MARINE DEBRIS

Ocean plastic and debris assessment

Ecological Monitoring and Education Strategy

Objectives Introduction

Marine plastic pollution is a global problem with local solutions. Studies have established that 80% of the plastic in the ocean comes from landbased sources. Due to improper waste disposal or management on land and through transportation by winds and rain, trash finds its way to the ocean through rivers and water streams. Such pollution has a devastating impact on marine ecosystems and marine life, as well as on human health

PADI AWARE's flagship citizen-science program, Dive Against Debris, empowers SCUBA divers to remove marine debris from the ocean and report data on the types, qualities and locations of materials collected.

The marine debris project aims to provide expertise and accurate data on the type and levels of marine plastic pollution to local government By assessing the local situation, we can provide policy recommendations and easy to implement actions to reduce marine plastic pollution.

Data is also shared to global data sets using AWARE's Dive Against Debris surveys. By conducting regular and standardised dive against debris, beach and community clean ups we are engaging the local community while contributing to our in-house and global data sets.

Methodology

We are conducting beach front, community, and at depth marine debris surveys to provide data from a spectrum of clean up hot spots.

Beach surveys are performed on the same 500m beach for one hour. Then the collected debris are separated, weighted and data is recorded Environmental variables are recorded such as weather condition and tidal movements.

Dives against debris are performed regularly. The debris collected are separated, counted and weighed. Additional data is recorded for depth of the debris, dive time, dive site and number of clean up divers This data is submitted to AWARE's Dive Against Debris. We have "adopted" our house reef sites in each location - Crystal Bay (Nusa Penida), Blue Planet House Reef (Bira) and Scuba Republic House Reef (Raja Ampat). We are also on standby for reports of debris reported locally we can send a team to help with with larger removals.

Community clean ups are planned away from the coastal areas and assess the potential for run off marine debris It also engages the local community to take action while contributing to our ongoing data sets. All trash is sorted, weighed and inputted into our logs.