Volunteer diving opportunities... interested?

[cyberfed]

As some of you know, my girlfriend has organized a volunteer clean up dive through the city of Winter Park. We have gotten tremendous positive feedback and it got me thinking...

I spent some time Googling volunteer diving opportunities in Orlando and surrounding areas, to no surprise I was not able to find anything. I am thinking about creating an organization of scuba divers that volunteer to dive in different locations doing things like clean up dives, conservation efforts, biological studies, surveying ect..

I could have a nice website built explaining our mission statement and willingness to help out communities. After that it would just be a matter of getting word out to local city and state officials.

I'm curious to see how many people out there would be willing to commit to such a project. What I mean by that is many people will say 'sure count me in' but then flake out over time. I would be looking for individuals passionate about diving and giving back to our community.

I would handle getting the website created and speaking with attorney to discuss any legal implications of creating such a group. I'm not talking about a non profit organization that files taxes and things of that nature. I'm talking about everyday citizens helping out, for example the clean up dive we have going with Winter Park May 2nd.

No money would be involved in any way. Members would be responsible for all their own materials ect..

Let me know your thoughts, I think it would a cool thing to setup and once word starts to trickle out I could see cities reaching out to us for clean up and other projects.

We could come up with some catchy name too

 

[Dive Turkey]

Souds a little bit like the Jacksonville Reef Reasearch Team (JRRT). They do the conservation, clean-up's, bio studies, and surveying. They have dedicated scientists who work with the group to teach them to count fish, survey reefs and other stuff. Of course they do find ways to raise money to be able to do things like put out artificial reefs or purchase old boats/tugs and making them safe for the environment (not cheap to clean out oil tanks and feul tanks). They have a president, vp, treasury, and others. They even work with the state to try to get grant money for these projects.

If that sounds like something you are trying to do, I would try to find out a little bit more from them. The folks who work with them, are all volunteers and help out whenever they can. I dont know how long ago they started but I bet it was just a clean-up organization with a bunch of divers who would accept any reason to get wet.

Mike

 

[K Mejean]

It sonds like a good idea. I think you have your work cut out for you though. Starting an organization like that will be a lot of work. There are two groups I think you should contact. One is REEF out of The Keys. They have a large no profit group that works to count life on natural and artificial reefs through-out the country. The second is the Florida Aquarium. They also work to do the same thing as REEF and they do cleanups in our local area. They are a very helpful group and I'm sure they can at least point you in the right direction to get you started. Good luck with it. If you need any help just let me know. I have a very busy schedule but I would be glad to assist in any way I can.

 

[cyberfed]

Awesome thank you guys, I'm going t reach out to these other groups and see what kind of feedback they can give us. Good stuff!

 

[cudachaser]

That would be a great idea. Over here in Brevard, I'm volunteering with Barrier Island Center...No diving happening with them yet...but they are very open to environmental issues, especially in the Indian River Lagoon. Their funding come from EELs, Parks & Recreation and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation...so maybe we can come up something of interest to them!

 

[masonlc]

I'm currently taking the training class for the Jacksonville Reef Research Team (Jacksonville Reef Research Team). We are participating in the St John's River cleanup on 3/21.
There are several other Reef Research Teams across the state, here are a few I found doing a Yahoo search for "Florida Reef Research Team":
South Flarida: South Florida Reef Research Team
Volusia County: "The Artificial Reefs of Volusia County,Florida"
Palm Beach County: Palm Beach County Reef Research Team Home
Martin County: Reef Research Team

 

[tcarpjr]

Count me in. I'll work with you.

 

[tlawler]

I'm currently taking the training class for the Jacksonville Reef Research Team (Jacksonville Reef Research Team). We are participating in the St John's River cleanup on 3/21.
There are several other Reef Research Teams across the state, here are a few I found doing a Yahoo search for "Florida Reef Research Team":
South Flarida: South Florida Reef Research Team
Volusia County: "The Artificial Reefs of Volusia County,Florida"
Palm Beach County: Palm Beach County Reef Research Team Home
Martin County: Reef Research Team

I believe Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota has a similar program in place for the SW Florida Coast.

 

[cyberfed]

Wow I really want to join the Jacksonville Reef Research Team but I can't drive up to Jacksonville all the time for the training portion

I am going to sign up for the Volusia county committee.

Sounds to me like a Central Florida Based group could do very well I am going to pursue creating one

 

[Pati_M]

Let me know what's happening with this! I'll volunteer!!
Pati M.