Phi Phi beach clean up

September Clean up on Koh Phi Phi.

Blue View Divers of Koh Phi Phi, Thailand coordinated a two day event for International Clean Up Day, this September.
Working alongside Scuba Schools International, Project Aware and many of the local businesses in Koh Phi Phi, we organized both beach and underwater cleanups for the event.

On the 19th of September we coordinated a beach cleanup on Loh Dalum Bay, a once quiet beach that has now become crowded with beach bars.
Volunteers from local businesses, bars, restaurants and dive schools as well as countless tourists worked together to collect all the rubbish along Loh Dalum Beach.
People sunbathing on the beach got up and participated in cleaning Loh Dalum Beach in an effort that involved over 80 people.
The volunteers were divided into three groups, with stations set up with water and weighing scales in front of Sunflower Bar, Ciao Bella and Cabana Hotel Beach.
The volunteers combed the beach over the period of two hours and amongst them collected 1,326 Kilograms of rubbish.
The amount of glass collected on Loh Dalum Beach weighed 198.5 Kilograms.
The amount of Recyclable rubbish (cans and plastic bottles) amounted to 77.4 kilograms.
The recyclable rubbish was given to the facility on Koh Phi Phi, whilst the rest of the rubbish was brought off the island to a facility in Bangkok, which divided the rubbish into what could be recycled which could not be dealt with by the small recycling facility situated in Koh Phi Phi.
Afterwards, Sunflower bar on Loh Dalum Beach was kind enough to provide a free barbeque for the tired volunteers.
The 20th of September we organized a dive clean up where over 19 Volunteers came and participated in cleaning the dive sites.

Netting and plastics are devastating to the marine life in our ecosystem, it is estimated that 2 million seabirds worldwide die from ingesting plastic bags every year, one specimen found had ingested over 1000 pieces of plastic debris.
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature estimates that more than 100,000 whales, turtles, seals and birds die through suffocation, entanglement and ingestion of plastic bags and other items.

Plastic bags also resemble jellyfish, the turtle’s favourite food. Phi Phi is blessed with a healthy community of Hawksbill Turtles, despite them being one of the more endangered species of turtle.
However, their habitat and lifestyle is being threatened by the careless disposal of rubbish.
Discarded fishing nets and cages trap marine life and animals such as turtles or sea snakes that breathe air, when they become entangled they end up suffocating, unable to break free.

On the second dive we explored the site where Pileh Wall and Lohsammah Bay meet.

Divers were given a treat when towards the end of the cleanup two leopard sharks swam around as if curious about the divers working on the reef who stopped to watch their graceful progress.
One member of the team was designated reef watch monitor and gathered data on fish and coral populations on the reef to be submitted to Greenfins for a better understanding of the health of marine life in our local waters.

The total amount of rubbish collected from the dive cleanup was over 680 Kilograms, in total over the two days we had collected more than twice the amount gathered in last year’s project! This would not have been possible without all the support and enthusiasm from volunteers and local businesses.

Blue View Divers would like to thank the following sponsors for helping make this project possible:
Amico Restaurant, Aquamaster, Aquamundo, Aquanauts Scuba, Atul Keshav, Ayudhaya Bank, Barrakuda Diving, Ciao Bella,The Geoff Starr Fund, Ibiza Bar, Mama Resto, Panda Restaurant, Pearl Andaman, Phi Phi Bakery, Phi Phi Scuba Diving Center, Phi Phi Tourist Police, Scuba Schools International, Seafrog Diving, Sheryl and Tony Brown, Simon Collins, Spider Monkey Climbing, Sports Bar, Sunflower Bar, Unni’s Restaurant, Viking Divers, Visa Diving,