Calling all divers ... will you help?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
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1

Hi everyone!

I have gotten the go ahead for my first project . The project is called “The coast is clear!” This project will be sponsored by the central government, and whatever other sponsors I can pull up. (ideas??)

I would like to do a dive and clean, similar to the annual dive and clean project held in Thailand. For now, the project is limited to Ilan, Hualien, and Taidung, but divers from everywhere are welcomed to participate. My question is, “would they?”

I’m trying to find out how many licensed divers would be willing to participate in this type of project. Our air, wetsuits, gloves, and other necessary equipment will be provided. If necessary, I might be able to work out accomodations for those that are serious.

If you are not a diver, you can still help!

I would also like to have people on shore. Their job would be to collect trash from the coastal tree line/beach and remove invasive plant species.

The East coast is beautiful, but the coast is heavily littered with garbage that will eventually be washed in the ocean. As many of you might know, turtles, dolphins, and other sea animals choke on plastics that float around looking like jellyfish and other edible items.

I hope that this can be a family project for some, there will be activities for the kids everyday after each clean up, and a bit of fun for us adults as well. I am going to try to make this more of a “celebration of the sea” party, rather than a tedious clean-up.

I look forward to questions and responses!
:slight_smile:

2

I’m in. Rescue Diver at your service. I’ll bring the DNS along. She can clean as deep as 18 metres.

I have a contact at a local dive shop ( Taipei) if you want to involve the local community. Or did you just want big noses?

BTW, I am much quieter when I am under the sea.

3

Great!! Could you email me your contact information at thehonourgroup@yahoo.ca I will keep you updated with any new developments.

Oh yeah, I want everyone!! Big noses, small noses, no noses, everyone!! :slight_smile:

4

Great project and I would love to help, but dont have the time right now. I have a big test coming up. I am a master diver, but unfort. I lost my wallet along with my Dive card a few months ago and I havent ordered another one yet. Plus all my equipment is back home in the states.

Like I said though, excellent project. We had these twice a year in Florida and every year the more and more people showed up. Tons and tons of garbage/junk of everything you can imagine would get cleaned up, and you could tell every year there would be less and less.

Wish I could pitch in, I know the coasts here need it in a bad way.

Good luck and maybe next year.

5

I’m in too. I just got my deep dive and navigation dive added to my short curriculum last february.

I think it’s an awesome Idea. I dive mostly in the Kenting area and there is a lot of garbage there. I see wrappers, old tangled fishing nets, empty cans and bottles, etc, on every dive. I rarely pick up any of it. :blush: Thanks for that reminder. :wink:

6

I’ll do it. I have my own wetsuit but will need BCD, tank, regulator, and Bacardi for afterwards. I have my own towel too. :sunglasses:

When is this event?

7

Don’t worry Gumper. I won’t out myself and I’ll swim in the shallow waters. There’s more garbage at that depth anyways and besides, my supply will last longer. This way, I can pick up even more garbage.

I’ll be the guy with the most rubbish. :blush: Now I told you…Well, you’ll just have to stay home then. :wink:

8

oh and I’m in…sounds great. sweet idea OP. :slight_smile: make it work brother.

9

Loretta, it’s ok, you can rent the gear in many shops. That’s what I do for most of it.

And yes, when is this event? I don’t suppose it would be a problem to have a Kending National Park division.

10

Wow! Thanks everyone, I am super thrilled at the response! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

Teams are welcomed from all areas. I hope to, at minimum have 12 divers for each county, and as many people as possible on the land to clean the coastal tree line. Everyone is welcomed!

As I mentioned in my first post, I am still in the beginning stages of planning, but I promise to keep everyone informed.

The first team of six has been formed. They are from the Hualien County area. The first team is “Team Enigma”. The divers are Goa, Dickie, Greg, Sean, Sky and Peter. They are all locals that are partners and friends of a local bar (obviously :slight_smile: ) called,“Enigma.” They are a great set of people! The bar is located on Hi An Rd in Hualien city. Check them out if you have the chance.

Sky and Sean have agreed to go get licensed for this event. A special applause for them :bravo: :bravo: :bravo:

I have decided that teams of 6, assigned to different areas would be most efficent. Not to big, not too small. Also, since I am not a master diver, I will be looking for a master diver to lead each team!! Again, thanks so much for your support! :slight_smile: :bravo:

11

I forgot to mention that I have to have the project complete, meaning all teams and participants, funding, equipment, ect. to get the necessary funding from the Central government. the money is there, I just have to prove I how much of it I need. I hope to cover the costs of equipment for everyone diving.

Once I can do that, I can set a date. We have to arrange for government officials to attend, media, and other NGO’s. I hope this brings us all together, closer as a community that lives in Taiwan. I know that might sound hopeful, but hopefully its a start!

Right now it feels like early summer, but I will let you know!!

12

Count me in…Divemaster with all equipment including Underwater camera (Nikonos V) for documentation…

Just say when and where :sunglasses:

13

I’m in.

14

Hatch, Loretta, Jdsmith, MJB, and Chainsmoker :bravo: I will add you to my list of participants. Could you please send me your email info, so I can send you updates.

Also, could everyone include what county they want to represent. If you are not in Hualien, Ilan, or Taidung, and would still like to participate, please contact me. I will do my best to get your county included in the activities. If we are lucky, this could be an island wide activity.

I would like to introduce Naoise, he will be our Youth Activites Organizer for Hualien County. Please let me know if you will be bringing your children, and how many children you have. We will orgainze activites, songs, games, and snacks to keep the kids entertained while we do our thing.

