Scuba divers experience "pitch black" moment while cleaning up KK marine park

 By Olivia Miwil - August 22, 2023 @ 4:34pm

Lim Wuang Ching, 34, (right seated) and others doing midnight underwater cleanup off Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park here. -Pic courtesy of Lim Wuang Ching

KOTA KINABALU: Lim Wuang Ching had the opportunity to dive at the stroke of midnight in the waters off Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park here.

The 34-year-old from Penang was among government agency personnel, dive operators, and volunteers who took part in the 23-hour ocean cleanup in conjunction with the recently concluded three-day 2023 Adex Sabah Ocean Partnership summit.

"This was our first time entering the water at midnight. Some of the divers were excited with a little bit of fear to do underwater cleanup at nighttime. There were 11 of us (on a boat).

"Before entering the water, we thought that visibility would be reduced, and we would be less likely to see debris or trash underwater at night.

"However, we found that we were more focused and saw a lot of plastic trash on the seabed. There is still a lot of plastic trash that needs to be removed," said Lim, who became a certified scuba diver in April 2020 and logged her 136th and 137th dives during the programme that ended yesterday.

Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) course director Richard Swann said he agreed with the organisers to take on the 12-hour graveyard shift from 5 pm on Sunday with his specialist divers.

"We had a team of 19 divers rotating in multiple locations, so we always had divers in the water actively diving.

"The originally requested objective was to remove nets or trash; however, there was such a small amount on the reefs that we didn't get that much. Mostly, we found a few bottles, bags, ropes, and fishing lines.

"We had so much fun. I prefer to say the 12 hours were dedicated to highlighting how great the park is and celebrating its healthy corals and diversity," said Swann, whose dive company covered the cleanup costs.

Programme chairwoman Theresa Tham said the activity, which began at 4 pm on Sunday, resulted in the collection of 234 kilograms (kg) of underwater debris and 18 kg from beach cleanup.

Among the participants were staff from Sabah Parks, the marine police, Universiti Malaysia Sabah Borneo Marine Research Centre, Adex ambassadors for ghost net hunters Hidy Yu, and other volunteers.

Participating tour companies included Downbelow Marine Wildlife Adventures, Scuba Junkie, GO Aquatic, Baby Shark Dive Centre, Traverse Tours, and Dive Borneo Bah.