As part of our affiliation to the global Green Fins project – and our desire to protect the wonderful environments we dive in – Emperor Divers recently took part in a ‘Big Clean Up’ in the waters around Sharm el Sheik and the Ras Mohamed Nature Reserve.
In all, 12 willing volunteers took part in the project with Emperor’s staff joined by two guests – Veronika and Johanna from Germany – as well as three members of CDWS (The Chamber of Diving & Water Sports) Egypt.
Among the items removed from the water were plastic and glass bottles, fishing lines, plastic cups, cans, construction materials and spare parts from boats.
In a separate trip a couple of days earlier, Emperor also removed a large fishing net which had been abandoned.
And plans are in place to continue the good work.
September 17th is World Cleanup Day, a worldwide civic movement which sees volunteers from over 190 countries do their bit to tackle the global waste problem. For our part we will do clean-up work in our housereef, inviting all divers in Sharm to take part, and will also dedicate the third dives from the boat as a clean-up dive.
We remain committed to doing our best to keep the Red Sea as clean as possible and received our Green Fins accreditation earlier this year in recognition of all the work we have put in to protect the environment in Sharm.
Green Fins is a conservation approach implemented internationally by The Reef-World Foundation and the UN Environment Programme. It leads to a measurable reduction in the negative environmental impacts of tourism and aims to protect coral reefs by promoting sustainable, environmentally-friendly diving and snorkelling.
With Emperor also a long-standing member of HEPCA (Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association) – now the most active non-governmental organisation in Egypt – and accredited by the CDWS we remain committed to doing all we can to preserve life in the Red Sea.
While our attention is always on keeping the Red Sea in the best and cleanest health, the eyes of the world will shortly be focused on the area when Sharm hosts the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November.
The city will welcome world leaders and thousands of delegates for the annual gathering at which ways to tackle the global climate crisis will be discussed.
