PADI® Members around the world continue to take action for the ocean, their businesses, the dive industry and their local communities – hope is certainly rising.

On World Oceans Day, 7 June 2021, PADI launched the new Conservation Activities Locator to enable PADI Dive Centers, Resorts and Professionals to connect with their communities to team up and take action to protect and save the ocean.

From coral restoration programs and underwater cleanups, to conservation specialty courses and adopt-a-shark initiatives, PADI Members have leveraged this new digital tool to connect with PADI Torchbearers in every corner of the globe.

1. Enabling Visitors to Give Back to the Destination: Oceans Unlimited Costa Rica

This PADI Five Star Career Development Dive Center in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica is giving visitors a change to directly contribute to protecting the local underwater environment. Their Coral Restoration program is done in partnership with Marine Conservation Costa Rica and teaches participants about coral reefs, how to help restore them and then take divers out to the Starfish Garden to contribute to the projects that are protecting this important marine eco-system.

2. Creating Personalized Conservation Journeys: Caitlin McCall

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor Caitlin McCall, also known as the Eco-Conscious Diver, is making her marine conservation courses available to anyone in the world. Caitlin’s online Introduction to Marine Conservation program offers participants a step-by-step guide on how they can embark on their own marine conservation journey. The program includes two PADI AWARE conservation specialty certifications, a tool kit of training materials and access to her weekly Facebook Live Q+A sessions.

3. Protecting the Community Reefs: Red Sea Tribe

Taking action to prevent damage to local reef systems, PADI Dive Center Red Sea Tribe has organized weekly Dahab Beach Cleanups. These get-togethers serve as an inclusive way for locals and visitors alike to connect within the community, explore the coastline, and take care of the local environment both topside and underwater. Many participants then head out with the dive center for guided dives in both Dahab and Sharm El Sheikh to seek adventure in the area they are working to protect.

4. Supporting Local Divers and Sharks: Beqa Adventure Divers

While Fiji’s borders may still be closed to tourists, this PADI Five Star Dive Center has found a way to allow people anywhere in the world to have a personalized connection to both the people at the dive center and the sharks that call these tropical waters home. Through their Adopt-a-Shark-from-Fiji program, people can bring a Fijian shark into their extended family through a virtual one-year adoption. In return, a personalized adoption certificate that includes a personality card on the specific shark being supported and images of the shark – both of which are recorded by a local staff member – will be sent to the donor, making this a program that truly supports both the local people and marine life.

5. Turning Their Dive Center into an Outdoor Cinema: Liquid Dive Center

This Mozambique PADI Five Star Dive Center has turned its pool space into an outdoor movie theater and is inviting all in the community to come along to the Thursday night conservation-themed documentary viewings. This free event showcases cool places and projects around the world and invites like-minded Torchbearers to be inspired together. With the African star-lit skies above and the ocean waves breaking in the background, the event truly emphasizes the importance to create balance between humanity and the ocean.

6. Seeking Adventure and Saving the Ocean with Reef Cleaning Dives: Chaloklum Diving

Being a great example of how to combine a love of adventure with protecting the ocean, PADI Five Star Dive Center Chaloklum Diving is inviting all divers to help explore and protect Chaloklum Bay in Koh Phangan. Staff run weekly reef cleaning dives that focus on removing debris on local reefs in the area as the sun rises – offering a meaningful way to start the day for locals and visitors.

Share Your Hope Rising Stories with #PADIPeople

There is hope rising everywhere. PADI will continue to amplify stories like these with fellow PADI Members and divers to inspire, excite and accelerate recovery by demonstrating the spirit of #PADIPeople around the world.

Share your own stories about how you are making a difference, and the better days that are possible right now through diving. Simply post descriptions, photos or videos to your social media channels, tagging PADI and #PADIPeople.

The post Hope Rising: PADI Members Leveraging Conservation Locator to Save the Ocean appeared first on PADI Pros.

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