News
Deptherapy takes on the wreck diving challenge in Malta
Imagine for a moment – if you can – that you are a diver with Chronic PTSD from your service in Afghanistan. Would you be able to dive and penetrate a wreck at 20 metres, with your mask ‘blacked out’? Then be taken off the penetration line and find your way back onto it without being able to see it? Then work out which direction you are heading? Would you be able to do that without a panic attack or a stress-induced flashback?
80% of beneficiaries diving with Scuba Diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy have Chronic or Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often in addition to physical injuries. Yet on a recent expedition to Malta, eight Deptherapy divers successfully completed their skills and drills to perfection, without panic, but with the confidence to trust their dive buddies and the highly experienced instructional team – a true testament to the rigorous Deptherapy training process and the development of its divers to face and surpass such challenges.
This September, eight beneficiaries and three instructors headed to St Julien’s Bay for a week’s diving expedition focused on Malta’s historical wrecks using the RAID Advanced Wreck Course as the training model. The aim of the course was to develop the skillset and confidence of those who will lead teams on the 2022 Marine Biology Red Sea expedition on Roots’ Red Sea’s liveaboard Big Blue. The liveaboard is funded by a grant from the Armed Forces’ Covenant Fund Trust.
The week’s diving was based at the Divewise Dive Centre and as usual, Alan and Viv Whitehead were the perfect hosts. Since leaving the EU, visiting British Instructors cannot teach in Malta and so a RAID Instructor, Joe – one of the Divewise / Techwise team – was assigned to Team Deptherapy for the week.
The plan had been to hit the ground running on the first day with some theory, followed by SMB skills on the house reef but sadly the weather had different ideas. For the first time since April, the heavens opened with heavy rain accompanied by thunder, lightning, and high winds. The normally calm and protected house reef resembled a wave machine and although the team did manage one dive in the afternoon, many subsequently felt unwell.
The forecast didn’t bode much better for the next few days and so the original plan to complete the course on days two and three was amended, with the main focus being to complete the four required dives by the end of the week.
The weather improved significantly within a couple of days and the team were able to dive HMS Maori, a boat with a tremendous history and one of the vessels that tracked the Bismarck in World War II.
Everyone was enthused for the next day diving from a boat at Comino but again, high winds made boat diving impossible and a shore dive at the recently sunk P33 ex East German patrol boat was second choice, followed by easier access to a shallow harbour wreck. A further trip to the P33 was also scuppered by high winds but the team enjoyed the P29 wreck in popular Cirkewwa which has a couple of wrecks, swimthroughs and reef to explore.
The last day of diving, after having COVID tests first thing, was on the Tugboat which was reached by rib from the dive centre, Fortunately, the team were able to complete their skills – resulting in eight very happy RAID Advanced Wreck Divers.
Deptherapy beneficiary and Trustee Michael Hawley said:
“A great week of diving, pity about the weather. The course is outstanding and the challenges pretty massive, but everyone responded positively. Lots of new skills were learnt and we worked together as a team to live up to our mantra to adapt and overcome.”
A note: From an adaptive teaching point of view many of Malta’s dive sites are not easily accessible even for able bodied divers and would be almost totally inaccessible to wheelchairs or many prosthetic wearers. With a considerable amount of money being generated by scuba divers travelling to Malta it would be a good investment for the Maltese Government to make dive sites more accessible to all divers.
Deptherapy’s thanks go to Alan, Viv and Joe at Divewise for their excellent support, and to the beneficiaries and volunteer instructors of Team Deptherapy for rising to and surpassing each and every challenge during the week.
For more information about the work of Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education visit www.deptherapy.co.uk.
Photos: Deptherapy / Martin Weddell
The Ocean Cleanup, the global non-profit project, has removed a verified all-time total of ten million kilograms (22 million lbs.) of trash from oceans and rivers around the world – approximately the same weight as the Eiffel Tower.
To complete its mission of ridding the oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup uses a dual strategy: cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to remove the plastic already afloat in the oceans, while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers.
