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*NEWS* Photos Must See!
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Reef Clean Ups Pattaya Earth Week 2007 On 15th April we did another reef cleanup as part of our Dive in to Earth Day activities. Having previously made a very good job of cleaning up the small bay at Koh Pai, Pattaya, Thailand this time we decided to focus on the main bay area of the island where we knew there were a lot of tires and other debris left by the many fishing boats that use the bay for shelter. Because of the Songkran celebrations (Thai New Year) and a divemaster course running we had fewer volunteers than on previous reef and beach clean-ups, but we had additional help from the Search and Recovery specialty course, which brought the total number of people to 19. Knowing we would need lift bags to bring up the tyres and any other large objects, it was an ideal opportunity for the S&R students to utilize their newly learned knot tying and rigging skills using dive lift bags. So, while they were practicing search patterns and knots the rest of the volunteers set off with mesh bags and SMBs (Surface Marker Buoys) to see what they could find. In the pre-dive brief the dive teams were told to put a marker on anything that was too heavy to lift unaided, so that it could be recovered on the second dive using the lift bags. In total we recovered 7 tyres, 2 of which are now being used as buffers on the pier. We also found a drive shaft from a boat engine, which was expertly brought back to the boat by the Search and Recovery team.
As expected, due to the number of fishing boats that use the bay, we found a lot of discarded fish traps and netting, all of which were thoroughly and carefully checked for inhabitants. It’s amazing how much tiny stuff there is out there which you would never normally see. We had a lot of miniscule crabs, shrimps, brittle stars, even a couple of finger sized octopi, all of which were returned to the ocean. All bottles, jars and cans that were picked up were first checked to make sure there were no eels, octopi or other creatures living in them and were rinsed out to removed sand and shells.
Amongst the other items collected, we had 4 Wellington boots, but no pairs, a kettle, several plates, bowls and cutlery, a laptop computer and an old fashioned diving mask. A big thank you to Sue Horwood, Jennifer Chapman, Andy Reddington, Rhys Morgan, Neil Beevers, Surinderpal Bhumber, Paul Myford, Robert Reich, Daniel Turner , Surinderpal Bhumber, Phil Rabbit, Eugene Human, Carlien Oberholger, Bob Grossett, Lindsey Simmonds, Scott Paszkiewicz, Trenton Smith, Rebecca Rouse, and Sarah Dembosky for such a wonderful job! Reef Clean Up Pattaya - February 2007 Reef
Clean Up Pattaya - March 2007
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