In a bid to create awareness among the islanders and tourists about dangers of solid waste pollution in seas, MFF and Save Our Sea (SOS) on April 7 conducted an annual underwater clean-up dive at Saint Martin’s Island, Bangladesh.

Saint Martin’s Island, located at the southern tip of Bangladesh bordering Myanmar, is the meeting point of South and South East Asia. It is the only island in Bangladesh known to host coral reefs. The 2 kilometer island is a popular tourist destination and home to four thousand residents.

Tourism and fishery exert pressure on the island’s environment and biodiversity is believed to be severely degrading each year.

To make a difference in this scenario, scuba divers and marine conservationist under the umbrella of the national diving community ‘Dive Bangladesh’ started the underwater clean up week, back in 2001. The campaign initiated with the guidance of International Ocean Conservation group ‘Project AWARE’ and technical sponsorship of ‘Oceanic Scuba Diving Center’ based on the Island.

This year, 12 divers, 20 student volunteers and 40 local community members participated in the campaign. Scuba divers rounded up debris from the depth of the sea in specially made bags. Teams of marine conservationist volunteers organized awareness campaign throughout the tourist zones of Saint Martin’s Island.