KOTA KINABALU: A group of eight divers, all in the mood for Christmas, donned Santa hats or reindeer headbands before heading underwater to clean-up Pulau Sapi.
The session is organised monthly by local dive and tour operator, Land Below The Wind, and this month’s Project Aware underwater clean-up was held on Christmas Eve to embrace the spirit of giving.
The divers, comprising volunteers and members of the media, focused their ocean clean-up within the house reef of Pulau Sapi, one of the five islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park near here.
They picked up rubbish from 14m below the water surface throughout the 40 minutes dive. At the end of the excursion, they collected 32kg of rubbish.
Most of the trash collected included plastic bottles, cans, diapers, and styrofoam boxes.
Land Below The Wind’s dive instructor Emmanuele Girelli, 37, said divers share a responsibility in helping to keep the ocean clean.
“We do a clean-up every month but this time we want do it with Christmas twist to make it more exciting. It is also our present to the sea. The clean-up is important for our marine park since the islands receive high volume of tourist flow and more trash is expected.
“We always clean Sapi’s house reef. The tourists and boats are concentrated there and because of the underwater topography, waves and current will bring rubbish and they will get stuck in the area. It’s basically a funnel.
“However, I’m sure if we keep doing this it will make other divers and companies aware on the importance to work together towards keeping the ocean free from trash,” he said.
Despite the weather warning and choppy sea, all divers were committed to their role as underwater warriors to fight against trash.
Utusan Borneo reporter Suraidah Roslan said the visibility was poor due to poor weather but it did not dampen their spirit in making today’s programme a success.
“Although the sea was choppy, there was no strong undercurrent. The diving went smooth.
“Diving while cleaning is fun. Joining the underwater clean-up programme allows a diver to learn more about the environment,” noted Suraidah, who joined the clean-up for the first time.
Thus far this year, Land Below The Wind has conducted 14 underwater clean-ups and collected over 300kg of trash.