Planet Scuba India is proud to have participated in its very first International Cleanup Day event in Turtle Bay. Being a Go ECO Project Aware member and operator, PSI took the first steps into helping the environment.
At least 6 million tonnes of debris enters the world’s oceans each year, causing harm to underwater environments and wildlife. With unique access to the underwater world, scuba divers can help remove debris underwater, raise awareness and drive positive change. Project AWARE Foundation is dedicated to addressing the devastating impacts of marine debris and coordinates global beach and underwater cleanups year round.
International Cleanup Day is the biggest underwater cleanup of its kind. Held annually on the 3rd Saturday in September each year, more than 370,000 volunteers clean over 33,000 miles of shoreline to remove seven million pounds of rubbish.
This year in India David Perry, Operations Manager and instructor at Planet Scuba India registered with Project AWARE and visited Turtle Bay for the cleanup. Joining hands with Turtle Bay Resort Kundapur they initiated the beach clean up. They were helped by participants from FSL (Field Study Learn) an NGO, International students from Germany, Australia and Switzerland, many local kids, teens from the local Youth Club, members from the local church and patrons of the Lions Club. Close to 60 participants helped clean the local beach by picking up litter.
Dominic a PSI representative said the litter they picked up could have filled an entire tempo van. With almost 150 bags of rubbish consisting mostly of plastic bags, glass bottles, shoes and other forms of trash.
It was not all work with no fun, participants had a fun round of beach volleyball to reward themselves for their hard work. Turtle Bay Resort sponsored food and drinks for the participants.
It is through events like this that PSI hopes to spread awareness about protecting our eco system and to lead people with a hands on approach to protect our earth. It is important for people to come together as a community and start making International Beach Clean Up, not only a yearly event but hopefully a monthly event in all parts of the world.
Planet Scuba India is India’s First ever IDC!
INDIA’S FIRST EVER INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT COURSE (IDC) AND INSTRUCTOR EXAM (IE)
BECOME A PADI INSTRUCTOR AND BE A PART OF INDIAN DIVING HISTORY!
Here is the basic information that you need to know. To ask any questions, confirm your attendance, order your PADI Materials or just have a chat call, David Perry on +91 94493 51192 or email at dave@planetscubaindia.com.
When?
The IDC runs from 16 November to 27 November including a free 2-day mock IE to fine tune your examination skills. The IE is on 28-30 November.
Where?
The IDC will be held at Planet Scuba India’s new purpose-built Instructor Training facility in Port Blair, Andaman Islands. With the latest multimedia classroom, an Olympic size pool and crystal clear waters on the doorstep the facilities will be unrivalled. The IE will also be in Port Blair.
Course Director
The Course Director running the IDC will be Matt Bolton – a Platinum Course Director normally based in Thailand who is generally considered to be one of the world’s top Instructor Trainers.
How much?
This first IDC will be cheaper than most comparable IDCs in the region and so the price of the IDC will be just 50,000 Rs (1,038 $USD)! This price includes your Instructor Candidate Workbook, open and confined water Lesson Planning Slates and your PADI IDC fee – worth over 12,000 Rs (250 $USD) in total!
You will pay direct to PADI the cost of the Instructor Exam (695 $AU).
Pre-requisites
You must be a PADI Divemaster or an Instructor in good standing with another recognized organisation, have 100 logged dives and have been diving for more than 6 months since your entry-level diving course.
If you are crossing over from another certification body or are unsure about your knowledge of PADI skills or current diving theory, we will be arranging a Pre-IDC Preparation Course.
You must also become an Emergency First Response Instructor prior to the IE (unless you are a current Instructor with DAN, Red Cross or other approved organisation) and we have scheduled an EFR Instructor Course for 14-15 November immediately prior to the IDC for all those candidates who need it.
PADI Materials
In addition to the Instructor Candidate Workbook and Slates included in the price of the IDC, PADI give the following list of Required Materials that you must have at the IDC/IE:
PADI Instructor Manual (digital or paper but must be legal and up to date i.e. 2009 version)
Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty Instructor Outline
Diving Knowledge Workbook
Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
Project AWARE Specialty Instructor Outline
AWARE – Coral Reef Conservation Specialty Instructor Outline
RDP – Table and eRDPML including associated Instructions for Use booklets
PADI Open Water Diver Manual
Open Water Diver Quizzes & Exams booklet
PADI Adventures in Diving Manual
PADI Rescue Diver Manual
Rescue Diver Final Exams booklet
PADI Divemaster Manual
Divemaster Final Exams booklet
Aquatic Cue Cards – for Open Water Diver, Adventures in Diving, Rescue Diver, Divemaster and Discover Scuba Diving
Please note that the various Manuals must be complete and up to date with the Knowledge Reviews intact.
