Cinnamon Nature Trails partners with IDC to ‘Dive Against Debris’

The International Diving Centre (IDC) and Cinnamon Nature Trails, both based at Chaaya Blu Hotel, recently removed 250kg of abandoned fishing nets and plastics from the Swami Rock reef as part of Project Aware’s ‘Dive Against Debris’ campaign.  Both entities have joined forces to take action against marine debris in order to raise critical national awareness of this issue.

Statistics included in Project Aware’s infographic ‘The Ugly Journey of Trash’ provides a startling overview of the amount of marine debris currently plaguing our oceans globally. It states that “over SIX million tons of marine litter may be entering our ocean each year” and “as much as 70% of it ends up on the sea bed”. The ocean is a resource that is so critical to our health and livelihood and yet only around 2% of it is protected, compared to the 12% of land.

The scuba community is united in their efforts to conserve the ocean through PADI’s Project Aware movement, an initiative described as ‘the largest global movement of divers acting in their own communities to protect oceans and implement lasting change’. The Instructors at the International Dive Centre – Sri Lanka together with marine naturalists for Cinnamon Nature Trails combined their resources to dive into action. With a few other volunteers, they spent half a day diving and cutting away at the heavy nets, disentangling trapped fish and collecting the trash that littered the reef. They also contributed data via a survey, which Project Aware uses to implement change in waste management policies on both a local and global scale.

The waters surrounding Trincomalee and Nilaveli, in the east, offer perhaps some of the best diving and snorkeling to be found in Sri Lanka. With a rich diversity of vibrant corals, fish fauna and other marine-life, the area offers a haven of marine habitats to explore. It is also home to the famed Pigeon Island National Park, the first marine national park in Sri Lanka, attracting many visitors each year who come to snorkel among the corals and multitude of marine-life. Many other reef habitats found close by do not enjoy the protection afforded by National Park status but protecting these habitats too is just as important for the health and productivity of the ocean.

“With Sri Lanka being an Island nation and many livelihoods depending on the ocean for tourism, we must all work together to ensure that our seas are looked after and remain healthy and productive so that they continue to provide for many generations to come,” stated Chitral Jayatilake, Head of Ecotourism and Special Projects John Keells Hotels.

The International Diving Center and Cinnamon Nature Trails hope that their initiative, as the first ‘Dive Against Debris’ recorded for Sri Lanka, sets an example and inspires a trend among the island’s diving community to do the same, helping to increase national awareness for marine conservation.

Cinnamon Nature Trails and The International Dive Centre will continue to preserve reef ecosystems and raise awareness of destructive marine pollution. Both organisations will be conducting their second monthly dive on 12 June 2013, as a follow up to World Ocean Day.