The DAN.PADI programme brings ocean knowledge to all through a free eLearning platform

The DAN.PADI Ocean Literacy Project has been officially recognised as an Ocean Decade Action by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, joining the prestigious Ocean Literacy With All (OLWA) programme under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).

This endorsement is a significant recognition of the scientific value and social relevance of the programme. It also plays a vital role in extending the project’s reach and impact, helping to spread marine culture across all ages, languages and nationalities – a goal at the heart of DAN Europe and PADI’s shared vision to achieve balance between humanity and ocean.

The DAN.PADI Ocean Literacy Project is an international educational initiative designed to raise awareness and empower younger generations to become stewards of the ocean. Through a dynamic e-learning experience, its mission is to make ocean knowledge accessible and engaging by combining science, sustainability and storytelling. The programme features high quality content developed by DAN Europe in collaboration with university professors and marine science researchers. Available in English and Italian, it is currently being used by DAN and PADI instructors in schools, dive centres and youth initiatives.

It consists of four core learning modules:

• Citizen Science – Encouraging students to take an active part in marine research.
• Plastic Pollution – highlighting the impact of human waste on marine ecosystems.
• Climate Change – Understanding the ocean’s role in the global climate crisis.
• Underwater Archaeology – exploring history through underwater cultural heritage.

The project is based on a successful initiative – Scuola D’Amare – launched in Italy in 2019 by a local PADI association, with the approval of MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education). 180 PADI instructors were trained to deliver the programme, which used diving as a gateway to environmental education and discovery. In just five years, Scuola D’Amare has introduced over 80,000 students in 17 regions to the wonders of the Mediterranean Sea.

From this successful start, the project evolved into the DAN.PADI Ocean Literacy Project – a scalable, international programme that embeds ocean literacy into diving education. The aim is not only to equip students with environmental knowledge, but also to instill a deep, personal sense of responsibility for ocean conservation.

Now, with UNESCO’s official endorsement, the programme is expanding its original scope to provide wider access to ocean education for people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities. With freely accessible content, the programme pushes the boundaries of traditional learning environments and aims to inspire curiosity and promote awareness of the ocean far beyond schools and into communities around the world.

This collaboration brings together DAN Europe’s expertise in dive safety and scientific outreach with PADI’s global reach, supported by a network of 128,000 dive instructors and more than 30 million certified divers in 186 countries over the last 50 years. Together, the two organisations aim to embed ocean literacy into the educational journeys of new generations and global communities, promoting sustainable ocean use, climate action and collective responsibility.

“UNESCO’s support is a powerful boost to our mission,” said Laura Marroni, Exec. Vice President of DAN Europe. “It strengthens our ability to spread marine culture on a global scale – reaching new audiences, in new places, and inspiring a deeper connection with the sea.”

“This recognition by UNESCO reinforces the critical role divers play as ambassadors for ocean protection,” said David Murray, Managing Director of PADI EMEA. “Through the DAN.PADI Ocean Literacy Project, we are making ocean education more inclusive, accessible, and impactful—empowering individuals of all ages to become true Ocean Torchbearers. Together, we’re creating positive ocean change in everyday life, not just for divers, but for the global community.”

Go to https://oceanliteracy.edu.daneurope.org/index to access the programme.

The platform is also accessible via the TalentLMS app, available for iOS and Android. When using the app for the first time, mobile users must enter the full domain https://oceanliteracy.edu.daneurope.org/ to log in and begin their learning journey. Whether learning on desktop or mobile, course progress is automatically synced across devices for a seamless experience.

About DAN Europe

DAN Europe (Divers Alert Network Europe) is an international non-profit medical and research organisation devoted to the health and safety of divers. Since 1983, it has provided medical assistance, scientific research, education and innovative safety initiatives to the global diving community. DAN Europe is also an advocate for environmental responsibility and the responsible practice of diving.

www.daneurope.org

About PADI

PADI® (Professional Association of Diving Instructors®) is the largest purpose-driven diving organization with a global network of 6,600 dive centers and resorts, 128,000 professional members and more than 30 million certified divers to date. Committed to our blue planet, PADI makes the wonder of the underwater world accessible to all, empowering people around the world to experience, explore and take meaningful action, as Ocean TorchbearersTM, to protect the world beneath the surface. For over 50 years, PADI is undeniably The Way the World Learns to Dive^®, setting the standard for the highest quality dive training, underwater safety and conservation initiatives while evolving the sport of diving into a passionate lifestyle. For divers by divers, PADI is obsessed with transforming lives and, with its global foundation, PADI AWARE^TM, creating positive ocean change. Seek Adventure. Save the Ocean.

