Seattle Dive Tours

The team at Seattle Dive Tours knows that marine debris is a major problem for our ocean. Luckily, they also know that divers participating in PADI AWARE Dive Against Debris can become part of the solution. These are dives with the targeted purpose to survey our ocean-floor nad remove marine debris and plastic pollution. This action, when multiplied by PADI shops around the world, creates a massive impact. Furthermore, the data collected by these divers are helping to drive waste management decisions and policy changes.

Now, with a PADI AWARE Foundation’s Community Grant, Seattle Dive Tours is scaling up their efforts to rid our seas of debris. They are focusing specifically on removing the growing amount of debris around Des Moins Marina and Seacrest Pier.

The dive shop currently equips volunteer divers with “excellent cutting tools” to add to their dive kit on Dives Against Debris, Scott Flaherty of the shop said. These can help with removing rope, line and other discarded fishing debris – called ghostnets – that harm our ocean environments. They plan to continue this outfitting and to supplement it with vital training and education around the marine debris problem.

“We are providing Dive Against Debris training for more divers, more frequently and at a reduced price,” Flaherty said. The grant funding will allow the dive shop to expand these offerings and its ability to organize more local underwater cleanups.

“We are seeing the continued growth of the conservation or stewardship mindset, and to be a part of that is rewarding,” Flaherty said. Indeed, a large part of the Dive Against Debris coursework focuses on education and empowerment of divers to make a difference in and out of the water. This type of focused programming and training results in marine debris being removed from our oceans and, more importantly, prevents even more from entering in the first place. For Seattle Dive Tours, this mindset shift accomplished on a community level is what they’d consider a success for their project.

Their ultimate hope is to protect the underwater world because it is a sanctuary and refuge for so many species, including humans, and because it is “the world.”

Want to see more of Seattle Dive Tours in action?

You can follow along with Seattle Dive Tours and the Des Moines Marina/Seacrest Pier project on their website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or on https://www.padi.com/aware.