The Palau Pledge celebrated Earth Day 2023 with a splash! Ten young Palau Pledge certified divers participated in a global dive clean-up to support Palau’s neighboring island of Hawaii in its quest to have the world’s largest dive clean up. On Saturday, April 22, 2023, the dive clean-up took place in tandem with the launch of the Pledge To Our Keiki, Hawaii’s own version of the Pledge. The young divers were guided by Koror State Government divers and supervised by Sam’s Tours.
The dive clean-up was at Rebaimelachel Bay in Malakal, starting in front of Eric Whipps’ residence to the jutted point after Paddling Palau. The Koror State Solid Waste Management team was on hand to pick up all the collected waste and brought to them to their hub at M-Dock for segregation, identification and weighing. Collected wastes from the dive totalled 441kg (972 lbs) and included wastes such as glass bottles, old fishing lines, rope, and plastic.
In partnership with Sam’s Tours, Koror State Rangers, and the Koror State Solid Waste Management, the Palau Pledge team successfully finished the first-ever dive clean-up in Rebaimelachel Bay. This will be one of many dive clean-ups that the Palau Pledge Dive Camp participants can join to get more experience diving underwater.
For more information on dive club activities or to become a certified Palauan diver, please contact the Friends of the Palau National Marine Sanctuary office at 488-6887 or email:
projectcoordinator@friendspnms.com
We would like to thank the following people for their support in this Earth Day activity: Senator Secilil Eldebechel, Koror State Governor, Koror State Rangers, Koror State Solid Waste Management, Sam’s Tours, CAT Team 36-06, Tiger Team, and of course our Palau Pledge dive club members.