www.padi.com

When filming on land, ethics seem pretty well clear-cut. It is obvious to an audience when animals are being made to suffer so that you can get interesting shots. But filming in the marine environment seems to be lacking in all those terrestrial cuddly sentiments. We don’t hear marine life scream or howl. Marine animals are still generally thought to be devoid of feeling or emotion. It’s an archaic point of view that we tend to use when disregarding the millions of marine species that have evolved in our underwater environments.

Often, ethical judgments are not clear-cut and have to be made by the individual. In doing this, the ill-defined parameters are broad indeed and can be very personal. For me, all life — marine and otherwise — does not need to be stressed, harmed, or displaced in order to get a pleasing image or sequence. The best shots, stills and video, are taken when animals are relaxed and/or unafraid of the cameraperson. Also consider and take care of their environment. If you harm or destroy it, then it could be gone forever.

So how do you know when you are stressing a marine animal? It’s a hard one to quantify, but the more time you spend underwater, the greater your perception becomes. A general rule is: don’t chase animals. If they are trying to get away, then they don’t want to be near you and are quite likely afraid. This wouldn’t apply if, for example, a turtle is swimming along a reef and you fin hard to keep up with it. If the turtle were anxious, then it would drastically speed up and change direction to get away.

Take your time with animals underwater. Give them a chance to come to you. Breathe gently and rhythmically. Keep your body movements slow and deliberate. There are few greater feelings than when a wild animal accepts you in its presence and shows no fear. This is when you are most likely to get the best natural behaviour shots.

Protecting the marine habitat

It may seem to you that while you are diving, the direct effect you are having is quite minimal. Perhaps you touch some coral accidentally or totally ignore all the rules to get a close-up shot of a fish and actually rest your fins or arms on part of a reef. You think about it at the time and come to the conclusion that actually you don’t seem to have done much damage and it will grow back soon anyway. Now multiply your actions by a few thousand or more to cover all the divers who have had the same thought, perhaps only over the last year. It all adds up. Ultimately, with repeated mistreatment, the reef and habitat will suffer and eventually die.

One danger of shooting macro (in particular) is that you need to be close to the subject. This in itself raises issues of careful diving practices when on delicate ecosystems in both coral seas and temperate waters. Damaging marine life just to get a shot is a big no-no! There will be plenty of occasions when kneeling down on the seabed and doing no harm will be easy, such as on a sandy bottom at the edge of a coral reef or on a rocky sea floor next to a kelp bed.

If trying to get a shot will cause damage, please don’t do it. Damage to reefs and other marine environments due to human activities is considerable and often permanent. I have no desire to be preachy about this, but do consider exactly what it is you are doing. You, as an underwater cameraperson, are representing and displaying the underwater world and all its incredible biodiversity to an audience — be it just family, your dive buddies, or globally online. You probably would not say in your film narration that, in order to get this wonderful close-up of an anemone or perhaps a cleaner fish going in and out of the gills of a grouper, you actually destroyed a great lump of coral or squashed an entire colony of fan worms. For me, being underwater is a privilege and not a right. I ask that you do your utmost to preserve what you see and share what you experience. If you are filming on top of a reef, then please make sure you are extremely competent with your buoyancy control.

Action Camera Underwater Video Basics by Jeff Goodman is available now from DIVEDUP Publications:
https://www.divedup.com/shop/action-camera-underwater-video-basics-the-essential-guide-to-making-underwater-films/

About Jeff Goodman

Jeff is a multiple award-winning freelance TV cameraman/filmmaker and author. Having made both terrestrial and marine films, it is the world’s oceans and their conservation that hold his passion, with over 10,000 dives in his career. Having filmed for international television companies around the world and as author of two books on underwater filming, Jeff is Author/Programme Specialist for the Underwater Action Camera course for the RAID training agency.

Jeff has experienced the rapid advances in technology for diving as well as camera equipment, and has also experienced much of our planet’s marine life. He has witnessed, first-hand, many of the changes that have occurred to the wildlife and environment during that time.

Jeff runs bespoke underwater video and editing workshops for the complete beginner up to the budding professional.