OF WORLD OCEANS DAY June 8, 2009
A Deep Blue Dive Center in Key Colony Beach, Fla., is proud to join leading educational institutions, conservation organizations, and individuals in dozens of countries around the world to celebrate our shared ocean. World Oceans Day – held on June 8 of each year – is an opportunity to celebrate our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea.
The Ocean Project, an international network of more than 830 aquariums, zoos, museums, and conservation organizations including A Deep Blue Dive Center is working closely with the World Ocean Network to coordinate activities worldwide under the theme "helping our climate - helping our ocean" with a special focus on coral reefs.
On June 8, 2009 we celebrated by hosting a “Seas the Day” event with an underwater clean up at one or our most precious resources, Sombrero Reef, a National Marine Sanctuary in the heart of the Florida Keys just off the coast of Marathon, Fla.
There were a total of 22 volunteers who participated to make this event happen. It was a beautiful sunny day, visibility around 50 feet and calm seas. Out of the 22 volunteers we had the honor of having aboard with us nine international visitors from varying South East Asian Countries in the United States via the Department of State that are involved in a program called Coral Triangle, an organization that strives to protect coastal and marine environments.
Our guests came in from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, it truly was an honor to have them join us and get to see firsthand some of our beautiful coral reefs that we strive so hard to protect and preserve.
Some of their project goals while here were to asses U.S. policies and strategies to protect coastal and marine environments, explore key roles of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and citizen action groups in national and local effort and to discuss international cooperative efforts to protect marine resources.
|
Brad Fabian from Reef Relief – the Florida Keys grassroots citizen activist group, and Todd Hitchins – director of Team Ocean, the citizen volunteer group with Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries (FKNMS) was onboard as well to volunteer and interact with our guests.
Some of the trash collected from the reef included fishing materials, such as monofilament line and wire leaders, bottle wrappers, a piece of jewelry, dryer sheets, bottle caps, plastic bags and oddly, what looked like the bottom of a walking cane. Overall, the volunteers were pleasantly surprised that more was not collected.
Muhammad Zulficar, National Coordinator of Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW) of Indonesia said, Sombrero is a “good example of a well-implemented protected area.”
Todd Hitchins responded by saying, “We have over 25,000 recreational boats in Monroe County (Florida Keys) and probably 35 law enforcement boats.” That sure makes it a tough job!
We asked what issues our guests were dealing with in their respective countries and Dr. Jamili NAIS of Malaysia said, “Overfishing and drag nets.”
It was observed at Sombrero Reef that there was very little bleaching of the reef, overall quality is excellent, lots of live corals and tons of tropical fish life.
Ms. Nalinee, marine biologist with Phuket Marine Biological Center in Thailand said, “Fabulous, beautiful day, beautiful reef!”
As dive operators and consummate activists for our precious ocean and coral reefs, it was nice to hear this coming from esteemed researchers from the other side of the ocean.
Most people are not aware of the crucial role the ocean plays in maintaining earth’s climate and the vulnerability of ocean life to warmer, more acidic, and rising waters as a result of climate change. The international celebration of World Oceans Day and events like ours presents an opportunity for individuals to learn more about our ocean, reflect on the ocean’s importance in their lives, take time to do something good for our blue planet, and learn how to take action to protect the ocean in their daily lives.
Special thanks to our friend and professional photographer to Larry Benvenuti who documented the event and to Singh Resorts for providing lunch for our volunteers. Larry is always there to support conservation and humanitarian efforts here and abroad, some of his work can be viewed at: www.benvenutiphotography.com
Written by: Michele Adams |
