What is Dive Against Debris?
 
Dive Against Debris® is PADI AWARE Foundation’s flagship citizen-science program, empowering scuba divers to remove marine debris from underwater (both in fresh and salt water), to report data on the types, quantities, and locations of rubbish collected.

As the only underwater debris data collection program of its kind, Dive Against Debris both improves the health of ocean ecosystems through local action and provides valuable information about underwater debris to help inform policy change for global impact.
 
It is thought that ~70% of all debris and ~94% of plastics entering the ocean sink to the seafloor. However, there have been gaps in this data regarding seafloor marine debris – a gap that scuba divers are perfectly positioned to fill! See PADI AWARE’s Marine Debris page for more information.

Since the program’s launch, more than 100,000 divers have participated in Dive Against Debris in 120 countries around the world, reporting more than 2,000,000 million pieces of trash – highlighting geographical distribution, hotspots, changes that have occurred over time, and marine animal entanglement.

How can I become a Dive Against Debris Diver?

Take the PADI AWARE Dive Against Debris Specialty course, now with PADI eLearning!
Any PADI Junior Open Water Diver, Freediver, Advanced Mermaid or higher can take the Dive Against Debris Specialty course and help tackle marine debris issues head-on.
Once reported, your Dive Against Debris data enters a global database to help support the development and implementation of policies to improve solid waste management, locally and globally.

The PADI AWARE Dive Against Debris eLearning® will provide the most accessible way for Torchbearers™ to participate in marine debris actions at dive centers around the world – a critical shift needed in order to reach the PADI Blueprint for Ocean Action goal of reducing marine debris by 50% in target countries by 2030.

The primary goals of the Dive Against Debris Specialty course are to leverage the marine debris surveys you and your fellow divers submit for the purposes of debris management and to directly address the problem by removing debris.