And as I've said before, if you need any help with the engineering, construction, hotel services (Power generators, sewage plants, electrical distribution, utilities, etc) and to have these discussion with resorts, pls let me know and I'll be happy to help too. 

Taking on from what Nanda has managed to collate on  this thread...

Basically, if we summarise the little individualistic (individual + realistic  ) actions we MUWians can do (whether on the island or at home), it will boil down to this:-

- No consumption of sharks and shark fins
- No consumption of turtles and turtle eggs
- No consumption of seahorses
- No consumption of rare and endangered high-value fishes (eg: Baramundi Cod, Napolean wrasses, etc)
- No fish-feeding.
- No touching, poking, moving marine life.
- Proper disposal of rubbish - No indiscriminate littering of rubbish, tins, bottles
- Reduce the use of plastics (eg: when we buy stuff/drinks/food from the beach shops, refuse the plastic bags! Just use your dry bag, etc). 
- Recycle - some dive centers/resorts have bins for waste separation.
- Avoid disposing cigarettes in the sea.
- Do small clean-ups along the beach during SIT 
- Do small clean-ups during the dive (remove floating debris in the water, aluminum cans lodged between corals, tangled fish nets, etc)
- Be judicious in the usage of fresh water, detergents (eg: soaps, shampoos, etc) and sun tan / sunblock lotions as these wash off directly into the sea and pollutes it.

If we can do this, we are already doing a lot    ... What say you guys?

Remember MUW's Vision (see the 'About MUW' section on the Magazine):-

    * become role model for others in diving industry and the community at large.
    * assist through awareness program in conserve, protect and restore Malaysian marine resources through the understanding and promoting the marine environment and environmental diving.
    * strive to be self-sufficient and in charge of its own resources.
    * regulate safety & standards of diving for Malaysian divers.
    * develop common interest of divers in the diving environment and ensure the rights of divers.
    * increase public awareness concerning marine environment especially among school children.
    * cooperate with other third parties to conserve the Malaysian marine heritage.
    * promote ecological and environmental diving.

 


 

Great stuff Shafi!!! 

So...when do we see this Poster, T-shirt, etc, etc????? Can order now ah??? 

Did you chat with Mr T on the turtle conservation talk? Maybe we can add all the other initiatives too??? A MUW conservation workshop?

one by one bro..Shafi already has A LOT in her mind at the moment..

9. Cigarette butt, rubbish including small portion of rubbish throwing into the sea, land anywhere la - I think we all agree to start by picking garbage during surface interval and during the beach "lepak" time...sound good!!


[/quote]

Yeah thats really a  fab suggestion!
Why wait for " Project Aware la Project Beach Clean Up la " we can start a  Non Profit / Non Overrated campaign  to Members such as " Bring Your Rubbish Back "   
Divers equipped themselves with Hi Grade Black Garbage bags when doing trips to Island & returning to mainland with their rubbish / non biodegradable....yup it sounds ridiculous to some ( Leceh la pulak..nak kena bawak sampah )

There's a lot of dive trip orgynisers organisers in the forum...so guys may be this will help educating divers & promoting awareness rather than just going diving. It will developed responsibilities among Malaysian divers.

 

just my out of air opinion......narcs kot?

Quote from: MACHA on August 11, 2008, 12:59:13 AM

Why wait for " Project Aware la Project Beach Clean Up la " we can start a  Non Profit / Non Overrated campaign  to Members such as " Bring Your Rubbish Back "  
Divers equipped themselves with Hi Grade Black Garbage bags when doing trips to Island & returning to mainland with their rubbish / non biodegradable....yup it sounds ridiculous to some ( Leceh la pulak..nak kena bawak sampah )

There's a lot of dive trip orgynisers organisers in the forum...so guys may be this will help educating divers & promoting awareness rather than just going diving. It will developed responsibilities among Malaysian divers.

 

just my out of air opinion......narcs kot?

Bro,

How to make money if not such project?? .... come on la bro, ppl like to learn something they have already know 

Anyway Macha .. I 100% agree with your statement la, we should all be responsible diver ... not need to wait for Project Beach Clean-Up or Project Aware or whatever project it is then use plastic bag...then not environment friendly oso...then become damaging practices.

How la like this?

 

But then again, it's not only us (or the tourists) that's throwing rubbish around, for example like in Perhentian - the rubbish platforms' designs were the ones that's causing the rubbish bags to spill out into the sea and that translates to lots of rubbish being swept to the shore. well, I've not been to Perhentian for ages, so this might not be the case anymore now but it was a major contributor to all the rubbish you could see on the beaches in Perhentian then.