Through cleaning operations in the GPGP and in rivers in eight countries, the cumulative total of trash removed has now surpassed ten million kilograms. This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of The Ocean Cleanup’s impact, while underlining the astonishing scale of the plastic pollution problem and the need for continued support and action.
While encouraging for the mission, this milestone is only a staging point: millions more tons of plastic still pollute our oceans and The Ocean Cleanup intends to continue learning, improving and innovating to solve this global catastrophe.
This announcement comes as governments from around the world meet to continue negotiations to develop a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution at INC4 in Ottawa, Canada. Representatives of The Ocean Cleanup will be in attendance and the organization will be urging decision-makers to collaborate towards a comprehensive and ambitious global treaty which addresses plastic at all stages of its life cycle and in all marine environments worldwide, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It is encouraging to see that the need for remediation is reflected in the various options for potential treaty provisions. It is essential that the final treaty contains clear targets for the remediation of legacy plastic pollution, and reduction of riverine plastic emissions.
Tackling plastic pollution requires innovative and impactful solutions. The treaty should therefore incentivize the innovation ecosystem by fostering innovations that make maximal use of data, technology and scientific knowledge – such as those designed and deployed by The Ocean Cleanup.
‘After many tough years of trial and error, it’s amazing to see our work is starting to pay off – and I am proud of the team who has brought us to this point.’ said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. ‘While we still have a long way to go, our recent successes fill us with renewed confidence that the oceans can be cleaned.’
The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 and captured its first plastic in 2019, with the first confirmed catch in the GPGP coming soon after the deployment of Interceptor 001 in Jakarta, Indonesia. After surpassing one million kilograms of trash removed in early 2022, the non-profit project has since progressed to the third iteration of its GPGP cleaning solution, known as System 03, and a network of Interceptors currently covering rivers in eight countries, with more deployments set for 2024.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international non-profit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up the legacy plastic that has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced through DNV’s chain of custody model to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 140. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
For more information, visit: theoceancleanup.com and follow @theoceancleanup on social media.
Marine Life & Conservation
Steve Backshall to headline Shark Trust’s flagship event: For the Love of Sharks
Join a host of amazing, shark loving, speakers including Steve Backshall and the Shark Trust team for an evening celebrating shark conservation at the Royal Geographical Society in London this November.
Date: 29th November 2024
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Royal Geographical Society, London
Tickets: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
The event will be a celebration of all things shark. Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets will hear from engaging guest speakers with a passion for sharks.
The line-up includes (*subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise)
Steve Backshall: One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve has been passionate about the wild world ever since he was young.
Steve’s impressive TV career has taken him all around the world, investigating a wide array of species and environments. Steve has filmed over 100 hours of children’s wildlife programmes with the BAFTA award winning Deadly 60 franchise and recently, with Sky Nature, for his new series ‘Whale with Steve Backshall’. He has been a patron for the Shark Trust for 10 years.
Simon Rogerson: is a photojournalist specialising in natural history, diving and the sea.
He is editor of SCUBA magazine, the official journal of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Simon started his career as a crime reporter but gravitated towards his ‘less depressing’ interest in underwater exploration, joining the staff of DIVE magazine in 1999. In 2005 he was named ‘Editor of the Year’ in the PPA’s Independent Publishing Awards. Simon also works as a freelance writer, contributing frequently to the Sunday Times and Telegraph, in addition to BBC Wildlife, Esquire, and a host of international diving magazines. He is the author of a book, Dive Red Sea, published by Ultimate Sports. Now based in Berkshire, Simon has been a Patron of the Shark Trust for 20 years.
More speakers to be announced soon. Head to the Shark Trust website to learn more.
The evening will also allow guests the final chance to see the Oceanic 31, shark art exhibition. Some of the artwork will be auctioned/raffled at the event, while the rest will be auctioned online to raise money for the Shark Trust Oceanic Programme.
For the Love of Sharks is an evening with something for everyone who is interested and fascinated by sharks. Join the Shark Trust, their Patrons, Trustees and Staff, along with a host of supporters for this celebration of shark conservation.
For more information or to buy a ticket: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
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