Underworld Scuba sponsors 2nd annual 

More than 40 scuba divers and 600 friends, family, and community members will participate in Manzanillo’s beach and ocean cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003. This event is open to the public and scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. The areas to be cleaned up this year are Playa San Pedrito/La Perlita, Las Brisas and Playa de La Audiencia.

Underworld Scuba, with it's new dive shop at Km 15, Miguel de la Madrid Blvd., Santiago (across the street from Ferreteria Trillo's and the cemetery), will provide free equipment and tank fills to all certified divers who would like to participate. If you are not a certified diver and would still like to participate with the dive groups, a Discover Scuba class is necessary, and you will be teamed up with a PADI Instructor or PADI Divemaster. Cost of the class is $450 pesos, including a fun beach dive before the event. Underworld Scuba, also doing business as the Scuba Shack in it's new location, is an authorized PADI Dive Center (the acronym PADI meaning the Professional Association of Diving Instructors).

Last year there were 120 beach participants and 26 divers, some coming from as far away as the United States to participate. (See article on "Splash for Trash 2002.")

The September 2002 beach cleanup,  in Mexico alone, had more than 2,437 people removed 24,823 pounds of trash from the beaches. Divers participating in all of Mexico totaled 71, and 26 of them were in Manzanillo. That means Manzanillo had 37% of all the divers participating in the ocean clean-up.  Divers nationwide in Mexico removed 1,094 pounds of trash, with 550 pounds coming from Manzanillo. That means more than 50% of the trash collected and analyzed in the international beach clean-up came from Manzanillo! 

Does that mean Manzanillo is a dirty place? On the contrary. It means that Manzanillo's citizens and diving community work harder than any place else in Mexico to keep Manzanillo clean! It means the residents of Manzanillo and the state of Colima care about the environment and their beaches.

PADI's Project AWARE program (Aquatic World Awareness, Responsibility and Education) is designed to educate the public, both those who dive and those who do not, about the need to protect fragile aquatic areas. The month of September has been designated as Project AWARE month. During this month, hundreds of PADI Dive Centers and Resorts throughout the world will conduct beach and underwater cleanup activities, educational seminars, and courses related to these concepts. Underworld Scuba/The Scuba Shack offers a variety of scuba-related services including educational courses, equipment sales and service opportunities.

Most people don’t get a chance to see the trash underwater, and believe cleaning the beaches is enough. Unfortunately, there’s even more trash in the ocean than on the beach, and it’s severely damaging our most precious resources, the bays of Manzanillo.

Each year countless amounts of trash makes its way into aquatic areas from either land- or ocean-based sources. The Project AWARE Foundation and The Ocean Conservancy help collect data worldwide. The individual reports, such as the one done in Manzanillo, are then analyzed for type, amount and potential source of debris.

Last year, volunteers combed 12,400 miles of coastline, which is equivalent to more than 3/4 of the Earth's circumference. Of the 8.2 million pounds of trash volunteers collected in 2002, nearly 58% was related to shoreline recreational activities. 

Almost half of that debris included many common food and beverage-related items such as cans, bottles, plates, and food wrappers. Cigarettes and other smoking-related products accounted for 30% of the debris; ocean/waterway items like buoys, fishing lines and nets, and plastic sheeting represented a little more than 8%; dumped materials such as tires, car batteries, and appliances accounted for 2%; and medical/hygiene materials made up just 1%.

Richard Baker, left, PADI dive instructor in the Lake Chapala area, routinely collects debris when diving. Though Richard doesn't drink, he found a full Corona underwater. Other assorted items he found on one dive included a glass soda bottle (one million years); nylon fabric (30-40 years); Modelo beer can (80-200 years); cut-off plastic beverage container (450 years); rubber hoses (50-80 years); and plastic bags (10-20 years).

One of the obstacles faced in the fight against debris is the "out of sight, out of mind" rationale. When trash is dumped into the water, it is often forgotten once it sinks out of sight. 

In Manzanillo, trash left on the beach after the end of the day, is "cleaned-up" by the higher evening tides. In the morning there is still some garbage on the beach, but most of it was "picked up" by Mother Nature.  

The divers who volunteer for cleanup can attest that underwater debris does not simply disappear. In fact, much of the trash uncovered in underwater cleanups has been on the ocean floor for several years.

Did you know?

• It will take one million years for a glass bottle to decompose.
• An aluminum can will break down in 80-200 years.
• A plastic cup will be around for 150 years.
• Monofilament fishing line. How long till it’s gone? 600 years.
• Plastic beverage bottles: 450 years.
• A cigarette filter takes 1-5 years to decompose.
• Disposable diapers will be in our ocean for 450 years.
• Foamed plastic cups and other Styrofoam materials will break down in 50-80 years.

The Top Ten: (Items that have the infamous honor of being the 10 most abundant marine debris items found on our nation's beaches.)

• Cigarettes/cigarette filters
• bags
• caps, lids
• food containers/wrappers
• cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons
• beverage bottles (plastic, 2 liters or less)
• straws, stirrers
• beverage cans
• rope

The above 5-year composite list gives insight into the behavior of people in and around waterways, as well as on land, because so much of what is dumped, dropped or otherwise "deposited" on land ends up in the water.

So far, BUCEAA, A.C. (a not-for-profit organization of divers in Manzanillo who want to preserve the aquatic environment) has received hundreds of volunteers who will clean up the beach, and more are coming. Divers will be at least 40 strong. But that isn't all of it.

We need funds to purchase garbage bags, surgical gloves, printing cartridges, food for the volunteers, T-shirts for the volunteers, and prizes for some very special participants.

If you can contribute anything, even if it’s just a dollar or 10 pesos, your support would be appreciated. Contact, Carlos Cuellar, president of BUCEAA, at 333-3678 or 044-314-358-0327 or stop in at the office: Km 15 Blvd. Miguel del la Madrid, Santiago, Colima, across from the cemetery. Look for the signs for the Project AWARE cleanup.

Write BUCEAA at BUCEAA@yahoo.com for more information about our ongoing projects, or where to mail a tax-deductible donation. Please print this out and give it to everyone you know, or forward it on. See what we did last year: http://www.gomanzanillo.com/features/clean-up/index.htm