Diving Sabah? Dive Downbelow!

The Downbelow staff team along with our pro interns have removed their third discarded net of the month from a popular reef in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, Sabah. You can read about the first and second removal we did in the last few weeks.

This team will never give up the fight to keep our oceans clean but how we wish the illegal fishermen would understand if they continue dumping their nets into the ocean there will eventually be no fish left for them to catch let alone coral reef for marine-life to inhabit.

Big thanks to our interns for their assistance in removing this particularly large net which sat up in the water column in the most destructive way possible, trapping and killing numerous marine creatures.

Good news is it is not there any more.

Richard and his PADI Divemaster students who are also Downbelow staff, Morin and Suzy posed for a picture on their way to another net removal project.

The environment needs as much love from as many people as possible to help it in its fight for survival and Richard is teaching his students through action that everyone can play their part and most importantly work together.

It is our hope that the love seeds we have for nature can be passed on from teacher to students, along with the knowledge learned & taught.

Downbelow is passionate about conservation and we are also the only dive center in Borneo that is 100% AWARE. Students who complete a dive course with us will receive an upgraded qualification card with the Project AWARE logo, an indication that they too, care for the ocean and its marine life.

So if you love nature like we do, then go with 100% AWARE, go dive with Downbelow!

Contact us for details on our conservation projects or you can view our past projects on our photo gallery.

Downbelow Managing Director and PADI Platinum Course Director Richard Swann and his team of staff and our local PADI Divemaster trainees continued with the next phase of the coral replanting project over the weekend.

This time the team brought the prepared reef block and positioned them at the bottom of the ocean in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park Borneo.

This was probably the hardest part of the whole project as they need to carry the heavy modified water tanks up on the boat, secure them and then carefully bring them down.

Old tyres filled with concrete are then used to hold the containers in place so they remain even during stormy weather.

Now that the blocks are ready, next step will be planting the coral in our nursery to ensure they will grow before placing them here.

Good job guys!

You can view more photos at the gallery.

With the approach of World Turtle Day on 23rd May it was our pleasure to meet with Christine Perroud of Borneo Connections, Dr Pushpa Palaniappan of University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) & Suzila Idrus of 1Borneo Ballroom.

Together with the Sabah Ministry of Tourism they are organising Mabul World Turtle Day 2013 from 22nd – 24th May 2013 at Mabul Island in Sabah.

We would like to thank them for visiting us at Downbelow and inviting us to be involved in the worthwhile project to create awareness and help raise funds for activities related to sea turtle conservation.

Awareness and conservation of marine life forms a large part of our organisation and we are delighted to assist in their program, the data that can be accumulated from such events forms the founding structure for future protection initiatives and due to the sheer number of turtles in Sabah waters, this is a critical location for their survival.