SPIRIT OF VOLUNTEERISM: The group of volunteer divers gathered at Desert Sea Divers to retrieve garbage from one of Jeddah’s reefs on Thursday.

JEDDAH: A group of volunteer divers from places as far apart as Asia, Europe and America sailed out of Desert Sea Divers marina on north Obhur, Jeddah, on Thursday to revisit and clean up a section of Jeddah’s reefs.

A coast guard warning that they should return by noon to avoid risk from an approaching weather system cut their time offshore to just enough time for one dive. “We had a couple of hours to raise the garbage we found, but this yielded about half of what we found last year in three dives and a whole day,” said Hans Sjoeholm, a locally well known undersea photographer and environmentalist, adding that the haul from the dive site represented a net increase. “It gets depressing when we see just how little many people who use the marine environment actually care about it.”

The event this year received a boost when it got backing from the Jamjoom Group as part of their corporate responsibility program. Hasam Agha, Jamjoom’s perfume division manager, said the developing and increasingly important international concern with environmental matters had triggered the decision to join in.

“It is heartening to see that these divers are so determined to keep the environment they use for their sport in a decent condition and to spread the word,” he said. He added that he hoped that eventually the message would get through. “They aren’t making any more environment. This is it!”

Among the usual haul of discarded nylon fine mesh fishing nets and crude anchors made from rebar, indicating that professional fishermen had been involved, was a variety of plastic items. They ranged from 20 plastic garden chairs, a set of toy steps through to a child’s colorful push-along helicopter. These told a story of the sea being used by land bound day-sailors who use it both as a source of entertainment and free and easy garbage disposal.

The annual cleanup is part of the Project Aware scheme run by the Professional Association of Dive Instructors. The project is aimed at raising awareness of the fragility of the marine environment and the need to conserve it as a resource both for simple environmental reasons and as a managed environment that has tremendous commercial potential as a source of tourist income and fish stocks.

“Over 20 years of diving on Jeddah’s reefs and many more in the Red Sea nearby, I have witnessed a severe decline in fish stock,” said Sjoeholm. “The garbage we retrieve is only part of the problem — but the first move is to make the general public aware of what is happening to an extremely valuable resource. Today was part of that attempt.”