19 Jun 5th Annual Reef Cleanup

The 5^th Annual Southeast Florida Reef Cleanup is hosted by the Florida Deparment of Environmental Protection Coral Reef Conservation Program (FDEP CRCP) and the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) in partnership with Sea Experience and other local dive businesses. During this event, a separate cleanup day is hosted in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties when the participating dive businesses dedicate one half-day 2-tank dive trip to removing marine debris from the local reefs.  Sea Experience will be conducting the Reef Cleanup on June 27th, 2015.

During this event, participating divers have the opportunity to have fun while helping to protect our coral reefs. All receive a reef cleanup dive briefing and are loaned gloves, cutting shears, and catch bags to collect debris from each dive site. Upon returning to the boat, divers will also help to sort and record their findings, thereby providing valuable data about the types and distribution of debris on southeast Florida’s reefs. Participating divers will also receive a free catch bag to encourage continued participation in reef cleanup efforts.  

The Annual Southeast Florida Reef Cleanup is part of the larger Southeast Florida Action Network (SEAFAN), a reporting and response system designed to improve the protection and management of southeast Florida’s coral reefs by enhancing marine debris clean-up efforts, as well as by providing early detection and response to vessel groundings, coral damage, and biological disturbances. As a central component of SEAFAN, the Southeast Florida Marine Debris Program seeks to raise awareness about the causes and consequences of marine debris, while minimizing its impacts and developing strategies to reduce the amount of debris entering the marine environment. In addition to organizing yearly reef cleanup events, this program encourages local divers and dive shops to remove small debris on a regular basis and report all debris by calling the Southeast Florida Action Network (SEAFAN) hotline at (866) 770-SEFL or filling out an online form at www.SEAFAN.net.  For more information on scuba diving with Sea Experience call 954-770-3483.