Local Actions, Global Impact
When asked why Easy Divers Bali, a PADI Five Star Dive Center, participates in Adopt the Blue™, co-owner Ana Mestek didn’t hesitate with a response: “We live and work in the village of Pemuteran and absolutely love it. The conservation progress may be a bit slow, but we firmly believe that once it takes root, our small part of the world will become a majestic display of what dive centers can do when working hand in hand with the local community.”
Coral reefs and other marine habitats are intricate ecosystems that play a vital role in limiting the negative impacts of climate change, providing marine creatures with shelter and food, and serving as the backbone of the economies of local communities. Protecting these habitats and increasing the number of marine protected areas (MPAs) around the world is no small undertaking.
© Manu San FelixAdopt the Blue has the potential to mobilize millions of divers as a collective underwater force for good to create meaningful ocean change at both local and global levels.
PADI®, PADI AWARE Foundation™ and Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Blancpain—known as the world’s oldest watch brand, which created the first true diver’s watch in 1953—worked together to launch and support Adopt the Blue, which aims to protect 30 percent of the ocean’s coastal areas as MPAs by 2030. Blancpain, the program’s key founding partner, has generously provided funding to build and grow this program for the next five years. But the effort takes more than financial support—they need help from PADI’s global community of 6,600 dive centers and resorts and more than 128,000 professional members.
The program does not require Adopt the Blue sites to be divable, which means that PADI dive centers, resorts and instructors can identify any underwater site in the world that is important to them, including ones that have a critical habitat or species, such as mangroves, shallow-water seagrass beds or nursery sites, or ones that are a crucial part of the local economy.
At time of publication, 2,409 sites, covering 77,815,026 square kilometers (check out the interactive map at atb.padiaware.org/actionmap), have been added to the program. As its participants demonstrate, local actions, such as conducting Dive Against Debris surveys, add up to larger, global benefits.
Courtesy of PADI AWAREBy participating in data collection and monitoring activities, divers help scientists gather critical information on marine biodiversity, coral reef health and climate change impacts.
At the Local Level: Easy Divers Bali, Indonesia
Dive Site: Middle Reef
Date Adopted: March 14, 2023
Middle Reef, the site Easy Divers Bali added to the Adopt the Blue list, is an often overlooked site off West Bali. “It’s just off the Pemuteran Beach, but it’s rarely visited and completely underrated by other dive centers in the area,” Mestek says. “It’s a small seamount, rising from the sand at about 8 meters of depth. The reef and its immediate surrounding area is inhabited by the usual suspects: nudibranchs, blue-spotted ribbontail rays, moray eels, shrimp, leaf scorpionfish, parrotfish, clownfish and the like.”
Because the reef and grassy area catches a lot of debris floating in from the open sea, especially during the rainy season, the Easy Divers Bali team—which includes Mestek’s husband, co-owner Jure Mestek—began conducting biweekly Dive Against Debris cleanups, as well as monitoring the site for crown-of-thorns starfish, removing them to keep their population at sustainable levels.
“We’ve also joined the NOAA Coral Reef Watch and PADI coral bleaching data collection campaign,” says Mestek. This initiative goes beyond monitoring; it includes proactive measures, such as removing corallivores to aid short-term coral recovery worldwide. “We will actively monitor three to five bleached coral heads for the next couple of months to see whether their condition gets better or worse,” says Mestek.
Created in 1953, the Fifty Fathoms is the first true diver’s watch. Created by Blancpain CEO Jean-Jacques Fiechter, an avid diver, to meet the needs of underwater exploration, it was chosen by diving pioneers and combat diver corps around the world as a professional timekeeping instrument. With its water resistance, robust doubled-sealed crown, self-winding movement, contrasting dark dial with luminescent indications, lockable rotating bezel and anti-magnetic protection, the Fifty Fathoms became an indispensable instrument for divers on their underwater missions.
These key signature elements that established the Fifty Fathoms as the archetypal diver’s watch continue to define the identity of such timepieces for the entire watch industry. Bearing witness to the past while simultaneously looking firmly to the future, contemporary Fifty Fathoms models incorporate modern in-house movements renowned for their robustness and reliability. They feature numerous technical innovations derived from Blancpain’s longstanding experience in the field of diving, its risks and its imperious necessities.
