Hayah (meaning life in Arabic) is a broad initiative aimed at educating the tourists and people working within the diving industry to protect the marine environment while supporting sustainable income for the local communities.

‘I’ve always had a close connection with the environment, and am delighted that I can use my diving to reach a wider audience to help protect not only the Red Sea, but all water environments,’ said Campbell. ‘I was on the fourth Hayah/blue o two clean-up week and we brought up around 30kg of rubbish, mainly glass, cans, plastic wrapper and fishing lines. The amount of waste that ends up in the sea is shocking – it not only looks horrible, but it destroys the reefs and particularly in the case of fishing lines and nets, can create the most awful devastation to the wildlife.’

Guests on board the liveaboard the following week, picked up more than 100kg of rubbish including used oil and diesel filters, according to blue o two.

HEPCA project manager Natalie Tyler said: ‘Simply by seeing that divers are prepared to spend time and money on holiday to clean up the reefs makes a big impact on the boat crew and encourages them to adopt more environmentally friendly ways of living at sea, from waste disposal to cleaning materials they use. We can’t pinpoint the waste problem at one group – everyone is responsible for looking after the future of the sea.’

For more information about the Hayah project see www.hepca.com or for details about the subsidised clean up trips see www.blueotwo.com.

Source – Dive Magazine