Add my vote as concerned I pick up obvious new rubbish where I can, (mindful of the problems that go with collecting "mature" rubbish, as Suggsy ponted out). I know that all of the dive guides I went with in Dahab are also concerned and both attempt to keep the tourists and snorkellers off the coral and the eastern European divers, or more particularly the guides responsible for them, up to acceptable standards, thankless task that it is. Two dives in the last visit, the dive guide "harvested" plastic bags drifting mid water (classic turtle traps). In the second case the guide shot off, then seemed to be wrestling with a large dark ray. I was off to give him a a piece of my mind about what was and was not acceptable in showing off underwater life when the "ray" collapsed into a black bin bag and disappeared into his BCD pocket. I don't agree that those well publicised events are actively damaging. In my and your case thy are preaching to the converted, but they give focus to a general urge to "do something" that the public clearly demonstrates. I can't speak for the aware version, but the marine conservation society's focus on the issues is unrelenting. http://www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Cle...h/Beachwatch?gclid=CLrMmpKR-60CFcx_fAodUBZvNw Harry
On the whole, they're not - especially if properly briefed and organised. I should've pointed out that the anenome-laiden anchor drag was done a couple of younger tourist divers on their first clean-up - an isolated incident, perhaps because they hadn't fully understood the (Portuguese) briefing. Other than that, a lot of good was done that day, and the awareness created by bringing the rubbish onto the beach was an eye-opener to the public and local media who are otherwise unaware of how much of their sh*te ends up underwater. IMHO, the problem with that particular event was that the organisers made a competition out of it - prizes were awarded for those who brought up the most weight, rather can considered, thoughtful removal of new waste material that, left unchecked, would eventually have damaged the underwater environment...
