Off the Phuket shore, about 20 volunteer divers equipped with submersible gear, scissors, nets, and notebooks dive down to collect discarded fishing nets, recording data during cleanup missions. They are also encouraging other recreational divers to join their initiative.
The group also engages about 500 fishermen to collect abandoned nets.
The trash is sorted and weighed and, where possible, sent for recycling. About 130 tonnes of used fishing equipment has been collected by EJF from local fishing communities along Thai coastal areas and recycled into new products.
In one case, a dead turtle is found on the shore and taken for a necropsy performed by marine veterinarians. Inside its stomach are pieces of rope and plastic.
“As of today, plastic waste is one of the main causes of endangered marine animals washing ashore,” said Patcharaporn Kaewmong, head of the marine rescue centre in Phuket.
“Waste management is a very big problem.”
