THE DUBAI UNDERWATER DIVE CLEAN-UP 

WHEN: Saturday 18th February 2023
WHERE: Dubai Creek Resort & Marina
TIME: 9am-1pm (please arrive 15 mins earlier to check-in at registration and avoid delays)
PROVIDED: Tank and weights only
RULES: Must be an EDA Member and registered to attend

SCHEDULE
9am – Briefing begins and divers kit up with tea, coffee and water provided – bring your refillable water bottles with you, plastic water bottles will not be available.
9:30am – Divers start the clean-up
10:30am – Dive Ends; divers dismantle equipment and return tanks and weights back to respected dive centres.
11am – Rubbish counting and weighing begins
12pm – Group photo and certificate hand out
12:30pm – Light lunch served

WHAT TO EXPECT
• The clean-up dive will take place in the Dubai Creek Marina.
• The maximum depth is 5m.
• Please be informed that the visibility will become poor once you agitate the bottom, you must be an experienced diver to take part.

*If you take photos, please share them with us for the upcoming March magazine issue and our social media platforms. Email them to magazine@emiratesdiving.com as high resolution jpegs so we can cover all participation with all the clean-up results.

CLEANUP ARABIA’S STORY

Emirates Diving Association (EDA) has been running Cleanup Arabia since its inception in 1995, a voluntary campaign that annually cleans-up the UAE’s dive sites and beaches with EDA Members and Partners working together, side by side.

The campaign is made up of EDA Members and stakeholders that participate in dive site and coastal clean-ups which help shape their consciousness concerning marine litter and saying no to single-use plastics!

INSPIRING CHANGE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER

• Marine litter is a problem for everyone! It affects us all, not just the coastal communities. We need to all take part and fix the problem together.
• Marine litter poses threats not only to the marine environment, but to human health, to the appearance of the coast, and to tourism.
• Plastic typically constitutes around 75% of all marine litter, and it is regarded as one of the most problematic materials because of its abundance, longevity, and the fact that larger plastics break down into ever smaller parts termed ‘microplastics’.
• Our ultimate goal as a people, is to prevent more litter from reaching the marine environment in the first place. We need to reduce, reuse and recycle when possible, and ban “Biodegradable” products.
• Biodegradable plastic, as defined in most of the world, requires specific conditions such as heat and soil-dwelling microbes and bacteria to fully biodegrade. Such conditions do not exist in many ocean environments, and therefore plastic that might otherwise be biodegradable in industrial composters, does not biodegrade once it enters the marine environment.
• EDA has reported-to-date, 54,594.65kg of marine litter collected by EDA Members & Partners through Cleanup Arabia since 1995.