Diving into Conservation

Support for marine charities

We are excited to be expanding our charitable donations to marine conservation organisations and projects to those close to our heart. Our inaugural pledge went towards helping turtles in Papua New Guinea.

For the past few years we have been working to support some incredible marine charities. Project AWARE Foundation does some amazing work on behalf of divers for marine conservation. Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation is an energetic, innovative and pioneering shark and marine conservation charity, which aims to protect and re-educate people about sharks as well as campaigning to end the sale of shark in Britain. We also supported Deptherapy, a rehabilitation charity which runs specially tailored scuba diving programmes for seriously injured members of the UK armed forces and others, in organising trips to Truk Lagoon and Grenada.

We are pledging to increase our conservation efforts. We are pleased to offer continued support to the above charities, as well as supporting more grass roots organisations such as the fantastic Lissenung Island Turtle Conservation in the northern reaches of Papua New Guinea.

Turtle numbers are in decline in Papua New Guinea. New Ireland has been populated by humans for almost 40,000 years, and turtles and their eggs have always been a traditional food source. Due to population growth, as well as the well-known threats of fishing nets and plastic pollution, the local turtle population is now under serious threat and declining rapidly.

The project’s director, Angelique Amon, describes the initiative:

‘We started our Turtle Conservation Programme in 2013 in order to protect the remaining turtles as well as to educate the local population about turtle and environmental protection. We have identified two nearby, uninhabited islands as common turtle nesting grounds: Edmago Island and Ral Island.’

‘Over 90% of our nests are from hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), while the remaining nests are from green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Hawksbill turtles are classified as ‘Critically Endangered’, and Green Turtles are listed as ‘Endangered’, by IUCN as well as CITES.’

‘During the nesting season, from early September through to mid-February, we travel to those two islands early every morning. Once there, we follow any new turtle tracks, find the nest and carefully relocate the eggs to nesting boxes back on Lissenung Island. The hatchlings emerge from the nest approximately 60 days later, and we collect important data and measurements before releasing them. So far, we have released over 30,000 live hatchlings. In the past few seasons our green turtle nests have increased from none to nine.’

It is estimated that only about one in 1,000 turtles will survive until adulthood, so the efforts made and data collected at Lissenung are vital in helping the survival of the species. They also educate the local people about the importance of turtle conservation, in the hope of creating a more sustainable future for the turtles in Papua New Guinea.

We love supporting and hearing about the brilliant work of the Lissenung Island Turtle Conservation project and regularly share updates on social media. To find out more about any of these charities sign up to receive our regular ‘What’s Bubbling’ e-newsletter.

For each trip booked through us, a small donation will go directly to one of the fantastic marine conservation charities mentioned opposite. Please let us know if you would like to increase your donation amount and we will ensure the money goes directly to one of these wonderful charities.

You can lend a helping hand whilst on holiday, by being a citizen scientist. You can help collect vital data by sending your photos of marine life to organisations that collect data about species and identify individuals. A few of the resorts we work with have in-house conservation projects or work closely with local ventures. Speak to a member of our team about helping out on one of these projects.