Rubbish in the oceans is a major cause of death to many marine organisms.
Sea
turtles have been around for approximately 100 million years, in
numbers too large to count. However, within the last 100 years their
numbers have dramatically declined, placing all seven species on the
IUCN (The World Conservation Union) Red List of Threatened Species.
Sea
turtles
face so many threats around the world, one of the most serious is the
amount of rubbish in our oceans. Plastics in the ocean are mistaken for
jellyfish and ingested by turtles. The plastics sit in the turtle’s
stomach, as they are indigestible and prevent the turtle from feeding -
leaving the turtle to slowly starve to death. Turtles can also become
entangled in debris and drown. A disease called fibropapillomas, caused
by pollution, is having a devastating effect on turtle populations.
That's
why Project AWARE's DIve Against Debris project is so important...any
little thing that we can do to make the ocean environment safer for
endangered species counts.
In support of this, Scuba Junkie is
going to hold a continuous 5 hour underwater clean up on Pulau Mabul on
22nd May 2015. We have chosen 5 hours because this is the average amount
of time a resting turtle can spend underwater on one breath! We will
have two teams doing this clean up.
We ask for you to support our
event by donating, however much you can spare, to Project Aware. Like
we said, any little thing we do or get, counts.
Thank you for helping us to make a difference.