Would you pay to do a cleanup dive?

[happy-diver]

Yeah like this!

 

[Searcaigh]

I think thats unethical from the social perspective. I wouldn't do that. is there any way to report this to PADI?

I agree with you that this is unethical

However, what is PADI (or SSI or NAUI etc) going to do about it?

 

[MrChen]

You have two options, pay it or don't.

I did a cleanup dive a few months ago. The charter was at no cost, but I had to tip the crew and provide my own gear and tanks. I happily did it and had a great time.

 

[tekkydiver]

A great way to donate to help protect the resource is to purchase a Florida Fishing License.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When I run purple urchin clean up dives all the expenses are on the divers. We are all volunteers so tank fills, gear purchases, parking and park fees are all on the individual divers. I handle a large part of the expenses because it’s my gig like containers/cans, scale, sorting board, etc. I spend countless hours constantly building stuff to make the job more efficient. I’ll even loan a tank here and there to a diver that decided to go last minute but doesn’t own tanks.
If we had to pay to get rid of the urchins then those fees would have to be divided up and each diver would have to pay a share.
This is all part of the dedication to a cause.

 

[FreqFlier]

Sure, few bucks is not an issue.

On another thought why not take it to the business community for sponsorship? T-shirts, banners etc etc and sponsoring company does a good deed?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Sure, few bucks is not an issue.

On another thought why not take it to the business community for sponsorship? T-shirts, banners etc etc and sponsoring company does a good deed?

I would consider something like that but I don’t know anything about the legalities, or even if there are any legal/tax issues. It might be that in order to do that it would require a 501(c)(3).

 

[MB NZ]

I did a liveaboard in the Red Sea once that was billed as a reef cleanup. There was a slight reduction in cost I think. It was pretty much a standard trip with a cleanup dive everyday or so. We didn't remove much rubbish because we were asked not to remove items that had growth on them. It was a fun trip, but almost worthless in terms of environmental impact. Just a way to make relatively affluent people feel better about booking a CO2-emitting holiday.

In general though, cleanup dives are a good thing, but how much rubbish do we drive past on land to get in to the water? Better to collect before it ends up in the water I think, but that is less glamorous.

 

[happy-diver]

A lot of the time we remove undercreatures houses, that does not pollute, creates no hazard, that people can't see

and turn the joint into a monotonously barren wasteland

that's got no waste

 

[sod kamus]

I have in the past, but there's usually something in it for the diver, such as a BBQ afterwards at the dive shop, or a free air fill for the clean up dive. My dive shop offers free gear rental for the beach cleanup dive and burgers on the grill afterwards. Of course you have to pay for your beer.

My local shop solicits donations from the local businesses and promotes those businesses who donate money or prizes vs making the divers who are doing the work pay to work. It's a win-win for all. The divers get a free dive w/rentals, the shop sells more dive junk and beer that day of the party, the local businesses get promoted with their door prizes, and the beach gets cleaned up.

If it's just paying twenty bucks to say I cleaned up the beach, nah. I ain't down with that noise.