Thanks Naoise!! :laughing: :slight_smile:

15

I hate to say this, but technically this may be an illegal activity for many of us. If you are here as a student or employee, ie if you don’t have the same work rights as a Taiwanese, then you are not supposed to engage in any activity other than that specified on your visa.

Volunteer work like this could, if someone in authority really wanted to be a dickhead, get you deported.

Personally I think the risk is remote, and they would certainly look stupid trying to deport you for clearing up their mess., so I’ll take the chance. But it’s worth a mention.

Actually, I would advocate doing this just to make the point that we actually have something to contribute to this country. The laws as they stand make it unnecessarily difficult for us to integrate and participate in the life of Taiwan and anything that pushes the boundaries a bit can only be good. It’s all about changing attitudes, to us as much as to pollution.

I hope that everyone will support Honour in this endeavour. It’s an all-round good thing. If you can’t attend one of the clean-ups then why not make a donation?

16

I’m interested and licensed, but would need logistical support – a ride (I’m in Donghu), accomodation & full equipment (i.e., all but mask, snorkel & fins), incl. wetsuit for a teletubby (5’6", 40" waist).

Does anyone have underwater camera equipment? You might consider making a record of the effort, and having some publicity stills or even video.

17

Where is Donghu? Which county?

I have outlined the event to go something like this:

All counties will begin at the same time (10:00am) That is the clean-up kick-off time. I will ask people to start arriving at 9:00am, but you know how that goes :unamused: (don’t be late if you are a diver, boats will pull out at 9:30ish on Saturday). I am thinking June 18th and 19th. I am told that would be the most ideal time for visibility. I haven’t selected exact locations for each county yet, but I am thinking we could camp out. Who would be interested in camping?

I am still looking for performers, kitchen help, cooks, and sponsors. This list will grow, but that’s what I know right now.

I know that the possibility of “trouble” arising from foreigner participation is real. I will deal with this by getting two-day visas for all foreign participants. Since this project is sponsored by the Central government, that shouldn’t be an issue. If it is, I will deal with it before we put our feet on the sand. I have to hand the proposal in on Wednesday, I will talk about the visas then.

I am planning on contacting Suba Diver to see if they will write about it. I know it is short notice for them, but it is worth a try! This will be fun. We will have the clean-up, a BBQ, species introduction, all-day children’s activities and performers, and hopefully some groups will play for us (including aboriginal dancers). I think we will shut things down to quiet for the kids sake around 10:00pm, but bonfires will still be okay. I would like to have a nice Sunday breakfast maybe between 9:00-10:00am and we head out at 11:00am (give the stomachs time to settle). At the end of the two days, the trash collected by each team will be weighed and awards will be given to the team that collected the most. It might be Premier Hseih that gives the award to the county that collected the most trash, and the mayor of the county that gives the award to the individual teams.

I think a little fun competition is good for everyone! It will also be a good indicator of who was collecting and who was enjoying free air :laughing: !!

I welcome all suggestions that you might have. This will be Taiwan’s First Annual Dive and Clean /Coastal tree line clean- up Project. The local media will be there, local government officials, and Central government representatives. If Central government actually comes that will mean media, media, media!! You will start to see advertisements here and there for the event once we sort out the finer details. Hopefully, we can get it on TV.

Lastly, I understand that there is an issue of some of us that don’t get along. If it is a major issue, we can put you on seperate teams in different counties. I don’t really feel comfortable excluding anyone, but I will if I have to. I think the person that people are upset with knows who they are. I would really hate to see something as good intentioned as this event ruined by someone’s inconsideration and disrespect for others. Let’s try to put our differences behind us, please :pray:

18

This has the potential to be a truly great project. I want to be part of it. Count me in!

19

Might I also suggest that for those of us who haven’t been in the water for a while do a couple of tanks at some time before the event?

Hauling mesh bags full of garbage in an unfamiliar area could be nasty, and focusing single-mindedly on the task at hand could end up with people getting lost. I would make sure to check everyone’s experience/comfort level and limit any dives deeper than 20 meters for people who are not only certified to dive deep but active.

You are going to need buddy teams, surface support, Evac plan in place and available on demand O2 at every location. The surface support will also have to be knowledgable in treating DCS/Embolism symptoms. Dive plans will need to be filed by every team, and orientations given at each site.

The vis up north is iffy at the best of times, and having multitudes of divers collecting off the bottom is going to reduce visibility to zero in a matter of minutes. Every team should be equipped with underwater lights/chem sticks. Staying neutral and avoiding finning up the bottom are going to be crucial factors in how long the target area will be safe to dive.

Every team is also going to have to have a knife or scissors and have the ability to self-extracate from possible underwater hazards (fishing nets). If you’ve ever had 50 meters of line entangled around your first stage in a current, you’ll know what I mean. If not, maybe you shouldn’t be down there. The senior divers on site should also have the authority to bar divers that might be unsafe from entering the water.

If you don’t have a few dives under your belt or are not up to speed in underwater navigation, you may want to either spend your time in the shallows or make your contribution topside.

It would be a shame to mar such an awesome idea with a diving related injury…

Anybody consulted the tidal gods for the 18th?

cwb.gov.tw/V4e/index.htm

20

I’m in if their is a group coming from North? Taipei County.

I’ve left you email.

Padi basic cert, but only done warm water dives in Tourist areas (see Bali, Hawaii, etc.)

Would need equipment.

Chichow