You may have access to some or all of these materials – for anything that you don’t have simply order it through Planet Scuba India at a special wholesale price.
What should you do now?
Once you have decided to take part in the IDC, you simply contact me by email and we will arrange for you to pay a deposit of 10,000 Rs (208 $USD). We will then send you your Instructor Candidate Workbook so that you can make a start on your Independent Study – 17 Knowledge Reviews to do before the IDC starts!
David Perry will then stay in touch with you on at least a fortnightly basis to give you further information.
* Currency conversion based on current exchange rate
** please message for more information
Do your part
24th Feb 2009 is the next PADI- Open Water Diver Course. Sign up with us now, so that your summer holidays will be a fun filled scuba diving one. But to more serious news.
One Fifth of World’s Corals Gone: Climate Change Battle to Rescue Remaining
The Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2008, released in Washington, DC, December 2008, declares a 19 percent loss of coral reefs worldwide.
Launched by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the report identifies which coral reefs are recovering and which are declining worldwide. The report states if current trends in carbon dioxide emissions continue, many remaining reefs may be lost over the next 20 to 40 years with alarming consequences.
Project AWARE Foundation, partner behind the project and supporter of the launch event, is encouraged by the report that 45 percent of the world’s reefs are currently healthy. But the Foundation also recognizes a focus on climate change, now considered the leading threat to coral reefs today. Threats including increasing ocean temperatures and ocean acidification are intensified by other threats including overfishing, pollution and invasive species.
“If nothing changes, we are looking at a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide in less than 50 years,” says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of the IUCN Global Marine Programme, one of the organizations behind the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. “As this carbon is absorbed, the oceans will become more acidic, which is seriously damaging a wide range of marine life from corals to plankton communities and from lobsters to seagrasses.”
Hope is also found in the ability of some corals to recover after major bleaching events, caused by warming waters, adapting to climate change threats. However, the report also shows the recent downward trends have not been reversed in the last four years. And corals have a higher chance of survival against climate change if other human threats are minimized.
“The report details the strong scientific consensus that climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum. If nothing is done to substantially cut emissions, we could effectively lose coral reefs as we know them, with major coral extinctions,” says Clive Wilkinson, Coordinator of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
“Ten years after the world’s biggest coral bleaching event, we know that reefs can recover given the chance. Unfortunately, impacts on the scale of 1998 will reoccur in the near future, and there’s no time to lose if we want to give reefs and people a chance to suffer as little as possible,” says Dr David Obura, Chair of the IUCN Climate Change and Coral Reefs working group and Director of the Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean Programme (CORDIO) in East Africa.
The GCRMN is a network of people, governments, institutes and NGOs in more than 80 countries, with many partners, including: CORDIO, Reef Check, CARICOMP, Project AWARE Foundation and AGRRA. All reports are available through www.ReefBase.org. To read more of such articles visit ProjectAware
Safeguarding The Marine Ecosystem The Planet Scuba Way
“The sea is everything… It is an immense desert where man is never alone for he feels life, quivering around him on every side.”
— JULES VERNE
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Marine ecosystems cover approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface and contain approximately 97% of the planet’s water.
Why is aquatic ecosystem health important to humans? Because everything is connected, where an ecosystem is out of balance eventually humans will begin to suffer as well. Our health and many of our activities are dependent on the health of aquatic ecosystems. Most of the water that we drink is taken from lakes or rivers. If the lake or river system is unhealthy, the water may be unsafe to drink or unsuitable for industry, agriculture, or recreation – even after treatment.
The proliferation of non-native species has created problems. One recent example is the rapidly expanding zebra mussel population. Zebra mussels have few natural predators, and because the female can produce 30000 eggs yearly, they are expected to spread throughout most of the freshwater systems. This mussel species is already clogging industrial and municipal water treatment intake pipes, coating boats and piers, and causing beach closures.
Because we share the world with many other species of plants and animals, we must consider the consequences of our actions. Over the past several decades, increasing human activity has rapidly destroyed or polluted many ecological habitats throughout the world. It is important to preserve all types of biomes as each houses many unique forms of life. However, the continued heavy exploitation of certain biomes, such as the forest, freshwater, and marine, may have more severe implications.
We at Planet Scuba recognize the threats to the marine ecosystem and realize that awareness about these threats is minimal in India. Through our diving courses, we hope to make the whole experience fun and educative, and ensure that people can appreciate the natural beauty in abundance in our oceans and follow appropriate measures to safeguard them.