The latest Dive Friends Bonaire Quarterly Cleanup Dive took place on Saturday July 28th. We cleaned up a very special location, namely the exclusive North Pier in the center of Kralendijk.
For the Dive Friends crew, the day started with setting up the tent, the tables and getting 100 tanks to the North Pier. The first enthusiastic participants showed up to join us in no time. By 9.45am, 72 divers had signed up to clean up! After an inspiring briefing from Clean Up Captain and DFB Instructor Caitlin about clean up guidelines, safety measures and the importance of taking good care of Bonaire’s beautiful coral reefs, everybody was ready to enter the water.
After about an hour dive people came back with mesh bags full of trash. The amount of trash surrounding the pier was enormous. The biggest challenge for this particular dive was physically taking the bags out of the water, because they were completely full. The DFB crew assisted by taking the mesh bags allowing the divers to exit the water and get it counted at the trash collection point. All the data collected from the cleanup dive is given to the Project AWARE’s Dive Against Debris program entering a GLOBAL DATABASE to help support the development and implementation of policies to improve solid waste management, both locally and globally.
We would like to give a big thank you to the people who removed debris from the beloved ocean, but also to those who helped the marine creatures that had accidentally been collected and returned them to the reef.
Roughly estimated the 72 divers removed:
- 5 km (3.25 miles) of fishing line as well as 48 fishing sinkers and hooks! Fishing line is a serious threat to Bonaire’s sea turtles and other marine life.
- 43% of what was removed was plastic; a whopping 143 plastic fragments
- 304 glass bottles, glass and ceramic fragments
- 36 items of clothing as well as 22 hats
- 73 beverage cans
- 63 carboard fragments
- … and 12 credit cards!
The most notable items found during this clean up were a record player, a traffic cone, four metal chairs, and a road sign!
Later that evening everybody came together at Dive Friends Bonaire @ Hamlet Oasis to celebrate the successful cleanup with a potluck barbecue.
Another big thank you goes out to all of our sponsors for this quarterly Dive Friends Bonaire Clean Up Dive. The divers thoroughly enjoyed the raffle prizes at the BBQ! We would like to thank Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, Selibon, Project Aware, 4 Oceans, Coco Palm Garden, Bonaire Harbor, Warehouse, Aquafun, Bonaire East Coast Diving, La Cantina, Caribbean Dive Trading, Palm Trading, Peter Jager, Susan Porter, Ocean Reef, and Treasure by the Sea!
We look forward to the next Quarterly Cleanup, which will take place on October 20th.
Not able to join? Visit your Dive Friends location to check the out the amazing PADI Specialty Dive Against Debris, or have a look at www.debrisfreebonaire.com to find out how you can still help us and Bonaire!
