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Divers & Conservation

Marine life protection and restoration  opportunities for divers  - restoration projects - education and training - volunteering - internships 

eOceans

Canada

eOceans is a collaborative scientific initiative in Canada. It focuses on informing ocean conservation efforts with “crowd-sourced” data. Marine citizen scientists, ocean industry professionals and others who actively explore the blue planet and make important observations every day can participate. The data is collected and combined with traditional and expert datasets to build a comprehensive ecological baseline of marine environments all over the world. eOceans provides a simple way for divers, snorkelers, paddle boarders, beach goers and even fishermen to report the sharks, rays and sawfish they observe for conservation. These observations or lack of observations are used to assess and monitor populations, communities, and ecosystems. Most importantly the data is used to assess the need for marine sanctuaries, and monitor marine management initiatives already in place.
Previous eOceans survey results have been used for several publications to assist with shark conservation. Results from eShark have been used to assist the IUCN data of sharks for the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Marine biologist and researcher Dr. Christine Ward-Paige is the leading researcher and data analyst for eOceans

Equilibrio Marino

Spain

Equilibrio Marino promotes the effective protection of marine areas to guarantee the recovery of marine ecosystems, using current scientific research. One such project is the SOS Corales (SOS Corals), which is a recovery program of the Candelabro coral and orange coral colonies of the coast of Spain. Amongst their many projects are the creation of artificial reef parks, protected marine micro areas in the Alboran Sea, a Sea Brigade which reacts to marine pollution including involving divers in underwater ocean cleanups in the south of Spain, and advocacy for sanctuaries for cetaceans.

Fathoms Free

UK

Fathoms Free is a group comprised of volunteer divers determined to rid the UK's coastal waters of marine debris. They organize campaigns to remove lost or abandoned fishing gear, including Paddle for Plastic, Dive against Debris, and cleanup projects.

Ghost Diving

Netherlands

Ghost Diving is run by volunteer divers who have specialized in the removal of lost (ghost) fishing gear and other marine debris since 2009. Originally named Ghost Fishing Foundation, in 2020, the entire global organization was reorganized and renamed into Ghost Diving Foundation. Now spread over 16 countries in the world where local diving teams identify as Ghost Diving chapters, including France, Adriatic, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Korea, Lebanon, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Spain and the UK. They are actively raising awareness about the "ghost fishing" issue on a global scale.

Ghost Fishing UK

UK

Ghost Fishing UK works to remove Abandoned, Lost and Discarded Fishing Gear, otherwise known as ‘Ghost Gear’. The purpose is to remove from the marine environment the ghost gear which presents potentially lethal hazards to marine life and scuba divers. Volunteer scuba divers, who have extensive training in advanced diving practices, dive to remove ghost nets and raise awareness through education about plastics and ghost fishing gear problems. The organisation formed in 2015 at an inaugural project in Scapa Flow, Orkney. In 2021 Ghost Fishing UK were winners of the 'Best Plastic Campaign' at the Plastic Free Awards.

Global Ghost Gear Initiative

Canada

The Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) is a 'cross stakeholder alliance of fishing industry, private sector, corporates, NGOs, academia and governments focused on solving the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear worldwide'. The Initiative was founded by World Animal Protection, with the aim to improve the health of marine ecosystems, protect marine animals from harm, and safeguard human health and livelihoods. They have programmes at work throughout the world, and work in close partnership with many organizations, including Healthy Seas, Ghost Diving, Bracenet.net amongst many others. GGGI have an app, ‘Ghost Gear Reporter’, which can be downloaded, to help with worldwide data collection, for use with any ghost gear related work, including beach clean ups.

Global Underwater Explorers

USA

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is motivated by the ‘desire to safely explore and protect the underwater world and to improve the quality of scuba, technical, and cave diving education, as well as aquatic research.’ GUE members support conservation through a variety of affiliates, including Ghost Diving, Reef Check, and Baykeeper, as well as a variety of academic research projects, such as the coral reef algae documentation and testing, and live shipwreck exploration. Their own initiative, Project Baseline, involves participants worldwide, who survey and record their local aquatic environments (photos, videos, and data logs) to serve as a baseline against which future changes can be measured. This enables building public awareness and supporting political action. There are more than 100 projects in almost 40 countries currently supporting Project Baseline's mission.

Healthy Seas

Europe

Healthy Seas was founded to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon that is responsible for the needless death of marine animals. They remove waste from the seas, in particular fishing nets, which are then regenerated into new textile products such as socks, swimwear and carpets. They achieve this through cleanups with volunteer divers and by working with stakeholders of the fishing sector toward marine litter prevention. Since their inception, in 2013, Healthy Seas has collected 585 tons of waste nets. They currently have operations in the North Sea, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Baltic Seas and the Pacific Ocean.

Innoceana

Costa Rica, Spain, USA

Innoceana is a young international team of professional scuba-divers, engineers, biologists, conservationists and ocean lovers, who work on innovative solutions to protect the ocean. To overcome the problems of lack of knowledge and resources within communities, the interdisciplinary team works on developing low-cost and accessible methods that allow locals to play an active role in monitoring the ocean, thus empowering citizen science. Examples of projects include sea currents monitoring, water quality in Isla del Cano, 3D Coral Reef monitoring, 2D GIS mapping, plastic monitoring, turtle identification, interactive books, amongst others. Raising awareness and educating is an important element of their mission, with the recently opened MCEC in Costa Rica an example of their approach achieving effective marine conservation. Innoceana is registered in Costa Rica, California and Spain.

Kuddle Life Foundation

India

Kuddle Life Foundation is a marine conservation NGO from Pondicherry, India. A group of marine biologists, scuba divers, environmentalists and nature lovers who are passionate about the oceans, their aim is to help the marine environment and dependent life-forms prosper and sustainably live in harmony, and to create awareness about oceans and the challenges faced by their inhabitants and dependents. This they do through creating artificial reefs, staging pollution cleanup events, marine fish and mammal rescue, and education and outreach programmes.

Livingseas Asia

Bali, Indonesia

Livingseas is a dive operator with a passion for marine conservation, which takes the form of restoration of corals. In the Coral Planting Project, divers are trained to set up Reef Stars on the seabed. 'Broken corals lying on the seabed are rescued and then transferred and tied to the Reef Stars to encourage coral growth. This provides an elevated platform for efficient nutrient absorption of the broken corals from water movements during a tide change.'

Longitude 181

France

LONGITUDE 181 is an association for the protection of the oceans through research, education and collaboration. Under the umbrella of the three pillars of their operations – To share, To alert, To act - the association carries out awareness-raising actions with the general public, lobbying actions with decision-makers and develops programs for the study and preservation of large marine animals: sharks and rays, sperm whales. At the same time, responsible diving is a major focus of the organization, who have created The International Responsible Diver Charter.

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protectingourseas.org is a non-profit initiative with a focus on marine conservation organizations worldwide. The website includes a global database of marine conservation bodies and groups involved in the protection of the marine environment, and a blog and features on  conservation-related and  diving themes. 

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