Cleaning the ocean drive launched in Phuket
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has officially extended the “Save the Ocean & Save for Your Dive” campaign to Phuket, offering divers there the chance to earn discounts on dive trips, accommodation, and restaurants, in return for helping to protect Thailand’s marine ecosystem.
The initiative follows on from the success of the “Upcycling the Oceans, Thailand” project in Koh Samet and the Eastern Seaboard.
The project’s opening ceremony was presided over by Minister of Tourism and Sports Weerasak Kowsurat at Patong Beach in Phuket and saw celebrities and volunteers cleaning the coastline of the Andaman Sea along Patong, Nai Harn, and Nai Yang beaches.
As Thailand’s largest island, Phuket boasts verdant jungle that rolls on to hundreds of kilometres of coastline with a large number of dive sites making it the perfect next stop for the project.
Interested divers are encouraged to take part by following just three easy steps: First, they need to inform a participating dive operator that they would like to join the project. The dive operator will then give them a special rubbish collection bag. Second, divers collect rubbish while enjoying their dive, and return the bag to receive a stamp on their “Diving Passport”. Third, they can use the stamp to redeem special discounts on their next dive trip with a participating dive operator.
During their dive, participating divers are encouraged to practice their buoyancy control while also being careful to maintain the fragile ecosystem they are helping to protect; for example, when removing fishing nets from coral, it is best to use scissors to carefully trim the net and not pull it in such a way that will cause the coral to break.
For more information and for a list of participating dive operators, visit www.UtoDive.com.
