Although Hong Kong is a small place, there are nearly 6,000 species of marine life in the waters, and there are more coral species than the Caribbean Sea.
Citizens live a colorful life on land every day, accompanied by all kinds of domestic garbage, which makes the underwater world eclipsed.
A diving company held a "Coastal Cleaning Marathon", allowing divers to clean the coast and the bottom of the sea at the same time during the "fun dive", including removing a large number of masks and takeaway lunch boxes that were indiscriminately discarded, to help protect the environment. .
Some marine debris drifted from China to Hong Kong waters
Stephen Au, the founder of Diving Adventure Club, has been diving since the 1990s and is also a senior diving instructor.
He pointed out that in recent years, photographic equipment has become more convenient, and many diving companies have provided rental equipment services. The prices are affordable and more common than in the past; and under the promotion of social media, more people have been Underwater "beautiful pictures" attract people to become divers. Every year from April to October is the traditional peak diving season, and many enthusiasts go out to sea to explore the underwater world.
"Hong Kong divers are generally self-disciplined. They usually don't talk about a lot of garbage when they go to places where there are many people diving. Instead, a lot of garbage drifts with the water. There is some suspicion that it is from China. Divers went out to sea to some remote places, such as Long Ke Wan, Flint Island, Po Toi Island, etc. During this period, in addition to seeing frightening "ghost nets", they also saw mountains of rubbish on uninhabited beaches, including those written in simplified Chinese characters. Plastic bottles, food packaging, there are also plenty of styrofoam boxes, disposable tableware, and even masks.
"The government has dispatched outsourced contractors, but there are always too many islands in Hong Kong. When we see it, we feel kindly."
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Make good use of diving time to clean up garbage and the epidemic was interrupted for a time
The AFCD takes the lead in organizing a coastal cleanup day with different associations every year, which lasts for only one day. Au Shaojian thought, why not use a "marathon" to continue cleaning?
However, he also needs to consider it from a commercial point of view, "We may not be able to sponsor people to handle garbage every week, and customers do not want to change from taking a holiday to a full-time garbage disposal." Au pointed out that ordinary divers will dive when they go to sea. Twice, apart from changing the gas cylinders, the time in between was rest and chat on the boat, so he thought of using this time to take divers by speedboat to a nearby uninhabited beach to clean up garbage on the shore, and use mesh bags to collect submarine garbage during diving.
Starting in 2019, they have an average of once a month after the diving season starts. In the middle, they had to be postponed or even cancelled due to repeated epidemics and restrictions on gatherings. However, every time they were reconvened, the response of volunteer divers was still enthusiastic. More than 20 It is not uncommon for people to pick up ten or eight bags of rubbish with their heads down and work hard. "Sometimes they even have to refuse to continue because the boat can't carry too much rubbish," Ou said with a smile.
The government has dispatched outsourced contractors to handle garbage, but there are always too many islands in Hong Kong.
Au Shaojian, founder of Diving Adventure Club
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Divers look forward to returning to Hong Kong's underwater beauty
"Actually, Hong Kong used to think that the Philippines was beautiful." Au Shao insisted that he had heard people say that large lobsters, Sumei, etc. are often seen in the waters of Hong Kong. It’s hard to recover quickly, but he thinks it has improved in recent years. In addition to seeing the improvement in water quality, different diving clubs have strengthened education. For example, divers are reminded not to touch and kick corals. There are also many divers who have photographed various Various marine life.
The coastal cleanup campaign held this time has won an award under the "HSBC New Power for Business" program. Whether it is in business or just from the perspective of a diver, he thinks it is a good thing, and he hopes to continue to work with all walks of life in the future. To do things that are beneficial to the society, "As a stakeholder, we don't just do business for a year, and when the students go to the end, they only see turbidity and all rubbish. Next time, please don't go!"
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