Well, individuals can play their parts in educating themselves and also others. But I guess Dive Centres & DMs should play a vital role in educating divers of good skills and especially env. awareness.

I have dived with some local runned DCs and also non-local DCs. Sad to say, you can count the local run DCs on how they actually remind divers of env. frenly diving / responsible diving.

I find that these are quite helpful:
1) Remind them no touchie policy or no gloves policy
2) DMs should be stern enuf to tell divers - No.. U cant touch this and set good example.
3) DMs should ask on divers experience, and 'test' their skills 1st few minutes underwater. If bouyancy koyak (bad) then its DM's resp. to bring this diver slightly above corals so that they do not accidently kick or step on corals
4) Check eqmt of ppl diving with you, not to be dangly.. as dangly eqpt can drag on corals / can be dangerous on d divers too
5) DMs should be make it a good practice to ask divers if they want to log their dives and also share experience after each dive. Diving is afterall a social interaction amongst other divers. Getting them excited on what they saw, their names can speak volumes on their interest in taking care of marine creatures
6) DC / DM should take a short time in reminding divers their direct impact to the islands - like the shampoo/ chemicals we use will lead back to the sea.. and how that will impact the condition of the corals and marine life

I guess there is more good practices that other DMs/ DCs are practicing.. Maybe the rest of sifus (experts) can share their thoughts.

M just a small kutu (kid on the block)..

i believe it is still legal..

Hi guys

I have read this thread with great interest. It is fantastic that MUWians are taking the lead on this very important issue, and congrats for getting it started.

As pointed out, you need to be realistic and pick those things you can change (like casual littering) and work in the longer term on those things you can't change easily (like drift net trawling). I believe members can have a real impact on things like beach cleanliness, dive skills, etc.

I don't want to put a damper on such a positive initiative, but there are already numerous campaigns like this: Green Fins; Longitude 181 - not to mention all the various PADI - ooops, Project AWARE - initiatives. What you need to figure out is: why don't they work? Project AWARE has been going for years, yet still people throw trash, still people have bad buoyancy, still photographers lie on coral to take the perfect shot - saw it with my own eyes at Malang Rocks in Tioman just 4 weeks ago (yes, we divers really are to blame for a very large proportion of the damage that happens to our reefs).

In my opinion - and I think from reading other threads that most people will already know this themselves - the reason these things don't work is lack of enforcement. That is why we still have fishing and spear fishing in our marine parks, boats throwing anchors where they shouldn't, etc., etc., etc. So if your campaign is going to make a difference where others have failed, then it is going to need enforcing.

If your campaign is really going to work - and I think the poster is a great idea, by the way - then you, the divers who care, are going to have to start exerecising your economic muscle. You are going to have to agree, as a group, all of you, to NOT visit dive centres that do not sign up for your code of conduct. You are going to have to agree, as a group, ALL of you, that if you see a dive operator doing something which is contrary to your code of conduct, that you will report that dive operator. Maybe at first not publicly on the forum - you need a communication method to allow the dive operator to have a chance to change things. But if it doesn't change, then it goes on the forum and all members boycot that centre.

Not sure that this is going make me popular with other dive operators.....

Before taking that step you might want to think about it a little, because you might find it is going to hit you in the pocket. Doing things right sometimes costs money. It means better equipped and maintained boats; O2 on the boat every time; teaching in groups of 3 or 4 instead of 7 or 8; more dive guides to look after certified divers in smaller groups; better maintained, newer equipment; regularly serviced compressor, boat engine, equipment, tanks, etc. All these things COST MONEY. If a dive operator is doing things properly, including looking after the environment, that operator might just be a little more expensive than another operator.

I sincerely believe that this campaign will only work if you guys back it up with your own action, and speaking personally would support such an initiative wholeheartedly.

Just one small point to end with: it really, really sickens me to see divers walking out of the dive centre, down the beach to the boat, and the last thing they do before boarding? Throw the cigarette butt onto the beach or into the water. You know it happens. I (a smoker myself) know it happens - I saw it in Redang just a few weeks ago. Please don't do it - and encourage others not to.

Julian

a long journey need one step for a start..

why not every trip organised,before leaving the place (after 3 days been there),each person must have at least 1kg rubbish collected.