Padi AWARE Foundation

Clean ocean - after thirteen years of investment in marine debris work, Padi Aware Foundation has established a credible, replicable and scalable system to monitor and remove marine debris from the seafloor without damaging it dive against debris. By the end of 2023, the Padi Aware community removed and reported over 2.3 million pieces of marine debris across 121 countries; advanced ground-breaking marine research; aided over 35,000 entangled marine animals. Today, Padi Aware Foundation houses the largest underwater marine debris database on the planet. This data is shared directly with governments, local communities and international bodies to inform the efficacy of waste management policies effects on the marine environment.

Healthy ocean - Padi Aware Foundation manages several initiatives including shark & ray protection, community grants and mpas. Padi Aware has helped fight for protections of over 104 species of sharks and rays and is building a global shark & ray census which will provide critical data on the health of populations around the world. The organization reached 1,906 adopt the blue sites across 109 countries, supporting the un goal of 30% protection by 2030. Several campaigns were driven including providing data to inform noaas response strategy amidst the 4th global bleaching event. In 2023, 31 grants were given to support local projects fighting key ocean threats.several in-country campaigns and projects were driven through adopt the blue in 2023. Projects included, but were not limited to: 1 year of dive against debris monitoring to help advance waste management policies in dominican republic; local teens trained as Aware dive instructors to monitor and protect marine reserve in mexico and barbados; 500 local children trained in water awareness and introduced to marine conservation in barbados; seagrass monitoring and restoration to protect blue carbon habitats; monitoring of 4 seagrass meadows over 2,000m in greece, reporting findings to governments to help advance marine protection; mapping of 2 seagrass meadows over 20km in the english channel, helping advance marine research and habitat protection; marine debris removal marathon event lasting 72 hours with over 652 volunteers in usa. Padi Aware conservation education, embedded in Padi learning, reaches millions of divers to increase awareness on the key threats facing the ocean and how to act as responsible ocean stewards. Padi Aware Foundation currently leads four Padi standardized conservation courses: dive against debris specialty, Padi Aware specialty, shark conservation specialty, and coral reef specialty. In 2023, Padi Aware Foundation revised the Padi Aware specialty course. The course is designed to introduce participants to ocean conservation and guide them in taking actions that bring about positive ocean change, like citizen science and advocacy. As a member of the international coral reef initiative (icri), Padi Aware Foundation represents the Padi diver voice and works alongside dive centers to track underwater changes over time across a range of coral issues (e.g. Invasive species, disease, bleaching, etc). Padi Aware Foundation will continue to work as a member of icri and expand monitoring and restoration campaigns to respond to coral loss worldwide.the 31 grants included, but weren't limited to: conservation training, coral restoration and manta ray monitoring in indonesia; marine protected area education and community engagement in the philippines; biodiversity and reef health in south africa; marine debris removal to inform adoption of better waste management in uganda; coral reef monitoring and training in dominican republic.