gvi fiji achievement report february 2015 - caqalai ocean clean up (dive against debris, padi aware)
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GVI Fiji Achievement Report February 2015 - Caqalai Ocean Clean Up (Dive Against Debris, PADI AWARE)TRANSCRIPT
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Caqalai Achievement Report February 2015 Objective: Waste Management and Awareness, Protection of Marine Ecosystems
GVI Caqalai Ocean Cleanup After establishing the GVI Fiji’s Marine Research Project on Caqalai Island in October 2014, one of the several initiatives im-‐plemented to tackle waste management issues in the area has been the PADI AWARE Dive Against Debris initiative . Debris collection dives and regular beach cleans are invaluable methods for protecting the marine life of Caqalai and neigh-‐boring island Moturiki,
whilst also useful for promoting awareness on the hazards that pollution poses to the marine envi-‐ronment. The debris collection and data gathered during GVI’s clean up sessions will aid in the estab-‐lishment of Caqalai Island as a marine protected area and assist in our waste management planning with local community members in support of improved environmental management. GVI Fiji Voluneers also run an enviromental education curriculum in local schools, covering human impacts on the environment, pollution and the effects of plastics and waste on the local marine life. Outside the classroom children and local youth groups are encouraged to join in the cleanups.
Caqalai is a coral island shaped by the tidal currents that move around it. These cur-‐rents can bring debris from Viti Levu and surrounding islands. Neighboring Moturiki has ten villages, none of which have recy-‐cling facilities. As a result the main means of waste disposal is burning and burying. By collecting data during dives and beach cleans we have further evidence to support the need for proper waste management in the area; it is hoped that beach cleans and dive surveys run along side the implementa-‐tion of waste management initiatives will eventually lead to a change in the debris profile found on local reefs.
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Dive Against Debris (http://www.projectaware.org/project/dive-‐against-‐debris) is an initiative set up by PADI Project AWARE in response to one of the most detrimental stressors on the health of our oceans. Marine pollution is a growing problem with an estimated 10-‐20 million tons of plastic ending up in the ocean each year. A recent study estimated that 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing a to-‐tal of 268,940 tons are currently floating in the world’s oceans. These plastic particle and waste ma-‐terials kill tens of thousands of marine animals and seabirds each year through entanglement and digestion and continues to damage entire marine ecosystems. The following points show some wor-‐rying statistics from WorldWatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org)
• This plastic debris results in an estimated $13 billion a year in losses from damage to marine ecosystems, including financial losses to fisheries and tourism as well as time spent cleaning beaches.
• In Europe, 26 percent, or 6.6 million tons, of the post-‐consumer plastic produced in 2012 was recycled, while 36 percent was incinerated for energy generation. The remaining 38 percent of post-‐consumer plastics in Europe went to landfills.
• In the United States, only 9 percent of post-‐consumer plastic (2.8 million tons) was recycled
in 2012. The remaining 32 million tons was discarded. Dive Against Debris was “Created by divers for divers, this global, underwater survey of rubbish is designed to increase debris removal efforts, prevent harm to marine life and connect your underwater actions to policy changes and pre-‐vention”. Data reported to Project AWARE is en-‐tered into a global database and is then used to spread awareness of marine debris and used to support development and implementation of pol-‐icies to improve solid waste management at all levels. GVI Fiji has pledged to carry out 3 Dives Against Debris a week and 2 beach cleans a month. Vol-‐unteers also plan to carry out beach cleans in col-‐laboration with local youth groups on neighbor-‐ing Moturiki. Currently on Caqalai we have completed 5 beach cleans and 2 in Daku (a village on Motoriki) col-‐lecting 363.85kg of debris, of which only around 69kg is recyclable in Fiji. In the debris we collect-‐ed 476 plastic bottles, 121 shoes, 2 engines and an airline food tray. GVI Fiji’s Community base in
Silana village on Viti Levu has also started running regular beach cleans involving the local communi-‐ty. During dives against debris we have collected 19.4kg of debris, most of which is glass bottles.
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The data from the last three beach cleans is presented below, it shows a great deal of the debris is plastic and that a large amount of it could have been recycled instead of dumped. All the debris col-‐lected by GVI Fiji is either recycled, reused or disposed of correctly. Graph Key
− Blue – Plastic − Green – Glass − Purple – Mixed Materials − Red – Metal
− Yellow – Cloth − Black – Paper
It is hoped that through continued concerted efforts by GVI volunteers and local communities the volume of waste collected on local beach cleans will reduce over time and that greater awareness will ensure that more effort is made to dispose of rubbish properly. By reporting collection infor-‐mation to PADI AWARE, this information will help contribute to a global data and efforts to reduce on marine pollution.
For more information on GVI’s projects in Fiji please visit www.gvi.co.uk For more information on our global impact visit www.gviworld.com
To make a donation to our projects in Fiji please visit www.gvi.org for more details.
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Categories of Debris
Beach Clean Data