GUAM (5 Nov 2003) -- A waterlogged two-by-four in one hand, a chunk of coral-encrusted metal in the other, 32-year-old Dennis Navaro kicked upward, slowly following his bubbles to the wrinkled surface of Agat's silted teal-blue waters. Once at the surface, Navaro flagged down the nearby trash-collecting boat and passed off the garbage, then, after a few quick breaths, he submerged again, in search of more refuse that had found its way from the hands of islanders to the bottom of their island's reef. Navaro was one of about 40 divers to scavenge for trash on the reef near Ga'an Point in Agat yesterday, an event organized by local dive shop Micronesian Divers Association and the nonprofit Marine Awareness Foundation. The crew of divers pulled out dozens of bagfuls of trash -- mostly cans and beer bottles, but some more odd things such as golf balls and even an old record. Diver Caitlin Hitt, 24, of Nimitz Hill described what she saw down at the bottom of Agat's reef. 'Very dirty' "The dive was very dirty," she said. "There were about 200 soda cans in one little area, and it took like six of us to pick it all up. People must use it as a dumpsite." Garbage wasn't all Hitt saw on the reef. "I found Nemo in his sea anemone," she said. It's for the sake of that clownfish and its other aquatic companions that Hitt said she participates in reef cleanups, which the dive shop sponsors every few months. "I want to keep the reefs clean, because the more litter, the less fish," she said. | | Garbage is one threat facing reefs worldwide and Guam is not without its pollution problems. According to the Coastal Cleanup Web site, in last year's annual coastal cleanup, 791 volunteers on Guam collected a total of more than 7,000 pounds of garbage on the island's coast, much of which could have been washed out to sea and ended up back on the reef. More cleanups Andersen Air Force Base resident Darius Steele, 32, who has lived on the island only about a month, said the quantity of trash he saw on the Agat reef surprised him. "We could probably go out there and do that every weekend and have unlimited amounts of trash," he said. Steele added that he hadn't seen anywhere near as much trash at other dive sites that are more frequented by tourists. His motivation for cleaning the reef was environmental. "The reef is visually appealing for everyone, and if we're going to keep it that way we have to keep it from accumulating items of human intrusion," he said. Mongmong resident and MDA employee Melisa Barnett helped organize the event. She said the business usually has held cleanups every three months or so, but said MDA is planning to make the cleanups more frequent -- monthly or bimonthly. "I think the water is the best thing about Guam -- to me it's the best thing," she said. "We've got to keep the water clean because it's what brings people to Guam." SOURCE - PDN |
