THE CLEANUP ARABIA EVENT 2022

WHEN: Saturday 5th November 2022
WHERE: Dibba, Fujairah from the designated Dive Centre you will be assigned to once you have registered.
TIME: 8:30am Arrival at the Dive Centre | 9am CUA Start
LUNCH VENUE: The communal lunch venue will be announced soon. Registered Members will receive their wristband from their dive centre to gain access to the hotel venue after the clean-ups at 1:30pm.

LIMITED SPACES
There are limited spaces available for the clean-up dives based on a first come, first served basis. You must register to join the event, and you must have current or renewed EDA Membership.

THE EAST COAST DIVE CENTRES
We would like to give you the opportunity to choose your dive centre of preference, provided spaces are still available when you book:

1. Freestyle Divers located at Radisson Blu Resort
2. Al Boom Diving located at Le Méridien Al Aqah Beach Resort
3. Divers Down located at the Miramar Al Aqah Beach Resort
4. Goblin Diving Center located in Al Bidya
5. Extreme Water Sports located in Al Bidya

DIVE EQUIPMENT RENTALS
Your dive is part of your EDA Membership, but you will be responsible to organise your own dive equipment and payment for the rental with the dive centre you will be booked with.

MEMBERS’ IMMEDIATE FAMILY MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE BEACH CLEAN-UP
Spouses with children who are non-divers will be able to take part in the beach clean-up, please make sure to register them (please provide their full names) for this activity as this will entitle them entry to the event’s lunch with you (this is only valid to your immediate family – husband/wife/kids).

PLEASE TAKE PHOTOS
We will ask you to please take lots of photos and share them with us for the upcoming December magazine issue and our social media platforms. We need them emailed to magazine@emiratesdiving.com as high resolution jpegs so we can cover all your team participation with all the clean-up results you will be collecting. A group photo of all your team with all the marine debris you have collected is a must.

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.