The Fifty Fathoms has played an essential role in the development of scuba diving and thus the discovery of the ocean world. It has enabled Blancpain to forge close links with the ocean community that have been consistently strengthened for more than 70 years. The Fifty Fathoms is the catalyst for Blancpain’s commitment to ocean conservation, known as the Blancpain Ocean Commitment.
At the Local Level: Pura Vida Divers, Florida
Dive Site: Blue Heron Bridge
Date Adopted: May 24, 2022
Since 2013, Pura Vida Divers, based in Riviera Beach, Florida, has been helping to maintain Phil Foster Park as part of Palm Beach County’s “Adopt a Park” program. It was only natural that Pura Vida Divers nominated Blue Heron Bridge (a part of Phil Foster Park) to the Adopt the Blue list. The PADI Five Star IDC Center conducts 10 park cleanups each year. It also offers Dive Against Debris programs and Dive Against Debris certifications at Blue Heron Bridge.
“Because Blue Heron Bridge is considered a muck dive, we are careful as to what we clean up underwater,” says Shana Phelan, owner of Pura Vida Divers. “We mostly focus on plastics, anything caustic and fishing line. The majority of the trash collected actually comes from the park shoreline and beach itself. It’s a popular place to recreate and continuously needs cleaning.”
Thus far in 2024, the Pura Vida team and volunteer divers had collected 654 pounds of trash from the shoreline and beach alone. “It’s super important to get this trash before it washes into the water of the Blue Heron Bridge dive site,” Phelan says.
Pura Vida also incorporates cleanup activities during their Eco Snorkel Camps each summer. “The kids learn about marine debris and participate in cleaning up the beach during each camp session,” she says.
Courtesy of PADI AWAREThe vision of Adopt the Blue transcends traditional conservation efforts, aiming to foster a global movement characterized by meaningful local actions.
At the Local Level: Aquaventure Malta
Dive Site: Cirkewwa Paradise Bay
Date Adopted: May 9, 2023
Paradise Bay, situated within the Cirkewwa Marine Park located off Malta’s northwestern Mediterranean Sea coast, differs from other dive areas in the park as it is popular with fishermen.
“This creates its own problems, unfortunately,” says Helene “Lee” Martin, a PADI Instructor with PADI Five Star Resort AquaVenture Malta. The debris includes lost fishing weights, line debris, fish waste, cans and bottles. “On every dive, we teach our guests what and when to take, and encourage them to take at least one piece of debris—even if it’s just a small piece of microplastic.”
Martin says the AquaVenture team also tries to stress good buoyancy skills to avoid damage to the reef. “These reefs are our life, office and passion,” Martin says. “For us, Cirkewwa is our closest main dive area, so we think of it as our office and the aquatic life as our coworkers. We want the best environment for them and for us.”
Join the Movement
The goal of PADI, the PADI AWARE Foundation and Blancpain is to create a minimum of 10,000 Adopt the Blue sites and to actively contribute toward protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. Join the movement and adopt your favorite site. The application form, which can be found on the PADI AWARE app or online, takes only three to five minutes to complete. If you need help, you can apply directly by getting in touch with PADI AWARE staff at [email protected]. (Currently, only PADI Instructors and Dive Centers can Adopt the Blue. In the future, actions for the broader community of ocean enthusiasts will be added.)
Your local contributions can make a world of difference. “Sometimes, you have to care for the forgotten because with a little effort and small steps you can hopefully make a difference,” Mestek says.
Courtesy of BlancpainBlancpain president and CEO Marc Hayek [left] and PADI president and CEO Drew Richardson
Blancpain, A Tradition of Innovation Since 1735
Founded in 1735 in the Swiss Jura, Blancpain is known as the world’s oldest watch brand. Loyal to its tradition of innovation and confirmed by countless horological complications invented over the years, the Manufacture is constantly pushing the boundaries of watchmaking to take this art to places it has never been before.
Exploration and preservation of the world’s oceans is at the core of Blancpain. With its legacy of the Fifty Fathoms—the first true diver’s watch—extending over 70 years, Blancpain has been alongside the explorers, photographers, scientists and environmentalists who treasure this precious resource. With that affinity has come a determination to support impactful initiatives dedicated to the oceans.
To date, Blancpain has supported more than 40 major scientific projects and expeditions, celebrated its role in significantly extending the surface area of marine protected areas around the world, and presented several award-winning documentary films, underwater photography exhibitions and publications. This dedication to supporting ocean exploration and preservation is called Blancpain Ocean Commitment.
Click here to learn more about the Blancpain Ocean Commitment.
